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In October 1962, Luigi Chinetti /NART bought GTO 3987GT and his car won the 1000 km Paris(Monthléry) with the Rodriguez brothers at the wheel. Shortly afterwards, he sold the car to John Mecom - his Mecom Racing team campaigned the car with Roger Penske driving at most events, sometimes together with Augie Pabst. The car was repainted in the well-known Mecom colors of metallic blue with a white stripe. In Sebring they achieved a 4th overall behind 3 Ferrari prototypes, winning the GT 3,0 class: Internet pictures by Louis Galanos and Bernard Cahier : At the end of 1963, the car was sold again and after several ownerships, 3987GT finally ended up in the famous Ralph Lauren collection in 1985. On to the model: I bought a cheap, unpainted buildup of Revells kit from 1989 (ex-Italeri ) and wanted to turn it into the 1963 Sebring class winner – the goal was a quick curbside build to show off Jason’s fantastic 3D printed Borrani wheels. Building turned out to be a string of troubles and took much longer than expected: the paint still has some issues, but as this is supposed to be a racer and not a show-queen, I called it a day . As a 3rd cooling slot had been cut into the body sides between practice and race, I tried Ace’s method in replicating that. Anyway, I’m glad it is finally done – some small touch-ups here and there will be done, otherwise it is finished. Its best feature is the Borrani rims and Dunlop racing tires from Jack Modeling – highly recommended - see my separate topic in the Car Aftermarket/Resin/3 D printed section! On to the pics (taken today):

1/24 recently finished Corvette C7R by Revell. This model represents the class winning Corvette at the Lemans 2015 race. Kit was finished in Tamiya TS34 Camel Yellow and was mostly box stock with only a few revisions and additions. More info on this build in the picture captions. Comments welcome and thanks for looking. The moment of truth. Body ready to mate to chassis. I had fitted four small pins to each corner of the body during construction. These required some delicaqte drilling and are what hold the body in place. It all worked. Seartbelts and a few other details out of the extra parts bins. Completed car on its wheels. Must say this kit was a joy. Exhaust, windows and many other parts all fit without fuss. Business end of the Vette. Lots of nice detail back here. Wing fit like a charm and the decals were nice too. Overall fit of this model when finished was better than expected. Paint was done to match two other Corvettes in my collection. Wheels are painted a combination of Dark Iron, Metallic and gloss black. The poseable wheels are a modification and was reasonably easy on this kit. Engine all snuggled in place. This had a very nicely detailed engine but was all covered by the air inlets. That colour is Tamiya Gunmetal out of their LS line.

latest off the bench, 1/24 Revell Red Bull Racing RB8. Kit is mostly box stock with the exception of the poseable wheels. Color on this is Tamiya TS89 which was developed by Tamiya just for their own Red Bull RB8 kit in 1/20. Kit went together fairly well with a few exceptions. Decals in this kit were extensive and went on with a little solvent,heat and lots of patience. (three days worth) I am pleased with the results and it is a handsome addition to the collection. See comments in the picture captions. Finished kit on my new background. Wheels are Alclad Airframe aluminium. Decals on the front wing were the most involved. There were three sheets of decals and this car is mostly covered in them. Rear wing was a little fussy but went on straight with no gluing. Note the metal clip just behind the exhaaust. There are only two of these and they hold the body on the chassis which actually fit quite well. No glue needed. Carbon fibre everywhere. This was all included in the kit. I highly advise anyone with this kit to do all the CF first. Couldn't resist. The Tamiya version of this kit in the background. Both are painted the same color.

Was looking for a quick build and this kit turned out to be the answer. Revell 1/24 Williams FW23 from the 2001 season. Color is a mix of Mr Color #5 (75%) #322 (20%) and #65 (5%) . The kit plastic was left white and all was coated with Tamiya LP49 Clear Pearl. I enjoyed this kit due to its simplicity as the build only took 3 days. Drivers for this car were Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. They enjoyed some success as both recorded their first F-1 victories with this car. Overall they won 5 races but only finished third in the championship. Below are more build particulars in the picture captions. Thanks for looking. Trying a new background here. This panoramic view was taken at Watkins Glen. Plan to add more to it later. Kit went together well and is a curbside. Tires were not the best feature of this kit and some sanding and varnish were needed to help them along. Decals were by Cartograph and I was surprised to see they didn't age well. A couple coats of varnish got them off the sheet in one piece. Silver decals are often quite thin and require very careful handling. Overall they eventually went on nice. This is Montoyas ride.

