Finally started my next build of the Meng 1/24 scale Ford GT40 Mk II of the Black #2 winning car driven by two Kiwis: Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. Under the Ford banner Team Ford entered a total of 15 GT40 Mk Is and Mk IIs figuring that some of them just might finish and actually win the overall race in 1966. On the final lap Ford came up with the idea of having their 1st 3 cars cross the finish at the same time. When they checked with the race officials they were informed that it would be impossible because each car had driven slightly different distances since the race for each car isn’t measured from the start/finish line, but rather from the spot that they actually started from. So while the #1 car driven by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme which actually crossed the finish line slightly ahead of the other two cars of Bruce McLaren/ Chris Amon and Dan Gurney/ Jerry Grant, but the Black #2 of McLaren and Chris Amon was decaled the winner because they started 20 meters further back then the #1 car of Miles/Hulme who was awarded 2nd place.
When Meng released their 1/24 scale kit of the Ford GT40 Mk II it was light years more detailed then the getting old in the tooth Fujimi GT40 kits, so I picked one up but just never got around to build it until now. The kit is very well detailed, and dry fitting the major parts are up to or even pass Tamiya standards.
For me every car kit starts with the body right through priming, painting, decaling, and clear gloss.
Cockpit front clip, engine clip, and the chassis tub ready for priming. Wash in Iso Alcohol then wet sanded 3000, 4000, 6000, 8000, & 12000
primed with Mr. color’s Mr Surfacer Black 1500
24 hours later the primer is lightly wet sanded with 6000, 8000 & 12000, then air brushed with Gravity lacquer Anthracite Black
The next day I I once again very lightly wet sanded each body shell with 8000 & 12000
I’m ready for decaling but my Indy Cal details haven’t arrived as yet. I ordered them on 5/23 but just missed Michael’s cut off date as he was heading to Indy and all orders up to the 24th would be shipped on 6/2. So I’m kind at a stand still till I get them. In the mean time I’ll start working on the excellently detailed interior tub.
joel
8 Likes
Great stuff Joel, wonderful to see you back at the bench! Looking forward to progress reports on this build, such an iconic and great looking car. Very interesting to read about the way the Le Mans winner is decided as well, thanks for the info!
Cheers, D
D,
It does indeed fill great to actually be back here and at the bench building cars rather then only working on my model railroad. Now i do both and enjoy both hobbies.
The longest distance rule was changed in 1971 when the iconic standing start from the pit wall was changed to the much safer rolling start for the drivers, cars, and pit crews.
joel
Straight out of the box and already painted!
Of course, love the black #2, no bias here but do feel for the winners in the #1 car. Looking forward to the rest of it.
cheers
Michael
Great to see you back at the bench, Joel! Watching with interest! 
Michael & Russelle,
Thanks guys for stopping by. It’s always appreciated.
Since I always start with the body, it only takes 2 days of prep to and prime on the 2nd or 3rd day. Color coat prep the next day and then off to the paint booth or next session at the bench.
Totally agree that Miles & Hulme were the real winners. At least they help force the rule change to a rolling start and measured from the start/finish line.
joel
1 Like
Update: Decaling
My Indy Cal decals arrived right on time by Monday noon. A quick check of the sheet and it’s time to hit the bench for what turned out to be a 2 day affair. Now decaling is only 2nd to painting, so I was really looking forward to it. Here’s the decal sheet, and placement sheet from Indy Cal’s site:
And here’s 2 pics of how my efforts turned out:
next up is gloss clear coating, polishing, & waxing.
joel
9 Likes
One thing I forgot to mention as to why I went with the Indy Cal decals, and that’s Michael’s decals rarely if ever have any color bleed through. The white number circles are still white. The strips don’t have any either as they’re not White but Silver.
joel
1 Like
Looking good!
For reasons I have never understood NZ’s national colour is black, and maybe the original Henry Ford had that in mind when he created the Model T 
but Carroll Shelby got it right with the #2 GT40.
cheers
Michael
1 Like
Michael,
I honestly never thought that countries had national color or colors, so I Googled the United States, and it’s Red, White, & Blue as used on our flag .
Next I Googled New Zealand and it came up Dark Blue, which this explanation:
The national flag of New Zealand is dark blue and represents the sea and sky… Now just how dark the Blue was certainly could look Black in many cases.
joel
.
The national colors started in Formula 1 prior to WW II;
Germany-Silver
Italy-Red
England-Green
USA-White w/red & blue trim
France-Blue
Hope this helps, Joel.
Joel,
I thought that Michael was referring to the New Zealand’s choice of a national color, not the colors that were assigned in F1.
