Grastens Builds the Tamiya Ferrari 312T3 (47374) with speedy_w_beans

[Badcrumble 4204]

15 minutes ago, speedy_w_beans said:

Physical parts ready for detailing...

Just... wow....

Between you this is an epic build.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

In Shunsako Tamiya's book, Master Modeler: Creating the Tamiya Style, Tamiya-san expresses his excitement over model making when he was a child.  On page 24 he shares his overall attitude towards a school assignment to finish a glider:

"I kept going even when dinner time came around, only going through to the living room after my mother had called me three times.  I wolfed down my rice, and rushed back to my model making."

"Even when my mother said it was late and that I should go to bed, I begged her to let me stay up just a little longer because I was nearly finished.  In fact, I kept on working on the model until my father got angry and ordered me to stop right away -- or else."

"The model may have been homework, but there was no need to have it finished by the next day.  I did not need to make it with such passionate intensity, but once I had started, I just couldn't stop.  I was so excited that even after I had crept under my mosquito net, I couldn't get to sleep."

Today I felt a certain connection with Tamiya-san as I worked on finishing the motor pod and wing stay for the 312T3.  I had already sanded the print and pseudo-primed it with automotive vinyl & fabric paint two days ago, but yesterday I was busy with other things and it was only after completing some errands this morning I could turn my attention back to these parts.

I had an assortment of artist's brushes on hand and some X-11 Chrome Silver, X-18 Semi-Gloss Black, and XF-2 Flat White for this job.  First I applied two coats of X-11 to the gearbox, cooler, brake discs, brake calipers, tail pipes, and wing stay.  Then I detailed the tail pipes with two coats of XF-2.  The gearbox rubber boots and axle shafts were detailed with X-18, and a few small errors were covered up as well.

I still need to apply the chrome vinyl to the center wing stay, but the paint was just barely tacky and I was too excited to wait.  I built the 312T3 T-bar and motor pod, substituted my custom C2 part, and stole the rear axle from my Lotus 79.  The wing is held in place with M3x10 machine screws in these pictures, but maybe Grastens has plans for smaller fasteners since he didn't want the big screw bosses under the mount.

The final detail is I found a couple of 5 mm red LEDs in my 40-year old box of electronics.  After trying a few, I opted to press-fit a fairly standard one.

Anyhow, enjoy!  Grastens, you'll need to PM me your address again so I can send these two parts to you.

 

[Grastens 2795]

How lucky I am to have you, your skills, and passion as part of my otherwise-humble build - that is a gorgeous engine detail and wing mount combination right there  It will be worn proudly by my 312T3!

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Thanks!  Glad to be of service, and of course, when I build my own 312T3 kit I'll have the designs ready to print as a result.  It's a win-win.  I'm looking forward to seeing your driver figure and finished body; that'll really tie it all together.

[Grastens 2795]

Since the adventures of the driver figure, I have not made meaningful progress. However, recently, @speedy_w_beans designed a fabulous rear wing mount to replace the sorry-looking attempt I made at producing a slightly more-accurate part.

My sad-sack effort looked like this:

Compare with the 3D-printed excellence from speedy_w_beans:

No contest! I mean, his even has room for a proper tail light!

And today, I finally had some free time to install it:

You may recall that the new wing stay was designed as a part of a new rear motor mount panel that was reworked to include engine and brake details. All together, these would replace the stock rear motor mount panel, the plastic engine detail included in the original kit (if it was ever to be used for the re-release), and the wing stay.

So, off came the original part:

The only modification required was to nip off the locating tab on the left motor mount side. The 3D-printed part has no matching notch, so the tab has to go. It was such a diminutive price for such a massive upgrade in detail! This is certainly a well-designed piece.

Yes, a massive upgrade:

When speedy_w_beans consulted me on the part and modifications, one of my requests was to eliminate the bosses under the rear wing mount. The trade from 3 x 10 mm tapping screws to 3 x 6 mm machine screws and nuts were the reason:

Yet so well-designed was the part, and such attention paid to its finishing, that the holes for the wing were already tapped! The mount itself was just thick enough to make the nuts redundant, too:

Incredible!

Thus attached, the presence of the car has been greatly enhanced:

Another appreciation of the new part:

The rear wing is now straight, level, and at an accurate-looking height:

Overall, I am beyond thrilled by this latest addition to my build. Thanks, speedy!

While I wait for painting weather to finally appear (plenty of false alarms lately), I will prepare the polycarbonate body. This will include cutting out the cockpit section, to fit my own driver figure.

