Burago Ferrari 250 GTO

[Snake45]

Got this one in a recent deal with Randy. It looked pretty good right out of the box, but checking Net reference photos, I could see a few improvements—all 1st Degree Snake-Fu stuff—that would take it to the next level.

Sanded the tire treads. Painted the wheel wire spokes with Testor Steel, and the naked black plastic wheel hubs with DecoColor Premium Silver Leaf marker (a bit “chromier” than my beloved Silver Sharpie). Painted the various small lights with white, amber, and orange as required. Did the side window sills with Silver Sharpie (due to its finer point).

I had to paint the headlight cover edge trim with the DecoColor. Removing these to detail them was the only reason I had to take this one apart. This was the most ingeniously engineered diecast model I've ever seen. Everything fits perfectly into place like a Chinese puzzle, requiring only two screws to hold it all together—the windows aren't even riveted in! The only trick is to open the doors—it won't come apart easily or go back together at all if the doors are closed. Open them and you could almost put all the parts in a box, shake it, and have them reassemble themselves.

The only VERY slight glitch in the whole process was that the right headlight cover wasn't sitting quite right in its area to start with. When I went to put it back together, I couldn't get it to fit any better than it had started, if at all. I eventually isolated a small area of interference between the clear plastic and the body, and filed the cover very carefully, a few strokes at a time, until it fit back in the way it should have to start with. Done deal—Perfect! (As Tony Beets of TV's Gold Rush would say.) The only thing left to do was hit the tiny door handles with the DecoColor marker. (I now see that I missed the one on the trunk lid—will take care of that now.)

IMHO, this ended up as one of my better looking diecasts, despite its humble, modestly priced Burago beginnings. I like it a lot! Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome!

[Gramps46]

Very well done Snake.  I believe this BBurago is the older made in Italy version as you can tell by the wheels and tires and the more accurate windshield header than the current Chinese made BBurago GTO.

FWIW here is my decades old build of the same GTO.  I did change out the wheels and tires though.

[THarrison351]

Turned out really sharp Snake!

[randyc]

Those both look great!   I really liked this one and your improvements were just that - improvements.   You really made those wheels look better for what they are and how they are molded.  

[Snake45]

I got a "back in stock" email from DMW this morning and noticed that they have these again. Good price on a nice model if you're interested in having a GTO on the shelf: 

https://www.diecastmodelswholesale.com/products.php?product=Ferrari-250-GTO-Red-1{47}24-Diecast-Model-Car-by-Bburago&showHidden=true

[spencer1984]

Thanks for bumping this, I missed it the first time around. The Bburago diecasts really do look good with just a little massaging, especially those of this vintage. Nice job on the upgrades!