Ferrari F50

Front wheels. Photo-etched brake pads coloured with Sharpie permanent marker and sanded back with file in a circular motion to reveal metal and brake wear. Brake callipers painted with black Sharpie paint pen. Middle section painted with Sharpie metallic silver and gold pens. Not too happy about the pen strokes. Don't own any paints or brushes at this stage.  

 

Front wheels and suspension. All done with Sharpie black paint pen and Sharpie gold and silver metallic pens.  

Rear wheels and suspension. All done with Sharpie black paint pen and Sharpie gold and silver metallic pens. Still don't own any paints at this stage.  

Went and bought some paints and brushes. Housing done with one coat of Tamiya acrylic flat black and then one coat of Tamiya enamel gun metal. Spider legs done with Sharpie black paint pen and detailed with Sharpie metallic gold and silver pens. Hobby Design photo-etched Ferrari logo superglued on.  

Engine block done with Sharpie metallic silver pen followed by a thin enamel gun metal wash. Enamel paint was thinned with turps. 

 

 

Photo-etched Ferrari logo superglued onto cylinder head. 

Photo-etched Ferrari logo superglued onto cylinder head. 

Sunvisers and wipers painted in three coats of Tamiya acrylic flat black. Handbrake painted in acrylic flat black with the handle painted in enamel gun metal. Roll bars painted in Tamiya enamel gun metal.  

Steering wheel painted in three coats of Tamiya acrylic flat black with pin holes poked into the grips and bolts detailed with Sharpie metallic silver pen. The centre is coated in Tamiya smoke (clear black) to give it a gloss coating for the decal. I plan on coating this section with a clear flat coat once the decal has been placed. 

Indicators/levers painted in three coats on Tamiya flat black. Gear shift coloured with Sharpie metallic silver pen and then coated in a Tamiya enamel gun metal wash to tone down the silver and give it more of a metal look.  

Pedals coloured with Sharpie black paint pen and photo-etched parts superglued around the base. A little messy with the glue here.  

Photo-etching wrapped on the back of the pedals levers.  

Pedals coloured with Sharpie black paint pen and then sanded back to reveal metal while keeping the little holes black to represent the non-slip rubber.  

Completed pedals. Photo-etched pedals superglued on.  

Exhaust glued, but not yet painted.  

Exhaust painted in an enamel gun metal wash and then detailed in a Tamiya X-16 (purple gloss) wash and Tamiya X-26 (clear orange). The enamel not having fully cured in some places mixed with the acrylic to create black/grey spots which I think adds to the overall effect.  

 

 

 

 

Cooling fans painted in Tamiya acrylic flat black with the fans painted in Tamiya enamel gun metal and then fan brackets detailed with a black Sharpie permanent marker.  

Photo-etched grills superglued to the back of the fans.  

Photo-etched grill superglued to the front fan. 

The instructions said to paint the cockpit in semi-gloss black, when the F50 is actually carbon fiber throughout. The decals provided only cover the centre console and the doors so I combined Tamiya silver chrome and black acrylics to create a carbon effect paint. I then added the centre console decal and coated everything with Tamiya smoke. The floor mats are the photo-etched pieces first coated in a metal gloss black paint and primer in one then a coat of Tamiya flat clear acrylic to bring back that rubber look and then superglued on top of the original molded mats.  

Handbrake installed and knobs detailed with a toothpick. Gearbox to come. Seats to come. Seat backing colour matched with the dashboard, which I'll discuss more with that photo.  

