Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
That is looking REALLY NICE Paddy!
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MFH Abarth 1000-SP 1/12
- Thread starter paddy
- Start date
paddy
Well-known member
hmmm
First mistake
I was happily assembling things when i realised i was going down a blind alley...
The car seems to have a space frame with fibreglass's infills. Its hard to know if the frame is moulded into the body which would make sense for strength but a nightmare to repair damage. Half the frame is mounded into the resin panels and half is white metal, if the frame is separate then it would probably be all the same colour, the instructions say everything is light grey however the only pictures i can find show everything black.
it does look odd like this with part of the frame grey but, none of the grey frame will be seen. At this point i realised that i couldn't fit the peddle box and the original seems to have crude carpet/covering in the foot wells. note the seats and floor are separate unit in the form of a fibreglass tray
what i haven't been able to find is a picture with the front hood open to see what colour the tub and frame rails are, also front suspension.
the rear seems to be light and dark grey so i will prob replicate this for the front
Luckily because my
CA glue doesnt work i have been able to separate some of the front again which will help with fitting the pedal box, i just dont know what the outside of the body tub should be but I am leaning toward matt black like the inside of the rear hood seen here on the left
I started playing with the body shell.............oh wow. its doesnt really have a shell its made up of a dozen pieces, all with an different outside and inside colour and it looks like the only way to paint it will be to finish paint all the parts then try and fix it all together without and glue showing or damaging the surface while assembling. .I am trying not to think about that
First mistake
I was happily assembling things when i realised i was going down a blind alley...The car seems to have a space frame with fibreglass's infills. Its hard to know if the frame is moulded into the body which would make sense for strength but a nightmare to repair damage. Half the frame is mounded into the resin panels and half is white metal, if the frame is separate then it would probably be all the same colour, the instructions say everything is light grey however the only pictures i can find show everything black.
it does look odd like this with part of the frame grey but, none of the grey frame will be seen. At this point i realised that i couldn't fit the peddle box and the original seems to have crude carpet/covering in the foot wells. note the seats and floor are separate unit in the form of a fibreglass tray
what i haven't been able to find is a picture with the front hood open to see what colour the tub and frame rails are, also front suspension.
the rear seems to be light and dark grey so i will prob replicate this for the front
Luckily because my
CA glue doesnt work i have been able to separate some of the front again which will help with fitting the pedal box, i just dont know what the outside of the body tub should be but I am leaning toward matt black like the inside of the rear hood seen here on the left
I started playing with the body shell.............oh wow. its doesnt really have a shell its made up of a dozen pieces, all with an different outside and inside colour and it looks like the only way to paint it will be to finish paint all the parts then try and fix it all together without and glue showing or damaging the surface while assembling. .I am trying not to think about that
Last edited:
paddy
Well-known member
Black is the way forward i think for the tub and the space frame. I will then contrast it with silver , natural, and other greys on the suspension and anti roll bar, steering etc. I may try shading the panels a bit lighter to bring the frame out..
These are not kits you can pick up and put down which is a shame as thats what i tend to do if i have 20 mins spare.
They are incredibly complicated. not so much in parts or assembly but mentally. Forward planning is a must and difficult, research is not easy as most of these models are pretty obscure subjects . The instructions are good for assembly but as i mentioned before they dont give any guide to holes that need drilling although most if not all the holes are marked on the parts. if you have a part and you are not sure what it is and it has a hole marked you then need to look maybe 20+ steps ahead to find what that marked hole is for....then drill the hole out to suit. The marked holes are very faint so its easy to miss them and once painted they may disappear altogether and its not always easy if at all possible to get access to drill that hole later when you find you need it
Building a couple of bikes was a good work up to my first car but i do feel out of my depth compared with a normal Italeri car of the same scale where all the parts are clearly marked and holes in place.
My next project might need to be a traditional plastic kit ;-)
I used to go to bed , pleased with what i had done, now i lay awake worrying about what i have done
These are not kits you can pick up and put down which is a shame as thats what i tend to do if i have 20 mins spare.
