Extreme Makeover: 550 GT 1/18 | FerrariChat

Extreme Makeover: 550 GT 1/18

Discussion in 'Collectables, Literature, & Models' started by tifosi12, Mar 6, 2004.

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  1. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Oct 3, 2002
    48,581
    @ the wheel
    Full Name:
    Andreas
    Currently working on turning a 550 into its racing version. Here a first sneak preview: I took the car apart and painted the interior black. Added a black racing seat from a F40 and the rollcage from a 360 Challenge. Painted some black trim and drilled air holes into the windows. The picture shows the new side windows I made being held in place while the glue dries.
     
  2. F40

    F40 F1 Rookie

    Apr 16, 2003
    3,230
    AZ
    Looks good so far... Did the windows crack when you drilled them?
     
  3. JOEV

    JOEV F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 6, 2003
    2,825
    Ontario, Canada
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    Joe
    Andreas - looks great (as always). Is this going to be a Prodrive GT? If so which one? If not Prodrive, what livery are you going for?

    Regards,
    Joe
     
  4. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Oct 3, 2002
    48,581
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    Andreas
    Not really. Drilling worked surprisingly fine. The right rear side window cracked a tiny bit because I drilled too close to the edge. So be careful about that, otherwise drilling is no problem.

    Joe, thanks. Yes, this will be the Prodrive one. #58 with a British driver. I saw the original car at Goodwood. I got lucky and found on ebay an entire decal set for the car. It will look great, I'm pretty sure, because the physical changes are not too difficult and with professional decals anything will look great immediately.

    Wheels are from a 360 Challenge car as well. More to follow.
     
  5. model builder

    model builder Formula Junior

    Oct 15, 2003
    315
    Long Island, NY
    Full Name:
    Edward Cervo
    The physical changes are not too difficult?? If you want to do it right the physical changes are MAJOR. There is not a single body panel that will not need modifying.

    The Prodrive fenders front and rear are several inches wider and have a unique rounded shape to the top of them, very much different then the factory fenders which you are starting with. The entire nose is heavily modifed, nothing like the street car, the roof has a big square vent which is probably the easiest of all the mods. The hood only needs the venting, also not too difficult. The exhuast exits in the rocker panel area and again, heavily modified. The doors also need the correct mods near the top to blend into the widened fenders properly.

    Forget the interior, its totally different. The dash resembles the street car. Thats about it.

    There is nothing simple about this conversion if you want it accurate.

    Sounds like a fun project and if you don't really car about accuracy then just enjoy the build process for what it is.

    But the street car and PD car are barely alike.

    Good luck,
    Ed
    Island Collectibles, Inc
     
  6. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 3, 2002
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    Andreas
    Ed, you're quite right with your statements. All true. It's just a matter of how far is one willing to go and how much of the detail changes are actually still visible on a car 1/18 scale.

    I realize you sell a conversion kit on your website and that will take care of a lot of the changes. And guess what: I'm actually planning on buying your kit, but not for the 550 GT, but for the 575 GT.

    And if I'm not mistaken the decal set I got for this conversion originated from your website as well.

    For those who don't know Ed's site:

    http://www.islandcollectibles.net/

    Selfish as I am I was trying to hide this jewel amongst the modeller's sites to buy his kits and then show off with them around here, hehe...
    :)

    Seriously Ed got some stunning stuff you guys gotta check out.
     
  7. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 3, 2002
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    Andreas
    Here an update on this little project. I'm done with the bodywork and now in the process of applying the numerous decals. Have all my pictures laid out so I know where all the stuff goes.

    Also note the white layers underneath: The decals are so thin (hard to work with), that you have to first apply a white decal to cover the underlying color. Once dry you apply the 2nd layer.
     
  8. Gimme Fuel

    Gimme Fuel F1 Veteran

    Mar 15, 2003
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    Paul (Norway)
    It looks great Andreas, so far....take your time so you dont mess it up.
    I'm repainting a F50 today, its gonna be Rosso Barchetta (dark red met.)
    I'm gonna post pix when its ready.


    Paul
     
  9. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Andreas
    Hitting a nerve there. How many times have I tried to rush things and ended up messing things up and then spent countless hours to fix it. You're quite right.

    Or as the Italians say: Piano va sano.
     
  10. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 3, 2002
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    Andreas
    What the pics don't show is the interior (race seat and roll cage) and the undertray at the rear.
     
  11. Mule

    Mule F1 Rookie
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    Jun 25, 2003
    3,749
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    Mule
    Andreas,
    That looks pretty bad. Please send it to me for disposal and start over.

    Seriously, great job. Would you guys please stop modifying (improving your models) so my off the shelf ones still look good?
     
  12. zebra308

    zebra308 Formula 3

    Jan 14, 2004
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    Ruffis Leekin
    Andreas,
    Nice conversion job. You must have the patients of a saint.
    I couldn't tell from the pictures,are the slots in the hood, above the wheels, painted on or did you cut them out? If they are cut-out, what did you use to do this?
    Thanks,
    Will
     
  13. Ferrari118

    Ferrari118 Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    67
    Strasbourg, France
    Full Name:
    Stéphane
    Andreas,
    good JOB!
    Are the wheels from a Modena Challenge?
     
  14. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    Oct 3, 2002
    48,581
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    Andreas
    Thanks all for the kind words!

    Yes, Modena Challenge. I have cornered the 1/18 market on the Hotwheels 360 Challenge car: They are great for parts like brakes, wheels, windows and rollcage. I have also a graveyard of canibalized F40s for seats...

    Zebra308: No cuts. I tried that on the F50 conversion and just recently on a F40 LM and it is a major pain. Those are all decals. You could use a dremel tool to cut them, but it'd be a pain and probably not come out right.

    If you want maximum accuracy, there is a conversion resin kit, that has a bunch of new parts including a hood with real cut outs. Ed from Island Collectibles (see below in this thread) offers that kit. I believe he also offers the decals necessary for this model.

    If you want to save yourself some time, I bet Cavallinomodels (our sponsor) offers this car "turnkey ready".

    PS: Mule, believe me during the process I felt many times like throwing the whole thing into the garbage and start all over.
     

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