Tamiya Ferrari 312T4

[Fiatphile]

I have put together some goodies to build a 1979 Season 312T4. I have read the Spotted Section on the site and as best as I can determine as kitted by Tamiya, the 1 July 1979 French GP driven by Gilles Villeneuve is the most doable w/the kit as it is w/o major mods. Now here is one of those areas I am not sure of. Rear Wing End Plates....Natural Metal inside or black inside, red outside? Also have figured/read all black seat, but was this a fiber glass shell or covered? Also, does the upper inside body shell/driver area, was this painted white or left red? Another question, from what photos I have seen of the coating applied to the engine/tranny......what is the best way to duplicate this? I find it hard to see aluminum+orange representing this coating, when it appears more a golden tint, that looks flushed and more toward flat aluminum. Trumpets, I know brass wire mesh is not correct, from photos I have seen they appear almost like translucent white plastic and others almost a tan/white? Any hints would help.
Rick

[accuracing]

Hi Rick.

The T4 being my favorite subject, I guess I could help you with some of your questions.
First, the Spotter's guide that I wrote with Jeep would probably need an update since my quest to solve the many variations of this car has brought more info and pictures.

The Tamiya kit is actually an Italian GP Scheckter's car. The biggest difference with the French GP version would be the exhaust system. Ferrari, in their quest to improve the ground effect of their cars, revised the routing of front exhaust pipes. That modification was done late in the season. The kit exhaust is the late type.

(French GP)The basic rear wing is very similar, except for the endplates that have a different profile. Lower and upper edges should be parallel and front top corner should more rounded. Red outer color and natural metal inside.
Keep an eye on the positioning of the rear view mirrors. Don't forget the POZZI dealer sticker on the side pods.

Villeneuve seat was black fiberglass, no fabric, semi gloss black. Inner portion of the cowling, driver surroundings were painted white. If you want to make it more accurate, you should trim the lower edge of the seat to create a larger gap between the seat back and the tub. You will also find that Villeneuve's headrest is thicker. It is actually stacked over the standard headrest used by Jody.

For the engine color, I suggest using Tamiya titanium gold (X-31) preferably the enamel type. Much finer grain and a way better match than the aluminium and orange mix suggested by the instructions.

Concerning the intake meshing, they look like some sort of white plastic (nylon!) with a cross brace fitted inside.
The brass meshing from the kit could be painted over with a semi gloss grayish white. Creating a realistic substitute for these meshing is not an easy task. If you find a way, please let me know.

If you want to refine your search for the French GP version, I'll invite you to check on youtube, there is a 20 minutes long BBC footage that features some nice closeups of the cars on the grid.

I look forward to your build.

Cheers

[Fiatphile]

Thanks so very much for the info my friend. So to keep it simple and in keeping w/as raced. I should just build as comes in box f/Italian GP, JS car. I do not know if or how to correct the exhaust system. The tip for the mesh/color is most helpful and thanks so much for the color vs Tamiya's suggestion.
Rick

[87bmwm6]

a good book to have is the Haynes manual for the 312T series, I am doing the 1/12 312t and it has some very good shots of the velocity stack covers you talk about....

[Fiatphile]

a good book to have is the Haynes manual for the 312T series, I am doing the 1/12 312t and it has some very good shots of the velocity stack covers you talk about....

Thanks I will look into.
Rick

[Fiatphile]

No luck finding the enamel, but I do have it in Tamiya Acrylic and I also have a bottle of Alcalde. Will use one on block and tranny, the other more finer on the other parts. Again thank you and after looking at photos and the colors in the jars, you my friend have a good eye.
Rick

[robrex]

Concerning the intake meshing, they look like some sort of white plastic (nylon!) with a cross brace fitted inside.
The brass meshing from the kit could be painted over with a semi gloss grayish white. Creating a realistic substitute for these meshing is not an easy task. If you find a way, please let me know.

If you check out my 312T build there is a way to make the nylon intake mesh. It's quite a few years ago that I built it but should solve that problem for you I hope. I'll try to find the link..

[robrex]

took me ages to find as it was 10 years ago now...wow time flies!!

https://www.f1m.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... rex#p89349

[87bmwm6]

took me ages to find as it was 10 years ago now...wow time flies!!

https://www.f1m.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... rex#p89349

wow....your work is inspiring and amazing.

[Grypham]

Just an idea for intake mesh with the nylon look .... though I have yet to try it myself. Over the winter, while feeling under the weather, I was on a tea drinking binge. I noticed that a lot of the fancier varieties used a nylon like mesh to form the bags. The mesh I came across varied from coarse to very fine, suitable for different scales, and also in diffrent stiffness of the material.

I'm not sure what some of them are actually made from, but some (pyramid shaped Tetley bags for example) seem to actually be nylon, and have that perfect white hue. Just add some plasti-card strips for the bracing, and to help form the mesh?