1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

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cbk57
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1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by cbk57 »

Hi All

I am working on the Tamiya kit and thought I would share what I have learned. A company called Schedoni made the seat covers for some ferrari seats. I mentioned my plans to make a replica of the seat on face book and someone there shared with me that I should be using ultra suede or alcantera. I spent quite a lot of time one day researching all of the resources i could pull together. I have the Tamiya book, there are some good photos on line and I have the reference photos from Thunder Valley Minitures along with some personal photos from someone. There is also a magazine article from years ago on line that described a specific type of leather as being used.

I even found the Schedoni has a face book page and so I asked them and they answered. They said they used a type of suede during the applicable time period and in the 2000s switched to a nomex blend.

Someone was kind enough to help me source some leather that was a good match in color. So I made a rubber mold of the seat and bought some sculpting clay to reinforce it, I then nailed the leather smooth side down to a small piece of wood and started sanding it with very rough sanding blocks. I would have liked to thin it a bit more. I soaked it in water then dropped it on the mold, I inserted it in the seat and clamped it all together under tension.

I left the seat cover in the mold for 24 hours then opened it up to see how it looked.

My first effort I used the template Tamiya supplied, it was too small, so second effort I am going to go bigger and trim the leather after the fact. Now for the photos:
The first is the seat with my rubber mold built up it is just brushed on layers https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/

Now photos of the result I like it just leather was to smallhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370@N06/518 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/

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cbk57
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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by cbk57 »

cbk57 wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 6:52 pm Hi All

I am working on the Tamiya kit and thought I would share what I have learned. A company called Schedoni made the seat covers for some ferrari seats. I mentioned my plans to make a replica of the seat on face book and someone there shared with me that I should be using ultra suede or alcantera. I spent quite a lot of time one day researching all of the resources i could pull together. I have the Tamiya book, there are some good photos on line and I have the reference photos from Thunder Valley Minitures along with some personal photos from someone. There is also a magazine article from years ago on line that described a specific type of leather as being used.

The owner of scale details was kind enough to help me out with the leather I used and he helped me get the right color also.

I even found the Schedoni has a face book page and so I asked them and they answered. They said they used a type of suede during the applicable time period and in the 2000s switched to a nomex blend.

Someone was kind enough to help me source some leather that was a good match in color. So I made a rubber mold of the seat and bought some sculpting clay to reinforce it, I then nailed the leather smooth side down to a small piece of wood and started sanding it with very rough sanding blocks. I would have liked to thin it a bit more. I soaked it in water then dropped it on the mold, I inserted it in the seat and clamped it all together under tension.

I left the seat cover in the mold for 24 hours then opened it up to see how it looked.

My first effort I used the template Tamiya supplied, it was too small, so second effort I am going to go bigger and trim the leather after the fact. Now for the photos:
The first is the seat with my rubber mold built up it is just brushed on layers https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/

Now photos of the result I like it just leather was to smallhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370@N06/518 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by capri-schorsch »

That is a lot of work just only for a seat.

But hey, we are modelers and we make stuff look like the real thing.
Sometimes it makes no sense for people who are not modelers, but for us it's a very important detail.
Hats up for your hard work to make it look like the real deal!
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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by Jeff »

Very cool also that you contacted Schedoni and they replied to you :)

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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by cbk57 »

capri-schorsch wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:44 am That is a lot of work just only for a seat.

But hey, we are modelers and we make stuff look like the real thing.
Sometimes it makes no sense for people who are not modelers, but for us it's a very important detail.
Hats up for your hard work to make it look like the real deal!
It really is not that hard so far, lets see if my current version is final but if it is, it takes me about a few days just working for a minute to build up the rubber mold, the hard mold made of quick drying clay took seconds, then about an hour of work thinning the leather, press it into the mold clamp it all together and let it dry. If the look turns out right it is really a lot of bang for the buck considering the hours spent doing things like wiring and plumbing. On a car like this one thing everyone sees is the seat.

I am fairly excited about this as I am thinking of other uses for real leather, I have a Tamiya 1/12 Caterham that I bought finished needing a Tonau cover, I have a complete kit, so I could make a mold, trim a pice of plastic to fit the inside as reinforcement and make a real leather tonau cover vs the plastic vinyl one.

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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by cbk57 »

Here is some more work and a seat cover approaching final form. I have some photos of how I thinned the leather and pressed it to mold and near final result. It took me a bout an hour of sanding to thin the leather. Once the leather is in the mold it is just a matter of waiting a day. The first time I wanted the leather pressed a little deeper in the middle so I revoked the seat cover a few minutes and put it back in the mold for another day.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140273370 ... ed-public/
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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by Fast289back »

Well done. Looks great. Thanks for sharing this technique.
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Re: 1/12 Ferrari 641/2 seat

Post by Corpsegrinder »

The result in that scale is awesome, all that hard work in gathering photos and info really paid off.

I have had a chance few years a go to get some beige suded patches too, but on 1/20 scale they were way too big, so I put them aside for later when and if I will ever own a 1/12 Ferrari 641/2.
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