Alfa Romeo 8C / 2300 1931 - 1933 Italeri 4708

Aligning frame 

Aligning frame 

Aligning frame 

Test fitting frame and engine 

Priming frame parts 

Fitting rear suspension 

Aligning frame and rear suspension 

Testfitting 

Engine work in progress 

Engine and exhaust test fitting 

Body work and exhaust primed and test fitting 

Dashboard painted and decalled 

Bulkhead modification 

Modified bulkhead in situ 

 

More test fitting 

Primed most of the remaining parts 

For whatever reason the primer did not tack. I use zero paint primer from the bottle which usually does the trick. But every now and then it doesn't and it chips while sanding. Must be something in the preparation.  

New attempt. Rescribed the rear seem / gap. From the box, the fit the parts is too close. 

Seems to stick better now. 

First layers of Zero Paints base coat 1609 specifically for this model. I think it's a lovely cherry red. After clear coating, the color will appear a bit brighter.

From reference photos it seems the original color is a darker shade of red (tending to purple). But this may be due to photografic techniques and the lacquers used at that time, which probably discolor after polishing and washing many times over the years.

More recent restorations of the original seem to be finished with a brighter red, more like Ferrari 300. Which is OK for Ferrari's I guess ... 

Taking a sun bath in the garden 

First layer of clear on some of the pats. And some more test fitting. 

No, it was not good enough yet ... And of course forgot the window pillars 🙁

So, took some rework to get that fixed. 

After final shots of base color clear it's looking not too bad.  

Radiator grill and head lights assembled. Italeri does not keep the highest standards as far as crispiness of the parts is concerned, but all together it came out decent. Apart from the left head light glass that broke during final fitting (for which of course I'm fully to blame for, not Italeri ...)

For clear parts I use dispersion glue (Micrsoscale). It's not yet quite set as you can see from the photo. I do not trust CA that is advertised to be safe for using with clear parts. For whatever reason that doesn't work for me, I always mess up when CA-ing clear parts (that should stay clear). 

Cosy all together, curing in the sun. It's really glossy, should be tuned down a bit to look more scale and period, but I think I leave it like this. Experience taught me that further fiddeling will definetely ruin something.

I use a 1k clear cote gloss (Trimetal from SIkkens), dilluted with terpentine, not thinner, to give the coat some time to level. After initial curing of the paint, the parts were "baked" in the wifes oven for one hour at 60 degrees to speed up the curing process.