15 replies to this topic

[ismaelg]

The Ferrari 250 GTO is arguably the most significant Ferrari of all time. A true automotive legend. Only 39 were made and all are accounted for. In the collector car craze of the 90's, they reached over 10 million dollars, and rumor has it one was sold for 15 million dollars.
Not surprisingly, model kits of this car are bound to be popular.

Revell Germany has just released this kit. I've heard that it is the Protar tooling but I'm not sure. If it is, the Protar kit is regarded as a great kit.
The boxart is very nice. A beautiful painting with the parts layout as the background.


Even before opening the box, you notice 2 things: First: 202 parts. WOW that's a lot! Then you notice Skill level 5. Yes, FIVE!


I opened it and my first impression of the body was: "WOW! That looks nice". The white molded body has separate doors, hood and trunk among other things. The molding looks clean with only minor cleanup needed.
I am certainly not an expert, but the proportions look good to me.


It is almost unfair to compare it to the old Monogram ex-Aurora body seen here in red.



Once you layout all the parts it doesn't look that intimdating. Moldings are crisp and the sprues come in black, grey, chrome and white body. The clear parts, the tires and the chrome trees are all bagged separately. The decal sheet looks very sharp and crisp.


The instructions are typical Revell Germany. There are over 43 steps in this one


The wire wheels are worth noting. They are multipiece and seem to assemble into beautiful pieces.


There are other kits of this car like Fujimi and the Hi Tech Gunze kit. I can't comment on how this one compares to those, but it looks like a great kit worth of a good effort.

Thanks,

[Zoom Zoom]

It is most definitely the Protar kit. The opening doors gives it away.

Many people knock the Protar for it's body shape, but it's quite accurate for the car that it depicts; all GTO's had differences in their proportions. The big "problem" I see in the body is that the top of the door frames is strange, a bit of XActo work will fix it. The detail is very nice, the wheels are fantastic. I have the Protar, Gunze, and Italeri kits, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. A lot were upset that it wasn't the Italeri reissued. I don't know why, other than it's shape is more "traditional"...but again, when looking at pics of the exact car Protar did, they did get the shape correct.

I think all of the kits could stand a set of the Model Factory Hiro wire wheels and tires; they're really nice.

[MrObsessive]

I have the original of that kit (somewhere) and from what I remember, Protar based their kit on a restored 250 GTO. Apparently, it was a car that had been rebuilt after a wreck (common in those days) and the shop hadn't gotten the rear tail section quite like the original car. The Protar kit body to my eyes always seemed to have a bobtailed look to it.

One commonality of the original 36 1st series GTO's was the tail sections were a certain length (1962 aerodynamics?)..............the differences were mostly in the light arrangement, door frame shape, spoiler shape, hood shape, and some interior differences. Also, most Ferrari's were 3 liter, while a couple were 4 liter V-12's.

Figuring that all 39 GTO's (Series I and II) were handbuilt, there were bound to be some changes as the human hand can't repeat the same task multiple times............. but IMO the Protar body just misses the mark too much for me.

It's no one's fault....................It is what it is.........

[cruz]

Hey Izzy, I had a good friend send me one and I think it is great, I have the Italieri one but this one has the opening doors which is even better and that is without counting the extra parts. I have Norm's Ferrari engine and I am thinking one day of attacking this project but for now I will be buying me another one of these, it is one of my favorite cars...........

[Exotics_Builder]

The Protar kit is quite close to the car it represents. I found a couple of pictures of the actual restored car on the Web. The only thing I saw was the bottom of the rear pan was too square, but could be rounded. Zoom-Zoom already mentioned the door area. Also, it appears slightly too slim in the rear fenders, but a little more research is needed here.

I still think the Protar chassis/engine is the best plastic representation. It beat's Italeri by a mile. Only R&MofM's 250 GTO engine is better. Also, MFH's 250 GTO engine/chassis is more detailed (if want to spend $250 for the multimedia kit).

[MrObsessive]

I still think the Protar chassis/engine is the best plastic representation. It beat's Italeri by a mile. Only R&MofM's 250 GTO engine is better. Also, MFH's 250 GTO engine/chassis is more detailed (if want to spend $250 for the multimedia kit).

I agree Gerry...........If I had the kit when I built my Italeri 250 back in '96-'97 I probably would have tried to kitbash the two since Italeri's kit is woefully lacking in good detail chassis/engine wise.

And yes, nothing beats Norm's V-12 for detail.........I even think maybe a little more so than Model Factory Hiro's!

[LDO]

I had the Protar kit a while back. Unfortunately, it has been lost in all the moves I've made over the last 15 years.

I've always thought it was a great kit. The box art back then showed a real car; one owned by Dr. Fabrizio Violati. Look that one up for reference information. I thought the engine was just beatiful. I can't see why any modeler would toss this engine and replace it with resin. Any shortcomings are slight, and easily remedied. I gotta get one of these...maybe several. From time to time I would look for the Protar issue on ebay but they are rare and expensive.

[samdiego]

I've done the Gunze Sangyo kit. It built into a pretty good replica but was expensive, especially considering that it was curbside in it's initial release. Mine was lost in the tragic entertainment center collapse of '89. The photoetch set included the wire wheels which I've used on a couple of projects since. Has anybody compared the GS to the Revell G?

[Ranchwagon]

Can somebody recommend a mail-order source for this kit? Also, I wonder if Revell US will release a US-boxed version like they did with the later Ferraris?

[Zoom Zoom]

Can somebody recommend a mail-order source for this kit? Also, I wonder if Revell US will release a US-boxed version like they did with the later Ferraris?

Do a google search and you'll find several reputable mail order places to get the GTO, like Tower Hobbies, Hobbylinc, etc.

No idea if Revell US will issue it, but I doubt it. They usually only rebox new Revell AG kits, not reissued oldies like this one.

[ismaelg]

Can somebody recommend a mail-order source for this kit? Also, I wonder if Revell US will release a US-boxed version like they did with the later Ferraris?

You can check with Dennis at Model Express. He usually carries Revell Germany items as well as Fujimi and other foreign kits.

Thanks,

[G Holding]

Got this at a flea market on Sunday for $10. Not sure if I should open and build it?

[Chillyb1]

Got this at a flea market on Sunday for $10. Not sure if I should open and build it?

Why are you "not sure"?

[G Holding]

Value $$$ or not, if worth a lot, I should swap it for kits more my level

[LDO]

Build it. It's a good kit, but it has been surpassed an all-new 250GTO kit. Fujimi, IIRC. I don't think you'll see the Revell reissue of the Protar kit go up a lot in value. I also don't think you'd have any trouble trading it on this website's Swap section. If I didn't already have a couple of them, I'd offer to trade with you.

[IMSANUT]

Glad to finally understand the reason for the weird look to the rear end of the Protar kit. I have a couple of the Revell re-boxed sitting around as well as the Fujimi and Italeri to compare. For building a replica of most of the racing versions, the Protar / Revell kit is not so hot a starting point in my opinion. A great deal of rear end reconstruction would be required. Perhaps that is why many were sad at the choice of the Protar kit to re-box.........
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