Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

[70 Sting]

Good morning,

Sharing my thoughts on this Fujimi kit. It was painted with Tamiya LP-42 Mica Red over Tamiya Pink Primer and clear coated with TS-13.  The interior is Zero Paints Ferrari Cuoio Leather clear coated with Tamiya X-35 Semi Gloss and Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black. In hindsight, I wished I'd added a little more back to the interior - which I would have done if the doors could be opened and closed. I left the wheels their original chrome but gave them 3 coats of Tamiya X-19 Smoke. The kit contains some photo etch parts and window masks. Most of the kit went together quite well, however I noted a few exception below.

What I learned:

1. Mica Red required multiple coats before it started looking red and not orange over the pink primer.

2. First time using decanted TS-29 Semi Gloss Black - it seemed to go on like their LP-5 and looks identical to my eyes once dry.

3. First time using Zero Paints. It can be sprayed between 15 to 40 psi. I would lean more towards 15 next time - especially for the interior as the paint dried very quickly.

4. It's probably just me, but the plastic seemed more brittle than other kits I've built. I broke a wiper and the small front spoiler.

5. Fitment issues: When dropping in the engine, make sure the headers are tight to the engine as it is a snug fit inside the engine compartment (they can't be seen anyway). The nose/mustache did not fit flush against the left and right quarter panels so I used CA glue + accelerator to hold them down. The headlights are attached from below but there is no way they can be attached to the pins on the nose/mustache. I had to cut the mounting holes on the headlights into semicircles (kinda hard to explain, but picture horseshoe vs. ring toss). The side mirrors and the small front spoiler gave me nightmares. The contact points are too small and I popped the mirrors off a couple times and made a glue mess of the (broken) spoiler. And finally, perhaps this is a Fujimi characteristic (had the same problem with a GT40), the body to chassis fit takes a little patience while you enjoy all the creaking and scraping sounds.

I'm not bashing the kit, however I don't think I'd build another Berlinetta.

Thanks for reading :^)

Edited June 7, 2022 by 70 Sting

[Hi-Po]

Outstanding!  Nicely done and great attention to detail and paint.

[happy grumpy]

Wow Harry, this is one gorgeous build, looks like the real deal. Absolutely stunning. ??

[TNT]

That interior looks darn great. Well the whole car looks great. Detail is eye popping.

[ea0863]

Phenomenal build. I particularly love the slight pink and metallic hue to the "Ferrari red" - which as we all know has a hundred variations. This one is closer to the hue we used to see in the 80's, and I love it!

[grodudulle77]

Nice work !! ??

[Rich Chernosky]

That is one outstanding Ferrari , luv the paint and interior.  

[Roger U]

4 hours ago, Hi-Po said:

Outstanding!  Nicely done and great attention to detail and paint.

I agree.

It’s a beautiful model.

[Funkychiken]

Looks chuffing amazing to me. 

[Plastheniker]

Perfect in every respect, can't be done better!

[70 Sting]

5 hours ago, ea0863 said:

Phenomenal build. I particularly love the slight pink and metallic hue to the "Ferrari red" - which as we all know has a hundred variations. This one is closer to the hue we used to see in the 80's, and I love it!

Thanks @ea0863 . That Mica Red changes hue under different colours of light - more than any paint I’ve worked with.

[Nacho Z]

Absolutely stunning, Harry!  What a gorgeous model!

[StanGlover]

@70 Sting Beautiful work! I recently painted my Dodge Omni in the TS version of Mica red, also over pink primer. You’re right about it looking slightly orange under certain light- I could have used another coat or two but I ran out of paint. Mine turned out nowhere near as well as yours!

Hard to imagine a world where a Ferrari and a subcompact Dodge would be painted the same color!

[bisc63]

Beautiful job on a gorgeous car!

[jaymcminn]

Amazing work. If you hadn't listed the challenges you had building this I would have thought it just "fell together"!

[Kah puts]

Marvelous simply Marvelous.

[beeRS]

That is simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing your building notes. 

[majel]

It turned out great, that its a fantastic build!

[David G.]

Gorgeous build!

Everything looks perfect.

David G.

[70 Sting]

12 hours ago, StanGlover said:

@70 Sting Beautiful work! I recently painted my Dodge Omni in the TS version of Mica red, also over pink primer. You’re right about it looking slightly orange under certain light- I could have used another coat or two but I ran out of paint. Mine turned out nowhere near as well as yours!

Hard to imagine a world where a Ferrari and a subcompact Dodge would be painted the same color!

@StanGlover That’s a nice looking Omni :^)   I used the entire LP jar plus the start of a second. Was your TS-39 full?

Back in the 80’s, a friend’s mom bought a Dodge Omni 024 that was 2-tone orange and black. Better looking than any of the hand-me-downs we drove. 

[70 Sting]

10 hours ago, jaymcminn said:

Amazing work. If you hadn't listed the challenges you had building this I would have thought it just "fell together"!

Thanks @jaymcminn.  I have a Fujimi Ferrari 430 Scuderia in the stash… I’m hoping IT “falls together” :^)

[Brudda]

Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful!!! Good job sir. 

[70 Sting]

11 hours ago, beeRS said:

That is simply beautiful! Thanks for sharing your building notes. 

Thanks @beeRS I’ve picked up so many tips from this forum and various YouTubers to avoid pitfalls that its nice to give back a little. ?

[StanGlover]

4 hours ago, 70 Sting said:

@StanGlover That’s a nice looking Omni :^)   I used the entire LP jar plus the start of a second. Was your TS-39 full?

Back in the 80’s, a friend’s mom bought a Dodge Omni 024 that was 2-tone orange and black. Better looking than any of the hand-me-downs we drove. 

Thanks! No my can of TS-39 was about 1/2 full. Used before on my ‘83 Mustang convertible, where I used Silver Leaf under the Mica Red instead of pink primer. I’ll have to photograph them in the same light sometime to compare. 

[70 Sting]

@StanGlover Great looking Mustang ?