Maserati Merak (1/24 Airfix kit)

[Tommy124]

Hi folks,

at the time I'm starting this WIP thread now, I am actually more or less done with this kit.

At times I wasn't sure if I would have the nerves to finish it, so while I was taking photos through all the steps, I did not have the confidence to start the WIP before now.

The reason why I'm doing the WIP is that these Maserati kits are pretty rare and hardly ever seen built. 

The kit itself is really horrible. Poor detailing and, what's worse, the worst molding quality I have ever seen on a regular plastic kit.

The box says Airfix but after some research I found out that there have been 2 different Merak kits sold under the Airfix brand. The first and undoubtingly better one is the old Gunze kit re-boxed by Airfix: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/airfix-05412-maserati-merak--182940

The second one and unfortunately the one I have, is this one - a re-box of an old Tsukuda Hobby kit: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/airfix-07401-0-maserati-merak--183538

Let's take a look at what I mean by "poor molding quality".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Believe me, I have never done so much preparation work on a model body like on this one. Sanding, filling, sanding, repairing... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chrome-plated parts were a total mess aswell, so they got to take a bath in oven-cleaner.

 

 

Unlike the Gunze re-box, this kit doesn't come with clear parts for the tail lights. Instead, it has some chrome-plated part that is supposed to be painted. I opted to make my own tail lights using clear styrene, a scriber and paint.

 

Turned out okay to me:

 

 

[Tommy124]

The interior tub is as "basic" as can be. Just smooth plastic, no details that might resemble door cards...

 

The seat backs come as separate parts and they have a "hollow" back that needs to be taken care of. So I glued the seat back on a sheet of styrene, cut it out and sanded it. 

 

 

I also fabricated door cards from styrene, the panel lines have been made using a scriber. Finished seat backs, see the top of the image.

 

Door cards fit weel in their place:

 

In the rear interior, the Merak has some kind of a half-round black cover, I call it the "punchbag". 

 

I found it very hard to get the look and shape of this right, in the end I finished with this:

 

 

As was to be expected from this old (1979) kit, the windshield glass had some scratches in it. 

 

I used the "Don't be afraid to sand clear parts"-technique that I learned about on this forum, using Tamiya 3000 sanding sponge and Novus 2 for polishing. The result is fine.

 

 

The Merak has 4 exhaust pipes that should look like metal and not like plastic rods. I cut off the "rods", drilled the holes open to make aluminium tubes fit in (will cut them to size later on).

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Tommy124

[Bainford]

Interesting project. I've been searching for Maserati Merak and Bora kits lately, so very interested in this build. Many thanks for the heads-up on the variations in Airfix boxed kits, I'll keep an eye out for that. The kit you're working on is certainly a rough kit. The modifications and details you are doing look great. Makes a huge difference. I'll be following along.

[Tommy124]

Painting the body has been the hardest part. To be honest, that's not the kit's fault... ?

My idea was to paint the body in a nice "70's green" like this:

 

So I used Tamiya TS-101 basecoat primer in order to cover the black plastic:

 

 

Then I made the initial mistake. I decided to use "era-correct" Revell/ Humbrol enamel paint that is probably just as old as the kit. It didn't look too bad at first:

 

 

Okay, just a little sanding needed, right? But look what happened then:

 

I don't know if it's just the enamel color gone bad over the years (decades) of storage or if those old metallics just could not be sanded. Anyway, I had to move on with another color. I remembered that I had one bottle of Lamborghini Miura green (Verde Metallazata) by Zero Paints. So I gave it a try over the enamel paint. It could have worked... COULD! Whereas on most parts of the body it looks great, the Miura green has eaten through to the lower paints in the areas where I had sanded before...

 

Too bad! Well, no more excuses now, the body had to be stripped. And the plastic did not take this nicely:

 

 

After some more serious sanding, filling etc. I applied a new coat of Tamiya TS-101:

If you look closely, you will find that small damages are visible despite the primer coat. I knew then that the next paint I will use will have to be the type that doesn't "show" every small detail. So I decided to go for Tamiya TS-64 Mica Dark Blue. And there would have to be a very shiny clearcoat on top of it. So I applied 2K clear on top of the body color.

 

 

Given the problems I had, I will settle for this.

Yesterday I prepped some more parts for painting.

 

The interior has been painted in Tamiya dark yellow in order to have a nice contrast with the dark body color. The same is for the wheels that have been painted in Tamiya titanium gold.

 

And this is what the interior looks like after applying some "adhesive carpet":

 

More to come soon!

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Tommy124

[iamsuperdan]

Doing an excellent job of polishing a turd!

I tried the Airfix BMW M1. It's embarrassing how bad the kit is. Exactly what you've described above. 

 

You have a lot more patience than I had, and have put far more effort than I was willing to. And it's turning out great! 

 

Maybe I should take the M1 out of a box and go for a second round with it.

[Bainford]

Sorry to hear about the problems with the paint. Especially since that green shade looked perfect. The problem you encountered is that you can't polish metallic paints without applying a clear coat first. Doing so cuts into the paint layer and exposes the metallic particles, with the exact result that you experienced. The best thing to do it apply clear over the green, then polish the clear. Some paints are worse than others, and that shade of green really shows bared metallic bits. That's too bad, but the final paint job turned out great, and it's a good looking colour, too. 

