Restoring a Ferrari Lusso 250 Berlinetta

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-A Scale-Master Project-

Restoring a Ferrari Lusso 250 Berlinetta  

Author:       Mark D. Jones aka Scale-Master
Vehicles Needed:     Vintage MB Ferrari Lusso 250 Berlinetta

Special Tools:     Scale-Master Decal Sheet – See bottom of page

Rating:       Beginner/Novice
This casting was supplied by a good friend who requested it be resto-detailed in the more attractive and traditional (for the real car) bright red. Most of the Matchbox renditions were done in metallic green like this one. Overall it was in good shape, just the some paint wear, actually pretty clean for a forty year old toy.

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The first step was to take out the two rivets in the chassis.

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A cordless hand drill and a quarter inch bit accomplished that easily, rather soft metal apparently.

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Removing the rivet that held in the glass required a bit more care. I didn’t want to crack the windows, or drill through the roof.   Several times of slight drilling and checking progress until just enough material was removed to allow the windows to come out without force.

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The tires were easily pulled off the rims and here’s the “exploded” view. No need to risk damage to the wire wheels removing them from the axles and chassis.

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The body was cleaned up and the casting lines removed the with a fine, flat, jewelers file.

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The paint was left on through this phase as a primer of sorts, it helped determine when enough material had been removed.  Care was needed to not upset the raised door lines in addition to the normal details.

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Once I was satisfied, it went into the paint stripper bucket, (carb cleaner). A wash in soapy water…

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And a final prepping with fine emery cloth, a rinse, and it was ready for primer.

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One thin, but uniform coat is all it got.

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A half hour later, the first of two coats of Bright Red were sprayed allowing a half hour between them, and it was left to dry over night.

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The chrome window trim, grille, bumpers, taillights, door handles etc. were carefully brush painted with Tamiya acrylic Chrome Silver.

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Scale-Master Decals were used for the headlights.

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Tamiya Clear Red was used over the silver for the taillights.  A coat of clear gloss was applied and the body was set aside to dry while work was done on the chassis and interior…

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A couple light coats of Tan were sprayed on the interior.

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The exhaust pipes were drilled out by hand with a pin vise.

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The wheels were lightly scrubbed with a soft wire brush, then masked off and the chassis was sprayed with a coat of aluminum.  When dry the bumpers and exhaust pipes were shined up with metal polish to remove the paint and add luster.

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You can also see the steering wheel was detailed a little with chrome silver and brown paint. Hit the hitch with some silver too. (If I was doing it for myself, I would have probably removed the hitch and repaired the bumper, but I’m betting my friend would like me to retain it in its “stock” configuration.)

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The grille was given a light wash to accentuate the detail…

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And a license plate was made to personalize it by brush painting the yellow and using letters off the Scale-Master sheet (from the stock number and copyright info printed on them).

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It was re-assembled and secured with a couple small drops of CA at the rivet points.

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Man, what a hitch!

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More finished shots.

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While I was working on this one, I came across a real Lusso…     Yes, that is me behind it.

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