1959scudetto

x 2 ! I'm sure that the originals did not have the same quality of paint.

You won't see much progress here, Dave - I did not much to it (apart from filling the hollow body with some junk).

Dave, this will turn out very good (as always from you). But painting all these printed details will be a pain... I see no possibility how I could do that.

Your rolling chassis looks excellent. Pierre. I like the brake drums and the cables leading to the headlights. What did you use for the headers - drinking straws?

Good looking build and interesting history !

Thanks, Dave - the later (1969) version looks much better.

Thanks for the video - the pictured 1970 twin-turbo version of the Toyota-7 was the car that was never raced.

Here you can see a rather boring-looking, not very attractive racecar from 1968, which marks Toyota’s first (unsuccesful) attempt in developing a real sports-racer (again with the help of Yamaha, who were responsible for developing their legendary 2000 GT 2 years earlier) A VERY simplified kit which consists mainly of a bodyshell with 4 wheels – I added and scratchbuilt some parts for chassis and interior (see "WIP" ) At first, the original: Now the model:

Thank you all, guys, for the comments - as you can see an interior which deserves this name does not exist here (only 2 seats) ... The kit has very few parts:

This is my „cosmetic restoration“ of my old Gunze kit. Built in 1989, I never installed the bars in the nose opening and lost some wind deflectors (on both sides and on the hood) over the years. I was never satisfied with the rear window - see below. When starting to restore the model, it dropped onto the table: the spare wheel fell out, parts of the roll-bar also, and the fuel -filler cap dropped into its hole in the body (was glued from beneath) – let’s get started repairing it (pic below is from 2005)! Rollbar and spare wheel mounts out- time for restoration ! (October 2024): I scratchbuilt the missing grille bars and the hood deflector from thin aluminium sheet, tinted the rear window with 2 shots Tamiya smoke clear and cut a window seal out of black electrical tape. The loose parts could be reglued again, license plate was removed and the number decals got a second layer. The left side rear lights came from the spares (again lost the originals) as did a windshield wiper for the driver’s side (no wiper included in the kit !). The spare wheel was fixed with 3 leatherstraps which is wrong but I did not have another solution) - all the following pictures shot today: The car is similar to the Sebring ’65 class winner, but it should have # 15, the sponsor decals are not complete and slightly too large. I added #13 at the rear, but could not remove the “USA” sign any more (superglue, and I have long run out of this blue paint, so I let it be)

... saving a junker from being discarded: When buying a built-up Heller Lotus 49 F1 recently (only for wheels), I got 2 additional buildups, among them this one: Otaki 1/24 Toyota-7 (1968). It was dirty and rusty, but nearly all parts were there (even the instructions): a typical Japanese “kit” from way back with a battery- powered e-motor and no detail at all. The body looked not too bad, but totally different from the box lid rendering. Here you can see all the detail that is in this "kit": Internet search finally brought a few pictures, among them almost exactly the kit (left picture) ... ... and also the box lid car - see below: My guess is : Otaki got the license from Toyota together with drawings of the very first version, while the car was constantly developed further, and when its race debut came, the kit was ready for sale but looked very different, so only the box lid could be updated showing the final version: Anyway, though I had not intended to resurrect this one, I did not want to throw it into the garbage either, so I removed all the electrical wiring and battery clamps, fabricated some panels from styrene sheet just to prevent looking through the whole car and sprayed the chassis aluminium silver. The (certainly wrong) interior came from an Arii Chaparral, in the parts box I could find a steering wheel and a mirror. The rear deck openings were altered, the letterings will be hand-drawn – old school build for an old school kit. The body is spraypainted with Mercedes Benz' "light ivory Taxi" which looks like the real racer. Maybe I will modify the rear rims for wider tires at a later date – they are very narrow and look rather wonky. The body looks very tail-heavy (I would have preferred the box-lid version) More or less it is an out-of- the-box build with the only addition of a rear spoiler (like in the photo below) – Toyota changed hoods, rollbars and added fins and spoilers during development of the car, they even ran a race simulation on track with 3 cars! So this is kind of a mish-mash of several evolution versions ... In 1968 they stood no chance with their 3-ltr. Yamaha engine against the stronger Nissans with their big V8-Chevys, so they built stronger versions for the next years, but in 1969 and before the start of the 1970 season, they lost 2 of their promising Japanese drivers in fatal accidents during testing – the company pulled the plug in their program, and the Toyota 7 in its turbocharged 1970 version was never raced (it was intended to take part in the CanAm series) – it is told to have had more than 800 (or even 1000) hp. So this chapter was closed and Toyota returned to sports car racing in the 1980’s Group C. More pics in the next days "Under glass".

For subject matter: 1966 Ford GT40 Mk II (Wix collectibles/Icons 1/24) For finesse of execution (check out those delicate spoke wheels...): 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR "Uhlenhaut Coupé (Minichamps/Paul's model art 1/24)

Interesting comparison between old and new, Rich! I have the same plans with the McLaren M8A I did in 1970/71 but have nothing left beside my memory: Like you I will do it like I originally had but this time make everything fit better (with some refinements, but without replicating every detail) Very nice collection of 906 and 910 Porsches here, Rich ! The 1/18 Tamiya kits have good proportions, but are all lacking detail (have the McLaren, Lola, Nissan and Porsche in my stash) - Exotos are demanding horrible prices nowadays! Did you know that at the 'Ring the removable roof insert had to be taken off because of the height of Udo Schütz turning it into sort of spider?

Correct - you have the options to build a 1946, '47 or '48 version - here is my 1948 version:

Got these resin bodies today from the same German ebayer as last time: 1953 Lancia D24 Spider and 1971 Porsche 908/3 Spider:

Thanks, Jürgen, but in comparison with your perfect models, mine are rather poor looking.

Intensive modeling here , Mark (I won't have the nerves and the durability for such a long-term project.

Artistic license or not - it is great what you are doing with these vintage kits, Matt. I surely will follow your WIP !

Awesome stuff, Pierre ! Pic # 2 shows the 1931 Mille Miglia winning car of Rudolf Caracciola. I really like what you are doing here with the fenders.

Very nice, Jürgen - I would guess this is a heavy re-work of the Hachette/Ixo 1/24 die-cast with your usual striving for perfection. As I have 3 of those models, I may recognize what you have done here: blended in the 3 nose openings with putty and repainted the whole body, made new front indicators, reworked the headlight covers, added a new Alfa emblem to the nose (photo-etched?), added side windows, a new inside mirror and improved the outside one as well as the hood latches and door handles. You repainted the window surroundings and made a correct looking exhaust pipe as well as you put a jack into the spare wheel. Your dedication shows also in reworking the wheel hubs and especially in your hallmark, the highly detailed instrument panel (with steering wheel). Bravo ! Here is one of mine in comparison OOB - I only added (fictitious) decals, an exhaust pipe and 2 fog lights, but I did nothing to make it better yet:

Great news for 1/24 rally car builders - lots of different versions possible !

Excellent models and presentation, Matt - can't wait for the next one !

Simply over-the-top, Steve ! Photos look like pictures from the Boulevard Photographic studios - see my book:

Matt, this is great - Graham looks very real, too. I followed your WIP and liked what you did. Will be there more in your Roy Cross tribute series?

Sorry for mixing things up - but this is the Airfix reboxing of the Heller kit (for some time the mother company was Heller-Humbrol). I too have several Airfix versions of Heller kits (Alfa Romeo 1750, Ferrari Dino 206 S, Jaguar E racing...)