In the days before Exoto, GMP, CMC et al... [PIC]

I was always on the lookout for early to mid-'60s Le Mans cars like the GT40s and especially Ferrari's 330P and 412 which I just thought was the sexiest car ever made. Jouef was making fairly precision models of this era Ferraris in 1/43 and 1/24 but their 1/18 line up needed a lot to be desired... but they were cheap. This 412P Berlinetta in Scuderia Filipinetti livery was one of four variants I bought. All the panels were operational but they were sorely lacking if parts count. The paint was decent enough to be buffed out, but the livery, in unsealed decals was prone to yellowing and cracking and need some restorative work. Also for the exterior, I made a brass metal screen for the front intake and mirrors for the front fenders and painted the frame around the rear engine cover.. The cockpit was relatively spartan so I pretty much left it alone. The engine bay was decidedly crude so I needed to fabricate four coils, two distributors and wired for the 2 plugs per cylinder on the V12. I also added thin steel heat shields over the exhaust manifolds. These Ferraris served me well for almost 20 years before GMP produced precision models of this series.