Ferrari 250LM - Update 10-18

[Bernard Kron]

This summer I got the Modelist Russian repack of the Academy Ferrari 250 LM kit off of eBay. It was well priced but actually came from Russia and so it took 6-7 weeks to get to me. According to the seller, due to Covid, there are currently no direct cargo flights between Russia and the USA. Things must be shipped via western Europe and , for ordinary parcel post, it has added a solid 4 weeks or more to shipping time.

It’s a simple kit, a curbside with a well detailed interior and a nicely molded body. It comes with surprisingly convincing molded plastic wire wheels but the cover illustration on the Modelist release is of what appears to be a modern street version of a 250LM with contemporary rear view mirrors and the Drogo “long nose” conversion with the simpler, wider grill opening rather than the more blunt stock short nose with the brake cooling slots on either side of the more squared off grill opening found in the actual kit. The cover car also has silver “Cromodora” Campagnolo cast magnesium wheels. I liked the look of this combo but eventually decided against the considerable work involved in re-profiling and extending the Drogo nose. The modern rear view mirrors don’t float my boat either. But the solid stance and look of the mag wheels appealed to me, especially when I was able to find some reasonably priced and beautifully cast resin aftermarket 1/24th scale resin Ferrari P4 wheels and tires from eBay vendor jwhi7752. They come from the UK under the name Curbside MasterCasterS and, as I say, they are absolutely first rate. Communication was excellent and shipping time very fast so he is highly recommended. He masters and casts his own stuff and has quite a variety of cool automotive items. His eBay UK page has his completion line whereas, since he must pay a pre-item premium for his USA listing he lists fewer items there. Here’s a link to his UK page: www.ebay.co.uk/sch/jwhi7752/m.html?item=143706523517&hash=item217593877d%3Ag%3Ao64AAOSw9SVeIv7A&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

As an historical note, there were several 250 LMs run with the Campagnolo mags, their owners finding that the stiffer wheels improved the handling, especially as racing tires were rapidly getting wider and lower in profile at the time (1963-1965). So my indulgence in them isn’t totally off base.

Below is a summary of the initial work I’ve done. As you can imagine the P4 wheels and tires are a bit oversized for the 250LM body so it took some minor fettling to get them to sit nicely under the fenders, especially since I decided to lower the stance about 2 scale inches. I also chose to finish the wheels in the traditional gold “Cromodora” finish as seen on the p3s and P4s/ It should go nicely with the Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red main body color. In the original kit the grill and vent openings are all molded shut with plastic “grills” filling them. These have all been opened up and will have 60-mesh grills inserted. Other than the Campag wheels the car will be largely stock so this project will be mainly about fit and finish.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[fordrodnkustom]

Interesting for sure B. I'm far from being a ferrarista but I'll be watching this one progress. Looking good so far.

[Jerry55]

What colour you going to paint it Bernard?... and PLEASE don't say RED!... I've always imagined a Yellow or Blue Ferrari.
Yep... I'm always looking at the normal in a different kinda way!...

"Jezza"

[Bernard Kron]

Sept 21, 2020 8:38:12 GMT -5 Jerry55 said:

What colour you going to paint it Bernard?... and PLEASE don't say RED!... I've always imagined a Yellow or Blue Ferrari.
Yep... I'm always looking at the normal in a different kinda way!...

"Jezza"

Oh Dear, Jerry. I did say red in my OP:

"... I also chose to finish the wheels in the traditional gold “Cromodora” finish as seen on the p3s and P4s. It should go nicely with the Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red main body color..."

I've started two other Ferraris and finished one. Neither of them are red - I finished a 250GT SWB and it was silver, and I have a 250 GT California roadster in progress that's Dove Gray. As an historical note, 32 250LMs were built and virtually all of them were delivered in red. Most were raced and there were a few Belgian entrants who ran yellow ones; John Mecom in the USA ran one in his trademark dark metallic blue and white livery; and Bob Grossman, also in the USA, bought the NART 250LM which was red and repainted it silver with red, white and blue racing stripe which was the usual color of his Scuderia Bear entries. Perhaps the most famous non-red 250LM is the Piper-Atwood car which is a medium BRG green. It even has the Campag wheels I'm using, although it has a Drogo long nose. I have seen a few b&w photos of what appear to be white ones, too. But overall these cars tend to be red.

