Junkman

The Heller Talbot-Lago Grand Prix kit is scheduled for being reissued later this year. It first saw the light of day in 1979. A rather primitive kit of the same car existed earlier, made by Merit in the 1950s and reissued by Smer. The Heller kit is not to be confused with these. It's much more detailed and advanced. The correct denomination would be 1950 Talbot Lago T26C-DA. The type T26C (the 'C' stands for 'Course') made its competition debut at the 1948 Monaco Grand Prix. It retired after 16 laps with engine trouble, but the follow-up Coupe du Salon at Montlhéry yielded a 1-2-3 for the Talbot-Lagos of Louis Rosier, Pierre Levegh (of 1955 Le Mans 'fame') and Yves Giraud-Cabantous. The first major victory came at the 1949 Belgian Grand Prix, with Rosier at the wheel, who didn't stop for the entire three and half hours. Superior fuel consumption and reliability helped him against savvy competition, like the Alfa Romeo 4CLT, with its two-stage supercharged engine. Rosier's skill in the Talbot-Lago secured him the French Championship that year, which also included a signature win at the French Grand Prix in Reims by Louis Chiron. During the following seasons, Talbot Lago continued their success with upgrades that included side draught 50HN Zenith carburetters, increased to 11:1 compression ratio and a stronger crankshaft. They were also fitted with 4-speed Cotal pre-selector gearboxes. Mid-season these were joined by new twin spark, 12 plug engines, which offered 280 bhp at 5,000rpm. They also repositioned the driveshaft to allow the driver's position be lowered significantly, and Lockheed 19 inch drum brakes were used. At least ten of these cars were built, since they also proved popular with private clients. 1950 ended on a high note once again, with three major Grand Prix victories. The kit is depicting one of these modified 1950 T26C-DAs, specifically the #14 car driven to third place by Louis Rosier in the 1950 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps, behind the two Alfa Romeo 158s of Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli. The car is still with us today: The Talbot-Lago company did not participate in the 1951 Grand Prix season at all, but several privateers did enter 1950 T26C-DAs, subsequently several more race wins were added to the tally. However, for the 1952 season, the Grand Prix rules were changed significantly and thus these Talbot-Lagos were no longer eligible to participate. Some of them were therefore converted into sports cars by their owners. Edited 2 minutes ago by Junkman

The rally cars are Peugeots and 1/43 scale.

If Airfix could at least reissue the 1/24 car kits it actually made! As dismal as that is, it would still be better than nothing. Why Airfix never expanded the series is beyond me. They toyed with a Vanden Plas 4 Litre R and commissioned Roy Cross to do some artwork, but then stopped the project. The really shocking thing about the Transit is that it required the Italians to come up with it. That and the Rally MKII Escort belonging on a trailer behind it. Frog seriously considered to make 1/24 scale car kits. A Landcrab, a Merc 220SE fintail, and a caravan were already announced, then cancelled. I guess it's because the English are allergic to money.

Not making it 1/24 will cost them a lot of sales.

As seen at the Nürnberg fair: Shan't we begin with wild speculations as to what is included in the kit?

Like so?

This is a roadster: And this:

Here are a few more.

This is a photo of the model on the Pocher stand at the Nürnberg fair.

Looks like the Aquarius is now painted:

The Hetfield cars were built by Rick Dore. For further info and my opinion, see my avatar. Furthermore, although riding on a modified 1934 Packard frame found in a junkyard, the Aquarius is not trying to emulate a Packard, but a Figoni & Falaschi bodied 1938 Delahaye. Is it entered again this year? It was already entered last year.

Whom do you have in mind? Tapani and his collection of dropouts?

This is going to be horrendously complicated, I know, but I'd love to convert the Transit into this: Then tow the Belkits Escort with it on an Aoshima Brian James trailer.

You decide:

The only other pics published are these:

That is correct. The curtain is never lifted for normal mortals. A rather strange business practice.

Out of the 300+ cars I've owned hitherto, only five managed to make me a repeat offender/serial killer/keeper. - 1957 - 63 Imperials - because I collected them for a while. Obviously I have since moved on. Looking over a '61 the other day, it left me oddly cold. - 1978 - 85 Ford (of Germany) Granada MKII 2.8i Ghia - because they are wonderfully plush waftbarges and used to be tremendously cheap wheels. I had 14 (fourteen) of them. - 1986 - present (yes, they are still being built in some parts of the World) Peugeot 405 - see Granada MKII, but with a more contemporary fuel consumption. I'm on my 5th now. - 1969 - 75 Rover 3500 - always wanted one, strangely took me until age 45 to buy one. First one was a manual, didn't bond, so replaced it with an auto, which I still have. - 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 350/350 - bought 1992 as cheap wheels with 180k miles on it as a stop gap car to do a travelling occupation requiring to drive 50k miles per year. Sold seven years later with 380k MORE miles on it and regret it ever since. This is the car I've owned longest, until April this year, when the Rover will take over that honour. Other than these, I love variety. I usually go through 5 - 10 cars per year.

The shape of the windshield is completely wrong. I hope it gets corrected on the production model.

Note Gendarme de St Tropez backdrops in box art. PMSL

So far I'm the only one who received a damaged example. And the damage is not due to sloppy packaging.

Estafette also allows for some interesting conversions.

Can we have that Bimmer next, please?

I bloody well hope so!