Fiat 806 Grand Prix by Tim Moore - FINISHED - Italeri - 1:12

[Tim Moore]

Hello model car world!
Thought I’d just do a summary of this build I plan to do over the next while for something different. I’ve always been an F1 fan and the vintage jobs appeal, probably owing to some dinky toys I got as a lad in England, like this set. I’m sure this kit has been done to death by many skilled builders, but I don’t usually do plastic so for me it’s something new and I like the scale.
I’ll consider it a success if it doesn’t look like a bunch of plastic parts glued together at the end.

Not sure what my theme for it will be, if any, likely I’ll just make it up as I go along as per usual. There’s a lot of small metal screws and springs etc used, which should make things interesting.
Chassis was first, I’m finding the assembly diagrams a delight so far. Tried a bit of aging on that first bit of copper tubing, as a tune up for the engine which is next. I’ve primed and painted the frame in Vallejo Fire red for now. It could just as well have been black probably. I guess the car body will have to be red to avoid an international incident. 
So on to the engine…my plan is to build most of the major carcass/components and then paint it after, rather than painting and assembling which I believe will get messy in my hands. Not sure best method to make it look more like steel or cast iron, I’ll need to try a few things. 

 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Tim Moore
Race is finished

[mtaylor]

I'm in on this.  Have a fond spot for the old F1 Ferraris.  They were sweet machines.  Is this kit metal by per chance?

[Tim Moore]

18 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I'm in on this.  Have a fond spot for the old F1 Ferraris.  They were sweet machines.  Is this kit metal by per chance?

Hi Mark - I wish! It is mostly plastic, and rubber, tubing etc. for some components, but some of the assembly is with fine screws, nuts and bolts. The chassis was basically put together with about 8 screws rather than any glue. It’s a big kit so lots of parts.

[Tim Moore]

Starting on the engine. Assembly’s a cinch after being used to a lot of wooden ship destructions. To make it look more engine like I brushed on some steel colour paint and then quickly dabbed it with a bit of talcum powder on the brush while still wet, to add a suggestion of texture. Seems like it will work pretty well to give a cast iron look. Long way to go with this but it’s looking like I’m heading for a bit of a grubby used look on this racer. I’m experimenting with some paint techniques, eventually I may do a warship of some kind. 

[mtaylor]

Cast iron?  Or cast aluminum?  I think Ferrari used both and unlike some, he never used magnesium for engine parts.

 

The engine looks great no matter what metal was used in real life.

[popeye the sailor]

really nice start........the engine looks great!   I like building the larger scale kits as well.......added detail as well as parts.  Revell used to have the 1:16 funny cars.........I built the English Leather Quite a while ago.  I find that it's a fairly rare kit........after giving up the search,  I settled on one that I had found.  just recently,  I did find the kit,  but it had already been built and now sold as a parts kit   >cry'in shame!  Revell also had other 1:16 scale kits...at the moment,  I have the '57 Chevy convertible {I'll digress if I keep this up}.

 

hope to see more  

[Tim Moore]

Thanks for comment Mark & Popeye! 
Continuing with making the engine, trying to make it look cool and non plastic like, but also like a 100 year old. Next steps will include the ignition wiring. The kit includes some tiny rubber caps, wires and whatever the apparatus at the other end, all in one octopus. This makes this fussy bit of work a deuced easy install, but there’s a snag. At 1:12 scale, the rubber wire provided is at least 1” in diameter, which looks way too big. My plan is to snip off the two business ends, reuse them and replace the rubber with smaller gauge copper wire, attached to both rubber ends somehow. We will see how that goes. 

[Tim Moore]

The engine completed, except for some final finishing etc.. The replacement ignition wiring worked better than expected. I cut out the oversized rubber strands, poked a hole in the alternator or whatever that is and inserted a thin copper wire which I had painted a light red. On the engine block end I attached the rubber spark plug caps I had trimmed off back on to the end of the wire using basic neurosurgery practice.
Looks reasonable I think and more to scale. The big frame piece in front of the engine looks ridiculous to me but I’m assuming it is for attaching the body and won’t be visible on completion. I hope.