For the time being, I have decided not to proceed with a scratch-built roll bar for the chassis, instead ordering another chrome parts tree so that I can fit the rear roll bar and turnover pylon to the polycarbonate body, too. If I can successfully manage to bend plastic sprue or rod in the correct manner, though, I could revisit it. An accurate installation would mean more work on the cockpit piece…

Meanwhile, that driver still needs modifications to fit under the shell! I will make some cuts and putty it together over the next month.

[Grastens 2795]

At last, the rumours of paint weather were substantiated! I got my setup outside and got to work on several bodies; along with my Bruiser and Lancia projects was the Ferrari 312T3:

(The Bruiser is outside the frame, awaiting another coat of primer somewhere else)

The instructions call for the entire shell to be painted in TS-26 Pure White, before masking off the top of the shell behind the driver and painting the rest in TS-8 Italian Red. The white is most needed behind the driver, as there is no decal to replicate the car’s two-tone scheme on the top of the shell. A decal would be difficult to design and apply for such a complex surface, so paint is specified. Covering the entire shell would allow the red paint over top to appear more uniform, and it has the added benefit of brightening the overall colour.

The effect of omitting white paint is not something I particularly want:

The paint itself went on well, with the first very thin coats laying down without issue. Orange peel appeared later on, though, as temperatures dropped and winds picked up at inopportune times during the painting. I guess the rumours were not quite true, after all!

I was disappointed with the result, but reassured by the fact that the white does not represent the final coat for much of the shell. I will need to work on the top of the shell, nonetheless.

The successful metric for this session was that an entire can of TS-26 Pure White made it onto the shell. Again, as this is not the final coat, I am not too bothered by missed spots, which are mainly the radiator details that will be covered again with metallic paint. The top of the shell also looks passable. I will allow the paint to cure for several days (ideally a week) before treatment and the top coat of TS-8 Italian Red.

After my paint session had finished, I got to work on the polycarbonate shell. The plan was to cut anything I needed to cut before washing and preparing the shell for paint.

I intend to use the cockpit and driver figure I designed for both, swapping just the shells over top, so I needed to remove the driver figure moulded into it. It was not an easy task, and despite great care, the brand-new X-Acto knife did slip several times. Errors eventually led me to cut away the entire cockpit interior of the shell, leaving just the outer surface of what would be the cockpit glass.

In the end, I did manage to do just that:

Differences in the mouldings of the hard plastic and polycarbonate shells meant I had to remove more material behind the driver figure. Careful trimming got it to a point where the shell would clear the scratch-built interior part without issues:

I may require some creativity to paint the shell around the cockpit area accurately, but at the moment I am happy it fits:

The new opening proved an opportune time to fit the driver figure, so my next task became chopping up the driver at the shoulders and arms to fit the cockpit. This also involved shaving off plastic from the sides of the torso, to fit the arms more closely to the driver’s sides. The legs were cut by another 5 mm to move the driver forward, ensuring his helmet will clear the shell during changes.

I made great use of the carving and chisel blades on my X-Acto knife, and consequently was able to achieve a better-fitting driver:

This was the same work I would have done with a hot knife. While the carving and chiselling is far more time-consuming and produces a larger mess, it does allow for a more precise approach thanks to sharper blades and the ability to remove small shavings of material at a time. Most importantly, it also eliminates toxic fumes and fire hazards, so it was a good method. There were still fumes when the putty came out, though…

At present, the driver figure is curing along with the bodywork. The arms were ill-fitting to the torso, but I managed to tack them on with putty. Plenty of filing will be required to get the driver into proper shape, but that will require plenty of time for the putty to solidify, too.

In the meantime, I will look to build up the cockpit piece and perhaps paint it, along with the rear-view mirrors. The painting weather will not stay for the week, though, so it is possible I will be doing that in another few days. At least there is progress to report!

[Grastens 2795]

The putty has cured on the driver. Reassessing my work, it seems I will need to cut more plastic off the tops of the shoulders and build up the arms. However, I have indeed reached a usable width for the driver to fit in the cockpit.

I then figured out how the scale seat harness would work with the driver:

At this point, I am not committing to anchor locations for the belts; I am finding out if the size of the belts is appropriate for the driver figure. I will be studying the actual 312T3 to figure out the best places to anchor the harness.

For reference:

It seems the belts I have selected are too large, but any misgivings I had about the appearance were displaced somewhat by the sight of the driver figure sitting in the car, wearing the seat harness, with some sort of wheel in hand:

The height is just about where I want it:

I really do think a "Clear-Cowl" Ferrari 312T3 in this scale would be a cool project...

