Detailing a 1/18 Ferrari 280 GTO model from BBurago

The Bburago brand original from Italy (now China-made) has been around for a while, having gained some respect among less serious die-case model collectors.  Here's a 1984 Ferrari 280 GTO model that I consider poorly die-casted with minimal, if not wrong, details.  It went through some extensive  modifications, starting with the paint on the windows and windshield trims. I really can't  forgive the missing A post and what appeared like a wrong window height relative to the windshield line. 

Nevertheless, Bburago models, at least the early one like this Ferrari GTO,  are very easy to disable allowing for detailing of its interiors, engine and tire well. It just took loosenign a few screes and the model parts almost fell off. 

Here's a pic of the model's untouched engine .  It may look detailed for a simple model, but not to a seasoned collector or one who has seen the real engine in pictures.  The black support bar in the engine well was wrongly positioned over the twin radiators when it should be under. 

Below are some pictures of the modifications I did for the engine. Had to modify the plastic to reposition the black cowling support under the two radiators before putting in all the wiring and other details of the engine.. 

The detailing would not be complete without doing something about the windshield wiper.  One of the ugliest features of bburago models were its wiper arms that were just mere stubs of plastic over the model windshield.  Here's a picture of the windshield wipers and the tire well yet untouched. 

 I did some work on both. and the result was a little more satisfactory. The original tire well  only had half the tire with a solid plastic divider when only a bar support should be. 

Detailing the interior was pretty straightforward based on the photos of the seats of the real thing. The seatbelts were the last to be added. I fashioned them from electric tape cut to size and staple wires for the buckles. 

With an orange cartolina paper as backdrop, photographing the end result gave the illusion I wanted,  still a bit far from looking close to the real thing, but close enough for a model that started out wrongly detailed.  I had planned to put clear plastic for the windows or at least for the A-post, but did not get the chance to do so.  I  posted this at a local die-cast club bulletin board (early blogsite) and was pleasantly surprised that a collector offered $500 for the model. That was in 2009 at a time when the more detailed BBR model could fetch as much.  I almost gave in to the offer but did not.  I figured it will require me to package the model so well as the modifications I made would not survive the rough handling in the transit. I did not have the knowledge in packaging and will cost me a lot to have an expert do it and then use airfreight to the U.S.