[Canute]

Turning out nice. Good fix on the ignition cabling.

[yvesvidal]

Great choice of kit. I am hoping to purchase that kit one day as well as the other kit produced by Italeri.

I will be following your progress with intense interest.

Is that kit a re-packaging of the old PROTAR kit?

 

Yves

[lmagna]

Nice progress. That would be a nice looking engine at any scale.

[Tim Moore]

7 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Great choice of kit. I am hoping to purchase that kit one day as well as the other kit produced by Italeri.

I will be following your progress with intense interest.

Is that kit a re-packaging of the old PROTAR kit?

 

Yves

Hi Yves

Yes the Italeri kit is apparently a reproduction of a diecast model by Protar. I’m pretty sure you could do this thing justice. I have to say I’m finding it a lot of fun to build, and I’m particularly liking the guide booklet which parcels out the component assemblies pretty well in digestible chunks. 

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Lou & Ken…
We are moving along here, Now that the steering assembly is done & married up with the engine block, I can tackle the axle and wheel assemblies and add them to the chassis. I’m still going to spend a little time detailing the engine/steering assembly but component wise it’s pretty much all there. The steering wheel is wrapped in some strips of cloth to simulate leather. The kit had a couple of other steering wheel bits - an inner ring and a clear panel, but I didn’t like the look so will leave them out. Ok that’s not exactly the gospel truth. I actually busted the inner ring and got fed up with the fragile piece of crap it was, so said to hell with it and chucked it in the bin. 

  

[Diver]

On 1/4/2022 at 7:33 PM, Tim Moore said:

Hello model car world!
Thought I’d just do a summary of this build I plan to do over the next while for something different. I’ve always been an F1 fan and the vintage jobs appeal, probably owing to some dinky toys I got as a lad in England, like this set. I’m sure this kit has been done to death by many skilled builders, but I don’t usually do plastic so for me it’s something new and I like the scale.
I’ll consider it a success if it doesn’t look like a bunch of plastic parts glued together at the end.

Not sure what my theme for it will be, if any, likely I’ll just make it up as I go along as per usual. There’s a lot of small metal screws and springs etc used, which should make things interesting.
Chassis was first, I’m finding the assembly diagrams a delight so far. Tried a bit of aging on that first bit of copper tubing, as a tune up for the engine which is next. I’ve primed and painted the frame in Vallejo Fire red for now. It could just as well have been black probably. I guess the car body will have to be red to avoid an international incident. 
So on to the engine…my plan is to build most of the major carcass/components and then paint it after, rather than painting and assembling which I believe will get messy in my hands. Not sure best method to make it look more like steel or cast iron, I’ll need to try a few things. 

 

I will follow along on your build.  Like you, born in England, Yorkshire to be exact, and have been an Grand Prix fan as long as I can remember. Looks good so far.

[Egilman]

On 1/10/2022 at 10:58 AM, Tim Moore said:

The engine completed, except for some final finishing etc.. The replacement ignition wiring worked better than expected. I cut out the oversized rubber strands, poked a hole in the alternator or whatever that is and inserted a thin copper wire which I had painted a light red. On the engine block end I attached the rubber spark plug caps I had trimmed off back on to the end of the wire using basic neurosurgery practice.
Looks reasonable I think and more to scale. The big frame piece in front of the engine looks ridiculous to me but I’m assuming it is for attaching the body and won’t be visible on completion. I hope.

 

That is a beautiful rendition of a working engine.... Very well done...

[Tim Moore]

Thanks for looking in Diver and Egilman…

Apart from a couple of glued components the rear axle and spring assembly is put together with nuts and bolts and some fine screws. Everything has fitted pretty well for me so far. I’ve airbrushed on a base coat of dark steel on these mechanicals to begin with. As nice as these bits are, it’s mostly hidden and really it’s the finish bodywork that’s going to make or break this model. That will take a little time I think.

There are 33 steps to this model in the assembly guide, and this takes me to the end of #18. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Tim Moore
Added photo

[yvesvidal]

Great work. It is almost as good as a POCHER kit and I wish Italeri would not have kept that large plug under the rear section of the car.

