Meng 1/24 Yes 1/24 1966 GT40

[jacko]

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2021/04/meng-downsizes-but-doesnt-dub-down.html#more

Saw this this morning. Sounds interesting.

[Justin Porter]

Should be quite the kit. The Fujimi kit still holds up but it is curbside and it is closing in on being 40 year old tooling. 

[Curt]

I'm interested to see what Meng comes up with.

[fumi]

Model shops in here are taking pre-orders for around US $42.

[afx]

Wow!

[Dave Van]

Depending on $$$ may need a few.

[Fat Brian]

This looks great. I've got the Fujimi kit but stalled on it after I added an engine but couldn't replicate the headers.

[Force]

Looks quite good so far, it's CAD renderings and looks a little crude here and there but nothing that can't be fixed.
I just hope if it's detailed like the 1:12 kit the details are more accurate because after what I have seen on the 1:12 kit it has some things I don't understand how they were thinking when they did it and some things are completely wrong.

[Matt Bacon]

2 minutes ago, Force said:

Looks quite good so far, it's CAD renderings and looks a little crude here and there but nothing that can't be fixed.
I just hope if it's detailed like the 1:12 kit the details are more accurate because after what I have seen on the 1:12 kit it has some things I don't understand how they were thinking when they did it and some things are completely wrong.

It looks from the CAD as if they’ll leave you to do your own wiring and plumbing. 90% of what’s “wrong” with the 1/12 version are the start and/or end points of the hoses or wiring harness. And 90% of that 90% isn’t obvious or even visible when it’s built. So if you’re doing it yourself, you can fix all that (for the specific car you’re building, since there’s no such thing as standard in the originals) and it’ll be as accurate as you can make it...

best,

M.

[niteowl7710]

31 minutes ago, Force said:

Looks quite good so far, it's CAD renderings and looks a little crude here and there but nothing that can't be fixed.
I just hope if it's detailed like the 1:12 kit the details are more accurate because after what I have seen on the 1:12 kit it has some things I don't understand how they were thinking when they did it and some things are completely wrong.

I would expect this to be nothing other than the 1/12 kit hit with a shrink ray.  I highly doubt Meng has fixed anything between the two since they're so convinced the 1/12 one is the most accurately represented GT40 ever done if you read their own literature about it.

I mean the 1/12 kit was roundly beaten within an inch of it's life around here, so I would presume everyone should just go ahead and ignore this one too.  Or are we now accepting it since it's the "right size" and the price isn't over $200?

[Chuck Kourouklis]

I'm seeing about the same slight proportional funk carry straight down from the 1/12.  Still looks intriguing enough to me to get one - good guts for a Fujimi if the body doesn't present quite right.  Lines thither and yon are a bit crazy in the 1/12, but I gotta say I'm a little taken with how clever the design and engineering is, otherwise.  Some parts warpage here and there on mine, but the fit is really good when you straighten that out.

And hey, Meng's own literature goes on about the importance of a complete engine and poseable steering, so it looks like Tim B and I will be happy... 

🙃

[Force]

Well Meng has not done their homework right if they say that because the 1:12 kit is not that accurate if you know how it should look.
And of course there is a standard even with racing cars if the model is supposed to be a certain version like the Meng kits are, the liverys included at least in the upcoming 1:24 kit are the 1, 2 and 3 finish cars at LeMans 1966, car #2, # 1 and # 5 so if they are supposed to be accurate they have to be exactly like the cars was back then without modifocations or changes, and these cars are still around so it can't be that hard.
The most wrong things with the 1:12 version except for the wires and plumbing wich has much to desire with where they start and ends, is that they call the oil tank for the dry sump oil system under the front hood a fuel tank, and the engine is not a good representation of how a 427 Side Oiler FE engine should look to be right.
Maybe small things for some but if you brag about that the kit is supposed to be the most accurately represented GT40 ever done you must live up to it...and they for sure haven't as far as I'm concerned.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Force

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Well technically, Hakan, if the chief comparison is the Trumpeter kit, Meng does clear that low bar.  Trumpeter's body may have the edge, but most everything under that skin is such a wreck as to put it at a net disadvantage - particularly the engine.

Bring in Fujimi and some GMP diecasts and yep, the accuracy claim gets more problematic.

[Force]

Yes I have seen that mess Trumpeter call a GT40 and it's worse than the Meng kit.

