Ford GT40 1966 Le Mans winner

[Pierre Rivard]

22 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Wow, Pierre. Another superb build with excellent brush painted black finish which is not easy to do no matter how it is applied. You definitely have the process down and I will continue to try and get it right. I think the key is in polishing the primer and clear only. Thanks for posting this most enjoyable build to view. Somehow I missed the w.i.p. if there was one.

Thanks Mark. No w.i.p. on this one as it was just OOB. I only fabricated the front jack hooks because the kit's hooks were too big. That's it.

I keep refining the recipes for brush painting. I now thin the primer up to 25% with water and apply very thin coats (3 to 4) which leaves practically no marks to sand. Just a light 4000-6000 sand fro the primer. Same for color coats, I thin more than ever, sometimes as high as 60%/40% thinner/paint ratios. I have recently switched from the Vallejo thinner to Green Stuff World acrylic thinner and I like it better. New experiment on this build, I replaced the Future seal coat with Holloway House Quick Shine.

[MarkJ]

58 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Thanks Mark. No w.i.p. on this one as it was just OOB. I only fabricated the front jack hooks because the kit's hooks were too big. That's it.

I keep refining the recipes for brush painting. I now thin the primer up to 25% with water and apply very thin coats (3 to 4) which leaves practically no marks to sand. Just a light 4000-6000 sand fro the primer. Same for color coats, I thin more than ever, sometimes as high as 60%/40% thinner/paint ratios. I have recently switched from the Vallejo thinner to Green Stuff World acrylic thinner and I like it better. New experiment on this build, I replaced the Future seal coat with Holloway House Quick Shine.

I'm going to write down your percentages in my model log book so I dont forget them. I am eager to try the higher thinner percentages knowing that it has to let the paint flow out more getting rid of the brush marks. I will eventually have to get the quick shine stuff but I think my future bottle will out live me.

[Rattlecan Dan]

That is fantastic work. Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for Posting.

[Bainford]

Another beauty, Pierre. I am a huge GT-40 fan (like so many others), but the black LeMans car always looked particularly fearsome. The black paint made it seem menacing. Lovely work on yours. Great paint. Everything looks 'right'. Very well done.

[Pierre Rivard]

6 hours ago, Bainford said:

Another beauty, Pierre. I am a huge GT-40 fan (like so many others), but the black LeMans car always looked particularly fearsome. The black paint made it seem menacing. Lovely work on yours. Great paint. Everything looks 'right'. Very well done.

Thanks Trevor. I was holding off on that one and I have to agree I like the look of the GT40 in black. It was fun to figure out a way to brush paint black up to a reasonable standard. Now trying to figure out if brush painting silver can be done. Trying different ways...we'll see.

[Claude Thibodeau]

Salut Pierre! 

Impeccable work, bravo!

CT

[Ace-Garageguy]

Beautiful model, remarkable finish. The low sheen you've achieved looks much more like what would have been on an in-period race car than what's typically on most over-restored hangar queens roday.

[AJM]

On 4/5/2023 at 4:48 PM, Pierre Rivard said:

After building the Chaparral 2D which qualified 2nd at Daytona in 66 and won at the Ring the same year, I got thinking how special a year 1966 was for sports car racing. The lovely Chaparral had big potential but could not keep up with the mighty Ford empire. First slide is a nod to that: Chappy with the mighty nemesis.

1966 was special in many other ways. It was the start of the end for dominant Ferrari in sports car racing, despite showing up with the 330 P3, a 420 HP, 1600 pound missile. It did win at Spa but the story was all about Daytona and Le Mans where Ford established it's dominance with the heavy but extra potent 7 liter GT40 MkII.

The other big story was the ascension of Porsche with it's amazing 906 (or Carrera 6). Winner at Le Mans in the P2.0 category and taking P4 to P7 in overall classifications. Signs of things to come.

So this build is OOB Fujimi. Not a bad kit but can't say I liked it that much. It has a few issues but it is not a difficult build

Kit decals, Vallejo primer, Vallejo Model Color, Tamiya X22 clear and Holloway House Quick Shine seal coat over decals. Quick Shine was an experiment as a replacement for Future/Pledge Floor Care which is no longer produced. Quick Shine works well on the body but not on the glass parts due to low adhesion.

All finishes brush painted. Polishing steps after primer and Tamiya X22 layers

Pierre -- Ford GT looks great!

[Pierre Rivard]

18 hours ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

Salut Pierre! 

Impeccable work, bravo!

CT

Merci Claude. It was an easy but fun build. My favorite era in motorsport.

3 hours ago, AJM said:

Pierre -- Ford GT looks great!

Thank you Albert.

13 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Beautiful model, remarkable finish. The low sheen you've achieved looks much more like what would have been on an in-period race car than what's typically on most over-restored hangar queens roday.

Thanks Ace. I completely agree. At best cars of the era were about 70 degrees gloss level typical of lacquer jobs, and that's with a factory reflow oven. Race cars were no better, with the best of them having their 210F baked lacquer polished to achieve about that level of gloss. I think the paint job I did reflects that reasonably well.