1/12 Revell Ferrari Testarossa

Gallery Article by Rob Knox on Jan 30 2012

 

I know its a car but who doesn't want to see a Ferrari, especially in 1:12 scale :-)

My last submission to ARC Air was of the Tamiya 1:32 F-16C, and I got some kind words and compliments on the added detailing, which is what I love doing the most, and I did heaps of it on this Ferrari kit so I thought some people may enjoy it!

This (rare) kit has been bashed quite alot in reviews due to some inaccuracies, fit issues and lack of detail for its huge scale (the model is 38cm long or 15 inches), but then again, if you like adding detail as I do, this scale makes for a lot of fun, a lot of paint coats, and many months of work.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

I have done something cool with the pics here.....to do justice for the work I put into the detailing, I thought I would put photos of the real car alongside some of the pics of my model. I hope you don't find many differences :-)

Perhaps the most difficult modification I made was with the brakes: the kit (unbelievably) didn't come with any brake discs or calipers, maybe due to the weight of the model, but that didn't stop me from making discs and calipers completely from scratch with plasticard, while maintaining the ability for the wheels to spin. Too bad it is hard to see through the wheels, but never mind.

The appearance of the wheels with the shiny centre and dull outer part was achieved by 'liquid-masking' the centre of the fully chrome part with Humbrol maskol, then spraying the part with Testors dull coat (best dull coat around I reckon).

The engine was the most fun part.  I used solder, thin steel wire, black electrical cable shielding, Tamiya vinyl tubing, a drinking straw, some guitar string, and some individual strands of Tamiya mesh to complete the wiring throughout the engine bay. The most time consuming jobs were the spark plugs and injector lines.

The little green thing on the right of the engine bay is a painted LED (another thing that should really have been there on the original kit).  The metal clamp rings on the intakes are thin strips of Tamiya foil.

The windows were all improved with some coats of future, as the parts were very scratched when I opened the box.

Additions to the cockpit included door locks and seat belts with receptors. The stuff that exists on the centre console between these receptors on the real car photo, but not on the model, is due to that being a slightly different Testarossa variant.

The emblem on the steering wheel is a bit big because it was a (poorly scaled) raised detail on the model, but I decided to leave it like that and paint the emblem.

Hope you like it, e-mail me if you have any comments.

Rob Knox

Click on images below to see larger images

 

      

Photos and text © by Rob Knox