1959scudetto

OMG, unbelievable what you made of the old Merit derivative - I just revisited all the detailing you accomplished with this one!

Very nice replica, Rich - the delicate photo-etch details give it the final touch which makes this one standout.

x 2: Excellent,Dave - I like this one very much (had the red Matchbox die-cast back in the day) !

Outstanding build, Dave, and a very impressive model that came out fantastic.

Very nice model, Mario - a different color that suits it well, perfect foiling and the photography with these cool backgrounds is your trademark, anyway !

Check this one out, Gary - while the Porsche 911 shown above is an early example, here is the 911 SC from 1980, the very last Porsche to win a WRC event (former Alpine ace Jean-Luc Thérier at the Tour de Corse in fall of 1980) - a lot of evolution within those 10 years ! Model is also from Hachette in 1/24 (the lime green 1976 Porsche turbo is made by Welly):

2 new additions to my rally collection (Hachette 1/24) arrived on Saturday: the 1970 Rally Monte Carlo winning Porsche 911 of Björn Waldegaard: and the 1979 Bandama Rally (Ivory Coast/Africa) winning Mercedes 450 SLC 5,0 of Hannu Mikkola:

Excellent Corvettes, awesome paint jobs on both and superb looking windows. I would not have guessed that these are the amt kits.

Very nice Ferrari - of the 10 NART spyders, the only one in that color ! Excellent ! (Raced in the 12 hrs. of Sebring 1967)

Thank you all for your compliments - after the rework is done, I will post it again.

Thank you,Anders, Bob, David and Jürgen for the nice comments on this build !

Dan, I envy you for this trailer - looks excellent, very real !

Excellent tanker combo Jürgen - again you delivered!

What a beast - great looking havy hauler !

x 2 - this is an impressive model ! I like it very much (though I prefer the older Ferraris from the 60's...)

x 2: Very well done - excellent model!

You always amaze us with your fantastic models, Anders - very beautiful!

In the last months I noticed an interesting phenomenon: 2 Ferrari P 4 models from Union (above, = Heller-reissue, shown here some time ago), both built in the 80’s, show some kind of tire desintegration – the tires are slowly losing their shape (flatspots, partial sidewall deformation) and are “sweating out” an oily liqid. I wiped this off with a paper towel a few weeks ago, but when taking them out of the box today, I noticed the same again. Inerestingly, not all tires show this variation. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Would be interesting to know!

The Lancia Stratos was the first ever car especially designed and built for rally competition. Whilst the 1st prototype (stratos zero, 1970) was a unique show-car and attention-getter, the 2nd (Stratos HF, 1971) came close to the final version using the Dino 2,4 V6 engine (midships). From 1972 onwards, the factory took part in competition, but was restricted to prototype class. Former Ferrari works driver and engineer, Mike Parkes, did essential development work and on Oct. 1, 1974, finally homologation was perfect (more than 400 built cars) and Lancia was able to enter the world rally championship in Grp. 4 (in red/white Marlboro livery): 4 wins and a 3rd place helped winning the world championship of makes in 1974. This goal was again achieved in 1975 and 76 with Alitalia sponsorship: 1975 the livery was green and white, whereas in 1976 and 77 green, red and white. Then, mother company Fiat wanted to turn its mass-production car 131 into a rally champion in order to generate higher sales figures and transferred huge Alitalia sponsorship money to their 131 Abarths, phasing out the Stratos from competition: Therefore in 1978 the Stratos had to run on a small budget in red, white and black Pirelli livery and competed in only 4 WRC events (its final year of works participation) All other liveries are private entries or partially works-supported only. As with Jan. 1st ,1975 the FIA allowed also the use of the aero kit (roof and rear spoiler) – we see here post-1975 models (several earlier cars have also been retrofitted with these parts). From Hachettes 1/24 WRC Collection: Sandro Munari’s 1977 Monte Carlo winner – well done, with a few mistakes that could easily be corrected in using parts from Revell’s plastic kit: Plastic fuel cap covers, correct rear license plate and front light pod cover (didn’t want to paint the light surroundings in white)- front mudflaps (not used in tis event) removed: Markku Alén’s 1978 San Remo winner – everything correct apart from the rear license plate (not that sharply bent) – replaced with aluminium sheet and a decal: White Box 1975 Stratos HF – is NOT a street, but a rally version minus racing livery: put a “Prova” license plate onto the rear (see picture above) All are made by Ixo – highly recommended for any sportscar fan – for rally aficionados these are must haves! You think I’m a rally fan? A Stratos fan too ? You're right – I have some Stratos kits in my stash, too ( + Revell MC 77, Tamiya Giro d'Italia racing version):

Congratulations, Rich - you made a well-built model of a very simplified, but difficult-to-assemble kit (I sold mine off several years ago after a close inspection of the kit contents).

This has to be the amt version (small bumper, non-opening cab doors) with a shortened frame, isn't it? Anyway, the typical 70's paint-scheme looks stunning !

Very nice models, Ben ! The 917 K #20 participated in the 1970 Le Mans race with Jo Siffert/Brian Redman (DNF).

Thank you all guys, for the nice comments on this old build! I have ever liked the lines of this iconic car.

Thanks, Anthony!

Very nice, Anthony, reminds me of the car that Walter Matthau drove away at the end of "Charley VarricK" (at least it was a '62 Chevy, IIRC.