The head was affixed to the body temporarily using tape. In its ideal position, it seems I have the clearance I need to swap body shells. The steering wheel will sit higher in the finished cockpit; the top of the wheel is supposed to be closer to the top of the cockpit glass. The stand-in wheel is a plastic loop from the wheels sprue of a Lancia 037, which is the same diameter as the steering wheel piece issued with the stock driver figure.

The car is progressing:

Day 1 of the hard plastic shell's paint curing is done. I will be working on the cockpit and driver while I wait for another good painting day, and hope to have the polycarbonate shell ready by that time. It is nice to see the car at this stage, though!

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Looking good!

[Grastens 2795]

In the span of about 132 days since I last posted, a few things have happened:

- Tinypic is now charging for image hosting. I have lost essentially all my images to this and my other build threads. I needed some time to figure out alternatives, though not much since I had not done much of note by the time I learned of this.

- One reason I have not done much of note is because I moved in with my partner while I started a new job, only to lose said job weeks later over some fundamentally-bad management practices. They haven't even paid me yet...

- All this means that I am shuttling between where I live now and where I used to live while temporary engagements in the latter keep money where I need it. The seasonal nature of my current work means I will be once again unemployed in a month, anyway...

- In the move, only my Ferrari 312T3 and an already-completed Lancia (the 037 4WD-H tribute) made it to where I currently live. The decision was made since the former looked to be the lightest and easiest(!) project for me to hammer out before the end of the season. If I wanted to get to the action, I would have the latter to rocket down the street, but as of writing I have yet to do that.

It all adds up to one seriously-depressed sometimes-RC-car-modeller sparing half a day to lay down a second coat on this project's ABS plastic shell. I masked as directed and set out on what should have been ideal conditions, but once again ended up with more orange peel:

I might stick with brushes from here on out... I would not mind orange peel that much if the decals that form significant parts of the livery of this shell were not so glossy and uniform. I made nice, slow passes from sufficient distance with the paint can, or so I thought...

Nonetheless, the red is an excellent shade, and seeing the two-tone scheme even in this rudimentary stage is appealing.

Small miracles have been: all the parts surviving the trip to the new place; less dust in the work area I can use now (and in a controlled-humidity environment!); and the support of my partner in my projects while I find my way out of this trying time. My partner's brother in town also has a 3D printer and really knows how to use it, so I may also be able to trouble him for a minor piece or two for the cockpit.

I head back for the temporary engagement tomorrow, to be gone for just over two weeks. That should give the paint sufficient time to cure, after which I can begin filling in the various ducts, intakes, and details with their prescribed colours.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

@Grastens, I'm glad you're back even if for just a moment to share an update.  I'm sorry you are facing challenges with work, and I hope you can find something else in the near future.  I can't remember if I emailed you the 3D files I created for the various detail parts on your car, but if you'd like to have them so your friend can print extras I'm happy to send them over.  Stay positive; we're rooting for you!

[geniusanthony 361]

Any updates on this car @Grastens, specifically I am curious about how your interior came out. I am nearly ready to start my own kit and am looking for inspiration. 

[Grastens 2795]

... What year is it?

Well, this project sort of fell off the face of the Earth in the tumult of new work and personal crises, but having seen speedy_w_beans' latest work and reminding myself that he already put so much into this particular project, the only decent thing to do is to start it back up.

This is where we had left off:

I can tell these seem to be the actionable items:

- sand down the driver to smooth out the putty joins, wherein I clearly put in too much and have now created extra work for myself - but not the Dremel

- build up the interior to incorporate details like the steering column, gauge cluster, and roll hoop attachments

- paint said driver and interior

- detail painting (and/or a respray) of the hard plastic shell

- decals for the hard plastic shell

- spray and decal the polycarbonate shell

- assemble everything, including the seat harness

When I think about it, it is amazing that I left the project when it was in a pretty good state for completion. I do remember being discouraged by the orange peel effect on the paint (particularly as the rest of the white stripes will be glossy decals), as well as trying to decide if I wanted to include the roll hoop on the back of the cockpit instead of just using the little chrome piece from the hard plastic body kit.

TinyPic, previously my image provider of choice, choosing to go to a subscription model also killed much of the usefulness and appeal of this thread unfortunately. I will be using Imgur in the interim, with an eye on finally mastering TamiyaClub's own photo-hosting service.