[Matt Bacon]

1 hour ago, Force said:
 Of course there is a standard even with racing cars if the model is supposed to be a certain version like the Meng kits are, the liverys included at least in the upcoming 1:24 kit are the 1, 2 and 3 finish cars at LeMans 1966, car #2, # 1 and # 5 so if they are supposed to be accurate they have to be exactly like the cars was back then without modifocations or changes, and these cars are still around so it can't be that hard.

Read any of the books or watch the restorers videos, and one of the things you’ll hear pretty quickly is that those non-repro/continuation GT40s are all different. Shelby and Holman Moody built them up differently with fittings and components in different places, joints and fixings done differently. And the cars continued to evolve through their lives. There’s a pretty good chance that the #1 and #2 cars weren’t the same when they sat next to each other on the grid.

The best you can hope for is to have good reference of the specific car you want to build on the occasion you want to depict and work from that. That’s what the Rare Drive guys did when they restored the #2 car five years ago. 

I’ve got a pretty good library, years of research time on the internet, and helpful people have sent me pictures of cars in collections and museums, but I’ve not found any detailed reference images of what the #1 car looked like under the hood and in the cockpit in the pits at the Circuit de la Sarthe at 3pm on Saturday 18th June 1966. So I’ve done the best I can with what I CAN find.

best,

M.

 

 

 

 

[vamach1]

Glad to hear a “new” kit of the MKII is in the works.   I guess we may never see a Mark IV with a engine in 1/12 or 1/24 but at least the MKII could be the basis for some interesting conversions using the Fujumi MKI and MKII bodies.

[LVZ2881]

Those Knock-offs are way too big...

[JS23U]

I would love to get an early GT-40 version with small block engine. I could have lived with the Fujimi 427 models as is. No one has ever done a real well proportioned early car.

[Len Woodruff]

Interesting. I look forward to the first review of this kit.

[Force]

17 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Read any of the books or watch the restorers videos, and one of the things you’ll hear pretty quickly is that those non-repro/continuation GT40s are all different. Shelby and Holman Moody built them up differently with fittings and components in different places, joints and fixings done differently. And the cars continued to evolve through their lives. There’s a pretty good chance that the #1 and #2 cars weren’t the same when they sat next to each other on the grid.

The best you can hope for is to have good reference of the specific car you want to build on the occasion you want to depict and work from that. That’s what the Rare Drive guys did when they restored the #2 car five years ago. 

I’ve got a pretty good library, years of research time on the internet, and helpful people have sent me pictures of cars in collections and museums, but I’ve not found any detailed reference images of what the #1 car looked like under the hood and in the cockpit in the pits at the Circuit de la Sarthe at 3pm on Saturday 18th June 1966. So I’ve done the best I can with what I CAN find.

best,

M.

Yes you are absolutely right.
I have seen pictures of the RK Motors restoration of the LeMans winning #2 car chassis P/1046 Entered by Shelby American like the #1 P/1015 second placed car, and it looks like they tried to do it as close as possible to what it was back in the day; Rare Drive has also restored the Alan Mann racing #7 car chassis XGT-2 from the same race.
Of course the cars changed some under it's active racing period but if you do a kit of a specific car from a specific race one can at least hope they did the homework and that the kit is right...or at least as close as it's possible to do.

I will for sure get one or two of these when they come out and even if some things needs work to be right it can be a good starting point anyway, and it's the right scale for me as I don't have room for 1:12 kits

Edited April 16, 2021 by Force

[iBorg]

Nice renderings.....it will be interesting to see how it translates to plastic.

[vamach1]

18 hours ago, LVZ2881 said:

Those Knock-offs are way too big...

You can say that again.

[LVZ2881]

6 hours ago, vamach1 said:

You can say that again.

Those Knock-offs are way too big...😉

Edited April 17, 2021 by LVZ2881

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Yeah, but have you seen the knockoffs?

way too big...

[peteski]

Ignoring all the plumbing and wiring problems (I'm not GT40 expert), to me the 1:12 version looks "toyish".

Looking at the build threads on this forum, and comparing the model to photos of 1:1, the model just doesn't look right.  The kit's parts just seem not to have the look of 1:1 parts. For example, the front suspension looks too clunky, and the ribs/fins on the transmission case seem to have sharp edges, where the 1:1 castings have smoother, more rounded edges.  The sharp edges, and clunkiness are also present on other parts of the model.  They look like poorly rendered 3D model of the real car.  It lacks the "finesse" of the real GT40.

I also suspect that the 1:24 version will be based on the 1:12 version, and it will have the same issues as the 1:12 model.