The X-Clinic: Ferrari GTO (twin ladies on the table) - FINISHED!

jazzy426 said:

pretty sure Hotwheels inherited the same mold from Bburago hence the similarities. Safe to say GTO is the holy grail for most of us here

Click to expand...

Yeah, me too... pretty sure it's the same mouldings, just added colour and stuff.

Well, I've been away for a while but that doesn't mean I've been still. For now, the most of the work I did was just correcting mould lines and imperfections and improve some parts before paint. Nevertheless, I've already sanded the tire surface and sprayed the wheel centres with some aluminium paint and, since I was at it, drilled the hols for the tire inflation valves I'll be adding and, when the paint was dry, aded the Tremonia photoetched parts that close the centre lock nut Bburago always forgot to shut.:











Another thing I never understood is why Bburago always insisted in chrome plating the instrument panels and indicatos stack. Therefore, matt black paint does the trick:



Using some good-old head pins for the new gearshift levers is always a good solution, in this case with the heads painted glossy black to mimick that nice baquelite shifter:



I've just got started witt the "new" disc brakes, will be weathering them a bit so that they look more "used":



At the bottom of the chassis, I also starded adding some detail...



... like the suspension joints...



... the rear suspension uprights...



... or the twin aluminium fuel tanks:



At the rear I removed the grilles from the original plastic moulding and added some much finer PE mesh grille which I previously sprayed matt black:







The upper half of the shell (including seats and dashboard) got a full matt black respray, so that I can now start adding the red trim accents, full floor flocking and all the other goodies:





The dashboard, already with the steering wheel and gauges refitted. Also, added a key hole where I'll be fitting an actual key:



The complete rear upright assembly:



It almost looks like an Elite like this, no?

I've been quiet but that doesn't mean I've been still. In fact, I took the chance to finish up some "re-retouch" projects that were lingering all over the table in order to focus on these two ladies. First of all, the instrument panel is now painted black and no longer looks like a toy (IMO):



Then came the painkstaking job of painting the red leather stripes on the seats. I always loved this colour combo and I think it really makes it pop out! A small comparo here (sorry for the lame cellphone photo quality):



After 4 days of work, this is how the interior looks like:











Before I get to apply the carpets on the interior, I retouched some elements from under the front bonnet, namingly the coolant vase and the power steering elements:



Also gave a bit of colour to the rear suspension tower mount, like the original:



Stay tuned!

A few more updates: at the front the spare wheels are ready and include the inflation valve. All it's lacking is the strap to keep it in place.



On the centre console you can already find the photoetched parts for the gear selector H-gate and other knobs and switches. I took the chance to add a small chrome "cavallino" behind the gate, just like the original:



The exhaust manifold and piping, as the twin turbos, central wastegate and intercoolers have been given a more correct colour combination:

Mclaren_F1 said:

Really awesome stuff!!! Looks amazing so far and can't wait to see it progress even further.

Click to expand...

Here are a few more: just finished carpeting the interior and, instead of just flocking away, I opted to do this "old school" and just like the original car, with different pieces of velvet cloth glued to the surfaces. Also the final effect is much more uniform and realistic IMO.

Ora bem, os habitáculos já estão alcatifados como deve ser. Eu decidi fazer à "old school" e em vez de flockar tudo a eito, preferi alcatifar tal como no modelo original, com recurso a tapetes individuais que fui colando pelas superfícies. Acho que assim fica um efeito mais realista e aproximado do real:







Then I added the fabric seat belts with photoetched buckles from Tremonia. The kit instructions ilustrated the bealts loose but I prefer them nice and tightly stowed:



The intake and exhaust manifolds are pretty much finished, after comes the hardest part: finishing the engine block, fitting all cables, piping and linkages... and making it all fit underneath the bonnet!

Darn... now I've noticed I've been over 2 months since I made no updates! This kind of interventions is always painfully slow for me and they often get paused by another project I decide to undertake while others are still unfinished and this was no exception for I decided to give a quick touch-up on my Jada Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept. I don't know how's with you guys but I often "loose steam" in th e middle of my projects, as if I found still so many things to do that I loose my nerve and have a "lag" period when progress is slim to none. And this, aided by an increase of work load at the office, some time away for work and caught a virus amidst didn't really help. But now I'm back on it (yeah, the Corvette is nearly finished) and I think it will be downhill from now on.

Now that I've bought a new airbrush, I can move forward a little more. First were the engines, on which i already added the ignition wiring:



[/url

The transmission belt covers were painted in a gray slightly different from the aluminum of the rest of the engine and added the fastening screws. The mould cannot be closed because you always have to open the engine in half to be able to install the intake and exhaust manifolds, which in turn have to go through the chassis, that is, everything must be in place. And, when everything is in place, you can no longer access that zone (which at the end will also be very difficult to see at all). The crankshaft pulley is in place, only the water pump and all the driving belts need to be put in place:



Some units had the gearbox "Ferrari" lettering painted red, as is the case of chassis #58329 that I am trying to represent for me:

[/url

Test-fitting the whole assembly. The intercoolers still have to be worked on and now comes the most time consuming part: wiring and piping. Then lets see if everything fits under the hood!



The taillights are no longer all orange:



And the rear axles have already been shortened as much as possible. Here comes what had to be cut:



A small test-fit with the chassis and the shortened driveshafts to see how the car "sits". I think it's flawless, to narrow it more than this I had to file the rims narrower... or the rear shock absorbers!











The taillights in place:









The new photoetched Tremonia mesh grilles:



The other cheek:





The sun visor strip is also done. Now I have to figure out how to disguise these microscopic bubbles without having to strip it all down... again!



