Ferrari 166 MM Berlinetta: Grille

Yes, this topic is worth a post all it's own, because I spent a quiet afternoon focused essentially just on this component. Basically the classic Ferrari eggcrate grille is assembled from 8 horizontal bars and 10 vertical bars, each set of bars with slots that intersect with slots in the other set. The trick is to get the first vertical bar into the right slots in all 8 horizontal bars; once that's done it's relatively straightforward, the keyword being 'relatively'.



This required making a jig with 8 parallel slots cut with a jewellers saw, in order to hold the 8 horizontal bars steady. Clamping everything is critical as I discovered when a clamp slipped off and all 8 bars fell out.



Clearly, though, I got the horizontal bars mixed up following the spill; the third and fourth bars have been interchanged. However as is frequently the case, this is a case of 'no one is going to look that closely...I hope".



Forcing it all into the grille surround took some fearless prying, and again there are a couple of bars that are a tad too long.



It's all coming together, with the level of detail paying off in appearance compared to a molded styrene grille of the same type.



The jig will get set aside for use on the 166 MM Barchetta. Stay tuned!