Fly Ferrari 250GTO and 250LM (modified)

[woodracer]

Ferrari 250GTO and 250LM's

My interest in motor racing started by taking an avid interest in the 9hour race at Kyalami South Africa. We could see and hear the new race track from our house and my first 9 hour was in 1962 where I watched the Piper / Johnstone Ferrari 250GTO win the first of several 9 hours for Mr Piper. I was hooked.

The two cars I have always liked are the 250GTO and the 250LM cars, fortunately both models available from Fly. Well - almost. The Fly 250GTO is a great model (except for the left hand driver) but the 250LM is positively awful. Yes it is a 250LM but no where like the real 250LM's of David Pipers and the great NART Le Mans winning Ferrari of Rindt / Gregory.

Using a modified NSR sidewinder pod I found I could just squeeze this between the wheels in both versions so have decided to build a common chassis for both the 250GTO and the 250LM.


For the makers of the Fly cars - please note driver position....

1962 Ferrari 250GTO
The Fly body for this car is superb - with rich colours and great attention to small details like the engine cover clips etc. Seems however the guy doing the driver did not get the memo about it being a right hand driven car so I have cut away the entire cockpit and moved the driver the correct side. The interior needed to be rebuilt anyways to fit over the new rear mounted side winder motor. The NSR pod is now fitted into a custom chassis of mine with rotating front end.


Plans for the 250GTO


My work space - not usually as tidy as this.


The chassis fits the 250LM as well - so will be used with both body types.



1963 Ferrari 250LM
I eventually bought a green David Piper Fly 250LM which I think is pretty awful. Yes - some nice detail but wrong colour, wrong front end and the driver is so phoney. Very disappointed and for many months I stewed over this wondering if I had the nerve to modify the front end. Then I saw a plain #23 Fly 250LM body for sale on eBay and decided that was it - it was worth the risk. So this afternoon I took the plunge and cut off the bottom of the nose, fashioned some wood and glued it on after getting most of the exterior shape more or less the right size. Hopefully the glue will hold whilst I do the final grinding and sanding. We shall see.


The original Fly body with stubby nose





Yes a bit violent but nothing ventured nothing gained


Parts of the new wood nose


Wood nose before final glueing


Nose has been shaped to general outside shape and strengthening struts added which I hope will hold on... (!)



Glued in place



I think this is starting to take the basic shape needed when compared to photo below.



A model of the real car with correct nose.  I cannot find any decent colour pictures of the original Rindt car.


Tomorrow it's onto the grinder.


Richard

[woodracer]

July 4th 2020

Okay - so a bit of a rethink on how to do this and a simpler approach needed.  Today cut off the lower part of what was built yesterday (note to self - think before doing)  and worked out a much simpler way to make the lower portion.



New simple blocks glued underneath top plate... easy and can get the holes right before the gluing process.
Getting the main openings th right shape takes time and having the work piece in a vice really helps.


From underneath a lot simpler and lighter



Sanding complete and first filler coat applied

 
Nearly ready - a couple of small holes to fill and a few bits to get smoother.  
Starting look a bit like a Ferrari again (?) ... not perfect but okay for my needs.

Primer coats tomorrow.


Richard



 

[woodracer]

Final images


painting and decals done.  Hasn't come out too bad except the nose is still not quite right when I look at the black and white photos of the original Rindt car that I found AFTER I had done the initial carving.





Leather straps added - made from masking tape.  Painting the steering wheel really brought the interior alive.










For anyone interested the wood was glued to the plastic with LePage SuperGlue Gel (just on the plastic edges.  The gap underneath was then filled with GE IronGrip silicone which I have found to have very good adhesion and strength.


Painting
Stynylrez dull pink primer coat.  
Three coats VallejoAIR Ferrari Red.
One coat Vallejo Clear Gloss (with flow improver)
Decals applied at this stage.
Two final coats of clear gloss.
One brush coat of Future Floor.


Richard

[Peter Seager-Thomas]

That's a nice result. Will you attack the screen surround with a Molotow pen?

If I was asked which was my preferred RTR cars, I'd say Fly (though the related SRC are good too) but like other cars, they are normally too wide. How is the 250LM in this respect?

Incidentally, my favourite Fly car is the Porsche 906. It is however, too wide....

Peter.

[woodracer]

Thanks Peter,
One of the things I enjoy on this forum is the advice from the experts - I have never heard of a Molotow pen! I have looked it up and looks really useful, so thanks for that suggestion.

Agree I think these cars are generally too wide in scale terms.
The Fly 250LM measures 55.6mm across the body where the driver sits - the scale size I believe should be 53.1mm (full size car spec is shown as 1700mm).

The Fly 250GTO measures 53.6mm (mid section) and the scale size should be 52.3mm if I have my facts correct (based on web info). I do not like measuring the actual widest point where the back wheels are as these are even wider but the look of the body in my view is largely governed by the middle part of the body. Looking at some of the 250LM photos (B&W) of the original Gregory/Rindt car during the '65 Le Mans race it looks pretty narrow and even appears a bit "top heavy". I believe the model makers have based their sizes on what was needed to squeeze a FC130 motor in sidewinder config between two wheels - hence the slightly wider bodies?


I found this photo after I had shaped and glued the nose - which shows why my build still has the wrong nose shape for this car.  I think some of the colour photos of the 250LMs are replicas and there seem to be quite a variation in nose shapes and openings.  The Fly bodies look to me slightly wider in proportion to the actual car in the photo above. 

Richard