I think I will proceed with the paint as-is, and create proper roll hoops to attach to the cockpit. For anybody wondering about the latter, this picture of the static model might clarify things:

It would be a small matter of bending some plastic rods, perhaps even excess parts sprue, and attaching it to the cockpit. I seem to recall the one behind the driver would be in a less-accurate position than in reality, but the effect would be authentic. I would just need to ensure it is sufficiently strong - at the very least, to stay intact while the shell rattles around on the body, and at the most to serve as a roll hoop!

The funny thing is that it has been more or less out in plain sight right now. It is sitting in plain view on a table; however, it is routinely obscured by the Lancia 037 4WD-H project I did earlier, sitting alongside it:

(a picture of the 037, not the storage arrangement)

All this being written, this project is long overdue to resume. Sorry, Bruiser  I hope to make some progress in the coming week.

[Grastens 2795]

Almost three years have passed since I last touched this particular model... There were a few reasons for that, and most of them had to do with either my deteriorating mental health or my frustration at my inability to realize my grand vision for this car.

However, a few positive developments - namely, buying a house and completing the Super Striker - have inspired me to tackle this project again. It is the very least I owe @speedy_w_beans for his generous contributions!

Building the Super Striker and getting back into the hobby in general have allowed me to reassess my skill set, and develop those which were previously deficient. Also of assistance was the acquisition of better tools and some 1 mm styrene stock, which is far easier to work with than the thicker sheets I have been using regularly. It really is about a change in perspective and some practice, as working with other models restored my confidence in my fine motor skills and creativity. Both were important for my other projects, and for an ambitious project like this, I will need all of it.

And so, all these years later, I dusted off everything, scrubbed it up, and got down to laying some paint:

The reference photos I have curated over the years were of great benefit. Using 1 mm styrene sheet and some hardware, I scratchbuilt a gauge cluster:

Unfortunately, as I had only the one size of styrene rod, I could not fill in the flanking gauges, which were brass servo post spacers. Drilling through the panel allowed for a more realistic appearance by giving the gauges depth, but I could not manage to fill in said spacers. I eventually replaced them with cut sections of styrene rod, sanded flat on the gauge face side, though I kept the 850 bearing as a rev counter surround.

Tamiya plastic model cement works spectacularly for plastic-plastic bonding, but for multi-media joins, I used Gorilla Glue-brand CA. The latter was how I was able to attach the metal pieces to the plastic panel.

Reference photos of Gilles Villeneuve suggested a red racing suit with white stripes along the arms, so I modified my paint plan accordingly:

I was also able to add some more detail to the cockpit base by adding a bent styrene rod and another altered section to depict the front roll pylon and steering column, respectively. The steering wheel issue was solved by cutting a sprue off a set of Grasshopper II front arms, and creating the centre section out of 1 mm styrene stock and two plastic bushings: one for the front hub of the steering wheel, and the other to fit said wheel onto the steering column. The centre section (bonded to the black plastic ring/wheel rim) is visible in the lower part of the picture. By now, I have already replaced the brass spacers with styrene rod for the gauge pod.

To simulate the recessed panels on the nose of the monocoque, as visible in this photo:

I cut out some shapes from the stock and glued them to the front panel. The opening for the steering column and pedal box access was then painted in XF-56 Metallic Grey, to distinguish it from the closed panel and surrounding material in X-11 Chrome Silver:

The build kept changing as my information was updated through reference photos. The white stripes for the driver suit were found to be much narrower than I had initially painted, so I would eventually paint over the borders of white with more XF-7 Flat Red. White sleeves and gloves were added in deference to Villeneuve's suit at the Canadian Grand Prix in 1978:

Although it is worth mentioning that I otherwise do not intend to depict the car or driver as they appeared in any particular event. The objective to depict both car and driver as they likely would have been during the 1978 season (the only year Villeneuve raced the 312T3) is sufficient.

This took me about two nights, including painting the gauge cluster and steering wheel in XF-1 Flat Black. The helmet was given X-3 Royal Blue - leading to a curious twist, as we may see later...

[Grastens 2795]

Another point of contention was the seat harness. I chose to acquire one for this build, which is in common with the Ferrari 312T3 in that it has an anti-sub strap and is blue. Otherwise, its authenticity has more to do with scale than faith to the originals.

However, I could not decide how to anchor it to the chassis or cockpit. Did I want it to unbuckle? Should it be fixed to the cockpit for aesthetics, or to the chassis for realism? Should I use screws, glue, or some other means?

Some more clues:

Of course, the harness for this particular 312T3 is not a period-correct one, but the anchor points are consistent.

