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'57 Ferrari Pontoon Fender TR250 [FINISHED]

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  • Member since
    October 2020
'57 Ferrari Pontoon Fender TR250 [FINISHED]
Posted by Scale-Master on Sunday, April 10, 2022 8:51 PM
This is an older 1/43rd scale kit from late 1980 or sometime in 1981.  I know the date because I have a personal attachment to this kit for a few reasons.  Primarily because I cast all the white metal parts in this kit when I was the head caster at Precision Miniatures back then.  The parts were mastered and the molds were made by Lloyd Asbury.  The box art was drawn by my late friend Dale King.
The decals were drawn by my father, Lloyd S. Jones of Scale-Master Decals.  These look a bit rough due to their age of 42 years, but this will be built as an alternate version so I only need a few of the ones on this sheet.
This is the raw body (and chassis) casting straight out of the box.  It's pretty clean even compared to more modern kits, but still requiring some clean-up. 
Interestingly, to mold the front grille opening as part of the body (instead of a separate piece), they were spin cast in a unique three part mold.  (Actually four parts since each mold made two bodies.)  A separate plug for each body had to be sandwiched between the main halves and carefully extracted from the metal body after each cast.  Lloyd was quite the innovator… 
The rest of the parts include PE wire wheels, semi-soft tires, vacuum formed windshield and headlight covers, chrome parts and a good amount individual parts for decent detail of the time.  

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Sunday, April 10, 2022 9:32 PM

What a cool little kit.  I have yet to venture into the 1/43 world but I understand there are a plethora of subjects.   And what a great personal connection to this kit.  Looking forward to you bulid.

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    March 2012
  • From: Corpus Christi, Tx
Posted by mustang1989 on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 1:57 PM

That is indeed a great back story as ALOT of sentiment to this kit. PE details 40+ years ago? Now that is impressive. 

Looking forward to this build for sure.

                   

 Forum | Modelers Social Club Forum (proboards.com) 

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 5:55 PM

I'm not sure if it still holds true, but back in the 90's there were more automotive subjects available as kits in 1/43rd than in any other scale.

These PE wheels were some of the first PE parts I ever worked with.  There were different sized wheel sets we had at PM too.

 

The first thing I did was to solder the rear valance onto the body.  Cement would work fine, but solder makes a great truly permanent bond and fills the seam at the same time.
The same amount of work sanding as if it were cemented yields this result.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    February 2011
Posted by knox on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 6:28 PM

This is so great.  FSM ran a few articles about building 1/43 cars a long number of years ago.  I was tempted, but know nothing about cars, and figured I’d mess up in a big way.  I will enjoy following along. Thanks for posting.    

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 10:18 AM
Instead of painting the brake drums, I wire brushed the raw metal.  The ones on the left are how they looked before brushing.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 11:36 AM
The tires are injection molded and the ones in this kit had a shift that left a good sized mismatch.   
 
Rather than totally obliterate the tread to sand out the offset, I pulled a set from my private stock and replaced them.
The PE spokes for the wire wheels are very delicate, but not really that difficult to assemble if you use a light touch. 
Turns out the real car does not have tire lettering so the kit provided Englebert decals were not needed.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    August 2007
  • From: back country of SO-CAL, at the birth place of Naval Aviation
Posted by DUSTER on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 12:29 PM

Scale-Master  This is an amazing creation. Add to that, your background with it this is going to be pleasure to watch. 

Steve

Building the perfect model---just not quite yet  Confused

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 6:45 PM
The knock offs were missing from the kit, but fortunately I had a set I could donate to the project.  They will be installed after the wheels are set up with the body/chassis.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, April 14, 2022 10:18 AM
I filed the ends of the steel axles down to narrow the track.  The front wheels are where I want them; the rears still have to come inward a bit more at this point by about 0.050.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Thursday, April 14, 2022 11:55 AM

The wire wheels look great.

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, April 14, 2022 6:25 PM

Yes, the wire wheels really do make this model.

 

The seats were used to align the transmission tunnel and side panels but they were not cemented in at this time. 
From the provided reference this car has an all black interior (except for the red seats) as opposed to the bare metal areas some had.  I sprayed the chassis, tunnel and side panels satin black to start.
The floor and front section of the tunnel were brush painted flat black.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Thursday, April 14, 2022 6:51 PM

Hello!

