RoR Step-by-Step Review 20111016* Ferrari 458 Italia 1:24 Scale Revell Kit #85-4912 Review The Ferrari 458 Italia combines the power and performance of a Formula One race car with an ultramodern design that could only come from Ferrari. The Italia can go from 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) in 3 seconds, thanks to a 275 cu. in. (4.5L) V-8 engine that produces 560 hp at 9,000 RPM! For the Modeler: This is a skill level 3, 1:24 scale, Revell kit that features an authentically sculptured body with a multi-piece 4.5L V-8 engine, a super-detailed interior and suspension, detailed wheel and brake assemblies, a positional front axle, soft black tires, chrome-plated parts and decals with factory markings. With their release of the Ferrari 458, Revell continues their tradition of re-releasing Revell of Germany kits with US boxing. This has brought beautiful kits of high-end European sports cars to our shores for many years, and this 458 Italia is no exception. Inside the traditional two-piece Revell box are sprues molded in white, clear, and chrome plated, along with vinyl tires. Since this is a re-boxing of a Revell of Germany kit, some of the sprues have been bent or clipped to fit the smaller US box. Even with the tight squeeze, only one or two pieces had any warping to them. Covered in this Review: If you want to perfect your build; basic construction; preparing parts for better finishing; seam identification and repair; links to the Ferrari site for correct color selection; spray painting techniques; engine detailing; custom finishing the brakes; adding some scratch-built detail to the engine cover; making the suspension parts pop with acrylic washes; interior colors and application; using weathering powders to make realistic interiors; adhesive selection and application; are all fully examined in this 12 page, full-color Step-by-Step review.
3) The body, molded in white, had a few seams that needed to be sanded. I highlighted them with a fine-tip marker, as shown in Figure 2, which served as a guide during the sanding process. I didn t need to use any filler on the body. After sanding, I glued the mirrors in place and primed the body with PlastiKote Sandable Primer. Before I chose which color to paint my Ferrari, I went to the Ferrari website and used the configure application. This interactive process allowed me to virtually build my 458, choosing exterior colors, wheel and brake caliper options, and interior finishes. This application was an invaluable tool in deciding how to build my 1/24 scale version. 4) The box art shows the car in Rosso Corsa nicknamed resale red a much too common color for Ferraris, in my opinion. I was determined to find a more unique color for my 458, and I narrowed it down to Blu Tour de France and Blu Abu Dhabi. A few Google searches for actual cars in each color helped me pick the Blu Tour de France. From there, I went to Scale Finishes website www.scalefinishes.com and purchased the correct OEM color. I mist coated the first coat on the primed body, hitting areas like the undercuts and downward-facing surfaces a little heavier. 5) Two more coats got me to the desired depth of color and level of finish.
6) For those who haven t used a basecoat/clear coat system, it can be a bit unnerving at first. After the basecoat dried, my model was left with a dull, barely metallic finish. No worries the model soon looked like the finished 360 Modena. 7) Shortly after completing the basecoat, I followed up with three coats of PlastiKote clear. The process still wasn t done yet.
8) After some polishing (see my previous RoR review), my 458 had the shine I was looking for. Typically, detailing a car model consists of wiring and plumbing the engine. With the 458, most of the engine is hidden, so I chose to detail other, more visible portions of the car. To provide stopping power, the 458 features massive carbon ceramic brake discs and huge Brembo calipers. Very little of these is hidden by the 5-spoke 19 wheels. For me, this seemed like the most logical place to spend some extra time. 9) I began by cutting the calipers off of the kit brakes. I then roughly cut a disc of.010 styrene sheet, punched a hole in the center, and glued this disc to the kit brake discs.
10) To complete the disc, I sanded down the edges and drilled numerous holes with a #80 bit, following prototype pictures from my collection. A few Tichy Train Group nut-bolt-washer (NBW) castings and a short chunk of styrene tube were added to the hub, along with one NBW atop the caliper to represent a bleeder valve. The finished results are shown in Figure 10, side-by-side with the stock part on the right. 11) I wanted to do my wheels in a darker color that I found in prototype pictures, so I stripped the chrome plating with Easy Off oven cleaner. Here are the bare wheels, along with the brakes. Removing the calipers made painting them yellow much easier, a feat that was accomplished with Tamiya chrome yellow spray. The wheels and brake discs were painted with Alclad II steel over PlastiKote gray primer.
12) The Revell of Germany wheel backs (sigh ) were given a shot of black primer to try to hide this unrealistic part. The painted subassemblies are shown here. 13) I gave the tires a quick pass with a sanding stick and mounted them to the rims. The completed wheels and tires are shown in Figure 13. 14) The engine is a beauty! The problem is, in order to see it, the modeler would need to mount it on a separate display stand the engine bay cover is simply too large to show off much of the engine. For that reason, I detail painted the engine, but no more.
The aforementioned engine cover did get some attention. I added a few missing cables with thin gauge wire and masked off the fluid reservoir with blue tack, shown in Figure 15. 16) This is the finished engine cover after painting and decaling.
17) Suspension detail on this kit is limited, but I did detail paint where I could. The spring-over-dampers are not overly detailed, but after applying a wash of black acrylic and dish soap to the Tamiya Titanium Silver-painted pieces, they had some pop to them. With the body done and the chassis complete, my attention turned to the interior. I found a two-color combination I liked with the configure application, so I decided to go with it here. I began by spraying all of the interior parts with RustOleum plastic primer, followed by airbrushed Folk Art Honeycomb acrylic paint. The second color a darker shade of blue was brush painted in the appropriate areas with Polly Scale C&O Enchantment Blue. 19) To add some depth to the seats, I used some AIM Products powders, Grimy Black on the blue portions, and Medium Earth on the tan areas. I kept this shading to the creases. The seat backs got a coat of Tamiya Gunmetal, simulating carbon fiber, and the dash and other components were detail painted.
20) The finished interior pieces are shown here. Note the headliner piece, upper left this is the first time I have seen this piece in a kit, and I liked it! Revell please include this in all future kits! 21) The finished interior is shown in Figure 21.
22) My attention returned to the body, brush painting the grille areas and weather stripping with Polly Scale Steam Power Black. I also attached the rear window glass to the engine cover at this time. 23) Assembly began at this stage. The interior keyed into slots in the body, and the chassis pan fit snugly between the body sides with bearing areas on the front air dam and exhaust pipe pieces. I taped the engine cover down gently with a piece of Tamiya masking tape to prevent it from swinging, placed five minute epoxy on the bearing areas, and put everything into place.
24) Wheels and tires were added and everything sat level at this stage, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief! Adding decals, side glass, and headlight covers finished the build. With the model done, I took it outside for a few pictures. The Scale Finishes Blu Tour de France has a very strong metallic look to it under natural light, matching prototype photos well. It is amazing the difference between indoor and outdoor lighting conditions. I really like the 458 Italia, and I can say the same for Revell s rendition. Aside from a few poorly rendered details, it is a very well done kit. I would gladly build another! To be honest, I lost count, but my best guess is that I spent about 30 hours assembling this kit.
Pros: This kit captures prototype shape very well; fully detailed engine; glass installs from outside; well-rendered interior with rarelymodeled roof panel. Cons: Two-part wheel assembly; poorly rendered brake discs; slightly undersized wheels.