The most obvious location was for the shoulder straps, which bolt to the back of the cockpit. I cut slots to pass the fixing points through the cockpit, since I figured I would be unable to access them after everything was assembled:

And out back:

The helmet was progressing nicely:

As before (way before!), I elected to use the driver head I had from a Tamiya Rally Car Cockpit set instead of the included piece since Gilles Villeneuve never used a balaclava with two eye holes. That particular style was issued with the kit and is common to Carlos Reutemann, who led the team that year:

The gauge cluster needed a few more coats to get right:

Given the ease with which I was able to bend the thin styrene sheet, the decision was made to create some sort of racing seat in the cockpit. I had initially intended to do without - the driver would be taking up most of the space in the cockpit, after all - but inspiration took a hold...

Regrettably, I did not think to account for my reference car using a more modern seat, and so I painted it in some sort of beige-yellow instead of black, as in the original cars. The colour I used was XF-59 Desert Yellow, being the closest Tamiya colour I had to this:

And my effort, on its first coat:

I had even built the sides up and everything... Oh well; again, it will not be too visible!

More detail was added in the form of tiny spreader plates, on the nose of the cockpit section. These were for the support struts for the front rollover pylon:

They were painted in XF-56 Metallic Grey, as was the depiction of the opening for the steering column in the closed upper panel. The progress is tangible, especially after I had cut slots in the sides of the cockpit base to anchor the lap belts (visible underneath the harness):

The slot in the middle of the seat is to clear the F104 battery holder, allowing the cockpit assembly to sit lower on the chassis. Note the holes drilled in the front for the rollover pylon; I had originally painted it in place with X-11 Chrome Silver before determining that XF-56 Metallic Grey was a better match. As such, I had removed it and painted it separately.

I was not one to resist a mockup at this point:

Already it looks a lot better than I could have managed a few years ago!

[Grastens 2795]

Painting the steering wheel and gauge cluster:

The accents were done in X-11 Chrome Silver, XF-7 Flat Red, and X-31 Titanium Gold. A bit of a mess was made on the rightmost gauge, which was a dual temperature/fuel gauge on the 312T3, but I am happy with how the leftmost one turned out. The centre gauge was actually detailed using one of the smaller faces from a Wild Willy 2 panel decal!

The impressions are not perfect; the 312T3 used a more sculpted steering wheel hub than the round bushing I used for this one, but it is still more detailed than the stock model. The tiny dot of Titanium Gold on the right arm of the wheel is actually there to depict the cockpit starter switch. I would have used an accompanying piece of wire to depict the switch itself, but I had no wire small enough!

The cockpit, for reference:

I then had the brilliant idea of building a gearshift. To make the shift knob, I put an antenna cap over some styrene rod, and then cut it to size:

Drilling the cap and a piece of sprue that I repurposed as the shift linkage conduit, I had a reasonable depiction of the mechanism. The shifter itself was once again a piece of paperclip that I had cut to fit. A tiny shift gate completed it, and everything was painted in X-11 Chrome Silver, with the gate slots in XF-1 Flat Black. THAT took some doing!

It was right around this time that I realized that I had painted the helmet in the wrong colour:

Instead of a red helmet with blue stickers, I had believed I was dealing with a blue helmet with red stickers! And the paint had gone on so nicely...

Well, there was no better time to prove my fine motor skills than now, with a brush and some X-7 Red:

And to my amazement, I could do it! Though once again, I failed to anticipate the changes brought on by my lack of foresight, and had left the blue section too small to paint inside with red, to properly depict Villeneuve's helmet:

(the sun visor was used for the 1978 Long Beach Grand Prix, and appears to be the only time he used it)

What if we scribed the stripes into the fresh red paint?

... If nothing else, it gives me a guide for laying down the blue striping. Of course, I can always extend the blue to reach the scribed borders, and then fill in the red once that dries.

Some more details were added to the front of the cockpit:

The amount of brush painting I am now doing on the helmet means that the only decals I will be applying are on the front of the helmet, meaning I have little reason to access the back. Which means...

We now have most of the cockpit completed! 

The shoulder straps on the harness were temporarily secured with a paperclip, to keep them from falling behind the cockpit wall. Everything was eventually anchored with 2 mm screws: the shoulder straps to the back of the cockpit, and the lap and anti-sub belts to the bottom. The gearshift assembly should really be between the seat and the side panel of the cockpit, but I ran out of room to install it. It was all unfortunate, for a test fit with the bodyshell revealed that the linkage did not fit with the body on 

Beyond that, the rest I want to do is:

- wire the gauges (probably using some scale modelling wire and leftover servo wires)

- add paint details to the cockpit (there are some buttons I would like to add)

- finish painting the face (still need to add the eyes, eyebrows, and... nasal strip?)

