1/20 Tamiya Ferrari F1 F2001,

1/20th Scale Ferrari F1 2001, Monza G.P.


Modeling Descriptions and Photos


Ferrari F1-2002, Italian G.P.

This is the most lovely Ferrari livery I have ever seen in the recent years. The car was raced with no sponsor logos and had a black nose wearing only driver's number. Ferrari decided to do this during the Italian G.P. to pay its respect for those victims from the September 11 terrorists attack in New York.



The Monza Special

I just got couple of new Ferrari F1 2001 kits from Tamiya. The kit looks fantastic! The parts are as sharp as ever and the kits even come with their own seat belts (the seat belts were done with decals before).

Only one concern that I have is that, as usual, the car builds into a France G.P. trim. I would like to change that. I would like to own a Monza special where Ferrari ran their cars in a clean logo-less livery.

I began collecting references and found that with bit of modification on front/real wings, The car can be easily converted to Italian. G.P. version.



The Front Wing Conversion

I started with the front nose modification. My plan is to come up with a template digitally. If I can store the template in JPG format in 1/1 size scale, it would be cool. I can simply print it out and cut away the brass or plastic sheet accordingly.

For now, I will use a "trial-and-error" approach where I scratch-build several wings slightly different and find a close match from them. I've had too many times where I scratch build something and I cannot duplicate it again because I lost the template which I spent many hours just to come up with one.



The Front Wing Conversion

Visually, the changes are obvious, but the fixes aren't as simple... There are three flaps in France G.P., but I will need to come up with two flaps…



The Front Wing Flaps

Can I just remove this second flap and combine the 1st and 3rd flaps? No, I will probably need to combine 1st and 2nd flaps into one.



The Front Nose

I am a revolutionist! No putty is necessary here. Rough sanding really works!



I Wish I Only Had a Perfect Nose!

Painted the nose with semi-gloss black. The painting did not turn out too well. I sanded out the surface with 3600 grade sand paper and repainted it. I repeat, "Rough sanding really works!"



The Black Nose

I wanted make this Ruben's car thinking everyone will build Michael's car and how special would it be if I am the only one with Ruben's Italian G.P. car? So I applied the Ruben's decal number "2". Then, "unbelievably", I screwed it up by ripping the decal apart.

Now I am building Michael's car even though I really don't want to. See how lucky he is? ^_^



The Front Wing Modification

We are back to the front wing assembly now. Here is one way to modify the front wing using the existing wing itself.



Shaping the Flaps

Using a rotary tool, I started shaved lots of unnecessary mass. The blue arrow indicates how much I shaved compared to the original side on the right.



The Wing Modification Continues

How do I make sure that I shave both sides equally? Here is a trick I used. I took a blank paper and trace the curved line. Then I cut it out and placed it on the opposite side of the wing. Now I just need to follow the curved line! I also trimmed the width of the middle flap by roughly 0.3mm.



Trimming the Edge

Here is the finished wing in terms of how they should "almost" look.



Wing Preparation

I using a 5 minute epoxy, I attached the pieces that I cut previously. Front here, it is all about sanding and putty work to hide the joined line! I also removed the additional fins that are not supposed to be there for Monza G.P.



Before and After

I can imagine how this wing is going to turn out right now even though it looks almost same as the original...



Trimming and Shaving Continue

I made sure the wing fit okay by trimming the edges. I worked on the curve as well.



Filling and Puttying the Joint Line

I used Tamiya' thin glue as a filler to close the joint gap. I also used my regular putty. Then I sanded the entire wing with my rotary tool.



Prime and Check

I made sure that the joint line is no longer visible. Lots of sanding after the putty work. The primer showed me there were mistakes. I repaired them swiftly. ^_^



Wing Support

I added wing support mounts by cutting a thin metal wire. I also applied two coats of gloss white.



The Black Nose

This wing looks very normal. No decal works required either. I must say I am satisfied with the conversion result. I am pretty sure someone out there wants to convert the French G.P. car into Italian G.P., I hope this page was helpful.


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