Ford GT 40 MKII 1966 Trumpeter1/12

[dog1]

Hello

i attach images off some work in progress for the above model . Please note the following so far :

1) there is no electric distributor and cables supplied . I am looking for aftermarket  to drill in . 

2) no fire extinguisher .

3) oil pan below the crank is false .

4) the screws holding the wheels into the wheel hubs are too small to withstand the weight .

5) the  wishbones at the front are not secured  on the  wheel hub tips . 

6) there is a gap in the engine behind the dynamo generator ,

7) Both doors wont close . 

7a ) the Goodyear vinyl decals are not my cup of tea .

7 b )  Too many chromed  sprues . If you prime them and paint above they still wont withstand not peeling right down to chrome if you use tape above  , so the best is to remove the chrome first .

 8 The Ken MIles number one decals dont come with  the  decals or stencil for both flashes on the bonnet .

 

 

[Force]

It's the same here as with the Meng GT40 kit, this is a Chinese developed product and Trumpeter like Meng haven't bothered to do the necessary research to get it right.
I found the instructions for this kit on line and have looked at them too, and I'm surpriced how simplified this kit is with the scale in mind, I mean in 1:12th scale you can do wonders and if you compare these kits to the Tamiya F1 1:12 scale kits, even the old ones from the 70's, the Tamiya kits are way more detailed and a lot more accurate.
I'm glad I don't do many kits in big scales, I don't have room for them, otherwise I would for sure have bought both the Trumpeter and Meng kits as I really like F40's, but I think I would have been disappointed of the lack of accuracy.

[dog1]

accuracy

i was interested in the 1/12 HIRO made in japan range but what put me off was the very steep price . I opted to do a trumpeter mainly because of the price .  I even stumbled on a repack for the Philippines sold from there at a 100 USD approx including transport to Thailand .

Edited April 7, 2021 by dog1

[Dann Tier]

Love this car!! -looking brilliant!!!

[dog1]

finished finally . I am looking for the electric ignition set combo  to add . I might remove the tyre vinyl decals and spray paint on stencils . Have to look into the rear section not closing down on the chassis , adding windscreen wiper and rear wind shields plexiglass . 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by dog1

[vamach1]

Looks very nice.  One of these days I will start on one of the two I bought.

[cobraman]

I may start mine when you start yours so I can follow along and learn from yours !  ?

[dog1]

Tyres

I  just received the new tyre decals and i promptly changed them , as you can see these have the blue ring around and the Goodyear is in the right scale and flat color tone , this is how they really were at Lemans , i have a video with the goodyear truck fitting these tyres on rims at the race .

Fit 

i too have a second one which i will start soon as number 2 gloss black . i advise you to first fit together the car body parts and iron out the parts that  wont close properly such as the doors and rear section before you even prime , that is because there is a lot of sanding down to do , the headlights area as well needs sanding for the transparent acrylic parts to fit properly . I did'nt do that and i regret it .

The flashes

The 2 flashes on the bonnet are lacquer bright red by Tamiya  and i did them freehand airbrush with tape and eyes , i received the stencils some days later and they look the same . its not difficult  .

the screws

The screws holding the wheels are weak , same as the screw holding down the engine to the chassis ,i replaced with longer ones .

Ignition

its a shame there is no ignition set , there is space to fit one in should i find a nice one  and not what i've seen so far which is a piece of round styrene cut to look like a  cylinder with 10 holes drilled into it with cables supplied . you can do that yourself. Meng has a nice one but is not sold separately so far .     

Edited April 16, 2021 by dog1

[Force]

The distributor for the ignition should have 8 holes around the circumference and 1 in the middle, 8 wires for the cylinders and one wire for the coil, so 9 wires total, not 10.
The Meng distributor is not bad but the plug wires they have are wrong so it's no use trying to get them.
 It's quite easy to do yourself and get it right, the firing order on a Ford FE 427 (and many other Ford engines) is 15426378 and the distributor arm rotates anti clock wise, the cylinders are numbered seen from the front 1234 on the left side and 5678 on the right side so the number 5 and 3 wires has to cross over to the other side for the sequense to be right.
The number one spark plug is placed just behind the first exhaust port seen from the front, the second plug just behind the second exhaust port, both angeled backwards, the third plug just in front of the third exhaust port and the last one just in front of the fourth exhaust port, both angeled forward.
Not much of this is visible when the model is done so it doesn't matter that much, if you have the plug wires there together with some plumbing it will look a bit more busy in the engine bay.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Force

[Brudda]

On 4/16/2021 at 10:05 AM, dog1 said:

Tyres

I  just received the new tyre decals and i promptly changed them , as you can see these have the blue ring around and the Goodyear is in the right scale and flat color tone , this is how they really were at Lemans , i have a video with the goodyear truck fitting these tyres on rims at the race .

Fit 

i too have a second one which i will start soon as number 2 gloss black . i advise you to first fit together the car body parts and iron out the parts that  wont close properly such as the doors and rear section before you even prime , that is because there is a lot of sanding down to do , the headlights area as well needs sanding for the transparent acrylic parts to fit properly . I did'nt do that and i regret it .

The flashes

The 2 flashes on the bonnet are lacquer bright red by Tamiya  and i did them freehand airbrush with tape and eyes , i received the stencils some days later and they look the same . its not difficult  .

the screws

The screws holding the wheels are weak , same as the screw holding down the engine to the chassis ,i replaced with longer ones .

Ignition

its a shame there is no ignition set , there is space to fit one in should i find a nice one  and not what i've seen so far which is a piece of round styrene cut to look like a  cylinder with 10 holes drilled into it with cables supplied . you can do that yourself. Meng has a nice one but is not sold separately so far .     

Very nice!!

[dog1]

Force

Distributor

thank you for detailed explanation . I ordered 0.5mm black Tamiya wire from japan with the hope that its the right size . You cannot see a thing under the "spaghetti"  headers so i will have to see what to do if any since the distributor position is under a tray which goes from the carbs air filter to the bulkhead . So in practicle terms you see really very little of the wires going down . I will experiment with number 2's engine block soon and see if its all worth it . attached images . 

[JohnnyK]

I built that kit a few years ago. It does have fit and finish issues. I also bought the KA Models Detail Pack to add some extra detailing. The price of the Detail Pack now costs $175.00. It is not worth that price. Anyway, the Trumpeter kit  is not up to par with the quality and detailing of 1/12 scale Tamiya kits. That's too bad because the GT40 MK II is a great car. 

[dog1]

here are images of the cabling and note the color of the main frame which was a kind of royal blue which i am now looking into . these 2 images are from a high quality die cast model . I agree that PE extra  is way too expensive and also very complicated from what i have seen on 2 videos on youtube promoting it . 

[dog1]

further on royal blue color its tamiya X3 .