Revell 1/25 scale Ferrari 360 Modena Spider Dave Carter

The Revell Ferrari Modena Spider is a kit that the average modeler can build into a very attractive model of this beautiful car. Unused side windows are included for an unreleased coupe version. Except for a few things, it's an easy build that goes together quickly. I made only two modifications to the kit, both easy. The backs of the seats are molded hollow, so I filled these with plasticard. The ends of the exhaust pipes were thick and a few spins with the #11 blade make them look a bit better. The kit instructions would have you glue the rear body panel to the chassis, and later glue the body on. I prefer when possible to have the body parts glued together before painting, to minimize damaging the paint and to solve fit problems early in the construction. Test fitting showed that this modified assembly sequence would work, but it was a very tight fit. Be careful it you choose to do it this way.
There's not much to see under the car. Like the real car, Revell provided a full aerodynamic body pan that covers almost the entire bottom of the car. The models front and rear suspensions seem simplified, but it hardly matters as there is not much to see. The front wheels can be steered, a nice little plus.
The engine can be viewed under the clear rear deck panel. The engine parts are unusual, being stacked one on the other, but look good once in place. There is no provision to display the engine compartment open.
Some details on the model are represented with decals that would be better done in plastic. The rear third light is provided as a decal, but a clear plastic part would better match the other rear lights. There is no raised detail where the decals go on the dashboard. These decals look very good, and have finer features than many modelers can paint. Still I'm sure some modelers would prefer raised details to be able to paint them themselves.
The front part of the body was molded slightly off from the rest of the body, perhaps caused by small mold misalignment. The mold seams run through the middle of the headlight openings. This contributed to the only real fit problem, the headlight lenses were a little difficult to position correctly. In fact it was tough to make them stay in place long enough for the white glue to hold them in place.
The instructions indicate that most of the plated parts should be painted. In most cases it says to paint them aluminum, but the plating looks like more like aluminum than chrome. So I left most of them as is. The engine parts are molded in white plastic. I painted the engine parts Tamiya TS14, spray black lacquer, and then painted the parts various shades of Alclad II. The car body was painted with Tamiya spray lacquer, Ferrari Red. This is great line of paint, dries very quickly and glossy; car modelers should give it a try.
Screen Mesh is provided for air intakes and for the roll bars behind the driver and passenger. The air scoops are easy but it took a couple of tries to achieve a good result with the roll bars. I found it easiest to cut them a little larger that the patterns in the instruction sheet, then trim to fit. I used white glue to hold them in place. Fortunately Revell gives enough material so that you can try several times. Not all of the real cars have this screen in place, and I imagine some modelers will skip this step as well.
I finished the kit in a few weekends and it looks as cute as a button. It will be hard to keep kids in the house from playing with it, or me for that matter! VRROOOOOOOMMMM!!!