1959scudetto

First there was a cheap die-cast... Then it donated its bumpers to the 300 SL Roadster which had its own missing.... As the model has some issues (upper edge of the side windows is wrong, front valance panel should be much more rounded), it was decided to turn it into some kind of South American road racer: a bug deflector was mounted, as were 2 additional headlights - decals come from several sources: Fred Cady and other spares from my parts box - the Guatemala scripts were cut off Tom Tanner's fantastic Alfa Romeo 1900 Carrera Panamericana decal sheet. The side louvres and wheels got a black wash (unfortunately the hubcaps cannot be removed without destroying the wheels). Now it was race-ready - here are photos from before the start ... ... and finally what it looked like after crossing the finish line: This one needs urgently a wash !

I always wanted a FM 300 SL roadster for little money - I think it is one of their best models whereas the much earlier released gullwing coupe has several issues: - crude details (steering wheel, cloth on the seats, roofline), bad proportions - it simply shows its age. I happened to catch both together on ebay for € 27,00 + shipping - the silver gullwing had chips in the paint and was sold off immediately so the remaining price of the roadster was about 10 € only. But: wipers and gear lever were missing, the softtop was missing, front and rear bumpers and the exhaust pipe were missing, dull paint, dirty and dusty interior and yellow tinted left corner of the windshield; the front suspension had also issues on the left side. A cheap Welly SL was robbed of both bumpers, wipers came from a Tamiya Honda S 800 kit, the gearlever is a pin, exhaust tip is a small steel tube. Before all that, the model was thoroughly cleaned and the body polished. At last I fabricated some license plates from thin aluminium sheet with old Netherlands numbers - it turned out not bad - the only thing really missing is the cloth softtop - you can see those ugly mounting holes in the body. Maybe I can manage to hide these with the hardtop from my Italeri SL kit - we will see. On to the pics: Though I had to make some compromises, I strongly recommend this to all fans of classic sportscars - Franklin Mint has outdone themselves with this one ! P.S. what happened to the butchered Welly SL ? Till next time !

Thank you, guys - it would be great if a whole series would emerge out of this 4 pc. ('69 Ford GT40, '72 Matra 670, '78 Renault-Alpine A442 and '91 Peugeot 905) test !

For all of you modelers who have missed Paul Fisher's excellent resin version (as did I) - here is the very nice Hachette 1/24 model (#1 in their 4 - car test run)I have acquired 2 of them (the 2nd is intended to be converted into the long-tail runner-up car of Francois Cevert and Howden Ganley) Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill took the laurels driving this one which made Graham the only driver winning the Triple Crown of Motor Racing: Indy 500 (1966) 24 hrs. Le Mans (1972) and F1 championship (1962 and 68): A little detail painting will surely bring this up - I made a comparison with the Spark/Le Mans Miniatures resin model half a year ago in the Ferrari Chat forum if some of you are interested - here is the link: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/quattroruote-1-24-diecast-model-collection.204071/page-11 The model is actually available from Modelissimo.de in Germany for € 26,96 + postage; choose 1/24 scale and then Hachette Le Mans collection - highly recommended !

Me too, Gary ! Thanks, Snake - the outside cosmetics can be done quickly - but I've found pics on the internet with a plushy red corduroy interior in a white car (I'm thinking about this - would be stage II) I always liked the body of this car though the fans of the A 110 were mostly disappointed.

Thank you, Gareth !

Here we go: It has Spanish license plates, as it is from the Spanish collection - with a little "snake Fu" as the Snake would say, it can be turned into an almost perfect reproduction of the real car.

Great work, Marco - I like the weathering on this car!

Very impressive TransAm racer, Phil ! Also the 1966 Nürburgring winning 2 D - hard tobelieve that this is a conversion from the Monogram Daytona car!

Hi, Gary - I will take some daylight pictures in the next days - a little bit paint detailing will also be necessary - see the real car below:

just unpacked and photographed - came today from France (via ebay): Hachette 1/24 Alpine-Renault A 310 (1600 cc) from 1972 (from the Spanish series "coches inolvidables Salvat) l- made by Ixo:

Dave, you show us some exquisite models - looks good! More, please !

Wow, looks great - that brings back memories (Ibuilt this one more than 50 years ago - have 2 of the reissues in my stash)

Thanks, Gary - few months later I snapped a second Danbury TR250 - complete with spare wheel, high-gloss paint, but also missing its windshield - I'm not sure what to do with this one. Thanks, Chris !

A few years ago I won a DM 250 TR for small money on ebay: it was in rather good condition with a few issues: stance too high,missing windshield and spare wheel, hood latch broken/missing, dull paint, rather dirty. After thoroughly cleaning the model, I replaced the missing windshield with evergreen clear sheet, made a so-so hood lock and thought what to do with this one (I have 2 Hasegawa kits in my stash)... As the factory sold the pontoon-fendered to privateers and used the full-bodied version after the Sebring event , it was a natural to build the #16 Sebring car of Olivier Gendebien/Luigi Musso who become 2nd after a collision with a backmarker while in the lead - they lost some time in the pits and ended a full lap behind the winning sister car of Phil Hill/Peter Collins (#14). As the winning car was RHD and the runner-up LHD as is the model, it was a logical choice: I fabricated a side window as can be seen in Internet photos, toned down the gleaming wheels with a black wash, Englebert tire decals came from Patto, the race numbers were found in my spares - not exact, but close. I should have opened the fuel cap in the headrest also, but will do this with the plastic kits. First the original pictures (from Pinterest/Internet): Luigi Musso drags it out with Peter Collins (b/w), Musso accelerating (col.) Now the - slightly modified - DM model :

Excellent execution of this on, Gene - especially nice is the interior you have adressed to (I looked it up onyour other post) - moreover, you must have used a lot of bare metal foil on the body of this land yacht....

Here is another ebay Germany steal: Tecnomodel 1961 Ferrari 250 GT "Sperimentale" - the predecessor of the GTO; thick high quality resin casting, but very good proportions and delicate details. Although the bid was only for the body, I could not resist ! With an Italeri GTO or California Spider as donor kit + some decals an acceptable replica should be possible (here is a link to the Ferrari department of the ebay-shop of www.lemansdecals.com: https://www.ebay.de/str/lemansdecals/Ferrari-/_i.html?_storecat=18415570010) now some decals (for Le Mans 1961 and 62): Here is the restored car at Pebble Beach and in Laguna Seca's Corkscrew:

Not really a kit, but I won this on ebay Germany for about € 15.00 - a complete body of the 250 GT "Breadvan" which has very good proportions - will combine this with an Italeri or Protar GTO kit. As it has already the rear bumpers which have been added after Le Mans, it will be turned into the 3rd place car of the 1000 km of Paris (Monthlery).

Fantastic looking race cars, Cliff !

Thank you Gary - I brushed them with matte black and wiped off the paint from the spokes with a paper towel before it could dry. I'm sure the result of your efforts combining these 2 will be great !

Merci, Philippe !

Thank you, Mario - it is one of my childhood favorites. Thanks, Carl !

Very nice build, Mario !

Very very nice build of an iconic race car, Marty !