(though he could have used this to seal the balaclava against his face, to mitigate visor fogging - picture taken at the 1978 Canadian GP)

- finish detail painting and decalling the bodyshells

Also of interest:

- Do I go with a scratchbuilt rear rollbar? I would need minor modifications to the body to make that work, but it would be both authentic and useful for lining up the shell to the chassis. I would have to go to lengths to ensure it is actually structurally sound, though...

Otherwise, we are well on our way to finally seeing it through! Did I mention that I have been enjoying the scratchbuilding? 

[bavee 1032]

Amazing work! Something to be really proud of!

[Grastens 2795]

Thank you! And now it continues, with plenty of wire:

What we see here are the wires from the gauge cluster, or depictions thereof. There is one for each gauge, with the exception of two for the dual temperature/fuel gauge on the driver's right. An extra wire was added to represent the ignition switch wire from the steering wheel, but proved too challenging to place - partly because even a successful arrangement would have likely come apart under driving...

The thickest cable is actually a wire taken from an ESC lead, while the others are scale wire intended for spark-plug leads on 1:24 scale cars. They were the only cables I had with reasonable diameters; it was either those or solder. As such, the wires appear a bit small, but then, at least they are there!

The basic layout can be seen here in this period photo:

However, the two wires for the dual temperature/fuel gauge are run through a single conduit in this example. References like these proved elusive; at one point, I was using pictures of somebody's 1:12 scale kit build to figure out where the cables went.

Nonetheless, I think the end result meets my expectations:

This is also only the second time I have wired anything in a miniature car, RC or otherwise. The first example was my Lancia 037 4WD-H project, and that took several attempts... The spark plug wire was actually intended for that car, but I ended up using solder instead, leaving the wire for this car.

I did not wish to run the wires well past the cockpit assembly, so I cut the ends and tucked them inside the back of the cockpit. I created these panels to hide the loose ends, reinforced with some styrene rod to keep the panels more or less in place:

The gearshift was added back onto the assembly, this time mounted higher and slightly recessed into the cockpit. While less accurate, it represents a greater chance that it may actually fit this time:

The eyebrows, pupils, and irises were also painted. I had attempted to paint the "reflex" in the irises, but somehow they never looked quite right. It is just as well; such a stylistic addition seemed at odds with the intensity of the real Gilles Villeneuve!

The helmet, with visible lines from the scribe marks I made for laying down the narrow blue stripes:

And another close-up of the gauge panel from the back:

I finished the night by turning my attention to the bodywork. It was a matter of retouching the black paint for the polycarbonate body, while the ABS plastic shell got attention for its radiators, inlets, rear brake ducts, and other details:

It also marks the first time that the completed cockpit and a shell have been united:

I think the driver figure is still sitting a bit high, but there is no denying the scale presence that is added!

I would do things differently given a second time, but for a first attempt, I am pleased with how it turned out 

[Grastens 2795]

The following day began with the chassis. I believe I had originally designed the cockpit to fit the chassis without modifications, but as I noticed some extra space between the top plate and the cockpit (excluding the clearance I left for the ESC and servo wires), I made an exception to that. It mostly involved shaving down the battery holder:

I left part of the flange as "reinforcement," thinking that was its original purpose. This was accompanied by a slight rework of the central slot in the cockpit assembly, widening it to allow it to sit a bit lower.

While I was at it, I ultimately made the decision to scratchbuild a rollbar:

The picture shows the second attempt; the first one did not have the same shape as this one, being more circular. The stock kit piece has a sharper bend like on this one, and so I made this piece the one to use. The plastic spacers on the bottom of the bar are there to add surface area for gluing, for I elected not to continue the bar down to the top chassis plate.

Instead, I extended the rear "shelf" of the cockpit assembly with some more 1 mm styrene sheet, and glued the rollbar to that. It was predictably flimsy, however, so I took some liberties with the support bar to add a bit more gluing surface area and structural integrity:

On the actual car, the bar would continue extending back towards the engine, and at a shallower angle. For my purposes, though, this is acceptable. The added benefit is that the rollbar remains solid while being allowed to flex at its base, which helps body installation by making alignment more forgiving.

From the side:

Unfortunately, this particular car still fails the FIA's ruling on rollover protection:

Formula Libre it is?  I still think the driver's presence adds more than it subtracts, so I will leave it for now.

