I've been working on this one for awhile now and am at a decent part to get blogging it. Along with the base kit I'll be using the PE upgrade set and CF decals, both from Tamiya (quick looks can be found in the review section).

To date, the kit is brilliant, as are the 2 upgrade sets, although there is more to it than you'd think and this has been one of the more time consuming builds I've done in a long time.

Construction starts with the power plant, part fit is excellent with a minimum of clean-up. The instructions are spot on and leave nothing to guess about. Finishing was completed using Vallejo and Alclad paints:
















While working on all that, I began the preliminary work on the seats and dash:






I like to get the body painted early in the build and this one took quite some time. First was going through the instructions and assembling what needed to be done. The inner part of the lower door panel gets the body color so these needed to be put together. The outer door skin has 2 pieces that need to be added and the finished piece should be seamless, and the rear deck has the same. Getting the doors and rear deck smooth was an experience, looked ok under primer...not under the gloss coat...so a few tries later I was happy and got the finish coats of red on







Of course it wouldn't be any fun without a screw up...the fan shroud is supposed to be black on the outside and body color inside. Dummy me did it reversed, and it'll stay that way!

I'm a bit further along and at a decal heavy section, so I'll be back soon.

HiJames.
Looks great so far.
Which red did you use for the body?

Thanks for stopping by Jesper...kind of boring so far, huh?

The red for the body was Tamiya TS8 shot out of the can. I haven't tried decanting it for airbrush use yet, but will sooner or later.

A bit more progress on the sub-assemblies and getting them onto the chassis. Most of the CF decals are applied, still have a few for the body and door interiors.

The black gloss for the body parts was again Tamiya TS out of the can, black 14. All the semi-gloss black is just Vallejo black primer...love that stuff! Still need to do the "rubber" trim around the window frames.

The included window masks worked a treat and much better than trying to hand paint the window borders.

Starting to look more like a car now:

Looks great so far, James.

Looking super slick James

Thanks Russ & KSO, much appreciated. Only 4 more CF decals to go (yaaayyy!). Doors are done so time to work on the hood and rear, more pictures soon. I must say that this has been a fantastic kit so far, and highly recommend the 2 upgrade sets to go with it as they really make a difference.

Looks amazing James.

Thanks Jesper!

A little more added on, dash assembled, painted, decaled and installed. Roof, side skirts, and doors in place also. So far the doors open & close well...we'll see what happens when the front end is installed.










Still debating if I should keep the wheels the aluminum color in the box, or paint them black...thoughts?

This one is done! Assembly of this kit was one of the easiest I've done so far, the painting, on the other hand was one of the more difficult. I will say that Tamiya did a great job of engineering as the doors and engine lid work and fit very well for this scale.

The hood was fairly straight forward with the lights being the trickiest part. The clear parts have indentations that needed to be painted black, I used Vallejo wash and then cleaned of any excess with a toothpick.


The rear end was a bit tricky to install but once I figured it out it pretty much snapped in place. The translucent red taillights had a slight seam which needed to be sanded off, a coat of Future shined them right up again. The hardest part was attaching the mesh screens.




The rear deck went together flawlessly and snaps into place.







Thanks for looking!

Super tight built and paint.

You went with the aluminum rims. The car looks good and civilian sitting on those. Painting them would def look like custom or racing

How did you paint the seats so perfectly?

Super job James, beautiful finish.

Cheers, D

Well done James...Looks great....

Beautiful Ferrari!

Jim

Thank you gentlemen, means a lot coming from you guys. I do think I'm actually improving a bit. Anybody who thinks cars are easy probably hasn't tried one since they were a kid

KSO, yeah, the aluminum rims looked good enough OOB to me so stuck with them. Wanting to get this one finally finished was also a deciding factor. I did add valve stems on them...a first for me!

Black Vallejo wash was used on the seats and flowed in the recessions. The larger bits in the cut-outs and sides were just Vallejo black primer.

It came out great, James. Does it match the one in your driveway?

That's just plain beautiful James. I can't believe that paint job is straight from a can. How many coats did you shoot and what was your polishing method? I have never gotten a finish that nice. Great job man.

Thanks Russ. The white one is in the driveway, the red stays in the garage (Yeah, I wish)

Hermon, thank you for the high praise, you guys are making my head swell!
As far as the paint, I try for 3 coats. First one a mist, second a cover coat and the third to get some gloss. Always over Tamiya fine white primer (except the black in this case). The doors and engine lid got a few more due to having to repair the seam lines.

I also have the 3 grits of Tamiya polishing compound but rarely use them...afraid I'll make things worse!

I think its more of the weather here than my skill (or lack of). Fairly warm with low humidity is good paint weather

Awesome build James.