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MJK 250 Berlinetta 1961

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wixwacing
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Posts: 1871
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:22 am

MJK 250 Berlinetta 1961

Post by wixwacing »

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MJK Ferrari
250 Berlinetta



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by Phil Wicks

Yet another great resin/plastic model from the guys at MJK. This time it is a 1/32 scale model of the 1961 Ferrari 250 Berlinetta. You may recognize its shape as being one of the first GT models made by Scalextric, along with the Aston Martin DB4, but Mr Scaley’s cars were about 1/30th scale, this one is all 1/32 !

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This was always going to get a wixwacing chassis and as a scratchbuild I have free reign as to what the components will be. The chassis you should all be familiar with, but I have looked around for suitable components for the rest of the model.

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After the basic chassis has been measured and cut the body posts have been made and fitted. Body posts are the familiar ‘Evergreen’ plastic telescoping tube (http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/). These are made and screwed to the chassis and trimmed to length by offering the chassis into the body after each trimming until they are all the best length, they are then epoxied into place and left overnight.

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The body was fettled and once the few anomalies were dealt with the body had a medium coat of Tamiya grey primer, Once again the body was lightly sanded with 1200 wet and dry and once it was dry, the colour coat was applied. In this case the final colour was Tamiya flat black enamel, Mmmmmmm?

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So why flat black? Well, flat paint covers so much better than gloss, so I have coated it with a good spray coat of flat black; once dry and free of blemishes, I decided to put the paint and decal features on. The white stripe is a masked stripe using Tamiya 6 m.m. masking tape to form the white line and wider masking tape to cover the remaining exposed paintwork.

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Once the white nose band was dry the decal roundels and numbers were applied. The decals had been treated a few days previously just as insurance against the gloss coat wrinkling the decals. Again, once the paint and decals had dried for a day or two, the first of the gloss coats is applied.

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After the second coat I tentatively lightly sand the finish removing any blemishes which may occur in the painting process, i.e. dust or hair or anything drifting in the atmosphere. Great care must be taken with the decals as too much enthusiasm will see the thin decals rub through and reveal the black coat underneath

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The driver’s tray is quite simple. I was going to build a full interior as I have done with some previous models, but the interior is barely visible and so I decided against this and opted for a half drivers tray. I decided to give the driver minimal comfort so along with the 3D seat backs, I decided to paint some 2D detail for the front and rear seats. Pretty basic but quite effective when viewed through the clear glass insert.

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The driver’s tray slots inside the model and clips under three small brackets glued to the body mounting posts.

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This allows the drivers tray to be removed and refitted with relative ease. The two front locations are slotted in and with some slight bending of the tray, the rear slips nicely under the rear post bracket. I suppose I must have got this idea from Scalextric as they have used a similar ‘clip-in’ method on their models almost from day one and still use it on a lot of models

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Before the final gloss coat I silvered in the screen trims carefully applied with the edge of a medium paint brush. After the final gloss coat had set I epoxied the headlamps in place, these were from my friend Juan in Spain as was the open faced Teamslot driver. ‘Mitoos’ wheels and tyres were the choice, a medium expense but possibly some of the best classic wires on the net! Tyre compound is usably soft and you even have a choice of tyre make tampo’d on the sidewalls!

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Chassis detail is as expected with the wixwacing chassis technique but this time I have opted for an experimental HO motor as I have done in two or three other models over the years (see the Lotus 30 review in the scratchbuild section). This gives the model NC1 comparable performance and is best suited for models you aren’t going to race, but just want to do a few hot laps when your time is your own.

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Once again, rather than fix the motor to the chassis I have made a couple of brackets from brass strip which gently clamp the motor in place. The rear bracket is soldered to the base board while the front one is located with a detachable bracket and a 2 gauge screw; there is room for adjustment too. I settled on a 10/34 final drive as the motors rev well but are down a little on torque.

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I’m getting to like the idea of short lead wires. I first devised it to allow room for full interiors in drophead sports cars and I was impressed with the way SCX and a couple of others used brass strips to run power from the guide to the motor without causing complications where the interior fitted in. Fly for one were one of the worst culprits, on some models we could all get the chassis off but putting it back on without trapping the lead wires was another challenge! But the most important benefit is that if you make the leads the right length they will act as an effective guide self centering mechanism!

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A very tidy chassis which won’t give problems down the track.

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I took the model for a road test on the Caloundra mega track ‘Mt Perrorama’ where it drove fairly well but was not overly fast. Back at the LCR track and after spending a few minutes letting it run in, it was obvious almost from the beginning that it was too underpowered even for an HO motor. I decided to change the spur for a 36z giving me a drive reduction of 3.6:1. I also had a faster motor to hand which I duly fitted, and now have achieved my goal of having a very pleasant and easy driving model.

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I haven’t ballasted the model at all as it weighs in at seventy three grams and is just below NC1 performance. One for the top tray of the race box to be whipped out any time there is a quiet moment on the track!

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It would be nice to have a small fleet of this type of model but unfortunately there isn’t a huge supply of body varieties. There are some from the specialist resin body makers but price is a prohibiting factor. The only other options are to look out for older Ninco sportscars and the like, but they all command a good price. MJK have made a very nice model with the Berlinetta and detail is fair to good compared to the opposition.


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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
wixwacing
Marshal!!!
Posts: 1871
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:22 am

Re: MJK 250 Berlinetta 1961

Post by wixwacing »

I have since tested the model with the uprated cube motor and found it to be more than adequate. Also, with the new gearing it is slightly faster than an NC1 on a larger circuit although it isn't quite as nippy, and the motor braking is a little less effective. All in all I am pleased with its performance on local technical tracks to the extent that I have a second project in process again using the cube motor, but this time in 'in-line' configuration and 'open wheeler' format! Mmmmmmmmmmmm?
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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
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