Le Mans Minatures 1/24th 69 GT40

This is Le Mans Miniatures effort at a GT40. I ordered this kit several months ago as an alternative to another MFH kit as this is half the cost. A Hiro kit will now cost around £300 in England due to the weak pound.
It seems this fully open kit is becoming increasingly rare but that doesn’t make it good:
The kit arrived badly packaged and with a painted body shell as that’s all they had apparently but it will need stripping as the finish is appalling; any advice on how to do this would be great. The casting is very nice although a lot of detail is cast in, including most of the wiring. This will need to be removed and new parts scratch built. I’ve sorted through the kit and shown pictures of some of the bits I will remake including carburettor intakes, fuel system, ignition system and luggage rack (an FIA regulation at the time) but there will be a lot more.
Apart from the paint stripping advice I have found that the resin doors will need adjusting and would also appreciate some advice on this. I.e. how hot the water should be and how long I will need to leave the part soaking before trying to adjust.
I think this kit is pretty poor overall it looks like LMM have thrown together whatever they have left in stock but with a lot of re-engineering it could be pretty nice. I’ll give it my best shot!
Cheers Guys.

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i've been wondering about these kits. been thinking of buying one. i'll be waiting to see any progress on this project. seems like it needs a lot of cleaning. best of luck and have fun with it.

I built this kit a couple years ago. It was a beast. I too had to reshape some resin parts with hot water. Boil some water and soak for a few seconds. I have been told that the parts memory should take over but I had to manually get the shape back. It is a pretty safe/simple task.

In the end mine turned out great, I have a really nice piece that even got some recognition at a local event. It was my first multi-media project at the time and did not feel the need to do anything more than work with the parts supplied. Good luck with yours. I'll be sure to check back on your progress.

One very successful way I've re-shaped it to put the body parts together, screw where screws would go, tape where it just needs to be held in place, then I stick it in my food dehydrator for an hour or so. When it comes out the parts fit together perfectly. I did this with a 1/12 MG Ferrari F399 body.

As for stripping this kit, I have had LMM painted kits and it is Urethane. You can't strip it. At least I never found a way. Laquer thinner will do nothing. I tried. Your stuck. I decaled it and clear coated with regular laquer. I asked my local auto paint supply store and was told you could put laquer over urethane but not vice versa. Worked for me.

I’ve spent most of the time since starting this thread working out how to overcome the many problems with this kit. Some of the castings are pretty good but LMM have removed them carelessly from the sprues and some detail has been lost, particularly on the rubber parts
LMM have not included a distributor, perhaps because it is difficult to see so I’ve made one from an impression made in plasticine and filled with resin to form the cap; the part was then drilled and glued to a base that I turned from aluminium. I also need to turn an oil filter.
The crude resin luggage rack has been replaced with a brass part that I wire eroded from sheet, folded and soldered at the corners. I’ve also cut the top off the carburettors and machined new air intakes and venturi, the pictures show this at various stages.
The misshapen body has been sorted with the boiling water method and the next update should show some more interesting progress.

Cheers, Lee
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it might be worthwhile to pick up one of the fujimi plastic kits, i'm sure you could swap out some parts at a pretty reasonable price. some of those parts look awful - - especially the seat.

Nice work so far! What about the seats, they almost look like melted in the pic?!

Very nice work on the carbs and distributor.
This shoudl be very enjoyable to follow :thumbsup:

Thanks for the words of encouragement. The seats are molded in rubber and have cleaned up ok but detailing is going to be difficult. I have done alot of work and have some real progress to show but as my wife has just given birth to our second child I won't be posting again for a week or so, but I think I've solved many of the kits problems.

Cheers guys, I need your support on this one.
Lee.

Great work!

Waiting to see the progress.

Hi guys, well it’s been a while since my last update, I’ve been spending most of this time trying to rectify/remake parts for this kit to lift it to the level I want to achieve, including a new rear deck to replace the one I breathed on, (I think LMM cast most of this kit in a cheese derivative). I’ve also made and added around sixty new parts to the engine and rear end so far and modified the rear subframe to enable the engine cover to hinge open as per the real car.
The chassis and panels have been temporarily mounted on a base at the correct ride height and I will build the suspension around this; if the missing white metal parts ever arrive from France.
I hope this build and WIP will now be a little less tedious.