Building two kits at once is an interesting challenge. You have to be organized and pay close attention to details. But the reward is some time saved. These two kits were very similar and shared may parts. This is time saved sorting parts, sub-assemlies and painting. Color on these two was Testors 2918 Guards red with Model Master clear. These were painted and polished about 9yrs ago. Besides the bodies, there were interior differences as well and were treated seperately. The Ferrari 599 chassis is the basis for both these cars and they also share the same drivetrain but are tuned just a little differently. The GTO is only slightly faster than the SA Aperta and both were the fastest Front engine Ferrari's produced. Detail notes on the construction under the picture captions. Thanks for looking. Finished models together. The SA Aperta (open top) have slightly different hoods and front end treatment. Rear view shows different diffusers and venting The GTO has a carbon fibre roof and panels. Those mirrors took 3 pieces of CF each to do. It was fussy work. The SA Aperta with its top off. The silver trim represents stainless steel and was painted with MR Color SM204 Super Stainless 2. This is unlike any silver I have airbrushed. Very very fine grain and a silky smooth finish. The SA Aperta with its top in. Interior on the Aperta. Very sharp. The red piping was decals provide in the kit. Applying them took some serious patience and they still had to be coated with clear flat. Engine detail on both cars was identical except for the one decal. This is the GTO engine. Fit and finish on both models was very good with only a few minor problems. Bodies went on the chassis smoothly (which is a relief) but only after I removed both radiators. They can't be seen anyway but it turns out I installed them wrong and they should have have more angle.

Fourth completion of the year. On a roll now. Started this one right from the beginning. 1/24 Revell BMW M3 that raced in the DTM series in 2012 and driven by Martin Tomczyk. Car is painted in Tamiya TS-26 white and lots of different shades of black . Kit is mostly box stock with a few additions like wring the boxes in the cockpit. Can't say this was the easiest kit, there a few problems but it is done and I am satisfied. See picture captions for the details. Thanks for looking and comments as always, welcome. There was a tone of detail in the interior. Body covers most of it so I took a pictute. Roll bar was kinda worrisome. Body all fitted. What a chore getting past this step. Everything fit if you squeezed hard enough. I wanted it removable but it had to be glued. There is an engine but not much would have been visible even with the front clip off. Car done and decaled. There were lots of em. Hood air out let was the most difficult but these decals responded well to solvent and heat. You can even read the fine script (with seeing eye devices...of course) Body fit in the back was not as good as expected. It fit when there was no interior. The wing is all carbon fibre ands attached easily..not always the case. Side view show how low to the ground these cars are. Wheels steer but barely. This is a view you would probably not want to see in your mirror if you were racing. Decals and winglets look complicated but if you were careful all went together well. Thanks again for looking.

This model was intended to be a paint experiment. I wanted to try Splash paints and 2K clear. Colors chosen were Deep Impact Blue and Rosso Scuderia for the red. White was Tamiya TS26. Masking proved to be difficult but do-able. the two piece body greatly aided in the separation of blue and red. Must say the Splash paints performed admirably and laid down very well. They are extremely flat but when the clear is applied they come to life. Once the body was done and cured the incentive was there to finish the kit off. I am very pleased with this kit as the fit (with exception of back window) was excellent. The body in particular snapped down over the chassis and stayed in place with no glue or pins required. Revell has stepped up to the plate on this one. See the captions under the pictures for more details. Thank for looking. The body all sprayed and clear coated, sitting in the sun to cure. The chassis was very detailed and required much detail painting. Too bad most of this is covered when the body goes on so I always take pictures first. Much wiring was added to the interior. Sorry about the bad photo but I hadn't planned on taking the body off to take another. I thought with the large windscreen it would be visible but, alas it was not. All finished and decalled. I paid special attention to the color of the wheels. It was Alclad burnt iron with a misting of copper. Interesting color. The kit wheels did not steer but it was a fairly ea sy conversion. I also added the carbon fibre to the sills and the front. The business end of the car. Some very interesting aerodynamics. Rear window has the engine scoop sticking straight up through it. The scoop had to be carefully glued in the exact position for it to clear and the only way to find out was to attach the body. Suffice to say it wasn't and some careful filing and grinding solved this problem. The only one with this kit. This particular car placed second in the GTE Pro class. Not a bad effort for a a long layoff at Lemans. There were four of these cars that were fielded by Ganassi racing.

very quick building of the both famous roadster BMW 50 and Z8 i started by the older, elegant 507, imported in USA by Max Hoffman in 1956. This car was a very trouble-maker in BMW story, at the point to ruin the society! i didn't be sure to post these build, waiting to the result of my first black paint! Z8 will be also black with red-orange leather