 

Yves

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Yves…bit of a hiatus as a couple of my design projects needed attention, but should be able to be back on the Fiat tomorrow. I’ve got most of the wonderfully complicated suspension parts in place and should be able to get the wheels on this thing next. I used the sticker provided in the kit as a mask and sprayed on the number rather than use the decal. Have started a bit of tentative weathering on some parts to give them a more vintage metallic feel, will be doing more. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Tim Moore
Added missing photo

[yvesvidal]

It is looking really sharp. I love the sprayed number on the front. It is very realistic.

 

Do you have plans to build the FIAT Mefistofele too? I also saw that Italeri announced the Buggati 35 in 1/12 scale.

 

Yves

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Yves - yes I’ve seen that one, and actually might do that - I’m quite enjoying the scale of this and messing around with paint. Haven’t seen the Bugatti. Wish there were more at 1:12. 

[Tim Moore]

Wheels on…mounting the engine assembly and attaching the fuel line and all the tubes and hoses will be next.

[Danstream]

Very nice work. It will be a head turner when finished. 

Dan

[popeye the sailor]

very sharp chassis and engine    the numbering looks cool too!

[yvesvidal]

3 hours ago, Tim Moore said:

Thanks Yves - yes I’ve seen that one, and actually might do that - I’m quite enjoying the scale of this and messing around with paint. Haven’t seen the Bugatti. Wish there were more at 1:12. 

 

There it is.....available sometime in 2022: 

 

 

Yves

[Egilman]

4 hours ago, Tim Moore said:

Wheels on…mounting the engine assembly and attaching the fuel line and all the tubes and hoses will be next.

You know, just being a plastic hacker, I'm amazed at the metalwork you guys are able to simulate.... whish we could hear more on how you do it...

 

Amazing work Tim... gonna be another stunner when done....

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Egilman. Here’s a few closeups so you can see all the warts in its current state, still a ways to go. What I’ve been doing to get the patina is as follows: For the red bits I first started with a grey primer, then airbrushed the final red colour, seems to have more depth and truer final colour that way. I bought three different reds, a lighter red, Ferrari red and Fire red, and after testing liked the latter for an old car like this for some reason. After the red I used a bit of black and water and brushed it on here and there, letting it pool or added more pigment in certain places to give an impression of grime. For the metal bits I started with a dark steel colour then messed about with a brush on top with the thinned out black wash. I also have a bottle of something called Matt rust which I dabbed on in certain spots. Really it’s just brown paint. Most of the contrasting metallic bits are mixes of copper, bronze and black. A 1:1 mix of copper and black gives you a pretty good rendition of an oxidized old copper pipe. For the tires which tend to look plastic and too black, I just rubbed them with a bit of talcum powder to make them less new, and the powder settles into the tread so you get to see that texture. I’m really just making this up as I go along, there are real wizards at this that could probably explain how to create perfect results with proper technique.
 

[gsdpic]

Wow, I was not paying attention and missed this until now.  You are flying right along.  It looks great so far; well done with the paint and weathering.

[Egilman]

23 hours ago, Tim Moore said:

I’m really just making this up as I go along, there are real wizards at this that could probably explain how to create perfect results with proper technique.

Well Tim, looks pretty darn perfect to me.... I guess is must be proper technique....

[Tim Moore]

Thanks Gary and Egilman. I’ve set aside the chassis assembly for now and am tackling the body for something different. The body sprues are a bit rough with this kit, pretty crappy actually so a bit of work to knock them into shape. Could just do a painting exercise now but I can see from the original picture I have that the vents on the back were prominent,

while the plastic piece just has a few insignificant closed bumps, so thought I’d open them up a bit for a more authentic look, which I know some other builders have done. Spent a good part of the niners packers game doing that with a blade and micro drill, to an unexpectedly good result. Then I went to the other side and made a complete shambles of that side. So now I’ve just cut them both out completely and have to start again with something from scratch. Guess I’ll now do this for the two at the very back as well. 

[Landlubber Mike]

I really like the effect you are creating with the washes, etc.  To me, this avoids the "plastic" look you see on a lot of car models.  Nice job!