As I write, the rollbar is getting XF-56 Metallic Grey:

The rest of that base panel will be painted in X-11 Chrome Silver, to recognize that the rollbar mounts close to where the elevated monocoque ends:

At time of writing, I have also drilled out the rollbar opening for both shells, allowing either one to use the new fabricated piece! Work continues...

[ThunderDragonCy 7881]

This is a thing of beauty

[Grotty Otty 868]

Awesome. Excellent work. 

[Aerobert 2147]

That's really great. I love all the detailing of the cockpit. 

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Looking good, @Grastens!  How are the printed parts holding up?  If you need any replacements just let me know.

[Grastens 2795]

Thanks! They are holding up nicely - and look even better 

Everything looked better, too, once I began decals, starting with the one for the visor:

I thought this was a nice idea, although since I was using a different helmet than the kit standard, I had reservations about whether or not it would fit. I need not have worried:

I also thought that including the chin decal as part of the one sticker was clever. Incidentally, the kit does include separate decals for the sponsors on the visor, presumably should the builder decide not to use the visor decal. While I had already built a visor with my Super Striker project, I was not happy with how that one turned out, and so was content to use the sticker.

The polycarbonate shell was the first one to get decals, since I still had some touch-ups to do on the hard plastic example. Everything went well initially:

I would like to think that my decal skills are quite good, with plenty of practice by this time. However, projects like these keep me humble, as it was more difficult than I anticipated to get a good result. This largely had to do with my inability to line up any decals without reference points on the shell, and on one with complex shapes and contours like the 312T3, I really needed to pay attention.

That being said, getting the stripes on was quite nice, particularly as the car was recognizably a 1970s Ferrari F1 car after applying them, and they were among the first to be applied. I did have to modify the decals around the cockpit, since they were designed for a shell with the flat driver torso area. As I had removed the one on this shell, the decals required additional trimming to sit properly.

My projects of late have tested my fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Fortunately, I came through on the decal cutting:

Although I nearly cut right through the Speedline decal when my hand slipped cutting the small circular battery sticker!

The polycarbonate shell decals are all numbered between 49 and 91, since the ABS plastic shell uses numbers between 1 and 33, and other parts like the wings and driver helmet use the others. I took care to follow the numbered order for the stickers, and with some patience and a hair dryer, was rewarded with a clean finish:

As if building up to the occasion, the number and name decals are applied last.

Forza Gilles, as they say!

The numbers took some deliberation. It turned out that I had only left myself enough room to put the nose number on an angle; references show that most of the time, the 312T3's nose numbers were relatively straight. The spacing was also played around with for the side numbers, with the recurring theme that they did not overlap the battery/electrical accesses on the engine fairing. This would have been easy with Reutemann's 11, but Villeneuve's 12 had less space between the digits. Eventually, I found a place for everything:

Which meant the shell was done! I could hardly wait to put it on the chassis:

And I didn't!

The visual wheelbase disparity between the real thing and the version on the F104W is actually less pronounced than I thought:

Of course, I could also be biased!

I am endlessly grateful for the 3D-printed parts supplied by @speedy_w_beans - they have really elevated this car to another aesthetic level. Thanks, speedy!

A few pictures in, and I remembered something:

Compare that picture to:

As before, the drivers in the actual 312T3 sat lower in the car than the figure here does. It is strange: at a glance, the car is proportional and looks every bit like a proper F1 car, but because I have spent so much time staring at pictures of 312T3s in period, this particular detail stands out to me. I wonder if I can get it lower...

In the meantime, though, I am happy that the project more or less realizes my vision 

Still the ABS body to go! But after 3 years, I finally have a completed Tamiya Ferrari 312T3!

[Grastens 2795]

As I slept that night, I came to the revelation that I could shave off the bottom of the driver figure yet still keep enough of it to retain the partial-depth cockpit look. If I approached it at the right angle, I could even drop the driver the 10 mm or so that I would need to get a more scale appearance...

The next day, then, I made the move to undo some of my work:

Essentially, I had released the harness and removed the seat and driver from the cockpit assembly. By virtue of the limited space, I had to remove the steering wheel as well to get everything out (just like the real thing?).

Regrettably, Tinypic made the decision to monetize their platform - regrettably for me, since every photo of this build thread has since disappeared as a result. However, I still have this picture of the driver figure at a very early stage:

It was this shape that has remained largely unchanged throughout the rest of the build. Note the depth of the lower body sitting on the cockpit base. I came to understand that I could remove a fair amount of material from the bottom of the lower body and still preserve the visual effect of a driver sitting in a cockpit. At the same time, I could modify the base itself and the moulded seat to achieve an even lower position - between the two, I could potentially achieve the required driver height I wanted to add some more realism.

