Alex

After the project started, I was busy working in the FAB lab, and I didn’t update any blogs, but now, the car is finally finished! The process was a lot harder than I thought, I faced lots of problems that needed solving.

The major problem with the painting process was dust. ISB didn’t have a dust free painting room provided, and the FAB lab was full of dust created by the large machines. During the first few sprays with the car, the car kept getting fish eyes, and I didn’t know why. I tried to sand it out and paint a second layer to cover it. But dust particles just keep on coming.

After practicing multiple times, I came out with a plan on covering the car with a box to prevent dust. I heard about Mr. Stenning talking about his friend, who owned a car paint shop. They would spray water onto the ground before painting, it would prevent dust from flying around and ruining the car paint. I learnt from that and added wet paper towels underneath the car. Even though it still didn’t provide a dust free environment, it was a lot better than before.

I also had to master both the paint spraying can and the spraying pen. I’d always prefer the spraying pen, but only the spray can came with the golden color I needed. A spraying can would apply a lot more paint per spray comparing to the spraying pen, and the alternation between these tools created a weird feeling. I had to relearn each tool when changing… Because these two tools have different spraying methods, the pen was more precise.

The finale wasn’t as good as I expected it to turn out. Not only with the paint work, but also with the color.

First of all, there were still bumps on the car body, but my “teacher” for this project said it was acceptable for a newbie, and I’ll gain more experience later. No one would ever master a thing in one try. Everything requires practice and experience.

Second of all, the color was a little bit darker than I expected. I expected it to be a light red, but it came out really dark.

The final product was fine for me, I put into a lot of effort, and I didn’t expect a master product in the first place. I’d say it’s successful, at least I successfully took apart, repainted, and reassembled a car model.

My next product, a ferrari 488?

All materials have arrived, and I’ve finished up the basic race car modification build.

There have been some changes in plan. I discovered that the white 430 car body wouldn’t fit to the racing chassis, and I had to do the build base on the race-car instead. The interior, engine, have been successfully built. I also did some modifications to the chassis: I added a special piece to improve the aero dynamics under the car.

I also started to dismantle the car body of the race-car, preparing for the repaint after spring break. But as I worked, I found out that the pieces were glued onto the body… and it made the dismantle process very hard. I even had to destroy some of the parts in order to dismantle the body work.

This would make the restoring process of the car really hard….

Car building:
Engine Assembly-Ferrari Naturally Aspirated V8

Interior Assembly: Racing seats, race car dashboard, roll cage

Chassis assembly: Install the engine, Install interior, Install racing wheels, Install racing suspension

Exterior Modify:

1. Disassemble lights, air vents, windows…
2. Use paint remover and remove the paint job
3. Install racing aero package
4. Repaint the car in Rosso Fuoco
5. Add racing details (stripes, carbon fiber）

Final Assembly:

Intall the car body with the chassis

The plans for the project have been set up already, and the official project could start after the materials have arrived!

Building Procedure:

1. Check all materials
2. Start with body shell building
3. Interior building
4. 3D print modification material (wheels, assembly parts)
5. Paint body shell
6. Paint accessory parts (wheels, seats, interior, engine, head lights, etc.)
7. Final assembly

Passionate Project Purchase Plan:

Resin Laferrari Kit – 650rmb

Metallic paint primer – 35rmb

Model polish paste – 100rmb

Paint – 93rmb（black, interior red, blue, grey）

Model Tooling – 70rmb

Polishing cloth – 10rmb

Glue – 25rmb

5000 wet dry sandpaper – 5.5rmb

gloss oil-70rmb

Spray Paint gun-178rmb

The plan for my passionate project this year is to build my very own model car. As a model car collector, I have lots of cars, but none of them were built by my self. But it’s about to change!

For the project, I chose my favorite car of all times, the Laferrari. I’m going to start with a kit, and add some modifications to it. the car is going to have more detail, and a new pair of wheels. The color is going to be “Monte Carllo Blue”