A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino *DONE*

Time to pimp them rides!
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mattbacon
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A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino *DONE*

Post by mattbacon »

These have been progressing speedily, and I haven't got round to posting until now... An Academy "Classic European Sports Car", better known as the Italeri Ferrari 250 SWB California, and a Fujimi Dino 246, inspired by seeing Keith Richards' beauty driven on The Classic Car Show. It's the simplified curbside Dino, not the full-on "Enthusiast Model" kit with the engine, detailed suspension, underbonnet details etc...

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Classic Ferrari 250ish engine -- I've built a fair number of these now. Distributors wired, and electrical "ferrules" to replace the hideous intake trumpets. NB: the kit has parts for several variants of this engine on the sprue, so make sure you've got the right ones!

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SWB body in "Vinaccia" (aka Aubergine). This has been around for a while in the stash, so I'm glad to get it under way.

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Beautiful curves! Dino body in Tamiya Gloss Aluminium. After seeking advice, and test fitting, it is possible to get the chassis inside the body with the lower front valance in place, which makes painting the body much easier.

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No engine, just some painting. Homebrew "rust/burnt iron" accentuated with Citadel coloured washes.

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Dino interior in multiple shades of black/grey. Keith's seats are very shiny leather!

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Dino dashboard comes up nicely with a bit of paint. I'm not sure whether Keith's is "factory finished" but it's got plenty of suede-y Alcantara today...

bestest,
M.
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mattbacon
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by mattbacon »

...continuing:

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Not a lot of parts in this interior, but it looks neat, I reckon.

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The front suspension has to be built before installing the chassis into the body, but the rear can be assembled afterwards (and probably needs to be, because it's the back end that needs to twist and flex most to get it inside).

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The familiar Ferrari 250 chassis coming together.

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And this is where I'm up to today. The eagle-eyed will spot that I've relocated the filler/breather caps on the 250 SWB engine back to around halfway along the block. That's where they are on the prototype, and if fitted further forward as instructed, they'll foul the wheel wells on the engine bay walls. The engine bay has been "jigged" on the chassis, and separated for painting and detailing.

bestest,
M.
K5083
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by K5083 »

That SWB looks like a fine kit, much better than the old Ertl one that I have. You are doing a great job with both cars.

August
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mattbacon
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by mattbacon »

Thanks, August!

The Dino is on the home straight:
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Not a whole lot to report other than the "chrome" parts have their raised rubber inserts painted with Tamiya "Rubber Black", and she needs a good dust!

The 250 Spider is making progress:
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As it happens, I have an (dreadful) AMT 250 SWB as a "donor kit", so I'm carefully slicing off the door furniture and attaching it to the Academy kit cockpit sidewalls. The seats are currently WiP....

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M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by PaulBradley »

Oooh, very smart, Matt.
Paul

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mattbacon
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

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Thanks, Paul!

On with the 250 Spider:
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The operation to transfer the door furniture was mostly successful, apart from one of the door closing handles which disappeared into oblivion, along with a small slice of skin from the end of my thumb. No blood on the paint, mind... that's what matters! A new one was fabricated after several tries, and now I think the door liners look the part.

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The exhausts (painted in Vallejo Model Air "Rust") are a bit of a pain to thread and get into position (and the instructions aren't so clear and well drawn...). To save anyone else the hassle, this is how they go. I used actual polystyrene cement for these, after cleaning up the mounting points. I wanted a REALLY strong bond when the time came to put the engine bay on (which is a very tight fit around the exhausts at the chassis level), but plenty of time to fettle the final positions of the pipes as I installed them.

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The interior is an "interesting" colour, but it's a very close match to the references I have -- I think it's called "Tobacco" by Ferrari. I think it will go well with the body colour, and it's much less boring than black (though that would have hidden the "cobbled together" door liners a bit better!)

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Another test fit of the chassis -- the engine bay does fit around the exhausts, after all. The seats are much modified from the ones in the "donor" 250 SWB, because the "buckets" in the California kit are completely wrong...

The Dino will reappear shortly!

bestest,
M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by JamesPerrin »

I'm loving the Dino, there was an amazing mid blue one a recent program about super car dealers (C5?)
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

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With the chassis basically assembled, time to move on with some engine bay detailing.

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Plundering a few unused detail bits from the Dino, and some more of the 250SWB, I've at least got a radiator fan, battery, coils and a screen wash reservoir. (No idea what that was on the Dino, but it'll do the job here with a cap added and a repaint...

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There's a big air duct hose running from the right hand side of the bay into the back. After wracking my brains trying to figure out where to find one, I thought I'd just have a try at making one, and I'm pretty happy with the result. 1) Wind garden wire around a suitable diameter bit of sprue, 2) cover with porous-ish paper-ish medical tape, 3) Spray with Tamiya "Rubber Black". It's still very flexible, and works just like the real thing. A couple of short stubs of the sprue mandrel stuck to the bay walls in the right places will make mounting points.

On with the tubes, pipes and cables!

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M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by mattbacon »

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I KNEW that would come in handy one day... My abortive _first_ return to modelling in 1990 or thereabouts was to attempt a wooden model boat kit. It didn't work out -- tool far too long to achieve anything. But at the time, I bought some self-adhesive copper strip for the anti-fouling covering of the bottom. 25 years later, it's come out of the bottom of the toolkit, and made that little bit of copper pipe in the middle of the radiator hose that much easier! The rest is some electric flex insulation over a solid wire core, and BMF for the jubilee clips...

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The brake master cylinder is pretty visible in the engine bay, and, unusually for a 60s Ferrari kit, in my experience, is not included. A stack of tubing fills the gap.

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The radiator hose doesn't connect to anything, of course -- not the first time I'll be grateful for that "roasting dish" on the top of the engine! I think the ducting looks the part. The wiring diagram I found online stopped me connecting the battery to anything stupid -- ground at one end, the fuse-box at the other, apparently!

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The twin coils brighten things up a bit. I'm glad I didn't have to fabricate those, mind you...

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Master cylinder cluttering things up nicely.

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No idea what most of these bits and tubes do, but they busy it up nicely. One of the sage green caps is sitting on top of the steering box, the other is angled off teh top of a additional square section "lump" at the front left corner of the bay, which will also anchor the fuel lines. It's completely "gizmology", but there's _something_ over there...

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So that's more or less done now. The fuel line to the carbs will be added once that gizmo in the corner is thoroughly set and anchored. Guitar string is a bit unforgiving...

On the next episode... the inside goes inside the outside.

bestest,
M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

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As promised... the inside is inside the outside. No great drama, thank goodness!

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The body's covered in greasy fingerprints, but there's no point in getting too antsy about cleaning it at this stage! I'm leaving the bonnet hinge to set thoroughly before I even think about opening it!

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M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

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More or less done now. A few fragile details (door handles, wipers) to add, and a good clean, and then she'll be ready for prime-time...

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M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino

Post by JamesPerrin »

I love the colour. I'm sure I'll copy the pipe trick at some point.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino *D

Post by mattbacon »

And here she is...

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M.
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Re: A couple of Italian beauties: 250 California and Dino *D

Post by K5083 »

The Spyder is insanely good, I love the engine detail and the finish inside and out.

August
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