1/12 MFH 250F

[blakebirk]

Happy New years Fellow modelers!

The latest project that I've been working on is the MFH Maserati 250F. I haven't taken to many progress pictures to this point but perhaps this thread will inspire more. So far I've completed the motor, and the front clip.







Beginning of the front chassis




More to follow.

[blakebirk]

Bueller? Bueller?

Anyway, moving on.
inspired by ferrarissimus MFH Alfa Romeo 158 work in progress post, I decided to take a shot at turning a wood steering wheel, since this kit came with two metal steering wheel centers, a photo etched and aluminum one which gave me a bit of a safety net in case I screwed up.

I laminated three pieces of mahogany veneer together for each side of the wheel. I thought I'd be smart and make the grain directional, it turns out that this wasn't needed as I think I sanded all the way through this layer when sanding it.



traced the frame on the wood and mounted it on a jig that I made out of a scrap piece of aluminum.









Turned the inside and outside




Doing this twice for each side of the wheel


The center needed to be polished




I attached the wood by roughing up the rim and epoxying the wood to the metal center.


I put this back on the lathe to try to shape the rim closer to the finished shape. in retrospect I wouldn't do this again because the wood started to come off the rim and I hace to glue it back on. thankfully it didn't brake, the metal rim also got a little scratched up, but it all worked out.


I used files and sandpaper to get it to the final shape.


I finished the wood with CA glue and polished the wood with various sandpaper up to 8000 grit


The wheel on the 250F doesn't have any metal rivets through the wheel or finger molding as on the Alfa 158 so this was a good one to explore the best way to fabricate this piece.

[gtziaf]

Amazing work on the wooden steering wheel. Love it!!!

[petrov27]

Fantastic start and looking good! Like the work you put in on the steering wheel - using real wood definitely the way to go for realism

[turboF1]

Very nice work. The steering wheel detail is fantastic!

[vekkuli]

Professional Work. Keep 'Em comin' .

[blakebirk]

A general question;


The above photo (if you can see it large enough) along with all the other contemporary pictures of the 250f I can find show safety wiring between the fasteners for the body work. I can not find any period pictures that are high resolution enough to show it. I suspect that this safety wiring is there because of modern vintage racing rules not because it is period correct. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

I think it would be a nice detail to ad to the kit but not if it isn't period correct.

[gp-models]

Outstanding work again on the steering wheel, brilliant!!

About the securing wires i could not find a picture from 1957 where they are visible, as you said, the pics have a bad quality and you can often only imagine but a lot showed no wires.
Here is pic from the british gp 1957, the car on the right has some silver looking dots at the front, the fasteners, all other cars not, hard to judge if there are wires! There seems to be a few things that are different on the cars, exaust too, once bended upwards, once straight, etc.


BUT:
I found other pics from 1955 for example where such wires where used even in the back of the car, take a look at these links:
https://www.alamy.de/stockfoto-monaco-g ... d0%26pl%3d

https://www.alamy.de/stockfoto-horace-g ... d0%26pl%3d

and last this link where a few pics shows these wires too, please klick on the small Maserati 250f over the pic to get to the picture show
https://uk.motor1.com/photo/2745253/maserati-250f/

These pics seems to be time period and it looks like these wires where used in this period, but obviously not on all cars and all years. Realy hard to make a descission! ^^

[Jeff]

Beautiful work, I really like these old classics

[blakebirk]

GP-Models,

Thank you for posting the links, I hadn't seen any of those. The safety wires are clearly there in several of the pictures. You've been very helpful!