Casting that body in one piece is a cool trick, so to say! I also have a history with that Ferrari, built it in the nineties when somebody imported a big lot of kits from the BBurago brand - they had a metal body (prepainted), the other parts were plastic and they had steerable wheels and openable doors and hood to show off the engine. My pops bought me this Ferrari:

Note how they split the body between metal top and plastic bottom.

Good luck with your Ferrari and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, April 14, 2022 7:07 PM

That brings back some memories. I bought a 1/43 white metal 250 GT kit, maybe a GTO quite a while ago.

This was long before any online information, and my only hobby mags were model railroad stuff.

When I opened the box, Irealized that it was a) small, and b) way beyond my abilities.

I will look around, I might still have it.

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    August 2021
Posted by lurch on Thursday, April 14, 2022 8:10 PM

My dad built those metal kits in the early 70'sand thefinished kit looked fantastic. Going to watch and see what you do with it. Great find. 

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, April 15, 2022 11:49 AM
The seats were primed in gray (all the metal parts that get painted are primed first), and then TS-8 Italian Red was lightly and not uniformly airbrushed.  The white piping was done with Scale-Master decal stripes.  (They are being produced by Warbird Decals now.)  Even though the stripes are straight, a little decal solvent makes them very pliable to follow the curves.  Still a few more sections to add at this point.  I used the "H" size which is a size that is consistent on all the Scale-Master stripe sheets, even from the 80's.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, April 15, 2022 5:21 PM
After the decaling was done the seats were sealed with clear flat.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 16, 2022 10:50 AM
The interior features separate parts for the pedals, battery, electrical panel and shifter.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 16, 2022 4:51 PM
The exhaust is made up of two parts per side.  I find it is easier to cement the small pipe from the header to the main muffler/tailpipe section and install later as single units.  The main parts have tabs that fit positively into the axle holes in the chassis so a little tape is all that's needed to keep them in place.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 16, 2022 7:02 PM
The body needed a few little spots filled, I used CA (instead of solder) since they were so shallow.  One was the panel line molded into the nose; this car does not have that line.  I also scribed some of the panel lines a little bit deeper.  I forgot how unforgiving that can be freehand in white metal…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Sunday, April 17, 2022 10:56 AM
I decanted some TS-14 Black, thinned it and airbrushed the body with three light coats to help preserve the delicate details.  When that dried for 24 hours I wet sanded the paint with 1200 and shot it with one more coat.  This is the result.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 10:01 AM
The windshield is vacuum-formed from very thin Lexan.  (Lloyd Asbury was a master at vacuum-forming parts and making the masters for them.  He was the guy behind Lancer slot car bodies and did some for Associated R/C cars too.)
While there is a demarcation molded into show where to cut, it's on the faint side.  But trimming with a knife leaves a more visible whitish line and as tedious as it seems, it is not that difficult once you get started.  I used scissors to cut the base of the sides evenly after excising it from the sheet with a knife.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 6:31 PM
The steering wheel is beautifully mastered.  I still remember seeing the brass master Lloyd made the day he finished it.  A real work of art; it even has the delicate finger notches on the other side of the rim. 
I used brown, candy red and black acrylics to paint the wood rim.  It's attached to the steering box here.  Keep in mind the diameter of the wheel is about the size of a pinky fingernail.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 9:35 PM
The dash needed some detail so I drew a set of gauges and printed a set of decals.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    August 2021
Posted by lurch on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 9:17 AM

That is looking fantastic. Looking forward to the finished piece.

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 10:24 AM

Thanks!

 

The decals for this particular version were provided by the person I'm building it for.  They aren't for this casting so while they scale out well, the nose band doesn't quite fit this kit.  A couple gaps on the bottom need to be dealt with.  Not a problem…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, April 21, 2022 10:33 AM
I used a couple sections of the same Scale-Master white stripe decals used on the seats to make up the white parts.  Then I mixed some Tamiya X-7 Red and X-3 Yellow to fill in the rest with a brush.  A close look shows where the repairs were made, but since it's on the bottom it won't really be visible.  I also had to paint the lip of the grille opening.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Thursday, April 21, 2022 1:01 PM

That is impressive!

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    October 2020
Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, April 21, 2022 1:40 PM

Thanks John!

 

All the decals have been applied…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

  • Member since
    August 2021
Posted by lurch on Thursday, April 21, 2022 6:44 PM

Still looking fantastic. Great job you are doing.

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