[oldrevellfan]

nice work, ?

the punching ball seem a bit too flat for me

[Tommy124]

Thanks for all your comments, appreciated!

On 4/9/2021 at 5:12 PM, Bainford said:

Sorry to hear about the problems with the paint. Especially since that green shade looked perfect. The problem you encountered is that you can't polish metallic paints without applying a clear coat first. Doing so cuts into the paint layer and exposes the metallic particles, with the exact result that you experienced. The best thing to do it apply clear over the green, then polish the clear. Some paints are worse than others, and that shade of green really shows bared metallic bits. That's too bad, but the final paint job turned out great, and it's a good looking colour, too. 

I knew this discussion was gonna come up. ? Well I sanded and polished a lot of metallics without problems. Tamiya, Testors, enamels, acrylics, lacquer - you name it. But I have never encountered such a problem. As I said above, maybe it‘s this very old kind of enamel that was different or the paint had gone bad over the years.

By the way, interesting link to what the „Old Man“ is saying about this subject:

 

 

23 hours ago, oldrevellfan said:

nice work, ?

the punching ball seem a bit too flat for me

Thanks Gilles and yes, I agree. I didn’t seem to find a way to make this more realistic (and at some stage I didn‘t really care anymore...).

As to the latest progress, today I took care of the BMF and some painted details.

I finished the interior tub and did some test fitting with the body and chassis:

 

 

More to come soon!

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Looking good! The following Bora is one of my all time favorite cars. 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

You deserve a medal for what you've had to go through on this one! Your hard work looks to be paying off, good luck with the last few stages.

I have an Airfix Renault Alpine to do someday, I suspect that started life with another maker - Scalemates suggests Japanese manufactuer Grip. It certainly looks like it will need some TLC and surgery, not sure if I'm feeling brave enough yet.

[Funkychiken]

wow, that body shell really is a labour of love!

the only time I have ever had the same "thining" of the paint / depth of colour was when I had used a transluscent enamel (Alclad II candy). I ended up with the same issue as you...!

Build is coming along great, especially the body finish!

[Tommy124]

Thanks for you feedback, Mark, Nigel and Atin.

There‘s been some more progress on this Sunday:

I finished the process for the scratch-built tail lights. I glued them onto a thin sheet of styrene which has been covered with BMF. I used Micro Chrystal Clear for this.

I then cut out the lights with a blade and painted the trim around them with a Molotow Chrome pen.

 The chrome front bumper parts have been painted with Molotov Chrome aswell.

For the mirrors, I used another technique. I regularly use this tool (designed for punching holes into leather belts etc.) for cutting round shapes out of BMF and other materials.

Looks fine to me:

And I inserted the black „louvre“ parts in the front and rear hoods. The covers of the hideaway headlights have been glued in aswell.

And the „arches“ parts on the rear bonnet have been glued to it.

Tomorrow, I will present the last steps - and the finished model!

 

 

[Dann Tier]

Sorry about all the trouble you had, Bud, but you have victory now!!!  i do love that new kolor!!!

[Tommy124]

1 hour ago, Dann Tier said:

Sorry about all the trouble you had, Bud, but you have victory now!!!  i do love that new kolor!!!

Thanks Dann!

Victory...? At least the end of the battle! 

The build is completed.

Just some shots to show how the front and rear end turned up:

Pretty satisfied with the scratch-built tail lights and the exhaust pipes:

And the overall result:

This is the link to the images in the Under Glass section: 

Thanks for your attention!

[ea0863]

Came out beautiful! What was the "adhesive carpet" you used?

[Bugatti Fan]

Some of those older car kits can present a bit of a challenge, so credit where  it's due this turned out to be a very nicely built and painted model. Not very many Maserati road cars have been kitted in plastic down the years, unlike Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

Airfix did a Maserati Bora in 1/32nd scale some years back. Apart from the old Aurora 3500 in 1/24th scale that went to Revellogram eventually, I cannot think of any others.

Edited August 2, 2023 by Bugatti Fan

[Matt Bacon]

@Bugatti Fan There’s an Airfix Bora in 1/24 as well, which probably has a lot in common with this kit, but there’s also a rather nice and completely different Revell Bora (oddly, also 1/24) with full engine:

best,

M.

[Bugatti Fan]

Wasn't aware of those two Matt.

That build of yours looks nice too!

Cheers Noel

[Tommy124]

On 8/2/2023 at 7:50 AM, ea0863 said:

Came out beautiful! What was the "adhesive carpet" you used?

Thanks! The "carpet" is actually adhesive textile foil, e.g. to be used for decoration purposes. 

Something like this: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B005CNZ2GM/ref=twister_B0C4Q32B23?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

As regards the Merak, I wasn't and still not am too happy with the result. It would have been much nicer in the green enamel color I used in the first place. But obviously that jar had gone bad and badly damaged the body's plastic. Which is why I had to go for another color that was to be "forgiving" in the sense of hiding the damages that I could not remove.

And as regards the Bora, there are two different kits: the Airfix/ Heller release (identical), which has quite a lot of flaws but an okay body shape. And the Matchbox one (which originates from a mid-70's Revell kit) with engine details and doors and hoods that can be opened, aswell as the pop-up headlights. But (in my experience) these features will not look too good, because of fitting issues. 

I have both kits and my plan is to basically to build the Airfix kit and use only some parts of a (started/ built) Matchbox kit to correct the look where necessary.