I have to admit, I´m addicted to MFH kits, I do some plastic model building in between, but feel unsatisfied and bored while being at it, which meant, I need a magic potion to let the Mojo flow again.
After tthe Cobra Coupe, the Brabham BT45 and the Brabham BT52b, all white and blue, I need a different color dot for my display case and it had to be RED and the 412 T2 fitted perfectly.
I´m not really into car racing, but to me certain type of cars ring some bells with me, esthetically and from a technical point of view. There are a lot of beautiful F1 cars, especially from the 70´s, 80´s and 90´s, afterwards, to me, most of the cars loose attraction.
What about the 412 T2? The last 12 cylinder engine used in formular on, check, low nose design, check, not over-winged, check, not turbo charged, check, nice paintjob, check, so let´s pull out the box.



A tiny bit of history: Talented French F1 driver Jean Alesi had a long lasting, successful carrer in F1, but managed only to win one race and that was the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix at his 31 birthday. The 412 T2, I will build depict the car, he used in Canada.
The Ferrari itself finished third in the manufacturer ranking, with Alesi finishing 5th in the driver championship. Lots of changes took place in Formula one in these years. Most teams changed to high nose designs and the twelve cylinder blocks were history. The next Ferrari, the F310 had a V10 engine, a high nose and was the start of Michael Schumachers Ferrari carrer, all three points would let me ignore the F310 as a kit.

Cheers Rob

Edited September 27Sep 27 by DocRob

Another masterclass coming up.

Will be watching Rob😀

3 hours ago, FG2Si said:

Another masterclass coming up.

3 hours ago, Belugawhaleman said:

Will be watching Rob😀

To start one of those is always a little adventure, but I love every bit of it, well, nearly every bit .

Cheers Rob

I don´t want to show the complete box contet, as it can be looked up on the MFH homepage, where there are decriptions, what´s in the box with pictures and some kits like this have a downloadable manual as well. Here are some highlights:

The body and many other parts are made from white resin. The cast quality is near perfect, without any bubbles or blemishes, only a tiny bit of flash here and there. The main components also seem to fit very good.


Another highlight are the rims with MFH kits in general, often turned aluminium with an insert from cast metal, but here you got the holy grail rims of all in readily gold anodized aluminum.


The rubber tires are pre printed with the makers branding, very nice.


Before starting a MFH kit, you need to be disciplinized and take your time with preparations. As I said, most kits have parts lists on the MFH page, and you need to be sure, that everything is included, so make sure, you check ALL parts against these lists. Others had missing parts, which MFH replaces very fast, but I have to say, my kits were complete. Nevertheless, while checking the contents, you got the first idea, about what you´ve gotten into.
After checking, I usually clean the parts in a magnetic tumbler filled with water and 0,3 mm needles. I skipped this step here, because there are no unpainted or polished parts in the kit and you always loose a tiny bit of detail sharpness with cleaning.
Next is a very eye tearing job to do, sorting the parts according to the steps of the manual, best into sorting boxes. It is exhausting, but you get a good feeling for the parts and where everything belongs.

Here are the (mainly white metal) parts sorted.



The last box also contains also a lot of the supplied goodies, like PE, some clear resin parts, turned aluminum funnels and axles. different types of aluminum rivets, a suede leather sheet for the seat cover, fabric and metal parts for the seat belts, ...
Not shown are the decals, in this case printed by Cartograph. There are thre sheets, one with the decor, including tobacco sponsors and two with carbon fiber decals.

Cheers Rob

Edited September 27Sep 27 by DocRob

It will be interesting to follow this.😎

And for me the great thing about the real car was the glorious sound it made.

Cheers

Dennis

8 hours ago, FullArmor said:

It will be interesting to follow this.😎

Good to have you along, FA

3 hours ago, Spitfire said:

And for me the great thing about the real car was the glorious sound it made.

Oh yes, I forgot about the sound. It would be great even at 1/12 scale .

Cheers Rob

Gentlemen (and Ladies of course), start your engines, or better let´s start with the engine.
The first pages of the manual are devoted to said twelve cylinder engine. As it is mainly painted black, I didn´t tumble polish the parts. I will etch primer later, before airbrushing. There are many parts included into this step and I took my time, to identify everything, understand where it goes and with what it will be connected. Cleanup was minimal, the cast quality is very good. I drilled many and I mean many holes in preparation, always looking ahead in the manual.

