250 Testa Rosa Conversion To 1958 Lemans Winner

[JHDrew]

I decided that since the decals for Phill Hills 1958 Lemans winner were included in the new Hasagawa 250 Testa Rosa kit that it was a dare to build it. Well sometimes I just can't help myself.

The decals may be there but the car needs a lot of changes to it.

First you have to add sides to the front fenders: I made a pattern from card stock and bent up the sheet plastic pieces. After the glue dried I added 2-part epoxy putty to the seams.

Some filling needs to be done inbetween the fender pontoons and the nose. Plus the nose needs to be shortened about an eighth of an inch to square it up. The opening has to be widened and rounded a bit and two slots need to be added on either side.

Thanks for looking

Edited April 14, 2008 by JHDrew

[Zoom Zoom]

Nice work Jim! You make it look so easy.

Of course in the back of my head I'm kind of hoping Hasegawa does that version so I don't have to do anything but crack the seal and go!

I wonder how many people remember your beautiful Viper GTS conversion from an RT/10, followed in short order by kits from both AMT and Revell?

[ismaelg]

WOW Jim!

Great minds think alike! No wonder you are one of my favorite builders!

Actually, I was thinking on Luigi Musso's Targa Florio winner which is very similar. But I think I'll start with von Trips/Hawthorn 3rd place car to warm up.

That looks ABSOLUTELY GREAT!

I'll be following up closely and yes, I'll learn from you a lot!

Thanks for sharing!

[MonoPed]

Very nice work!!

[JHDrew]

Nice work Jim! You make it look so easy.

Of course in the back of my head I'm kind of hoping Hasegawa does that version so I don't have to do anything but crack the seal and go!

I wonder how many people remember your beautiful Viper GTS conversion from an RT/10, followed in short order by kits from both AMT and Revell?

Boy, that was a while ago! I had to use both roadsters and a Tamiya Celica for the roof. I'm glad somebody remembered.

I knew that was a race to beat the model manufacturers but this one may be 50-50 it gets produced. Either way, it's how I have fun. Somebody will probably do a resin body for it sometime soon. (not me, I just build)

Thanks for the memories Bob.

[JHDrew]

WOW Jim!

Great minds think alike! No wonder you are one of my favorite builders!

Actually, I was thinking on Luigi Musso's Targa Florio winner which is very similar. But I think I'll start with von Trips/Hawthorn 3rd place car to warm up.

That looks ABSOLUTELY GREAT!

I'll be following up closely and yes, I'll learn from you a lot!

Thanks for sharing!

Yeah you will get to use those #102 decals and keep it "red". Should be nice.

I'm also doing the Ameican #22 white and blue entry at the same time. That one will be mostly out of the box except for the custom #22 decals I'm printing.

[ismaelg]

Funny you mention blue. I also want to do a dark blue "Pebble beach" or "Amelia Island" type car...

[novadose71]

I remember your Viper too, from a magazine article or something,................yeah that was a loooong time ago.

Good work so far on this conversion.

[MojaveRacer208]

Well since I was born among road racers in the 50s, and I always considered this version to be the far prettier, I will definitely be following with interest.

I am in the process of rebuilding the garage at my mom's house and had to clear out a bunch of stuff, much of which is going back in. Friday, I encountered a stack of Road & Track mags dating from '62 back to '52. At lunch, I sat scanning through them looking at pictures of cars like this. One issue has a pic on the cover of the Ferrari F1 team in '59. 1 English driver...Tony Brooks, and 2 So Cal guys...Phil Hill (one of the drivers of the car you are building) and Dan Gurney. In the '50s, my dad worked for a while for a character named Tony Paravano, who had a stable of racing Ferraris. Indy and road racing car owner Frank Arciero talked Mr. Paravano into letting a new young driver try driving one of his Ferraris. That was Dan Gurney's first drive in a "big car". Mr. Paravano then received a visit from FBI and IRS agents, then mysteriously disappeared, owing my father a bunch of back pay (and I suspect the other guys were seeking some back payments too!)

So YEAH!!! I'm watching this thread...not to mention that I am in awe of your model building.

BTW...Dan Gurney had a nickname for Phil hill's co-driver, the Belgian Gendebien...He goodnaturedly called him "Jelly Bean".

I also have an issue here with a Dunlop ad showing the 59 Sebring winning 59 Testa Rossa of, again, Hill & Gendebien. A slightly different car though...

[JHDrew]

Well since I was born among road racers in the 50s, and I always considered this version to be the far prettier, I will definitely be following with interest.

I am in the process of rebuilding the garage at my mom's house and had to clear out a bunch of stuff, much of which is going back in. Friday, I encountered a stack of Road & Track mags dating from '62 back to '52. At lunch, I sat scanning through them looking at pictures of cars like this. One issue has a pic on the cover of the Ferrari F1 team in '59. 1 English driver...Tony Brooks, and 2 So Cal guys...Phil Hill (one of the drivers of the car you are building) and Dan Gurney. In the '50s, my dad worked for a while for a character named Tony Paravano, who had a stable of racing Ferraris. Indy and road racing car owner Frank Arciero talked Mr. Paravano into letting a new young driver try driving one of his Ferraris. That was Dan Gurney's first drive in a "big car". Mr. Paravano then received a visit from FBI and IRS agents, then mysteriously disappeared, owing my father a bunch of back pay (and I suspect the other guys were seeking some back payments too!)

So YEAH!!! I'm watching this thread...not to mention that I am in awe of your model building.