The dashboard. My Achilles heel. A part I thought would be easy has caused me nothing but drama. I started out painting the top air con fans and front strip with flat black. I then taped the centre and painted the rest in the recommended colour of 7 : 1 middle grey : purple. It was a horrible colour and it looked nothing like the real thing. It just wasn't going to cut it. I decided to mix my own colour of 6 : 8 : 2 neutral grey : purple : black and go over it again. Glad I did until I realised I'd gone over the fans on top and the paint seeped through the tape on the front. I ended up going back over them again with flat black, but it ended up on the grey part so I gave that another coat, but in doing so couldn't get a clean look without large brush strokes which got on the fans again. After this frustration I went over the fans with a fine tipped Sharpie along with the bleed on the front. I then went over the front in clear gloss for the decal to stick to, avoiding the fans and knobs as best as I could because I wanted to keep them looking flat. The speedometer decal ripped, but the front one went on okay. I wasn't happy with the colour of the front decal so I coated it in Tamiya smoke, but ruined the front fans in the process. The paint stripped and I had to go over them with the fine Shaprie. The grey ended up being way too glossy so I coated it in a clear flat and finished it off with the photoetched logo.  

Another view of the dashboard with detailed knobs and buttons done using flat white and flat red acrylics and a toothpick.  

Completed dashboard. Not too happy with how this turned out, but I guess it could have been worse. Put a clear coat on the speedometer to make it look less like a paper sticker.  

Seats taped down the middle (this part will be painted red) and coated in three coats of Tamiya flat black. The instructions suggested to paint these parts in semi-gloss black, but I felt that the matt finish would look more like leather. I'm happy with the results. Seatbelt buckle detailed with Tamiya flat red. 

Seats coated with Tamiya flat red. Unfortunately the black paint seeped through the taped area and was very hard to remove, so I attempted to cover it up. Eight coats later and I'm still seeing black through the red. I'm happy with the result considering, but sad that I lost a bit of detail in the process.  

Photo-etched lumbar adjustments superglued onto the side of the seats.  

Another view of the seats. You can see the carbon effect on the sides (and back) that I achieved by mixing flat black and silver chrome acrylics.  

Photo-etched seatbelts, sprayed in gloss black paint and primer in one and then coated in a clear flat acrylic. Buckles sanded back to reveal original metal. These are way too short to put anywhere that makes sense so I'm now looking at possibly replacing them with seatbelt material and new buckles. 

Completed doors. These were a pain to do. The decals ripped all over the place so I masked those areas with Tamiya gold leaf acrylic and a very thin brush and then coated the whole thing in a few coats of smoke to better match the real thing. The carbon fiber decals in the Tamiya set look nothing like the F50. I'm happy with the result. The photo doesn't do them justice.  

Engine, exhaust, rear wheels and suspension cemented together. Just waiting on cabling to arrive in the mail for the next step.  

 

 

Carbon fiber decals added and coated in Tamiya smoke. The middle section had additional layers of smoke to further darken the tint on that section as this closer to how the real thing looks. Photo-etched F50 logo, plates and pump nozzle superglued on. To my surprise the Hobby Design photoetched kit didn't come with this horse logo so I had to use the metal sticker decal from the Tamiya kit. Bolts painted on with Tamiya silver chrome and a pin.  

Coated body parts in Tamiya grey primer. First time using primer. Didn't realise how dusty it would get. Regret using the box to spray as it just created a dust bowl.  

First coat of primer after wet sanding with 800 grit. There were lots of rough surfaces that needed to be sanded back, most likely due to lack of technique and spray back. The section with the fuel pump lid actually snapped in half so is out of shot being cemented back together.  

I sprayed a second coat primer using Tamiya white fine primer. This stuff goes on so differently to the grey primer. It is more paint-like and didn't leave as rough a surface. This is after another wet sand with 800 grit.  

Some of the plastic was revealed again due to me missing a few sections of mold lines after the first coat... d'oh!  

A second coat of fine white primer (third in total) and another wet sand with fine buffer pads/sticks. Looking good and feeling smooth. Ready for paint now... gulp! Parts are lightly placed together for the photo. No glue yet.  

Black parts sprayed in Tamiya TS semi-gloss black. Two dry/mist coats and two wet coats. Came out so much better than expected. Such an even and smooth finish. Feeling proud. Unfortunately that part on the left snapped again so I will need to glue that back together again. 

Bottom turned out perfect with the Tamiya lacquer spray, but then I tried putting a panel wash on it and it was ruined. I ended up having to remove the paint and redoing it with a brush and a mix of gloss and flat acrylic blacks because the can of spray ran out. Not happy, but I can live with it. Vents detailed with silver metallic sharpie and gunmetal enamel.  