I carved and sanded away, and in the process managed to break the right arm  So I seized the opportunity and cut the left one off, too  It was fortuitous, since it led me to discover that the driver figure was also too long to really settle into the cockpit, so this was the perfect scenario for me to then shorten the arms as well as the legs to create a better fit. This is why the driver body has additional putty seams near each elbow.

While that was all setting, I got to work on the ABS shell, cutting out all the decals at once like last time:

I remember that one reason I shelved this project was because I was frustrated by my inability to realize my vision for the finished product. This was embodied by the lack of a smooth finish on this particular shell, and came to represent my shortcomings that I felt would prevent me from completing the project to a high standard. My propensity for orange-peel finishes had already attracted some negative attention on my other builds, and its appearance on the Ferrari 312T3 was especially discouraging.

After thinking about how to refinish the shell, I decided that I was overthinking everything and just got to work  Besides, with money being in short supply, I could not exactly afford more paint to try again... I was in it now!

The lower white stripes on the sidepods behaved oddly; one wanted to stretch way more than the other, and plenty of trimming and massaging under heat were required to get them to cooperate. They were the first decals to go on, being the lowest-numbered, which meant the rest of them proved little trouble. I eventually dispensed with the numbered order, though, when it became clear that it was making me put on decals without benchmarks that I could have had by applying other easier decals first.

A sharp X-Acto knife, some tweezers, window cleaner, patience, and a hair dryer got me quite far indeed:

And in that moment, I began to wonder why I was so worried about orange peel in the first place. The result was quite aesthetic even as it was!

Next to the polycarbonate shell, it feels... crisper:

This makes sense, since the lines are more pronounced on the ABS plastic shell. The additional detail also helps it to stand out, as does the paint; the ABS shell got TS-8 Italian Red while the polycarbonate shell got the slightly less brilliant PS-2 Red. The effect was the same even though that red coat was backed by PS-1 White by virtue of the painting order for the shell.

But I was not quite done yet with the polycarbonate body, because I remembered that I had acquired a whole other parts tree for a second set of rearview mirrors. I wanted to add a pair to the lightweight shell, knowing that it was not moulded with its own side mirrors and feeling the shell was incomplete without them. Some quick coats of X-7 Red and some X-11 Chrome Silver for the mirror faces (I misplaced the other chrome sprue I had for this occasion), and they were ready to install. I drilled two holes each to mount them on the shell in a manner similar to the ABS body:

And in my mind, the shell has been improved:

[Grastens 2795]

Back to the driver figure:

By shortening the arms and legs and shaving the bottom of the lower half, I was able to get the driver to sit lower in the chassis. I also came to find that the back of the helmet was getting hung up on the cockpit assembly, and the elbows were fouling the sides of the assembly. Shaving away the elbows was unproductive, so I did the same to the cockpit sides instead, to much better effect.

The proportions of the figure remind me more now of the Kyosho buggy driver figures:

As a reference:

... Well, maybe not that extreme! But in my eyes, it looked a little less right than what I originally had. Nonetheless, I was on a mission.

Since everything was out anyway, I took the time to repaint the seat in a more-accurate black - it had to be X-1 Black, since I was nearly out of XF-1 Flat Black, and misplaced my X-18 Semi-Gloss Black:

The seat harness I was using for the project used a tall nyloc nut to secure everything. By replacing it with a flatter Tamiya 2 mm nut, I was able to get the harness to sit closer to the driver's torso, thus keeping everything more proportional. The original nut next to the Tamiya part:

I adjusted the buckles for scale sensibilities, too. I had to do that almost exclusively with tweezers, since they were quite fiddly. The tweezers worked quite well for that! The shrinking driver figure was another reason I had to adjust the harness, but in the end I needed to drill new anchor holes anyway. The solution I came up with is definitely not scale, but gets the driver nice and snugged down in the cockpit:

All the straps nearly converge to the same point! If nothing else, it looks neat.

Back in the cockpit, everything looked promising:

Some minor retouching was needed, since I was making the mistake of handling the figure and cockpit with some still-soft paint.

A bit more carving of the cockpit base also helped everything to sit lower. The assembly on the bare F104W is quite striking:

At last, the completed cockpit was reunited with the completed shells and chassis:

And sure enough:

Success! I was elated with the outcome  As with the real car, a line drawn between the front rollover pylon and the rollbar will not touch the driver's helmet, which was the objective of the rework. I can also now look at the finished car and not keep seeing a 7-foot driver at the wheel