Italari 1/12 Fiat Mefistofeles

[Old Wombat]

 

[jcf]

Meths/methylated spirits/denatured alcohol isn't a petrochemical (although some formulations contain small percentages of petrochemicals as the denaturant aka the poison) but isopropyl alcohol is.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well you probably think this is dead but no, I never really give up on anything, got it back out of storage, first thing I noticed I didn't store it very well.



Both levers snapped off (no biggie but annoying to say the least)

As I've been informed by von trips most of the rivet detail was added after the alterations post run and there are very few pics pre run so who's to say the rivets were even there, I've tried to make it not to shiny (surprising how difficult that is, I didn't want satin just not super glossy like modern paint jobs) I'm happy with the finish at the moment.

Anyway here it is at the moment the ass is raised 10 mill added 10 mill skirts.

[kpnuts]

Here's what I've done today, the trouble with stopping a build and coming back several months later is you can't remember where you got to, after hours of scanning the instructions (well an hour or so) (another reason to follow the instruction order) I've decided now since I have no idea where I was upto I will go by the instructions now, anyway I've fixed the broken levers (not drilled them out as I think that is why they broke off in the first place)
I think the decals on the rear are very white any suggestions how to subtlety dull them down or something, they do look out of place.



Incidentally this must have been huge, I've put it on top of the 1/8 traction avant and there is little to choose length wise between them, considering the Fiat is 1/12 the actual thing must have been huge,I mean the traction was not small by today's standards and was a 4 seater.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well here is a little update (been wrapping Christmas presents today and will be for the next week or so, so not much modeling time)

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is tonight's bit

[jcf]

Indeed it was large, although interestingly the frame was only lengthened by 17 inches in order to accommodate
the 21.7 litre, 6-cylinder FIAT A-12 airship engine in place of its original 18 litre four-banger.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well now the big Citroen is done I've promised myself I will finish this to add another stalled build to the finished pile.
 I'm not sure why I put the engine in the chassis as it was not finished there is some pipework I hadn't added as you can see from this first pic



I really like the wheels on this kit, although they are a bit too shiney.

I think they look better now.

[kpnuts]

Hi all here's the next update the four breather holes in the hood were added after the speed run so I've filled them


The next problem I thought I might have was that the name mefistofeles is in black and with a black car obviously I would need to make a negative of it, however luckily enough the name was added after the run so it is not a problem after all.
The lettering was stark white so I've dulled it down a bit



Need to do a bit more research apparently it may have had 2 seats in the record run.

[Brian da Basher]

I really like that big FIAT on the front grille!

Brian da Basher

[kpnuts]

Hi all there would have been quite a big update on this, I'm starting to wonder if there is somthing wrong with me, I dropped it (this must be a dozen I've dropped in the last year) thing is I don't know why I dropped it I was about to put a screw in and next thing I knew it was on the floor (fortunately not too much damage ) but some thin bits of plastic may need replacing with copper wire, I'm starting to worry maybe I've got dropsy or something.

[Old Wombat]

Can't hurt to go see your GP.

Loss of fine motor control can have a number of easily treated causes, or simply be a case of small parts, big model & not holding it firmly enough for fear of damaging bits.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well I've fixed it up a bit, here's the next update.

[Claymore]

Very nice work indeed!  :)

I find that loss of motor control and dropsy are less to do with any medical condition and more to do with the abnormally high gravity generated by the singularity carpet that exists directly under my desk.  Whilst it is usually only vital, one-off parts that cross that damned rug's event horizon, I have, on occasion, seen entire models sucked into the beast never to return! 

[Old Wombat]

Insanely awesome! If there's any damage, I can't see it. :) :)

[kpnuts]

Hi all here's an update on this, I think the kit exhaust is toooo shiney,

Sooo, mask up the exhaust straps

Spray with hairspray then sprinkle talcum powder on it

Respray with hairspray and then sprinkle on some salt

I think it looks much more realistic now

[kpnuts]

Hi all, well after CC's kind ref pics I've amended the exhaust to look more like the pics.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well the world record version had two seats so the co driver could use the pump to increase the fuel/air mix.
Here is my first attempt at the extra seat.



As you can plainly see it's rubbish, this was made with das modelling clay and I tried a few times with this (including trying to make a mould of the original but none were any good so I tried a different approach, i heated some 2 mil plastic and wrapped it round the seat, let that cool then heated some more and pushed inside that which (although not an exact copy gave me the shape of the seat) I then sanded and cut the sides to suit.
So here is the next version


And here they are installed, just a few more bits to do now.

[GTX_Admin]

 :)

[Old Wombat]

Looking sweet! :)

[kpnuts]

Hi all well it's finally finished (I seem to have very little time to model or even check out the forums lately, life is so hectic)
Anyway for those that didn't follow the build this is not the red version in the museum it's the Ernest Eldridge world record run version, the tail had to be raised and the skirt lowered also an extra seat for the co-driver had to be added all else is out of the box, I've seen some amazing builds of this kit where an amazing amount of detail has been added, I'm no where near as patient as that or talented so here is my version of this amazing kit. It truly is an amazing kit, I have plans for another one but it will be totally radical and nothing like the actual car, anyway that's in the future. Here are the pics.












I think I'm going to concentrait on finishing some of the models I've started to clear the bench for October's ducati(the missus surprised me further saying I could also get the upgrade kits taking the cost of it to nearly 700 quid)

[GTX_Admin]

 :)

[elmayerle]

Beautiful piece of work!  Quite inspiring.

[Old Wombat]

Brilliant job!

[andonio64]

Indeed a masterpiece!