BTW...Dan Gurney had a nickname for Phil hill's co-driver, the Belgian Gendebien...He goodnaturedly called him "Jelly Bean".

I also have an issue here with a Dunlop ad showing the 59 Sebring winning 59 Testa Rossa of, again, Hill & Gendebien. A slightly different car though...

Wow Richard, that's some neat history.

I recently ran across a color picture of Dan taken in the pits at Lemans next to the car he drove in 58. You can just see a small portion of it in the background. It was a red Testa Rosa with the two white stripes and blue center stripe. I have only run across one other color picture of it and it was a side shot. Unfortunately I couldn't copy the picture to my files as it was blocked.

[Ariel]

Bravo Bellisimo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What can you say when you are speechless.

You should change your handle to Mr Inspiration.

Ariel

by the way HRM is making an accurate eng for this car should be ready for NNL East

Edited March 24, 2008 by Ariel

[JHDrew]

Bravo Bellisimo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What can you say when you are speechless.

You should change your handle to Mr Inspiration.

Ariel

by the way HRM is making an accurate eng for this car should be ready for NNL East

The valve covers in the kit are real nice but I haven't built the engine yet. If Harold is involved it should be great. I have the Replicas & Miniatures 250 GTO engine and if it's as good as that one it will be worth buying.

Acu-Stion is making some PE and some turned funnels for the kit that should be out as I type this. Here is a picture of the sheet. I'm sure there will be other PE sets coming soon too.

Thanks for the kudos

[Ariel]

The valve covers in the kit are real nice but I haven't built the engine yet. If Harold is involved it should be great. I have the Replicas & Miniatures 250 GTO engine and if it's as good as that one it will be worth buying.

Acu-Stion is making some PE and some turned funnels for the kit that should be out as I type this. Here is a picture of the sheet. I'm sure there will be other PE sets coming soon too.

Thanks for the kudos

For what I understand the eng that Norm has came from Harold when he had given up casting back in the day.

So this engine is of the same caliber.

[cruz]

Very nice start there man, I am sure it will come out phenomenal like all your stuff. I am going to have to buy and build one of these things myself, looks like an interesting project specially when you do your homework w/ the right reference material!!!!

[cruz]

Very nice start there man, I am sure it will come out phenomenal like all your stuff. I am going to have to buy and build one of these things myself, looks like an interesting project specially when you do your homework w/ the right reference material!!!!

[Dave in Seattle]

Great work Jim, but now I'm wondering how this one might fit on the chassis...

http://www.resilientresins.com/BodyDetails.cfm?ID=14&I=1

[Kribblig]

Those bodies are barely worth $4.99 let alone $24.99. They are rather rough castings and generally out of proportion. Sort of the TKM of sports car bodies. They'll work in a pinch but so will a block of wood : )

[JHDrew]

Great work Jim, but now I'm wondering how this one might fit on the chassis...

http://www.resilientresins.com/BodyDetails.cfm?ID=14&I=1

Dave,

I have to agree with Trevor. I got my hands on a Chaparral 1 body and it looked like I could make my own quicker than the time it would take to clean it up and make it correct. Good thoughts though on uses for this kit.

I'm waiting for Renaissance to release all there decal options for this kit. They still have them as future items at their web site.

Take care and always nice to hear from you,

[MonoPed]

Those bodies are barely worth $4.99 let alone $24.99. They are rather rough castings and generally out of proportion. Sort of the TKM of sports car bodies. They'll work in a pinch but so will a block of wood : )

True dat!

I have the Ferrari 860 Monza body (thanx, Sparky!), and it is rough. having one here in front of me makes Mark D. Jones' build all the more amazing, and it's a sham(e) that they are using a pic of Mark's build in their ebay auctions. Still, as soon as my 250TR gets here, it'll be very tempting to see if the chassis will work under it :-)

[Dave in Seattle]

Well, thanks for the quality notes! Was not aware of that.

Quality aside, I just noticed that theirs is a RHD version. Was the TR made in both? (You can probably tell I'm a little outside my comfort zone here!)

Dave

[JHDrew]

Well, thanks for the quality notes! Was not aware of that.

Quality aside, I just noticed that theirs is a RHD version. Was the TR made in both? (You can probably tell I'm a little outside my comfort zone here!)

Dave

Yes, it was made in both sides including the 58TR version that I'm doing.

[JHDrew]

More progress

Here is a picture of the actual car.

Well, I moved on to the hood and thought it would be easier than the body. Wrong! Straight lines are difficult. Anyway, put a bridge of plastic at the rear of the hood as a pattern to reference when I add the epoxy putty between it and the front of the bulge. I put masking tape on the hood to keep the mess off of it and to give me a line to follow. After I roughed in the putty and it dried, the sanding and shaping was done. That was the hard part. I had to add more putty and filler as I went along but it finally worked out. The pegs in the hood are stretched plastic glued into the large holes that came cast into it.

Here is the body in final primer to find the last of the imperfections. Notice that I also added the vents in front of the rear fenders and opened the fuel filler on the head rest.

Here are a couple shots of it in white primer all ready for the red paint. That will have to wait until Wednesday as it's going to be rainy around here for a few days. Note the plastic inserts in the nose.

Thanks for looking

[MonoPed]

Fantastic work - in white primer it looks like it was molded that way!!

[MrObsessive]

Beautiful conversion work so far Jim! I like how this is going!

I'm still patiently awaiting mine from Hannant's in the UK...............it should be any day now!

[Maliburacr]

Jim stopped by last night and brought the body to show me, pics don't do it justice. He needs to take some pics of the inside and post them, especially the hood.