LaFerrari sort of finished

The Tamiya LaFerrari is a fantastic kit and worth every penny of £50.00. However, there are many possibilities of making errors and I hit every one of them. None of the errors are Tamiya's fault as the kit goes together brilliantly. The problems come from completing a very smart model and giving it the pristine finish that it deserves.

The problem, for me, always revolves around using a special paint for the finish as I find that there is always some touching up to do. I use Zero Paints for my car colours as they produce the exact shades required. This means that this Ferrari is painted in Zero Paints "Rosso Corsa 322". Where the real problem comes from is that you cannot brush paint with these paints so any touch up is nigh on impossible given the way that I seem to work (sad smile). The other problem comes from the use of Zero Paints 2K Clear coat which is a two-pack varnish. This requires mixing the varnish, thinners and hardener in the correct proportions. First off, I always make too much and there are dire threats about disposing down the drain so I always have to be creative with the residue. Secondly, it is a faff to make so if you do have to touch up, there is a problem getting a consistent finish. As an example, I ended up having to respray the bonnet (hood) of the car as I, inadvertently, wiped a brush across the surface (the brush was loaded with cleaners so just laid down a slight black smudge). It was OK respraying the red but I shied away from making up some more clear coat. I brush painted several coats of Johnson's Klear and that seemed to do the job. I have used Klear before when glossing up car bodies. It can be brush painted as it is self levelling so never leaves brush marks. Secondly, the layers blend together so the final result of two or three applications is normally fine.

OK, so how is it left. Well, here is the "finished" model. I haven't stuck all of the panels down as there is so much underneath that I want to be able to see all of the work so the photos make it look as though the panels are mis-fitted. I made up a base using two layers of 5mm foam core and used Adobe Illustrator to make a cover.

One little story. there is a metal decal provided for the prancing horse on the rear panel of the car. When trying to apply this, it pinged off into the wild blue yonder, never to be seen again - or so I thought. When cutting out the foam core for the base, I turned one of the layers over to find that the little metal decal was attached to the underside. Where it came from and how it got there, I have no idea. It is now firmly fixed on the car. Mind you, although it was glued to the foam core, it wouldn't fix to the car so I had to apply a little Titebond glue.

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