Maybe that is the point to add some suggestions, which I feel are essential during a MFH build. You don´t need to be a model building super hero to tackle these kits, in fact most parts of the build are extremely enjoyable, but there are always some obstacles.
During preparation:
- Check the box content using the manual and parts lists provided on the MFH page.
- Some kits have errors in the manual and there are some corrections available on the MFH page
- Sort the parts in sorting cases, following the manual.
- If you plan to leave a lot of metal bare, tumble polish the white metal parts. The metal can be easily polished and looks very convincing.
Building phase:
- Test fit a lot and then again.
- Make sure you understand the placement of the used parts and their orientation.
- Plan logical building steps
- Pay extreme attention to moving body parts like doors, bonnets.
- Don´t commit errors. Of course, everybiody makes errors during such a build, but essential is, if there is a gap somewhere on the engine block you might not be able to close the body.
- Errors with these kits tend to add up and can be a pain to solve later on.
- Make sure, you drilled all the necessary holes, as some areas might be impossible to reach later.
- Clean the resin parts thoroughly before priming. A bit of fine sanding helps the color to adhere better.
- Windscreens, windows and other parts consist of vacuum formed parts, which need to be cut out. A marker or flexible tape helps visualize the contours. Don´t sand these parts, cut them little by little, until they fit.
- Have lots of good drill bits at hand. The PCB drill bits "eat" into the metal wasily, the classic HSS drill bits are better. I prefer mostly hand drilling, as it is so easy to drill too deep, using a power tool.
- You should have a caliper


Cheers Rob

Edited September 29Sep 29 by DocRob

Always a pleasure to follow along with your builds Rob.

I have hit an issue with my bt52 build so have put it away for now, I’m hoping in time to sort it and crack on again. Until then I will enjoy watching you work your magic.

3 hours ago, Nick said:

Always a pleasure to follow along with your builds Rob.

I have hit an issue with my bt52 build so have put it away for now, I’m hoping in time to sort it and crack on again. Until then I will enjoy watching you work your magic.

Thank you Nick, what´s the problem with your BT52 ?

Cheers Rob

Hi Rob, I am having with part m192 interfering with the intake I’ve arrowed.

I suspect it’s m192 at fault as it was quite misshapen and I thought i had straightened it. As it is if fouls the end of the intake so something is obviously wrong.

I should have built all this up beforehand but it’s my first MFH build and I’m still learning the ways… I think my plan will be to build up the intercooler that the intake connects to and test fit that along with the lower bodywork piece and hopefully that will tell me if the problem is with the bracket or the intake?

4 hours ago, Nick said:

Hi Rob, I am having with part m192 interfering with the intake I’ve arrowed.

Hi Nick, I guess you mean part M1, the front frame, right. I also had a lot of difficulties to fit part one onto the engine block and connect them with the V-shaped parts (M204, M205) at the same time.
If I remember correct, I cut away the lower connection points from part M1 to the engine block, to geet it right. I glued part M1 flush to the engine and managed somehow to connect all other parts.
Are you sure, that part M1 sits perfectly correct with yours, it´s absolutely critical, but hard to see. You should check this and of course the fit of the airbox RE14. Part M1 later connects the engine and rear part with the front monocoque, so you should check this direction as well. There is no way, that the distance between engine and monocoque could be wrong.
Acetone does loosen CA glue, unfortunately the paint as well, but if there is no way around, it´s better to rebuild that part to get it right.

Here are two pictures, which show, hoe mine looked there:




Cheers Rob

Hi Rob, that’s a massive help, thank you! Yes I meant part m1, think I needed more coffee when I typed lol.

I will break the build back out of storage and have another look at it, and do as you have suggested - I was really enjoying the build up to that point.

2 hours ago, Nick said:

Hi Rob, that’s a massive help, thank you! Yes I meant part m1, think I needed more coffee when I typed lol.

I will break the build back out of storage and have another look at it, and do as you have suggested - I was really enjoying the build up to that point.

I hope you find a solution for your problems, this is one of the trickier areas of the build. Connecting items for whole subunits are always extremely sensible to correct fit. Otherways, you´ll run in problems later. When I first tried to close the body, I sheared all the ignition wires and one or two spark plugs off, because the engine sat one milimeter or less too high. Tolerances are tight with these builds.
Cheers Rob

First real construction steps. I build up the main part of the engine in it´s full 12 cylinder galore. The 412 T2 power house consists from white metal and some etch parts only. Most MFH engines have a engine housing made from resin, which somtimes leads to a little bit more of adjusting work, because of minimal differences in shrinkage. I prefer it all metal and it is quite heavy.
There are some more parts to add, which I also build up, but add after airbrushing the engine. It is almost exclusively black, other than all my built MFH engines. The fit was very good and detail is very sharp and I hope, I can show that detail with my special painting technique.
I used some transparent Tamiya metal primer as a base layer then.



