1959scudetto

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.

Very nice looking Hudson hat 2-tone black and red suits it very well!

Great looking AMC muscle car in this green paint!

Very nice, Gary - perfectly fitting color for the period.

x 2: Very nice model of the "birdcage" in longtail form!

Absolutely marvellous Alfa Romeo, William - this proves again the fact that the 60's had the most wonderful racecars (at least for me).

Thank you, Bob and Jürgen, for the compliments.

When Monogram issued the 427 S/C (blue metal flake version), I had to have one and decorated it similar to a magazine cover car, spray painted and clear coated with auto laquers from the can. As far as I can remember (this must have been in 1988 or 89), there were no issues except the white decals that were not opaque (the stripes did not lay down as I wanted - I had no decal setting solution - and the dark blue came bleeding through). So I brushed white enamel onto the stripes: not the best idea! Here are the pics of the 16-year old model from 2005: Last week I took it out of its box and found it looking much too clean/new/unused. So the wheels underwent a grey-black wash, and I tried to simulate the heat-stained exhaust which has to be redone (I used red and orange clear and a drop of metallic light blue enamel) - I must reduce the red, it looks like it ran over a deer! I will order some new decals and re-apply them to make it look better and go over some other details as well. Here are some more pics shot an hour ago (this is the magazine from the 80's which inspired this build):

Excellent model, Jürgen - very impressive build (could easily mistaken for the real thing)!

Very nice - I like those old fleet trucks best.

Thank you, Dennis andJames!

The 1965 Mustang fastback is one of my favorite American cars ever since I had the Matchbox model in 1966. So when Monogram issued their 1965 Shelby GT 350, I had to have one. Build is from 1986, pictures from 2008. Metallc blue stripes are spray painted as is the rest of the body (auto lacquers from the can, trim is silver enamel from Humbrol) – straight out-of-the-box.

Very nice model of Björn Waldegard's 2nd place Stratos - Björn was instructed by Lancia teamboss Cesare Fiorio to hold back and not to attack Sandro Munari who was intended to repeat his last year's win (Italian team wants the Italian driver to win in an Italian car) . Compared with my Hachette 1/24 WRC version of the 1977 winner, the models sold under the "IXO" name, have even more fine detailing, for example the door locks and rear hood latches. A black wash for the wheels can be done, but is not necessary - see pic below (I have sent you PM)