Cheers, Lee.

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Impressive stuff! That engine is gorgeous! :worshippy

You did a great job to transform those poor quality resin pieces in great looking parts. :thumbsup:

The carbs are amazing. I appreciate you sharing your build technique of securing the chassis and constructing / locating the suspension components around it. Rather brilliant!

Thanks for the comments, just finished the wheels and tyres. I’ve added wheel weights and valves and stencilled the tyre logo’s; I used matt metal foil to simulate the aluminium tape used to hold weights to racing rims and pieces of fine card to form the weight. Sorry the pictures aren’t great.
I hope I can now build the suspension around the wheels but I will finish fabricating the rear deck first and check it fits over the engine and will hinge open.

Cheers, Lee.

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Just a small Update, the newly fabricated rear deck has been finished and fitted into th rear panel along with the wheel arch liners.
This all required alot of fittng.

Lee


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Excellent detail work.
Nice fixes to some kit problems as well.
Did you solder the rear deck together?
Chris

Thanks for the reply, and yes the deck was soldered and then bonded to the resin parts with Araldite.

Cheers,

Lee

VERY impressive work you are putting into correcting/improving this kit :worshippy

The quality of this kit looks awful! My single experience with an LMM kit was actually very good. I wonder if yours or mine is the more representative..? LOL

Woah... they like a lot to cast details together.... I have the full detail XJR14 and despite has less parts than a curbside BBurago it's full of details elsewhere...

BTW: Lee, may be I understood wrong, ther's a Hiro GT40??
And more: do you think that the Fuji tool is not right? (line accuracy.. etc.) , I purchased a HRM V8, and despite not great like the 917 engine, it's not bad (carbs are jems..)

BTW2: sorry for delay: fantastic job, expacially on metal works: great!

Woah... they like a lot to cast details together.... I have the full detail XJR14 and despite has less parts than a curbside BBurago it's full of details elsewhere...

BTW: Lee, may be I understood wrong, ther's a Hiro GT40??
And more: do you think that the Fuji tool is not right? (line accuracy.. etc.) , I purchased a HRM V8, and despite not great like the 917 engine, it's not bad (carbs are jems..)

BTW2: sorry for delay: fantastic job, expacially on metal works: great!


MFH never did a GT40. I don't think they ever will considering it has been done to death. There are only a couple of ways to get full detail like the LMM and currently the only one readily available is the HRM engine and Fujimi kit. The Fujimi kit does not have the proper flares around the wheel openings and the rear tires are not as wide as they need to be. Other than that, it is pretty good.
Nic

Thanks for the messages, yes the kit is quite simply rubbish but having spent my modelling budget on it I'm stuck with it and will make it look as good as I can.
My next kit will be a MFH and LMM will never see any more of my cash!

Cheers Guys,

Lee

For doing a full-detail Mk I, there's also the KA Models detail set which includes all sorts of resin and PE upgrades to the Fujimi kit. Standard of casting is very nice. I've not built it yet, but it looks like it should do quite nicely.

I've seen the detail kit and wish I'd gone for that but I thought that The LMM £150 kit would be a more straight forward option; how wrong I was! I've just ordered a Fujimi kit to rob parts from to complete this thing!

Thanks for the comments,

Cheers, Lee

For doing a full-detail Mk I, there's also the KA Models detail set which includes all sorts of resin and PE upgrades to the Fujimi kit. Standard of casting is very nice. I've not built it yet, but it looks like it should do quite nicely.

KA TK is just for the Mk I.....
Dunno know if fuji do a MkI, I got several MKII....

KA TK is just for the Mk I.....
Dunno know if fuji do a MkI, I got several MKII....

They have at least one currently in production:

http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ12132

Hi Guys,
I’ve spent a fair bit of the last few weeks filling and fitting the body panels, this has required a massive amount of work to get any where near right; lots of soaking in hot water!
I’ve also bought a Fujimi kit to replace the parts that LMM failed miserably to produce, lights, seats, wheel spinners etc. The side windows where scratched from various odd parts and the rear panel has been primed and readied for paint.
Many thanks to Steve at Hiroboy for his fantastic service in locating & supplying the right donor kit.

