The X-Clinic: Two more ladies - Ferrari Monza SP1

While I wait for the Pininfarina decals to arrive so I can definitively end Aurelias, I get myself into another project, I hope it will be much faster than the previous one. This time, another pair of now younger italian ladies: two Monza SP1. The Bburago is rather decent but there are a handful of details that could be improved, namely:

• Add photoetched logos and letterings;
• Paint the interior of the panels and engine compartment matt black;
• Paint black the strips around the cockpit;
• Add metal grilles at the front;
• Add brake details;
• Sand the tread of the tires;
• Paint the bottom of the passenger compartment in a metallic tone;
• Detail the interior (paint the pedals aluminum, open the ventilation outlets, apply clear coat to the gauge cluster, paint black the seat backs, etc.);
• Replace the plastic belts with a fabric and photoetched belt harness (Tremonia);
• Detail the engine (cut the bottom of the mold for greater depth, paint red the valve covers, add wiring and clamps, etc.);
• Flock the luggage compartment;
• Add shock absorbers to the boot lid;
• And everything else that comes by!

This is what I started with:




Everything stripped down:

The engine and the carbon fibre "beauty" panels ann in the same mould:

The huge front grille hides a few (small) openings:

The smaller brake cooling vents:

The seats with the plastic seatbelt harness (clearly taken from Maisto's parts bin):

The all-black plastic cockpit:

I'll remove the seatbelt fixation points and touch up the "carbon fibre" at the back:

The car's luggage space is lined with an extremely thin carpet so I actually considered just spraying it with matt black but the owner of one of the cars prefered it was flocked throughout so... fluffy it is!


Door(s):

Even Ferrari uses fake exhaust tips...

I might as well touch-up the suspension arms too:

First thing I did after disassembly was to take out the ugly tampos with the Ferrari prancing horse and lettering:

The engines:

Here I cut out the bottom of the moulding surrounding the valve covers, so that it gains a bit more depth:

Here I carved the two air outlets which in the real car have meshes so... I added mesh too:

The brake discs are "carbonized" and added a bit of detail on the fixation plate and clamps. Also, blacked out the hollowed-out parts on the brake callipers, through which one should see the brake pads. The rear callipers are awful but I still haven't found a proper donor for those so, for the time being, I'll have to live with these:



Added a couple of layers of clear coat, so that the carbon fibre patters stands out a bit on the steering wheels:

Painted the centre part of the air inlets, so that when I add the mesh it has a bit more depth::

This is the part that bores me the most, masking the panels to paint them black on the inside. Took me 2 days (well, two evenings) to create these "mummies":



Sanded tyre thread (before and after):

Added a bit of colour to the cockpit "cocoon". I had a "stainless steel" rattle can lying around, which had the perfect hue I was looking for:

Engine valve covers painted red (Ferrari 514). Now it's time to add all the sensor cables and spark plug leads:


More news soon!