1959scudetto

Nice model, Dave - I had to look a second time after reading your decription above till I recognized that you added the grill shell from the later model!

Good-looking truck - the first time I see this one built!

Again a fantastic build, Mario - brings out the aggressive elegance of the original which is certainly one of the most beautiful sportscars ever. Marcello Gandini admitted he was inspired by the Ford GT40 when designing this car. (I have 2 in my stash)

Thanks Gary - it is always difficult to tell which tone of red would be the best for a specific race car: I have seen different pictures on the internet of the very same car showing several shades of red - from burgundy to almost orange - the same with cars in my books (so I painted my Filipinetti 412 P in a totally wrong color - dark red - as shown in the only reference material I had back then. I used most of the time auto laquer from the spray can, mainly Auto-K or Duplicolor (both German companies, as their cans were easily available in Austria). As this paint was bought ca. 1985 and has been used up long ago, I can't remember what its exact name was: I used it for several models; IIRC, I bought it for Italeri's 288 GTO, then used it for the 250 GTO, the F40 and the California Spider. I also sprayed the 2 Fisher 312 P Spyders which look definitely too dark with it and some more cars that I don't have any longer - these cans had a volume of 400 ml (4 times as much as a standard Tamiya can). Here is a photo of my models spray-painted with that specific red lacquer (shot with flashlight an hour ago) - the primers could have been different (light grey or tan):

Great racing Jaguar, Gary - did you scratchbuild the scoops on roof and trunk?

I envy you for attending that race in 1967 - my favorite racing cars !

Thank you Pierre - you must watch the short youtube video (Link above): the upper edge of the banked curve has no guardrail, no means of protection to prevent drivers from falling down more than 70 ft. when leaving the track. That GTO was a heavily rework of my own ca. 1987 built kit. The cast kit wheels are chromed and were simply oversprayed with Duplicolor rim silver from the can - I always do it that way when dechroming wheels is necessary and it works quite well. No aftermarket parts were used: decals from my spares - not exactly the needed size, but pretty close, the license plate was printed on ordinary paper with my laser printer (after a long search for similar fonts like the original). The leather straps on the hood were fabricated from thin steel wire and self-sticking tape.

The 1000 km Paris at the dangerous racetrack of Monthléry, one of the most important GT races of the season, took place at the end of October. In 1961, Mexican brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez won, driving a Ferrari GT 250 SWB. The following year, 8 Ferrari GTO's participated in the race, Luigi Chinetti's NART entered # 3987 GT for the Rodriguez brothers, who took again the laurels in record time, lapping every other car This was the last win for Ricardo, who died 11 days later in an accident with a Lotus on a Mexican racetrack. Here is a 45 sec. video of that race and a picture of the winning car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8teb0zuHEwE I built it using the old Italeri 250 GTO :

Well done, Rich - seems that this kit gave you some obstacles you had to overcome in getting it finished. (I have the 1/24 version from Italeri in my stash - after the troubles I had with my street F40, I think I will not cut open the engine cover.)

I'm urgently waiting for this one, Mario - one of my 3 sportscar favorites ever !

Charles, what an amazing diorama - when a picture tells a story...

Matt, this is truly one fantastic model ! The details are simply mindblowing ! No doubt that Paddy would have been pleased to see it (so from the 3 Mini-driving musketeers only Rauno Aaltonen is still alive)

Thank you Steve and Gareth for your comments - greatly appreciated.

Super job Mario - the Countach looks best in its purest form (as the first series LP400). Very nice model in a typical Lamorghini colour !

A very nice Impala you have here Mario - excellent build as usual (I wouldn't care about those taillights - no kit is perfect).

Thanks for the nice comments, Rich. About 15 years ago I started collecting certain die-cast cars that I liked and that where either simply not available as a kit or way out of my price range (high-end resin kits). Several of these will be turned into race or rally cars in the future. Why not convert or modify a diecast? It can be as much fun as building a kit - just give it a try!

Well done Gary - certainly a welcome addition to your (still growing?) Le Mans racer collection.

After winning 1967 the 24 hrs. of Daytona and 1000 kms. Monza, Ferrari was again beaten by Ford at Le Mans, but they wanted at least win the world championship that year. So they went for full attack at Brands Hatch, the season's last race and hired future world champion Jackie Stewart to share car # 0860 with Chris Amon (Chris had already won at Monza and Daytona together with Lorenzo Bandini who tragically died after a fiery accident at the Monaco GP in May) Though the Chaparral 2 F (finally !) won a race, Amon/Stewart became 2nd in car #6, which helped Ferrari to achieve the championship with 1 single point against Porsche (Pictures from the internet) During the race, the side windows were removed : Jouef Evolution from France made a nice, plain die-cast of this legendary car, which has later been reissued under the Revell Creative Masters series and also by Danbury Mint (dressed up as the Daytona-winning car) A few weeks ago, I got a 1/24 Jouef P4 Spyder which somebody had already decorated as the #7 car of Scarfiotti/Sutcliffe (5th place). It looked like this: I removed the starting numbers and roundels, also the prancing horse decals (the #6 car did NOT have any on the sides) and made some further refinements: the co-driver seatbelts were removed, thin aluminium sheet was used to cover the underside of the “luggage” boxes and the exhaust bracket, fabricated black upholstery above the seats, black rubber straps to hold down the engine cover and cut out the BOAC logos from blue stickers (for the moment at least). The chromed and too small exhaust tips were replaced with aluminium pipes painted matt-white, with black electrical tape the windshield hoop was covered. Some issues are hard to come by, they are the result of the production process (oversized hinges and some gaps in the engine cover) – so you have to make some compromises – if you fill the gaps with putty, you would have to re-paint the whole model which was not my intention. This is why I did not close the rear 3-part-mesh under the spoiler with a thin metal sheet – my paints are not exactly matching here. Then I tried to straighten out the bent wiper (made from very strong, but extremely thin wire = horrible) as good as I could – will be replaced with a photoetched one someday. The roundels and numbers are from the spares, font and size are not exact, but close. The “Prova” decal is from the Fujimi P4 (unfortunately I positioned it a bit too low) – anyway, I’d say it’s done. At least I don’t have to cut up one of my Fujimi P4 Berlinettas. Here is what it looks now: And together with the old Heller P4s: Size comparison with the Fujimi P4 (Painted body only): Kudos go to our friend Gary/Gramps 46 for providing some pictures that were quite helpful for decal placement. Thank you, Gary !

Is this the 1/43 version?

Excellent model, Matt - it has the true Jaguar spirit!

Il have 2 in my stash: the red original from 1993 and the green reissue from 2002, will probably turn one into a shortnose D-type.

Just discovered this set incidentially on ebay Germany (pictures from ebay and Revell AG website) - another opportunity to get one of the XKSS roadsters, if you have missed the earlier releases:

MG TC (Franklin mint) came yesterday via ebay from Germany for a good price - only fault: driver side door handle missing (will improvise something here) - otherwise a nice little roadster (with too much chrome):

Looks good, Ray - I'm thinking about adding one to my stash (have already the Tamiya version with engine)

Very good resurrection of the old Heller kit - I've done that several times to my old (40 years ago) builts and it is a very rewarding experience.