They are incredibly complicated. not so much in parts or assembly but mentally. Forward planning is a must and difficult, research is not easy as most of these models are pretty obscure subjects . The instructions are good for assembly but as i mentioned before they dont give any guide to holes that need drilling although most if not all the holes are marked on the parts. if you have a part and you are not sure what it is and it has a hole marked you then need to look maybe 20+ steps ahead to find what that marked hole is for....then drill the hole out to suit. The marked holes are very faint so its easy to miss them and once painted they may disappear altogether and its not always easy if at all possible to get access to drill that hole later when you find you need it
Building a couple of bikes was a good work up to my first car but i do feel out of my depth compared with a normal Italeri car of the same scale where all the parts are clearly marked and holes in place.
My next project might need to be a traditional plastic kit ;-)
I used to go to bed , pleased with what i had done, now i lay awake worrying about what i have done
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
I seem to go to bed pondering how I am going to solve the next hurdle or problem. The Pak 40 was challenging in odd ways. The 251 I am building is really pushing it a little bit. Build some, paint some, figure out what and HOW I am going to paint it. My poor single bottle of Testor's Rott Braun (RAL 8012) is only about 1/4 left in it. I have ordered some Vallejo RAL 8012 which is also a primer, so that "should" solve the problem, we shall see.I used to go to bed , pleased with what i had done, now i lay awake worrying about what i have done
You wouldn't have it any other way, challenging that is. 
The first time you showed the Abarth reference photos, I thought they were your model! I almost fell out of my chair!
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
You have to be careful as clear can mean gloss and will still show up. I got dinged for glue on my Me410 landing gear at Chattanooga.
Congrats! That's what you worked for all those years mate! 
paddy
Well-known member
I would love to see someone else have a go at one of these, it would give a bench mark. Is this a silk purse from a sows ear..or sows ear from a silk purse 
Normally i would not be very happy with thisso far but actually its a learning curve and i do feel i am gaining some good info from this, which was the aim of the build. I think you could double the detail with wiring and brake lines etc and i am making notes
For me there is a huge difference between reaching my limitations and the kits limitations and these kits really give you no excuse for not doing better with each build, i know i will always be blaming myself rather than the kit which is what you want and makes me want to try again.
My notes so far read
Make sure everything is straight,... from the box all the white metal is bent, its very soft.
Pay more attention to the paint , metal doesnt take paint as well as plastic and its nowhere near as durable when handling.
If you have to spring anything to get it to line up, even half a mm , you must realign it so its correct before you glue it. If you dont, unlike plastic, it will pull things our of square or simply unstick by the next day.
Plan ahead and when you are completely happy...plan ahead a bit more
Look at every part to see where you can add detail.
I cant go much further with the front at this stage although we are lacking oil cooler and plumbing
Normally i would not be very happy with thisso far but actually its a learning curve and i do feel i am gaining some good info from this, which was the aim of the build. I think you could double the detail with wiring and brake lines etc and i am making notes
For me there is a huge difference between reaching my limitations and the kits limitations and these kits really give you no excuse for not doing better with each build, i know i will always be blaming myself rather than the kit which is what you want and makes me want to try again.
My notes so far read
Make sure everything is straight,... from the box all the white metal is bent, its very soft.
Pay more attention to the paint , metal doesnt take paint as well as plastic and its nowhere near as durable when handling.
If you have to spring anything to get it to line up, even half a mm , you must realign it so its correct before you glue it. If you dont, unlike plastic, it will pull things our of square or simply unstick by the next day.
Plan ahead and when you are completely happy...plan ahead a bit more
Look at every part to see where you can add detail.
I cant go much further with the front at this stage although we are lacking oil cooler and plumbing
Looks like this would be a good candidate for a mess of Scale Hardware nuts and bolts to make all that suspension live.
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
Paddy it also looks like the sway bar for the suspension acquired a bend on one side. The left side of the vehicle. (would be on the drivers side here in the US)
paddy
Well-known member
The problem is Paul this white metal is basically solder so imagine 1.5mm solder on a real and you see that even putting the model down on an unever surface will bend things like the sway bar. It will be a case of going round everything when its finished and adjusting things.
My worry before i even started was that the wishbone suspension might not hold the weight of the car, it might need a support in the middle of the underside out of sight to take the weight off the wheels.. Remember the motorcycle kits wont even stand on their own stands in fact i did buy some balsa last week to make some wooden blocks to chock under the frames in my display case.
My worry before i even started was that the wishbone suspension might not hold the weight of the car, it might need a support in the middle of the underside out of sight to take the weight off the wheels.. Remember the motorcycle kits wont even stand on their own stands
in fact i did buy some balsa last week to make some wooden blocks to chock under the frames in my display case.