The rear side windows also have blacked-out areas:



The photoetched window frames are also painted flat black and will have the windows added just prior to adding them on the doors:



Hope the next updates won't take so long!

A bit more stuff done. Front brakes now have new discs (which are pretty much galvanized steel washers sanded down in order to look "used") and, using Légende Miniatures' resin callipers (half callipers, in fact), I built the complete set for the front assembly:





When in place, added some flexible nose:



The engine when sufficiently ready to go into the rear subframe and add the remaining pipes and cables. Here it sat with water pipes, alternator and AC compressor belts. The water pump belt will only be put when the engine is laid finaly in the frame:









The rear brakes will receive a slightly different treatment. I used the existing mould and applied aluminium tape on both sides, which were later sanded in order to lend the same "worn" look as the front brakes. The callipers will only be installed when the rear subframe is closed (and since the uprights are a bit too large, I'll only use half callipers:





More piping, in this case the turbo oil drains to the oil pan and from the oil pan to the rear radiator:



Injector lines:



Fuel feed lines:





Some extra bits and pieces under the front bonnet:





Now both engines are already lying on their respective subframes. I actually thought about building the fuel tanks but the exhaust manifolds are just too big. No problem:



All cables are in place:





Test-fit of the complete rear subframe. Looking nice!



Heat shields for the air intakes are made from thin plastic shrouded with aluminium tape. In the meanwhile I'm finishing the air filters and turbo intake manifolds:



On the underside, you can find all lubrication lines for the turbos, handbrake cables, gearbox linkage, etc. Here are only missing the brake lines, wich will be put in place when the rear callipers are in place:







It's almost there...!

Final stretch. The chassis are now closed... and rolling!



Under the front bonnets, the spare wheels are now fixed by leather straps and I took the chance to add a radiatos, which can bee seen when th lid is open:









Dashboards are in place too:





The gearshift levers are also put in place. In this case, mine (Lauda's) has a different handle because the original was aluminium instead of the standard baquelite:



Complete engines, including air filters (which aren't really going to be visible but I like to know they're there):





Now it's all about the bodywork. All it's missing are the logo decals and photoetchings, windows and window frames, photoetched windshiled wipers and slap their respective licence plates so that I can send them home!

Hi folks, sorry for my disappearance but I haven't had much time on my hands lately. Nonetheless, I still managed to find a bit to finish these two ladies, since it's been almost a year now!

All there was to make "under the skin" was done so I aptly dressed them in their red dresses (these, unlike some other ladies, look better with their clothes on!):





The model on the right is a hommage to the great pilot Niki Lauda. I tried to reproduce the GTO that Enzo himself asked the factory to build after the model was discontinued, specifically to offer the Austrian pilot as a "thank you". This is the one I'll keep for myself; the other I built as an order of a fellow collector, reproducing one of the known Monaco GTOs:





Photoetched indicators and low beams (also from the Tremonia kit, painted with clear paint and varnish):



Trunk:



Rear ends:







Photoetched logos, including the matt black-coloured cavallino, just lige the original model:



I replaced the hood latches by a couple of smaller photoetched ones:



Chrome photoetched Ferrari lettering:



The fine twin-turbo V8 in all its splendor:



The new wheels with centre-locking nuts (of which the hole was covered by a photoetched part by Tremonia), hand-made inflation valves and Légende Miniatures side indicators:



New hood logo and side scudettos decals:





Photoetched windshield wipers (Tremonia) replace the original plastic ones:



Photoetched window frames (part of the Tremonia kit) with acetate sheet for the window. I had to slightly resize the lower part of the frame in order to allow the doors to be fully closed without the frames intruding on the pillars. I've used some Tremonia kits and this really is the only one I used that didn't fit perfectly:





The finished interior, I even included an ignition key with a Ferrari-badged keyring as a bonus:

This is pretty mudh what I did to these ladies:

- New paintjob that includes removal of the gap between the roof panel andthe rest of the bodywork, and deletion of the attachment points of the rear and engine bonnet logos ;
- Inclusion of new photoetched logos at the rear, bonnet and flanks (where the old plastic ones were removed);
- Painting the interior matt black with red trim (including dashboard);
- Flocking all the passenger compartment floor;
- Add 2 Tremonia kits which include window frames, bonnet and rear grilles, windscreen wipers, centre console elements, photoetched pedals and key, and fabric seatbelts;
- Swap the original wheels and tires by larger ones donated by two Bburago F40s and respray them;
- Detaiing the "luggage compartment" including spare wheel and respective fastening strap
- Complete engine detail which includes painting the block in aluminium, valve covers and intake manifolds in red and exhaust pipes in dark gray, as well as inclusion of all necessary hosing and wiring;
- Detail the brake discs to mimic the metallic finish of theoriginal steel vented discs and include brake calipers;
- Complete chassis detail including fuel and braking lines, suspensions, fuel tanks, etc.;
- And everything else that shows up along the way!

Here are the two GTOs finished:



Fica a sessão fotográfica completa e o comparativo "antes e depois" da praxe

BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE



AFTER:





BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:







BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:







ANTES:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:





BEFORE:



AFTER:







BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:







BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:







BEFORE:



AFTER:







BEFORE:



AFTER:





BEFORE:



AFTER:























BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:











BEFORE:



AFTER:















BEFORE:



AFTER:





BEFORE:



AFTER:









BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:





BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE:



AFTER:





BEFORE:



AFTER:













The two ladies:

Alex SZ1996 said:

Wowsers, that is genuinely some outstanding work! Wouldn't mind having that in my collection right now! Well done

Click to expand...

Thank you!