after 7 months I have finally completed the Ferrari F189 as driven by Gerhard Berger No.28 in 1989. This is the car that Ferrari ran from the Mexican GP in 1989.
This model build was supposed to be OOB except for the tobacco decals. But I started right away by cutting the nose which is a one-piece with the cowling in the original kit. I kind of regret cutting it off because I used a Dremel-like tool and the speed of rotation must have eaten away too much plastic so I had to work miracles to let the two parts (nose+cowling) match again when assembling them back.
I added some plumbing at each side of the chassis, carbon decals on the airscoop and the dzus fastener for the 1st time on the sidepods.
I got rid of the molded seat belts on the seat and made the seat trying to giving it that suede look + seat belts and PE buckles. I used a stencil for the Good Year logos on the tyres...and nothing else.
Unfortunately I didn't do my homeworks properly: I did not polish between each layer of red (TS-8) so now I am left with the "orange peel" look on the top side of the sidepods. I did polish with #1500 and #2000 between the 2nd and 3rd coat of clear but not while painting the red. Big mistake but I have learnt it that cannot do without.
Except for the orange peel look I thoroughly enjoyed this build, it was really fun and I am planning to get another kit and build Mansell's car, but this time without cutting the nose off!!
Here's some pictures:
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