Italeri Fiat Mephisto
Having fun with this Italeri Fiat kit. I hope to finish it as well as many others have? Not sure I’ll be happy with just painting the body the usual
‘smooth’ finish: Which imho will not accurately represent the beautiful ‘rough’ natural finish of the real Fiat’s panels?
I know or will assume that the optimal way is to make a wooden buck and form brass sheets over it. In lieu of that,
I am wondering if I can ‘abuse’ the surface of the plastic contours to represent the ‘imperfections’ (nuances?) of the panels properly?
Or at least be an improvement? The two hood parts would also need to be reduced in thickness, and a seam cut where the current raised lines are? I do plan either way to drill out and add real domed head rivets. All the subtle aesthetic elements like adjoining panels not being perfect….don’t know if I can
make that happen? The issue with making the two part hood done is reproducing the louvers on each side? A real piano hinge would not be too difficult. I guess I’m not channeling my Gerald Wingrove very confidently? The brass signature radiator shell on the actual car features very rounded contours, nothing like the kit part? Not trying to upgrade the entire model, just assessing what can be done to improve it within 'reason'? As if reason has anything to do with it:))) Comments and suggestions appreciated.
Thanks. Clarence
Hi Clarence, there have been a couple of these posted here on iModeler which may help with your build, have a search on the Database above. Looking forward to watching your progress, maybe you could start a work in progress over in the automotive group.
A superb entry, Clarence! I agree with @chinesegeorge : a thread in the Automotive group would be better suited to your work in progress build.
This is going to be a great Fiat, Clarence @jagmkx
Would love to see its progress being presented in the automotive group as mentioned by George @chinesegeorge
Hi Clarence, this is going to be a superb build. Slightly rough and ready is the way to go. These things were never beautifully finished anyway, so I think it will be more challenging to finish it as a weathered subject rather than pristine and shiny. Would be great to follow your build in an Automotive build thread.
@jagmkx beautiful build!
Thanks so much to you all for your comments and support! I hope I can get close to your expectations:?)
In terms of weathering uniformly, my fight will be to not make the beautiful engine too pretty,
but I can't guarantee more than a bit of crankcase grime:) I will take this thread to the Automotive Group.
I'm not the best at stopping to take photos but I'll try. I have managed to rope wrap (and stain) the leaf springs and replace as many of the self tapping (?) screws with actual brass hardware from Model Motorcars. This also adds some strength to the assemblies. I use brass pinning on all my builds especially aircraft.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
SUPER! @jagmkx
Stunning detail Clarenece!