1959scudetto

Thank you, Rich - I like Alfas, but there are only a few kits available. Thanks, Carl ! Thank you, Dave - minilites would have also been an option if built today (they were used in TransAm and sometimes in historic motorsports). Thank you, Frank ! Thanks, Trevor - the period look is what I was trying to achieve.

This is a 1990 build of Gunze's GTAm which is at best mediocre: the proportions are wrong (roof to low and arched too much - the wheels are too big and therefore the stance is too high. The plastic is very hard and brittle, the interior is soft vinyl and the details are crude (wipers, hood fasteners). Anyway, I painted it in a typical livery of the time, fabricated some quick tank cap in the trunk with the usual decals from the spare box. It should have the small rear lights of the earlier models, but I left them as they were. A Very (!) simple roll-bar was also installed. This represents no particular car. The first photo shows an original car for comparison (from the Scuderia del portello website): Here are two more with its civilian brothers:

Thank you, Gary - kits of 60s sports racers are my favorite modeling objects. Thank you, Rich - I don't want to paint all my Ferraris in red (one of my Fujimi 330 P4 will be turned into the yellow Francorchamps 412 P of Willy Mairesse from the Spa 1000 km race in 1967 which was won by Jacky Ickx in the Mirage Mk I) Thanks, Justin - Maranello Concessionaires participated in LM 1967 with their own 412 P driven by Richard Attwood and Piers Courage.

Thanks, Chris ! No problem at all, Tony ! Concerning Heller kits, I sold off my 917 Le Mans winners when Fujimi released their version. The Ferrari 512 S are still in my stash, albeit from Protar and Wave (= reboxed Heller kits). Thanks, Justin - it was available for little money back then....

Very nicerendition of the runner-up car from Daytona 1967, Justin ( I have 3 in my stash, one will be made as the yellow 412P Ecurie Francorchamps car from the race in Spa 1967)

Built in 1988 from the Union reissue of Heller's old Ferrari P 4. I wanted to build it in different colors than the works cars: in 1967, Ferrari customers could buy "updated P3" racers which had the engine specification of the 1966 car, but the new body mods of the 1967 330 P 4 - these hybrids were called 412 P, looked like the P4 and were used by Luigi Chinetti's N.A.R.T., Maranello Concessionaires (UK), Ecurie Francorchamps (Belgium), Scuderia Filipinetti (Switzerland) and Englishman David Piper. So I choose to build a David Piper version in its typical BP green (reference was a 1/43 diecast by Brumm) and the '67 Le Mans participant from Filipinetti (reference was 2 pictures in Antoine Prunet's Ferrari sports prototypes book) - Jean Guichet/Herbert Müller DNF this race. Decals are partially from the spares, partially drawn by hand or made from rub-on letters. First a photo of the kit box: Finally some mid Sixties racers : 3 from Heller, 1 from Academy/Minicraft: Don't be too hard with Heller - they offer some kits that you won't get anywhere else (OK, the P4 is an exception)

Thank you Tony - I won't say they are bad - they are ... different (they don't fall together like a Tamiya kit) As I know what's wrong in my builts and I myself are my own toughest critic, I don't see a problem in pointing out my errors and mistakes (there are enough modelers out there that know this stuff, especially under the group of racecar builders)

Thanks, Gary - lack of reference material was sometimes a problem in earlier days - especially for not-so-popular subjects. Thank you, Bruce ! Thank you, Rich - I'm sure yours will be better. I can't remember the color anymore, probably a blue enamel spray from Revell Germany. But if you search for color photos of these cars in the internet, there are different shades of blue (even metallic) - they were ues from 1966 to 1969. Thank you Ray - these were "very small block" machines (1,1 or 1,3 ltr.) and therefore built for a minimum drag coefficient. Thanks, Dave !

Here is my A 210, built around 1989 from the 1982 re-release of the earlier Heller kit - very small car but won its class (1300 cc) several times in Le Mans 24 hrs.; in 1966 these cars took places 9, 11, 12 and 13 - the #44 car (only decal option included in the kit) took 11 th place. Those of you who have built a Heller kit know there are always some very delicate parts and not always clear instructions - sometimes vague - so you have to use the trial and/or error method. Nevertheless, the kit was not that hard to build although I did make a few mistakes - the yellow stripe on the windshield is wrong (my idea), and the 3 tiny lights above it on the right side of the roof is also wrong - should be only one light for # 44 (Heller's fault); wheel covers for the front wheels were totally missing - will be scratch-built some day. Anyway, here are the pictures (on the dark table from 2005, the others made today, the empty box is now used for storing my decals), but first the actual car - found on the internet:

Looks very good, Mike - I have the same kit in my stash (the Airfix repack of the Heller Kit)

Very nice result, Steve - the D-type is one of the iconic racers of the '50s.

Well done, John - looks much better with the stock wheels!

Very nice, Tom !

Thank you for the compliments, Al ! Thanks, Trevor - it did need the use of superglue, though (first it fell apart a few times). Thanks, Carl !

Very nice, Anders - beautiful colors - as we are used to see from you!

nice build, Dave - I built one out-of-the-box and it looks like an SUV - the ride is way too high (some photos under glass in the racing section)

Really ? I didn't know that ! Thanks, Tim ! Thank you, Dennis !

Very nice dumper fleet, Dan - and very good-looking Cruiseliner, which is one of my favorite Coe's.

Your trailers (as do your trucks) always look like the real ones, KJ - and not like models! Impressive !

Thank you, Ray ! Thank you, Benton ! Thank you, Lee ! Thank you, Bob - I saw one decades ago at a US car meeting. Thank you, Glen ! Thank you, Chris ! Thank you, Bob - though it is very crude, surprisingly it works! Thank you, John - I too was skeptical during building if it would work, but it does! Thank you, Gerald !

Not included in the above pics is the Renaissance '67 Mark IV Le Mans winner resin kit and Mini Exotics' 1967 Mirage Mk I resin transkit...

one thing is for sure: you can't have enough GT 40 kits... some builts: a few unbuilts: and even some die-casts (in the right scale):

Very nice model, Bernard - with a lot of effort from your side - I just wish more of those were available in 1/24 for reasonable amounts of money.

Very nice model, Rich - what a sleek machine compared to those ugly racers of today (hard to believe that this is almost 40 years old...)

Thank you, Anders - I don't want to bore anyone with my old builts, but I have hardly time for building at present...