In my case I'm with you. I mainly want to avoid red Fertaris but at some point I need to do a red one, and, with its gold wheels, which combined with the short nose, is not going to resemble any particular historic car, I figured it would be the right candidate. I have a Testa Rossa kit and plan to avoid red for that one. TRs were quite often run in their national colors so there were plenty of silver, white, blue, orange and yellow ones. But this LM's gonna be red....

[Jerry55]

Ok you win Mr B.  .... Paint her red!... I'm sure she'll look gorgeous.

Look forward to seeing more of your builds my friend.

"Jezza"

[Bernard Kron]

Here’s a brief update. The body prep and paint undercoating is complete: Duplicolor white primer and 3 coats of Duplicolor Universal White lacquer. The racing stripes and contrasting nose and rear panel have been masked. I’ll apply an additional coat of the white lacquer as a masking sealer and then apply the Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red main body color. The interior parts have been painted and I’ll work on that while the body paint cures.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Bernard Kron]

Here’s the body painted and unmasked. The trick is to remove the masking tape while the paint is still soft enough not to lift along the edges and yet hard enough to handle and not leave fingerprints. Lacquer paints like the Tamiya I used here harden up enough to handle pretty quickly so I was able tp paint and then unmask within a few hours. It’s always a tense moment because of the inevitable minor flaws which occur. Fortunately there were very few in this case. Now on to the interior and final assembly. I can’t decide whether to include racing numbers and rondels. For sure there will be Ferrari emblems on the fenders and badges, but I’m undecided on whether to go for a full-on competition look, Thoughts?

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Bernard Kron]

After inputs from various followers of these posts I’ve decided to go with the competition look. Here it is with the roundels in place and some “Dunlop” script in front of the rear wheel. I’ve been working with some pretty dried out and brittle decals and finally had to stop until I get or make some replacements. The roundels are Gofer Racing decals and, because they are already in place, and I need to add some layers because they are so transparent, I’ve ordered more. I’ll be making my own period “Shell” and “Magnetti Marelli” logos for the bodywork, and also some Ferrari prancing horse shields because the kit decals are totally shot. Chances are there’ll be numbers, but I must say I like the blank, “ready to race” look. We’ll see…

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[harron68]

A breath of clean air for us! Thanx for posting yet one more interesting model. U are a welcome builder always!

[Bernard Kron]

The interior is completed and additional decals were made and applied to the exterior which is now complete. I added numbers because I decided they add strength and emphasis to the overall look of the car. The numbers were scanned from the original kit decal sheet, which is too old and brittle to salvage. I used them because I like the style of the European font numeral “2” and had trouble sourcing a font to match. The “cavallino” Ferrari shields and the Ferrari badge on the nose are homemade decals assembled from web images. This is also the case for the “Shell” and “Magnetti Marelli” decals on the body sides. The decals applied over the red areas are all two layers, a white background layer and a color layer. This is to hold up against the strong dark body color. The “Dunlop Racing” lettering on the tires is from IndyCals.

The interior is largely stock with additional details added. The door panels have been cut out as on the 1:1 cars, with blue wire latch pulls added. The decals for the gauges and the horn button were restored using the kit decals as guides and web images where needed. The racing harnesses are decals from IndyCals.

I’m very close to final assembly with the lights, trim details, foiling and grill mesh left to tackle.

Thanks for lookin’,
B.

[mack2856]

Looking good B.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Mack!

A small update. This model requires a fair amount of detail work, especially with things like the lights and trim. I got the fine mesh detail painted and installed. The rear mesh and the mesh for the hood vents are painted body color. The grill is the plain stainless steel color of the 60 mesh I used. In picture below there’s a small Cavalino prancing horse metal decal installed, but it’s so small it barely can be seen and I’ll probably remove it. Most 250 LMs had plain grills anyway. The taillights have been painted with Molotow Chrome and transparent red. Molotow needs to dry for a good 24 hours in order to hold its shine and stand up to any handling so final clean up and assembly, which is all that’s left at this point, will have to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks for lookin’,
B.

[Bernard Kron]

This project is completed except for final cleanup and detailing. The picture below is a composite of its current state. The trim rings around the headlights are incredibly fiddly and fragile photoetch pieces held in place with canopy cement. I have to clean up any residue on the fenders near them. After two or three hours of struggle getting them into place and secured, I really should step away from the model for a day or two before I do that. Then I can look for flaws and details that need attention with a clear mind… In general the body picked up some dirt and residue during final assembly. My next post will be as a completed model.

Thanx to all who have followed along,
B.

[Jerry55]

nice work so far Bernard....

[mack2856]

It came out of the oven just fine B, me like.