Cheers, Lee.

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Really great Job. I like the Gulf colors. This will be a superb piece of car heritage

The side windows are fantastic. I'm enjoying your work very much.

LMM has some great stuff out there. I love the GT40 kits, although they have a really nice 908 Porsche.

Sorry, disagree with you there; this GT40 kit really is woeful can't find anything that justifies the £150 price tag. If this is representative of what LMM do then I'll avoid them in the future the quality is appalling!

What kind of resin did you use to cast the distributors ?

I used two pack Prolab resin glue which I use in my day job to make wind tunnel models which is basically the same when set as the blocks of material it is used to bond.

Cheers, Lee.

Looks brilliant so far, you are making a superb job from a clearly not superb starting point! I bought the LMM GT40 wheels to improve my Fujimi version and even they have quality problems in that the rubber on some of the tyres is badly misshapen. So I am very impressed how you have managed with a complete kit of pieces like that! Fantastic scratch building too, looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks mate, yes the tyres in my kit have lumps of rubber missing also.
I will have to place them so the bad areas are at the bottom and sadly the nicely molded Fujimi tyres are all wrong, I'm begining to get a little frustrated!

Cheers.:banghead:

Coming along great and your efforts are paying off IMO :thumbsup:

So your day job is building wind tunnel models, huh? That explains a lot.

Does this sound familiar to you? ;)

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I love my job Steve and when it's going home time I leave my models in work, with a wife and two baby boys my lunch break is my only chance to sit and build in peace, hence the slow progress!

More updates soon, thanks for the comments. Lee

I’ve decided to cut this WIP short so I’ve posted photographs of the assemblies/parts I’ve completed.

The dashboard from which I removed all of the LMM half formed detail, and made my own toggle switches and knobs.
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The fuel pumps which have been detailed.
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The seats which come from the Fujimi kit with hand painted rivets, Hiro webbing Crazy modeller etch and Virages decals shown with original rubber LMM part.
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Shock absorbers again from Fujimi were heavily modified and are shown with an original LMM part to demonstrate the appalling quality issues with this kit.
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The suspension parts which have required repair, strengthening and replacement portions using 1mm aluminium tube should have been cast in white metal but were supplied in resin. LMM failed to supply the correct parts originally and after four months of waiting for replacements, a bag of parts arrived that were clearly not for this kit.
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The finished hubs fitted with replacement axels; brake lines will be added.
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Assembled onto the chassis prior to body removal.
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I don’t know who to be more angry with LMM for supplying a badly cast incomplete poorly fitting kit or myself for paying over £150 for it unseen! Rant over, finish the rear end and then next step the bodywork.

Cheers, Lee.

Excellent work, Lee :thumbsup:

The hand painted rivets on the seats are incredibly well and cleanly done!

TBH the story you have to tell about LMM is unreal :o It has certainly put me off buying any more kits from them and just makes me feel lucky that my sole LMM experience to date was actually just fine.

Excellent work, Lee :thumbsup:

The hand painted rivets on the seats are incredibly well and cleanly done!

TBH the story you have to tell about LMM is unreal :o It has certainly put me off buying any more kits from them and just makes me feel lucky that my sole LMM experience to date was actually just fine.

Yep, I agree, I'm impressed also by Lee's brass fabricating skills: very sharp and neat stuff.

I still don't agree on the LMM issue: several kits are just gems, but most ALL kits (I got) show a kind passion for modeling that I never found on any other manufacturer: in two words models from modelers, with all the pro and cons of the case....

Lee > Super!

Love the dash, awesome work on a truly great car.

Really nice work! Despite your issues with this kit the model is coming along very well.

I have a bunch of LMM kits and your GT40 seems to be a rather bad example of their work. I don't like a couple of things they do in their kits ( like casting all those details in the big parts ) but generally i'd agree with Gio that they have a feeling of passion for the subject to them. This GT40 clearly doesn't have it.

Keep it up!

Thankyou guys for your kind words, hopefully more updates soon.

Lee.

Hi all, Small update.