The USA was assigned White and Blue. The Red, White, and Blue is our actual colors as they appear on our Flag.
Once team sponsorship came, whatever the sponsor’s logo colors were, is what the car was painted.
joel
Hi Joel,
When I talked about national colour, it was in the broad sense of the word. You’re right the background colour of the NZ flag is dark blue but most of the NZ national sports teams, especially the rugby team, wear black.
Shelby painted the car for McLaren and Amon the colour of the All Blacks, who wore black jerseys and shorts with a silver fern.
Sorry, this completely off topic from your build.
cheers
Michael
Joel & Michael, Thanks for the clarification!
Michael.
Now what you said makes a whole lot of sense to me, and clarifies this discussion.
joel
Well guys, the time has finally come to pack it in, and end my more then 60 years of plastic modeling. Today was just the last straw of pure frustration trying to air brush Alcad 2 Aluminum on the so called storage cans. I struggled to see where the paint was actually going as my vision has gotten so bad that it’s basically impossible no matter which pair of glasses I tried (I’ve got 3 pairs that are basically useless). And when it did reach its intended target area, by the time I could see it, way to much paint to the point that it was ruined. About all I can do is paint a full body shell a single color, which doesn’t help much to paint the rest of the model.
I struggle with decaling and gluing parts as I don’t see straight lines. Every line now is wavy, making decal placement and gluing another frustrating job.
So as I said, I’m giving up as I just can’t see point of gong through this any longer. Next Thursday is my appointment with my Retina Specialist. If he can’t do something to help me see even a little better, or stop the progression of the disease, then it’s just another dead end. I’ve been to four different specialists, 2 said that the Retina injections would help but did nothing, as the other two both said that the injections won’t work for my disease as it’s not common so little to no research has been done.
I’ll stop by from time to time to check on you guys, but that’s about it for me now.
joel
Oof, sorry to hear that Joel. I hope the Doc can give you some relief.
Hi Joel.
I’m really sorry to hear that you need to close up the workbench. 
But it’s totally understandable: our eyes are our most valuable asset and when they start to fail us, things like our hobby are directly affected.
I do hope you can still hover around the Kitmaker community as your presence will be sorely missed otherwise. You’ve been a fixture here for as long as I can remember.
Here’s to hoping the retina specialist can provide some improvements to improve your vision, even if only marginally…
Russ
2 Likes
Well this saddens me Joel - I hope you find some activity you can do to fill the gap , or better yet find a way to improve your eye sight .
I hope you change your mind .
Here are two models that are very important to me built by the man who got me started in model building - my dad.
Like my grandfather , my father was a consummate craftsman - wooden boatbuilder . As a teenager he worked for Mathis Yacht in Camden NJ , later to become Trumpy Yachts when his Foreman John Trumpy bought the company. Trumpy was one of the pinnacle builders of the era . IIRC the US Presidential yacht Sequoyah was a Mathis . At a very young age my dad was given an apprentice and the responsibility of building the small launches and tenders that accompanied the larger vessels. For the war effort he went to work at Philadelphia Naval shipyard working both as boatbuilder in the small boat shop and a loftsman in the Mould Loft .In later years he designed , built and raced both sailboats and power boats . His first Jersey Speed Skiff was National Champion.
I only say all this to set the background for his capabilities and ultimately what they became .
Here is one of his scratch builds - Long Island Sound type catboat . An exquisite delicate model …
… and the last model he built - living in our care with extreme dementia and macular degeneration…
I like to think he enjoyed the last one as much as he did all the others.
I hope you can find some encouragement in my rambling.
I’m rooting for you.
Richard
2 Likes
Thanks guys,
I’m truly touched by your support.
Dr. Poon is the 4th Retina surgeon I’ve gone to and told me right from the start that there’s no effective treatment. The shots i endured which cost $1,000 per injection which are for macular degeneration did absolutely nothing except to keep on giving me those black floaters, which 2 years later from the last shot I still have. And the draining of lymph from pockets in my Retina isn’t painless and also did nothing that seemed to make a difference.
This year I’ve noticed that it’s gotten much worse. I kept on building but you guys only saw the end results, not the re-starts, repaints, and buying a 2nd kit for a really bad screw up (which happened only once last year and once this year).
Richard, Your father’s story is truly both touching and inspirational to me. At least my attitude tonight is now way better then the disasters that happened to the GT40 MkII.
For now I still have my model railroad, and can tinker with structures and scenery little by little.
Like I said, I’ll still be around as I’ve got more then 25 years under my belt here on KitMakers.
joel
2 Likes