Cheers Rob

Great subject Rob, looking forward to following along. Those rims are very nice indeed!

Any MFH without doors, windows, roof, anything with hinges is a plus🤣 Nothing i can say Rob, you know your way around these things better than me so i am here to learn....fire away 😃

incidentally do you use a vibratory polisher of a wet tumbler ? I have 5 LB wet tumbler works with small ceramic chips

1 hour ago, Paddy said:

Any MFH without doors, windows, roof, anything with hinges is a plus🤣 Nothing i can say Rob, you know your way around these things better than me so i am here to learn....fire away 😃

You are right about the moving parts like doors, etc., F1 cars are a bit easier to build this way, but they have their own challenges. Everything is cramped into a tight body and suspensions are usually complex and delicate and the wings as well.
I ordered the Abarth, so some more doors and bonnets , but I like the open topped sports cars, because you can also see the interior very clear. I also pre-ordered the Le Mans Corvette C1. At first, I thought, I could withstand, but I thought often about getting the street version. I didn´t like the wheels and look of the engine too much though. The Le Mans C1 looks better to my eye, less chrome, dark magnesium wheels, somehow badass cool.

2 hours ago, Paddy said:

incidentally do you use a vibratory polisher of a wet tumbler ? I have 5 LB wet tumbler works with small ceramic chips

I cleaned all my past MFH kit metal parts with a magnetic tumbler. I use 0,3 mm steel needles for the cleaning together with soapy water. I tumble the parts for 30-60 minutes, rinse them under clear water and let them dry. The needle treatment leads to only minimal loss of detail and enhances the shinyness of the white metal. I also have the feeling thea due to the needle hammering, the surfaces are a bit harder.
For the Ferrari, I didn´t clean the white metal parts at all, as they looked good and there are no unpainted or polished parts.

Initially, I tried another tumbler for my first MFH build, the Crocker. It uses metal balls for cleaning. The shinyness is fantastic, but complicated shapes are only treated on the surfaces not the crevices or around protruding parts, which lead me to buy the magnetic tumbler.


Cheers rob

The engine and all other surrounding subassemblies got airbrushed in my signature spray variant. Therefore, I use Tamiya LP-5 semi matte black highly dilluted with leveling thinner and spray carefully over the parts, to hinder the very thin paint to run. The idea is to let the metal shine through for a tiny bit. It´s an effect, similar to drybrushing, but more regular and gives the painted parts a more realistic metal look. In reality, you mostly can visualize materials from their looks. You can see, what is plastic, metal or wood only by the shininess, reflections, color depth and surface characteristics. With a scale replica, you have to use airbrushing or painting techniques to simulate this. The effect might look a bit crude on the picture, but this will change while adding the subassemblies and wiring.

The Ferrari lettering was painted, using a white ball roller pen, which I used for the first time and I like the result. It dries matte and will also be helpful to paint brand logos on tyres.


Cheers Rob

Incredible work as always Rob, I like your thinking regarding the paint - I hadn’t looked at it that way before but it makes perfect sense.

Talking of sense, I think all of mine has gone as I have just ordered another MFH kit. It’s one of my favourite cars, a legend in the Le Man world and is notoriously difficult to build. It’s one for when I have a few MFH builds under my belt but I still think I’m mad lol

You will enjoy the Abarth, its really small , just watch out for the rear cover fit and if you use the optional cooling fans they are a bit heavy for their mountings and need to be exact in positioning against the air ducts. Other than that its a breeze :) I looked at the new corvette but decided to wait, its a bit Modern for me :

14 hours ago, Nick said:

Talking of sense, I think all of mine has gone as I have just ordered another MFH kit. It’s one of my favourite cars, a legend in the Le Man world and is notoriously difficult to build. It’s one for when I have a few MFH builds under my belt but I still think I’m mad lol

Thank you Nick, are you talking about the 917? I thought about that one too, but I´m not much of a Porsche guy.

Cheers Rob

13 hours ago, Paddy said:

You will enjoy the Abarth, its really small , just watch out for the rear cover fit and if you use the optional cooling fans they are a bit heavy for their mountings and need to be exact in positioning against the air ducts. Other than that its a breeze :) I looked at the new corvette but decided to wait, its a bit Modern for me :

The C1 Corvette is older than me, wich definitely qualifies as old . I read about your solution with the rear cover hinges and stored it on my brain HD. The Corvette seems to be one of the not so good MFH kits, when I understand some build logs right, but I like the look and it will find a nice place in my shelf besides the Cobra Coupe.

Cheers Rob