1/18 Maisto Ford GT90 rebuilt and improved

[[KRAFTIG]]

Well done sir

[spikyone]

Beautiful work, I always get a little excited when I see you've updated your build threads!

[Zondaracer]

Beautiful work, I always get a little excited when I see you've updated your build threads!

Yes sorry for the delay. But I have to divide between hobbies. Summertime I work on my kitcar, when it gets too cold to work in the garage I switch back to indoor stuff as modelmaking. Probably will work on modelcars until April/May so this car will be finished and a new project started.

[spikyone]

Beautiful work, I always get a little excited when I see you've updated your build threads!

Yes sorry for the delay. But I have to divide between hobbies. Summertime I work on my kitcar, when it gets too cold to work in the garage I switch back to indoor stuff as modelmaking. Probably will work on modelcars until April/May so this car will be finished and a new project started.

No need to apologise. I know that for most people that post here, modding is something they do for their own enjoyment in their spare time, so I genuinely appreciate you (and everyone else) taking the time to share progress. I spent an age reading your Zonda build thread and the GT90 looks like it will be just as impressive

[[KRAFTIG]]

Beautiful work, I always get a little excited when I see you've updated your build threads!

Yes sorry for the delay. But I have to divide between hobbies. Summertime I work on my kitcar, when it gets too cold to work in the garage I switch back to indoor stuff as modelmaking. Probably will work on modelcars until April/May so this car will be finished and a new project started.

What's the progress on the Kitcar?

[Zondaracer]

Beautiful work, I always get a little excited when I see you've updated your build threads!

Yes sorry for the delay. But I have to divide between hobbies. Summertime I work on my kitcar, when it gets too cold to work in the garage I switch back to indoor stuff as modelmaking. Probably will work on modelcars until April/May so this car will be finished and a new project started.

What's the progress on the Kitcar?

That's an ongoing process. Here's the link of my kitcar thread:
http://midasownersclub.co.uk/forums/vie ... =14&t=2626
Did lots of stuff this year, from suspension to engine, interior etc. Todo list is still 1 A4 sheet (stuff keeps breaking as well). Did 1400km this year and had loads of fun with it. Next year hope to do more interior work and get an ECU working for the ignition. I wanted injection as well, but am now hooked on the SU carb. These things are so clever and hard to beat for power with their ingenious venturi system. Makes a great noise as well.

[[KRAFTIG]]

Now that's different. It's the same thing you are doing in 1:18. Just things weigh more and cost more LOL

[Zondaracer]

Update 11 december 2016
Small update.
Suspension is painted. Everything is painted black, discs silver and the calipers slightly duller silver.


Wiring and tubes on the engine finished. The 2 ignition modules took more time than I expected.


Engine and gearbox painted in dark blue and bolts highlighted.

Coming week I'll be making the tubing to the oil cooler, although not much will be visible when the body is on:


The engine bay was slightly changed, on the RH side I modified the stainless steel tanks to mimic the present situation. Also a cluster of 3 instruments on the LH side. On the engine the GT90 decal on the oil filler cap was placed. The front fire wall is heat shielded.I did a quick check with the body and interior. Nice thing of this model is the large glass area so engine and interior will be quite visible.




You notice the missing exhaust. I am waiting on a new gravity feed airbrush to try a new experiment. I saw a video on Youtube where someone did a fantastic job heatstaining the exhaust. I'll give it a try as soon as my airbrush arrives. In the mean time I am working on the spoiler legs. I am modifying them to the original design, so a bit slimmer and no triangular holes anymore.

[[KRAFTIG]]

LOOKING GREAT SIR! NICE!!

[FrenchToast]

Incredible work!

I've always had a fondness for the GT90. A great design, too often overlooked in my opinion. Considering everything in the nineties (especially from Ford!) looked like a melted blob of clay with some lights, I've always thought of the GT90 as a styling landmark. They really did a great job on it. In short, nice choice!

I finished decaling. The desk jets prints with 1200 dpi were superior over the laser jet prints so used them where possible. Only problem I was having is sealing the desk jet prints with clear coat. The print was laser sharp so to say, but with the clear coat the ink would bleed. I tried 3 or 4 dust layers first but always got a bit of ink running away. But yesterday I went to an artist shop and got home with a spray can for clearcoating paintings. This stuff isn't arylic varnish but an acrylate resin. It smells a bit oily and takes ages to dry, but I was over the moon to discover my small test was succesful. This opens the way for more smaller decals.
I already had done the instruments. Test with white and clear backing showed the clear one with a silver background came out sparkling.
printed sheets on the inkjet:

Might I ask what decal paper you are using? Additionally, what file you are sending to the printer and what paper/quality settings you are using.

I am looking to do the same thing (print gauges).

Last bit are the eye bolts to mount the seat belts on the rear bulkhead:

If all goes well I should be able to finish the cockpit this week (phew). Engine, frame and suspension will be a walk in the park compared to this.

Where did you get those tiny eyebolts? Or did you custom make them.

[Zondaracer]

Incredible work!

Might I ask what decal paper you are using? Additionally, what file you are sending to the printer and what paper/quality settings you are using.

Where did you get those tiny eyebolts? Or did you custom make them.

Thanks for the compliments.
I buy lots of stuff from Ebay, especially ebay.co.uk. These eye bolts I found on http://prime-miniatures.co.uk/. I bought them originally for ends for suspension and shock absorbers (never ending Pagani project), but if you thin them they can serve as eye bolts for the safety harness.
Concerning decals printing, I bought decal paper from a local webshop. White can be used for both laser and inkjet. Clear has to be bought separately, laser and inkjet have their own version. I make separate files of all decals first and then make a sheet in photoshop. I make 1200dpi jpg files because that's the highest my inkjet can take. My color laserprinter can get to 600dpi, not the best for very small decals, but I still am struggling with clear coating the inkjet decals. Often the ink bleeds, although I am learning. I have now a special spray for paintings and use a hairdryer to speed the drying time (so the solvents have less time to dissolve the ink).
This works for me but for perfection or consignments you probably need a dry ink Apollo printer with ink cassettes or have sheets printed by printing companies with such a printer.

[Zondaracer]

Update January 2, 2017
Another small update which completes the build of the engine bay.
I had 3 things on my list: exhaust, spoiler struts and oil lines.

to get the exhaust heat stained I found and used this procedure:
https://youtu.be/OrygDXruGm0
I didn't get all stuff he mentioned, used Tamiya smoke instead of alclad Sephia and Revell clear blue instead of the blue oil paint. I was a bit too careful with the bronze so not much heatstaining, but for now it'll do.





I miscalculated the width of the spoiler struts you can see in the thread above. I wasn't satisfied so modified them into a width closer to the original struts.



Final job were the oil lines. I got the stainless steel hoses and the tubes, but could not find the couplings. I had to make these myself. Good enough for display behind the mesh, but for anything under an opening bonnet this won't do. If anyone has a link to a webshop where I can buy the coupling pieces, please let me know.




Next job is the dome.

[[KRAFTIG]]

Looking good! Thanks for sharing the video.

[StratosWRC]

Couplings are sold in resin by evolution-online on ebay and metal by rbmotion.com

[Zondaracer]

Couplings are sold in resin by evolution-online on ebay and metal by rbmotion.com

Thanks! Bookmarked.