Promocom Ferrari 126 C2 1/8 scale
This is the most complex and expensive model I’ve tackled to date. Materials are authentic to the original car. There is no plastic. Metals are part specific, and the bodywork is made of carbon fiber just like the real thing. Assembly will be painstaking and highly detailed. This will be more than a just a model, it will be an authentic miniature Ferrari. I think this build will take at least three months, depending on how many other projects compete for my time. The model will be offered for sale upon completion. So far, I’ve completed the basic engine block.
The build log
This build log will cover the construction of the Promocom Ferrari 126 C2 as configured for the 1982 Zolder Grand Prix and driven by Gilles Villeneuve.
The kit was purchased from Brady Ward at Scale Autoworks.
Before getting into construction, I thought I'd show the box and its contents.
As shown above, the kit is well protected in a thick carboard box.
Inside the box there are many bags of (mostly) white metal components, photoetched parts, fiber glass, carbon fiber and CNC machined aluminium, all packaged in foam lining to avoid any damage.
You can see many pictures of these parts here.
Shown above are the two halves of the body. These are machined from solid aluminium billets - quite impressive!
I This is one of the carbon fiber components, in this case the upper body. The piece will need to be trimmed to the correct shape and then painted, which almost seems a shame...
I Okay, onto construction! I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about starting work on this kit given that it will be my first experience dealing with an all-metal model. The cost also means its not one of those that can be screwed and then abandoned.
Once I started, though, I realized that working in these materials is quite pleasureable.
In the image above, you can see that I have joined together the four core block components. The front edge looks very rough, but this is covered up by a bulkhead so I only need to ensure that the mating surfaces are flat for a good fit.
I These three components are shown in rough form prior to cleaning to remove all marks and before polishing as appropriate. The two parts on the left will make up the bulkhead mentioned above.
I This is the front of the engine and after cleaning.
I Above is the block with the front of the engine attached.
I This is the rear of the engine with the rear bulkhead attached.
These are the next five components to be attached to the rear bulkhead. Much prep work will be done before these are ready to be attached.
The component on the left has been prepared through a process of filing, sanding and polishing and is read for bolting to the engine. The component on the right is in its unprepared state.
Above you can see the two components referenced in the prior paragraphy are now bolted onto the engine. I have replaced many of the faux bolts supplied with the kit with my own brass bolts. (Some of the bolts in the kits are just white metal castings and look horrible!) Although the brass bolts are not strictly true to life in terms of material I think they bring some contrast to the model. Bringing contrast through paint, different materials and different levels of sanding/ polishing is important, especially on a metal model since it can otherwise appear "flat".
Okay onto the next subassembly, the flywheel, and clutch plate. Above you can see the three components that make up this unit.
Here are the three items as they will look when finished. 
Here you see the clutch assembly cleaned up and detailed with bolts and added to the engine block. Now for the kicker - all this detail and it will all be covered when the gearbox is added. But we all know it's there!
You can also see the two cylinder head covers prepped. The actual car's engine is documented having both unpainted and painted (Ferrari red) heads. I opted to paint them to add interest to the model.
Above you can see the two cylinder heads plus a crankshaft access panel ready for painting in my paint booth. They will first be primed with some tamiya metal primer (a transparent spray), then sprayed in white primer which is required to make the red bright and then finally sprayed red.
These are the three components after the paint has cured. Careful sanding reveals the stirpes on the heads.
At the suggestion from one of the discussion forum contributors, I've added a few images of the real engine just to keep things real!
I will probably add these images later in this workbench to be able to continue to compare with the real thing.
And just so you know where we're heading here is an overall shot of the real car!
Here is the next set of engine components. There are two sets of these (slightly different) for each set of camshafts. The photograph above shows them in their unfinished state (right side), and the image below shows the left side finished and installed on the left side of the engine.
Below are two shots of the engine with the painted cylinder heads installed.
The next step will be to prepare and install the right hand components for the cam shafts
Above you can see that I have prepared and installed the right camshaft components, although after taking the picture I realized that I had forgotten to install the bolts for the lower cam cover.
I'm finding that taking macro photographs of the model as it progresses serves two purposes. Of course, it's for Scale Replicas. But it turns out that the images function as a tool for checking detail that is not perceived by the human eye. This provides a clear view of the quality of the work, thereby improving the model.
The spark plugs have been drilled to receive the leads and were sprayed black. The paint is currently drying and I will install the plugs in a couple of days.
Above you can see the next set of components ready to be cleaned up and assembled. As usual I will be replacing the kit nuts and bolts. To give you some idea of scale I have included a quarter in the picture along with an inset close-up of one of the nuts and bolts that I am using.
Above are two of the sub-assemblies built and prepared for painting. It's worth pointing out that where your see the brass nuts and bolts, these are really holding the assemblies together not glue.
This image shows the engine upside down so that you can see the completed and installed assemblies shown in the previous photographs.
Okay, I jumped ahead a bit here. Here you can see that not only are the spark plugs installed, but also two assemblies on the front of the engine.
Although it does not look like it, these two assemblies took about three hours to build. The one on the left took the longest.
The above sub-assembly has 39 separate parts and measures less than 3/4" by 1/2". It took me about eight hours to build including milling the main body (I was unhappy with the look of the white metal piece, even after it was cleaned up). As usual I added real bolts.
The white hoses will be hooked up later in the construction.
Here you can see the sub-assmbly on the engine. It, along with a few other components have not been permanently attached yet as this would leave it susceptible to damage during construction. I'll attach them at the last possible moment.
You can also see that I have added the water filter which is in a nice shade of blue.
I know it has been a while since the last update, but progress is being made on the Ferrari, albeit slower at present due to my temporary focus on my new CNC lathe, mill and router which I am teaching myself to use.
As you can see I have been working on the turbocharger installation. It's temporarily attached for this photo. And just to compare, the real engine is shown below with the turbocharger bulkhead.
I have now mounted the turbo charger bulkhead permanently to the engine annd added inlet manifold along wiith its turbocharger to one siide of the engine. This took a while (and a lot of patience) to get everything to line up, but I got there in the end.
Below shows the inlet manifolds and pipes completes along with the turbo concentrator.
All these curved pipes made fitting and assembly very challenging, but with a lot of time and patience I got them to fit in the end.
more to come...