The engine & rear end of the chassis is almost finished with the addition of many scratch parts including the luggage rack, anti roll-bar assembly & upper suspension arms. The last remaining parts will need to be fitted to the bulkhead after the bodywork is fitted to the chassis for the last time.

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The cast in steering rack and wiring has been removed from the centre section of the bodywork and new parts made using the fujimi donor kit, wire & 1mm alloy tube. The LMM resin parts that should have been white metal would not have been strong enough to hold the hubs in place.
I’ve also added a wiper arm mount using milliput.

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More soon,

Cheers Guys.

Looking great :thumbsup:

How did you cope with those p/e hose clamps? Mine drove me so crazy I gave up and used BMF instead :)

Beautiful progress from the seat to the motor detail and weathering. Are those clamps part of the kit or are they aftermarket pe. If they are what company?

Thanks for the interest, the hose clamps are from Crazymodeler (EP-0106)
,this is a kit containing several sizes and Stephen, yes they are tricky to get together I think it's important to cut them very cleanly from the sheet and I use a Jeweller's headset to see what I'm doing; could drive us mad this modelling obsession couldn't it!

Cheers, Lee.

Thanks Lee. I just couldn't get the little buggers to bend smoothly into a round shape. I tried using a toothpick...needle...Uri Geller...everything I could think of :(

could drive us mad this modelling obsession couldn't it!
Could?!?!? Don't you mean "did"? :D

I didn't try to get them to bend smoothly Stephen, I put them round threaded them through and gently pulled the loose end, like you would do with a real tie-wrap and they pulled up tightish enough to look realistic.

Don't want to tell you how to suck eggs but have another go on a piece of wire or something, worth sticking with I think.

Cheers, Lee.

Thanks for the tips :thumbsup:

Don't want to tell you how to suck eggs but have another go ....

OK, I'll give it a go. How's this? :D ;)

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After months of clean up, fitting and refitting I was began the painting process. All the panels were given around three coats of Alclad grey primer & microfiller, between coats imperfections were filled and cleaned up with 3500 and then 6000 micromesh.
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Next I applied five coats of Zero paints Gulf blue.

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The thick decals were difficult to apply and didn’t adhere well, the Gulf logos on the doors were printed upside down and had to be spliced and I was unable to use a hair dryer with Microsol setting solution to set them down as the body is too delicate.

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Despite misting on five or six coats and to add to my despair the decals lifted & reacted with the lacquer and I had to use a damp cotton bud between coats to smooth them down when the lacquer was touch dry. Eventually I decided to add more lacquer and polish back.

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Finally I’ve started the assembly process.

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Fantastic. Looks like a million dollars.:grinyes:

Nice progress! I know first-hand how crude this kit is making the level of work and determination to complete it all the more impressive.

Thanks Cratecruncher, This kit is a horrible piece of C**P but I'm stuck with it and as you've had personal experience of it I appreciate your comment very much.
Cheers, Lee

Man, I really admire what you are doing with such an awful kit...The model is looking very good! :)

Looks awesome Lee!! I have most of the same stuff for my kit (except the LMM "kit") so your WIP will be priceless! Thanks for that!
Erick --

Lemans Minatures tried to model way to much into to few parts, but otherwise alot of the detail is there. The other problem I found were the machined wheel rims have the wrong step. They also used the Fujimi MKII roof as a base, wich is slightly to low profile.

The biggest problem with my kit is the resin parts warping.

Looks like a very nice build. Mine is still sitting in a box getting more warped:frown:

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2010 model/photo contest-Chicago April 24th 2010

Lee, You have made a superb job of a very difficult kit(mine went belly up! and is the only kit I,ve failed to complete)
Hat,s of to you sir.
Atb,Alex

Thanks for your Kind words Guys.
Just a small update, I've finished the doors with the addition of scratch built locking pins and side windows.

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The roll bar made from some alloy welding wire has been fitted with a sigh of relief.

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And finally for today I've started to build the font end and added the windscreen, steering rack and some wiring.
Cheers, Lee.

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SUPER work:):).

Lee, you are proving the truth of the adage "No pain, no gain" ;)

Looking very nice :thumbsup: