Ferrari Testarossa - Tamiya 1:24

[Pete75]

Welcome all. This is only my fourth build, so my techniques might seem a bit basic, but I’m having fun! Any comments/questions/suggestions welcome.

The Testarossa is controversial, apparently. Whilst it isn’t subtle & is very much of it’s time, this is part of the appeal to me: I just think Miami Vice and Outrun! My chosen colour scheme is as follows:   

The first thing I noticed when unboxing is how light & fragile the body feels with all the cut away sections - in fact, the “strakes” are scarily flimsy.

Closer inspection reveals that there is a lot of cleaning up to be done with regard to mould lines and ragged/sharp edges:

I thought I’d eliminated the prominent raised diagonal lines on the rear wings, but they re-emerged when the primer went on!! More sanding required!

I love all things Tamiya, but the kits aren’t immune from puzzling surprises it seems. Here I’ve discovered that there’s a raised name badge on the engine cover which they suggest painting silver… No thanks. (Perhaps metallic transfers were more expensive to produce in 1986?) Anyhow, it's nothing that eBay and sandpaper can't fix.

The body comes in separate sections, but I concentrated on getting the main shell painted first using three coats of TS-14. There are a couple of bits of dust to sand out before the clear coat but it went pretty well.

The additional body parts include: panels that fit inside the wing strakes; the engine cover - plus a separate panel within - and the pop-up headlights. The painting here was less successful, almost certainly because I tried to spray when the temperature was too low, and I ended up stripping a couple of bits & starting over.

The vented section in the engine cover is a pretty fine lattice & I only just noticed the clogging before the colour went on! It needs to be satin black, so I sprayed the whole cover section in TS-29, then masked it off and finished the rest in TS-14. I’ll leave the masking in place for the clear coat, then touch up the grille later.

Wheels sprayed TS-17. After much deliberation about the chrome centre caps (masking/no masking, paint or marker) I loosely fitted the tyres & wedged them into the hub of the Tamiya paint wheel to rotate whilst drawing on the chrome with 1mm & 2mm Molotow markers. I’m pleased with the result and have decided not to risk putting any clear coat on them.

Engine is painted, assembled & panel washed. It’s good enough for me on this build, but in future I’d like to learn how to do recessed sections properly (like the red bits on the air intakes) and leave the silver ridges sharp.

Dropped the engine into the sub-frame & fitted the exhaust system - I deviated from the sheet here and mixed in some clear orange into the silver paint to give a bit more contrast. Lots of spare time ahead to make some progress! Thanks for looking ?

[beeRS]

Good work so far. Thanks for sharing. I built this kit in the 80s when it was first released. I thought it was state-of-the-art Tamiya at the time.

[Pete75]

6 hours ago, beeRS said:

Good work so far. Thanks for sharing. I built this kit in the 80s when it was first released. I thought it was state-of-the-art Tamiya at the time.

Thanks Sonny - appreciate it ?

[VanSpence]

This kit is on my to-do list. I will be watching close to see how yours turns out. Looks awesome so far. 

[Dann Tier]

This is a fun kit to build!, and it looks like a Great job so far!!

[Pete75]

On 12/27/2019 at 1:29 PM, VanSpence said:

This kit is on my to-do list. I will be watching close to see how yours turns out. Looks awesome so far. 

 

9 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

This is a fun kit to build!, and it looks like a Great job so far!!

Thank you both Spence & Dann! ?

Got the rest of the mechanical bits finished:

Currently sanding the bodywork prior to the clear coat, then will get stuck into the interior. Thanks for looking ?

Edited December 28, 2019 by Pete75

[LL3 Model Worx]

Looking good!!

 

I've been trying to get this kit for a few days now... I need 2 of them!

[Pete75]

32 minutes ago, LL3 Model Worx said:

Looking good!!

 

I've been trying to get this kit for a few days now... I need 2 of them!

Thanks Leroy ? Much as I'm enjoying it, I really hope I don't end up needing more kits!! BTW I got if from ebay from a seller called "icanucan": £25 delivered to the UK from Hong Kong in 4 days...??

[LL3 Model Worx]

36 minutes ago, Pete75 said:

Thanks Leroy ? Much as I'm enjoying it, I really hope I don't end up needing more kits!! BTW I got if from ebay from a seller called "icanucan": £25 delivered to the UK from Hong Kong in 4 days...??

Hope I don't have to go the evil bay route...

Worst case I'll pay slightly more and order 2 from Amazon.

[Funkychiken]

Classic poster car in my youth, love your build!

[Pete75]

15 minutes ago, Funkychiken said:

Classic poster car in my youth, love your build!

Thanks Atin ? I think I had a Countach poster and one of a "Vector W8". I just had to Google it to check it existed - not something I've encountered since, but pretty cool looking!

[Funkychiken]

Yes! F40, 959, vector w8, then the w12... Also zr1's... Those were the days

1 hour ago, Pete75 said:

Thanks Atin ? I think I had a Countach poster and one of a "Vector W8". I just had to Google it to check it existed - not something I've encountered since, but pretty cool looking!

 

[Pete75]

On to the interior ? I declined the option of doing the popular four tone interior (three shades of brown plus black) in favour of two colours, purely because I think it looks better on a black car.

Made a rookie mistake in being casual with the choice of primer. I used black - out of convenience - without considering that it would impact the tone of the TS-46 light sand that I chose, so the result is slightly darker than the colour I had in mind. It's a subtle point that doesn't come across in the pictures; I guess it's one of those things you have to see in person.

Something that doesn't require personal contact to appreciate are the almighty mould lines on the seats! I must’ve assumed it was piping or something when prepping, but they aren't ony any reference photo I've seen and they're now gone! I hit another snag when I tried putting wash into the seams to add some depth. I used Vallejo dark brown but it looked wrong - even diluted - and I ended up recoating in TS-46 and ordered the paler brown one. We’ll have to wait and see.

With all the amazing scratch building going on around these parts, I thought I’d dip my toe into the shallow end and have a stab at doing some luggage straps, which aren’t a part of the kit. I’ve recently acquired my first styrene sheets which will take care of the buckle ends, and for the main part I have a tape measure that came out of a Christmas cracker!

Primered and sprayed, they came out pretty well:

For the carpet I’ve gone with my tried & trusted mix of matt black/anthracite to give some contrast against the satin black leather trim & gloss black detailing. A unique feature of this kit is having to roughly guess where the carpet and pale leather meet under the door card trim!

The gear knob made the mould lines on the seats look positively neat, and had to be re-shaped with putty and sandpaper. The flash photos make my silver brushwork look slightly crude, but it’s not so bad in the flesh - squinting from a distance, in a fog etc. ? I found black wash invaluable in getting the iconic shift gate looking sharp.

Because the Testarossa has a leather trimmed dash, I decided to brush it with satin black rather than spray it (like the steering wheel) to give a richer texture. (It’s also useful practice for my upcoming Cannonball build where my Lotus interior is probably going to have to be mostly hand painted.)  After my last build, which had five separate dials, it’s a relief to have just one big dash decal!

Will get the seats washed (or not) & fitted, but that’s as much as I can do to put off sanding and polishing the bodywork! Thanks for looking ?

Edited January 12, 2020 by Pete75

[LL3 Model Worx]

Looking good!  I've got 2 of these lined up in my queue.

This is making me want to move them up the list!

I'll be staying tuned!

[Pete75]

1 hour ago, LL3 Model Worx said:

Looking good!  I've got 2 of these lined up in my queue.

This is making me want to move them up the list!

I'll be staying tuned!

Twice the fun!! Thanks for looking in Leroy ?

[Dann Tier]

Looking GOOD!!!...love the interior kolors you chose, and making those straps was a great idea that adds extra visual interest....Well done!!!

