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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Meng 1/24 Ford GT40


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Beautiful result with the GT 40, Peter.

May I venture a small criticism, that jumped at me when looking at your pics ? The tread of the front wheels seems a bit wide compared to the body of the car. This is probably a kit design issue, but I could not help noticing it, and my hunch was vindicated by checking some pics of the real car, which was put up for sale not too long ago …

Now, how about a Ken Miles figure to go with it ?

Hubert

PS edit : the pics I looked at are the ones of the replica built for the film …

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Hubert

Thank you for comments on the build and finish. Your criticism of the front tire tread width might very well be the case. I built the kit straight out of the box except for replacing the decals. For a kit having an MSRP of: $102.00 and their sale price of $81.99 (Sprue Brothers), I would hope Meng did their homework. What I would like to know, is how accurate were the cars used in making the film?  I'm sure there is a lot of accurate documentation as to what is correct and not but for me, she looks like a GT40 and I'm happy with that.

Keep 'em comin

Peter 

  

 
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Hubert

Thank you for the photos as they do show loads of details that were not in the kit. I'm going to run them through photoshop and see if I can figure out the actual tire width. If the tires are too wide, I would be very interested to know how Meng missed the mark.

Peter 

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2 hours ago, Peterpools said:

FORD GT40

MENG 1/24 SCALE

DONE AND IN THE BOOKS

The Meng 1/24 scale Ford GT40 is done and in the books. The model depicts the second-place finish car driven by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme at Le Mans in 1966. While I was building the model, I had the opportunity to actually watch the movie: Ford vs Ferrari – talk about inspiration. I spent a lot of time finishing the model as I wanted it to replicate the car as best I could. The kit itself had no real issues and was a pleasure to build – my first race car to be honest.

I used Indycal Decals and they were fantastic for all the car and tire markings. The teardrops over the headlights were done using the mask set I purchased from IndyCals when I purchased the decals and were the only way I could resolve the fit and color issues. Indycal helped replicate the car markings correctly and fit of the decals were superb. Decals were applied right on top of the gloss paint, as it was super smooth and no need for any clear coats for application.

Paints:

Primer: MRPLight Gray Lacquer

Color Coats: Gravity of Spain Lacquers

Clear Gloss Top Coat: Tamiya Clear LP-9

The Tamiya Clear Gloss Lacquer LP-9 was used to seal the decals and I followed my brother and Mark’s advice, let the clear coat set up for a good 72hours and then onto the polishing stages. To add depth to the finish I used the Gravity Polishing System and lastly their synthetic Wax.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

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Outstanding Peter! Really nice work and a model to be proud of. :)

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12 hours ago, HubertB said:

You should rightly be proud of your GT 40, Peter.

Here are pics of the real deal, the Ken Miles’ car from the Shelby collection.

image.jpeg.a1ecc59a79f0dd2c261b3746f32eccc8.jpeg

 

1966 Le Mans with Ford GT40 P/1015 driven by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby. Photo by Dave Friedman.
 

Ford GT40 Mk II

Hubert

Hi Hubert

I ran the photos through photoshop and Lightroom to bring out whatever detail I could on the front tire tread width and honestly, the kits tires seem to match reasonably very well. The three photographs of the car's front tires are deep in shadows but I was able to pull out enough detail to have a better look and the kit's tires do look about right. Not sure why you would want to point out something as the kits tire width when it is such a small part of the build.

Peter 

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Gaz, so much appreciated the kind words on the GT40. A fun kit and no struggles. Just nice to sit and build and not have any issues to overcome other then needing a few paint masks, which were a good learning experience.

Keep 'em comin

Peter 

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14 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Hi Hubert

I ran the photos through photoshop and Lightroom to bring out whatever detail I could on the front tire tread width and honestly, the kits tires seem to match reasonably very well. The three photographs of the car's front tires are deep in shadows but I was able to pull out enough detail to have a better look and the kit's tires do look about right. Not sure why you would want to point out something as the kits tire width when it is such a small part of the build.

Peter 

I think the tires are OK, but the tread (i.e. the spacing of the font wheels) is still too large.

Which dtetracts from the look but not the quality of your build and the outstanding finish you achieved. As for the details of the Shelby collection car, they represent the car in its final version before it was retired, not necessarily as it was at one time of its career, like Le Mans 1966.

If the wheels are glued, so be it. Only the PITA guys like me will comment on it anyway :) ...

Otherwise, the way out is probably to thin the hub of the wheels outside of the disc to visually reduce the tread.

Hubert

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The beauty and the beast, Peter your GT represents both in great fashion. The painting and decaling came out perfect in that most beautiful livery for the GT40. You could build a MKII and set it beside for a laugh. A  great model too, but design wise, well, it's modern :D
I wonder what's next on your agenda, now you have trotten the glossy finish path for a while.

Cheers Rob

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Hi Rob

Thank you so much for the very kind words on my GT40 - just a fun build with no real issues. And you are so right, I've enjoyed my last two projects immensely as both were so much about the finish and decals. Right now I've decided to start on two new builds, alternating between the two as I did with the GT40 and the Embraer 190. I have the Tamiya 32nd scale Spitfire already underway and am getting ready to begin a build thread maybe by the weekend. The other project I'm going to be starting shortly is the 1/24 Hasegawa 1/24 Jaguar XJR-9 Castrol, 24 Hours at Daytona Winner, 1988. 

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Keep 'em comin

Peter

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Hi Rob

I do plan on using AM decals from Indycals as with the GT40. I've always been a big Jag fan from the IMSA glory days for me, especially Group 44. I'm willing to bet there will be another Jag soon after this one in the very near future. Takes a bit to find these out of production kits at a reasonable price.

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4 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks Mark, so gratefully appreciated, especially coming from a master race car builder. 

Keep 'em comin

Peter

 

 

Thanks Peter but master 🤔

Still learning

Looking forward to the next one

 

Mark

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1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

Hi Rob

Thank you so much for the very kind words on my GT40 - just a fun build with no real issues. And you are so right, I've enjoyed my last two projects immensely as both were so much about the finish and decals. Right now I've decided to start on two new builds, alternating between the two as I did with the GT40 and the Embraer 190. I have the Tamiya 32nd scale Spitfire already underway and am getting ready to begin a build thread maybe by the weekend. The other project I'm going to be starting shortly is the 1/24 Hasegawa 1/24 Jaguar XJR-9 Castrol, 24 Hours at Daytona Winner, 1988. 

sFIR6k.jpg

bBJgK2.jpg

Keep 'em comin

Peter

Gonna be some outstanding models for sure Peter. I look forward to following along. :)

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