Ferrari 156 Sharknose: Engine I

Major engine bits are laid out here. The resin engine block, consisting of upper and lower crankcase halves, front and rear covers and two cylinder heads, has been glued together. The oil pan, made of white metal, has also been glued on. This was then primed as a unit using Tamiya white Fine Surface Primer. The transmission, a single resin piece, was also primed. Lots of drilling of sockets ensued, along with test-fitting and filing of the various bits.



The engine block was then painted with Tamiya TS-17 Gloss Aluminum, and the transmission with TS-100 Semi-Gloss Bright Gun Metal. This last hard-to-find colour is a very nice replica of cast iron.



Spark plug ceramic ends were painted with Testor's 1168 Flat White enamel and inserted into the head; they are obviously not all straight but they will do, and trying to bend them risks snapping them off. (I do not know if MFH's 1/20 version of this same kit actually has spark plugs; this is the first kit I can recall seeing with actual plugs as separate parts).




Accessories were painted with a variety of metallic colours, including more TS-17 as well as TS 30 Silver Leaf and AS-12 Bare Metal Silver. The slight differences in shade do not stand out but do, I think, give it all a bit more interest than if everything were gloss aluminum.



Next is to clean up all the dowels and sockets and glue it up. Plug wires will likely be 0.020" wire from the parts bin (0.5 mm, 0.25" at scale) instead of the 0.024" wire (0.6 MM supplied, 0.30" at scale), as this is likely more scale-accurate; also drilling into the ends of the spark plugs with the 0.021" bit (#75) was a big enough challenge. 0.003" doesn't sound like much, but if you aren't perfectly centered in a soft material like white metal, the drill will wander off and the plug will be ruined.



Stay tuned!