[Pete75]

3 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Looking GOOD!!!...love the interior kolors you chose, and making those straps was a great idea that adds extra visual interest....Well done!!!

Thanks for looking in Dann - appreciate it ?

[geetee66]

Looking good, Pete! This is going to look great on your shelf ?

[Pete75]

2 hours ago, geetee66 said:

Looking good, Pete! This is going to look great on your shelf ?

Cheers Guy - I have a space ready for it! ?

[Pete75]

Bit of a fast forward to the finish on this one. It seems black cars don’t make for great WIP photos, and the exterior work turned out to be a bit tedious so I didn’t really document my progress.

Installed the seats as they were in the end. I tried using a lighter wash (“European Dust”) to accent the recesses, but even diluted it just looked like muddy staining. Judging by other reviews, I’m not alone in not rating the Vallejo brown washes, but I’ll keep an eye out for alternatives because the pale seats are perhaps a bit “modelish”. 

The final interior element was the headliner upholstery. For me, this is the first time it’s been required and I debated whether to mask/spray or brush it. I decided the latter was the most efficient way, particularly as it’s unlikely that a slightly uneven finish on the ceiling is going to be much of an issue!

The phone flash shows the effect of 1200 grit paper on the clear coat pretty starkly!  It also shows how the big particles of rattle can paint don’t quite get into some of the fine recesses, and where I must’ve worn a couple of edges away whilst polishing the colour coat. From here I went with 2000 grit, then polishing compounds before touching up and doing the satin detailing. The window rubber and vents/grilles were masked and sprayed TS-29; the panel lines were masked and brushed satin black; and for the worn edges I masked tightly to the affected area and brushed on Tamiya X1.

I’m not great with window glass, I’ve discovered: after getting super glue on the single unit in a couple of places I had to use Tamiya compound to polish it back the best I could, but I think I need to review my installation technique!

With the glass fitted, plus the interior panels glued behind the side strakes, the body shell is a tight fit. I tried filing down some protruding edges but, ultimately, I had to use magnets to hold the front end down flush to the chassis. After wavering on the pop-up lights, I finally decided against them: too much work & I’m not a fan of fan of the way they look on this particular car.

The tail pipes were lost during the build, so I fashioned replacements using some sprue and twist drills. I had fully intended to install mesh inside all the engine bay grilles – like the real thing – but I found the section between the tail lights would entail much more work than I imagined, plus the lifting cover barely fits over the engine as it is! For now, I don’t think it’s worth it but maybe I’ll revisit it someday. The prancing horse was sprayed silver, then glued on and coated with chrome marker.

I spent far too long searching for aftermarket solutions for the Pininfarina badges on the flanks. I couldn’t find anything, so I just masked and sprayed them TS-17 - why didn’t I think of this earlier!

Just waiting now for a script badge for the engine cover and she’ll be ready for her under glass pics. Thanks for looking!

[Dann Tier]

It looks KILLER in black!!!

[beeRS]

This has come together really well. I like the black/beige combo. Nice tip with the use of measuring tape for the straps. Finally, someone found a good use for a cracker gift!

I need some Pininfarina badges too. I'm surprised no one offers these in the after market.

[Pete75]

1 hour ago, beeRS said:

This has come together really well. I like the black/beige combo. Nice tip with the use of measuring tape for the straps. Finally, someone found a good use for a cracker gift!

I need some Pininfarina badges too. I'm surprised no one offers these in the after market.

Thanks Sonny! I was surprised about the badges too - maybe you'll have more luck than I did. Glad you liked the the straps - re-purposing things is quite satisfying.

2 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

It looks KILLER in black!!!

Cheers Dann, appreciate it!

[Cpt Tuttle]

At least it seems to be better than the Fujimi 512TR kit.

You're doing a good job on this!

[Pete75]

5 hours ago, Cpt Tuttle said:

At least it seems to be better than the Fujimi 512TR kit.

You're doing a good job on this!

Thanks Mattias!