Body was painted in Tamiya TS-8. Came out great in some places and terrible in others. A lot of this was my lack of experience with a spray can. Touched up mistakes with some additional red lacquer paint and brushes. Can see some brush marks on the front, but it'll do for a first model. 

Front bumper turned out terribly. Not sure why. Will be stripping this and redoing it. 

 

 

This section snapped but will glue it back together later in the build due to its position in the model and the fragile section of the breakage.  

Too much glue when sticking these pieces in. Was a shame as these parts were looking good.  

This part was touched up with a brush and lacquer red, but some of the brush marks are visible.  

Some drip marks on the underside of the spoiler. 

Underside of this piece sprayed in semi gloss black lacquer and touched up with black lacquer and a brush. Not the best job I'll admit. 

Seatbelts! Ended up ordering the Scale Production Gurtset Motorsport set. 

You can see the issues I had with the door decals in this shot. Not looking forward to doing the decals on the wheel arches. 

The manual said to paint the engine bay in chrome silver, but there was another modeller who used heat shrink instead and it looked really good. I had some insulation tape that looked very similar so gave it a go. Happy with the results. 

Insulation tape used here too. 

Had the metal photoetching and had planned on cutting out the clear plastic, but in attempting to cut the brittle plastic it snapped so I gave up and glued it back together. The inside is coloured chrome silver with a metallic sharpie. 

Superglued the metal photoetching to the plastic piece.  

Edges painted with black paint pen. Inside painted in flat black acrylic. 

Back of rear light enclosures first painted in black and silver metallic to give the carbon look like the interior, but I mixed up gloss black with flat black. I think the result actually looks pretty good, despite not being accurate to the F50.  

Combined a section of the metal photoetching to the plastic wiper as I felt this looked more like a real wiper.  

Black panel liner added to wheels for a little more realism. Clear gloss acrylic brushed onto the tyre walls to look like tyre shine and create more contrast between the worn tread.  

Tyres painted in a wash of white, rubber black and orange and then lightly sanded to give worn tyre look.  

Close up of the engine detail. Those metal wires are guitar strings.  

Hose and clamps added to engine. 

 

Overall engine with hoses and clamps added. Waiting for distributor cables to arrive to complete this.  

More insulation tape.  

Panel lining added with Tamiya panel liner and black lacquer paint with a toothpick.  

Original distributors were sanded down and removed.  

New distributors and ignition wires were created using MFH detailing wire inserted into 1mm sections of hollowed out electrical wire.  

Wires were then attached using superglue.  

 

Engine bay competed 

 

 

Water bottle made from thin cardboard, coated in white lacquer, dipped in an acrylic clear blue wash and weathered with Tamiya weathering set D.  

Boot/trunk detailing complete. Battery and wiring is all after market. Bottles were made from scratch.  

Tubing made from scratch with wire wound into a spring, covered in Teflon tape, painted in pva glue and painted in rubber black acrylic paint.  

PE coloured and added to clam shell 

Went back and chromed the gear stick with a Molotow liquid chrome marker. 

Seemed a shame to have to hide all that detail in the boot... so I chopped the car in half. This way I can display the model with the boot open. A little touching up on the body to go now. 

Clear coat done! 1 x mist coat + 2 x wet coat using Tamiya TS-13 spray  

 

 

Engine in place! To say this was difficult is an understatement. PE detail added to wheel arch.  

Headlights fitted and decals on 

 

Custom number plate backing, made from styrene pill packaging and painted gloss black.  

Looks much better than just the decal sticker on the red. Unfortunately the rear grill didn't slide all the way in. 

Bumper glued to body with PE grill and lights fitted. 

I have gone for a permanent engine display look by glueing two firm wires to each side of the boot, mimicking the actual hood props of the F50. 

 

I'm going to leave the boot permanently open to display the after market detail I have added. Just need to glue it in place.  

 

Bonnet glued in place and propped up with a pin while it dries.  

COMPLETED!!