360 Challenge Stradale project

Well like most people here I own the CH Stradale model in 1:18 that HW made in Scuderia Red with a stripe. I bought it years ago when it came out and just put it in my case and pretty much forgot about it.
The other day I had to drive my DAD to the Denver airport and send him back to Europe. There I found a little Ferrari store ( with quite poor inventory) and they had a single Challenge Stradale model which I bargained for and end up having it for $35 and no tax.
When I got home I inspected it and for the firs time I realized what poor of a job HW did. Basically the only difference between a regular 360 and this model is the front bumper the wheels and the seats, which are highly inaccurate.
So since I am painting a model in TDF Blue metallic for someone I decided to build a car replicating the Blue one that I am sure everyone has seen pictured right next to the red one from the official factory prints.
So over time I'll be posting the progress and modifications involved in the model .
Just as a starting point I know this needs to be done:
make the side skirts in the correct shape
scratch-build new mirrors
build new interior door panels
modify some Enzo seats
build rear diffusers
correct the shape of the transmission housing
and last bu not least paint the whole damn thing
I'll keep you posted

 

Today I tried for the first time in my life to make may own moldings and cast my own parts. This is necessary thanks to the weired materials that HW use in their models. I had a couple of extra Enzo seats which I wanted to tweek a little to make them look like the CHS seats but they are made of some kind of rubber which you can't sand nor it holds putty or filler so I had to cast a resin copy, modify it and then cast a new part of the already modified seat. Wile I was at it I decided to make some CHS wheels too which prooved to be harder than I thought but I am pretty happy with the results.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the wheels and one of the seats. The other one is drying.
Next I'll need to make a master for the diffuser from scratch and then maybe make moldings for it too.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The molds were made from RTV-silicone rubber and I cast the parts in resin. The really tricky part was creating the separation line for the two pieces of the mold. I made two full sets of wheels already, and they are not without little mishaps (couple wheels have some bubbles)
I also molded some Scaglietti option seats like the ones you find in the 550 Barchetta. They are great. Now I have everithing to make a completely optioned out 360 or 430.
My plan for the future is to make correct Novitech parts. Front bumpers, rear bumpers seats, wheels, spoilers etc. Then I need to figure out how to make molds of them and start building.

 

The box with most of the parts for the CHS are in the den on top of the baby room and he is sleeping so I'll post pics tomorrow. But basically they took the regular 360 and changed the front bumper, the wheels and the inner door panels and then smacked the seats from the 355CH car in (even painted the same as the 355CH-red with blue belts).So the entire undertray in the back is a standard 360- no diffusers at all. Same goes for the side panels and the mirrors which are just standard 360-and they are definitely different on the CHS. As for the interior doors they are just some kind of flat panels that look like stretched canvas, so I'll scratch build new mirrors, door panels and diffusers and then modify the side panels.

 

Also there is simply no any diffusers in the back( and there should be) the seats are wrong and the interior door panels are crap. Not to mention that the brakes are supposed to be larger.
Anyway Ill post some pics later today.

 

alright, the side skirts are already modified and primed. Here are a couple of pictures of the sides before.........
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

...............and here is the modified part. I don't detach them from the body when disassembling the car.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

next time you see this body it would be already painted.Next I have to prep and paint the seats I molded. I'll post pics of the new seats side by side with the ones that come in with the model.

 

Here is the same part of the car painted. Before you start trashing the paintjob-it's just the basecoat.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Here is the main problem with the rear. As you can see there are no diffusers at all. Also if you look at the "grill" of the transmission housing you can see that it is kind of inwards and is also totally vertical. Both these issues are going to be addressed tomorrow.
Stay tuned ................................
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Well the 360 CS project is being dilate by any painters worst enemy - HUMIDITY
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

It could happen to anyone.