Tamiya Ferrari F310B 1/20

[Martocticvs]

Well I have finally started an F1 model again! First one for 10 years or so - prior to this I have only built 4 others anyway: Tamiya F1-2000, and the Revell FW19, J197 and F310B. The Revell models died a long time ago!

So far all I have done is unpack the box, wash the sprues and arrange things prettily:


I've decided to build this as Eddie Irvine's car as it was for the Argentine Grand Prix, which was his best result of the season (2nd). That means I'm going to have to make new rear wing end plates with the forward arms and side flip-up winglets. There were also a couple of SFM markings on the tops of the cockpit sides which I'll have to see how I can do, since they're not included in the decal sets I have.

I bought the Tabu decal set for the tobacco logos, but I haven't decided yet about any PE sets. First step is going to be to get these parts off and start filling the ejector pin marks.

[generationx]

You need to sort your picture, I can only see a red cross. I think you're missing the "[IMG]" bits of the link.

On the subject of the F310B, the only p/e I've found was a very small sheet from Museum Collection. It may not be suitable for your build. Crazy Modeller do a nice full decal set too.

[Martocticvs]

Sorting the image now... link is fine, image... doesn't exist yet because of a glitch with my server

I did find a couple of PE sets on HLJ - http://www.hlj.com/product/ACS7636 was one... that's a lot of money though. Doesn't look like that Crazy Modeller sheet includes those cockpit top decals... I'll probably just try and produce them myself from a white decal sheet. *Hyper optimism alert!* Can't be that difficult! *end alert*

[lumpulus]

You can upload the photo here you know....

[Brooklin1]

There is a Perfect Parts set of wheels for the F310, but you might have a hard time finding one. I had the set and didn't use it on my F310 build. I thought the kit wheels were fine.

[d111298pw]

I know that F1 Specialties carries a comprehensive decal sheet of this car. You might want to send them a note asking if it includes what you need.

http://www.f1specialties.com/main/info/contactus.php

[drledford93]

I have the S27 P/E set that is comprehensive. Pretty good set.

Don't know if you're into this, but on Modelersite, WilChan has a great write up of his detailed build of this car. Great tutorial on how to do a great looking car...

[Martocticvs]

Picture should be showing now

The wheels look ok to me as well really. Since this is my first F1 car for such a long time (and that last F1 car was my last plastic model, too) this will be a practice model for me, so I'm not going to go too over the top with replacing things, although I fully intend to push myself a bit with improving what's in the box. There'll be a small bit of surgery to do early on, as the filler cap needs to be on the other side of the car for this race.

I'll have a look at those things - thanks

[Martocticvs]

I'll post a couple of new photos of this one soon... but right now I'm just thinking about painting. Like I said, this is the first plastic kit I have attempted in near-enough 10 years, and back then I only ever used one type of paint at a time, and that was done the old-fashioned way.

This time around, I have all the kit for airbrushing, and I have already obtained the basecoat colour (Zero pre-2004 Rosso Formula One) and white for the rear wing, but I also have a can of TS-14 for spraying on the CF areas prior to decaling them. Other areas I expect I'll use Tamiya acrylics through the airbrush, or a normal brush as seems appropriate. Clear coating is going to be done with Zero 2k.

What I am mildly petrified of at the moment is the order in which I can safely apply these (primer will be Tamiya fine, grey/white as appropriate). There are instances where I might want to overcoat the zero basecoat with something else... maybe an X or XF, or possibly an Alcad... but what is safe to do? The net seems to give some hazy opinions on what is good an what is not on this subject...

So basically, what will work and what will destroy my paint job?!

[Martocticvs]

Small progress made so far on this, just making some of the alterations and doing the general prep work. Photos are from the phone this time around, since it has a macro function whereas I don't have a macro lens for my DSLR. So appologies for the grain... should improve as the year goes on and we get more light!


Ejector pin marks filled on the undertray. The four untouched ones will be invisible once the monocoque and seat assembly is in place. I haven't attached the plank extension piece to the rear yet.


Major body pieces also with their pin marks filled. These parts shouldn't require any alterations.


I've been piecing the monocoque together gradually, filling all the seams. Before I did that though I had to swap the filler cap blank from one side to the other - you can see that it is in its new position now. It didn't quite end up flush so I had to fill and sand, and re-scribe the line around it. I haven't done the filling around the front wing supports yet.


I decided to fill the large ugly void just forward of where the seat ends, seeing as their should be a panel that sits over that area. This will make it more like the real thing. The flash makes the sanding look seriously rough!


Here's how I've handled the fuel filler. Since the sides of it are meant to be the same colour as the body, with no apparent join visible on the real car, I decided to separate the kit part into the outer shroud piece, which I have glued into place inside the monocoque and puttied around the join, and the filler plate itself, which will be glued into place later on, and before the monocoque gets attached to the undertray. I still need to sort out the final two pieces of the monocoque - the headrest and airbox.