1949 Ferrari MM Le Mans Winner

[Gramps46]

Ferrari 166MM 1949 Le Mans Winner

It was 1993 and Michael Quarterman of UMI Modelwerkes released a 1/24 scale multi-media model kit of this 1949 Le Mans winning Ferrari Barchetta.  The kit at the time was far ahead of its contemporaries .

Twenty seven years later my longtime friend William De Pooter of Genk Belgium has just completed a built of this kit .  The description of the build below and photos are by William and I am very pleased to share them with you.

I used the kit wheels (beautiful stuff !), but changed the tires from what was then available, namely the nice ones from Herb Deeks, to copies of the Hasegawa 250 TR kit wheels (there is only about 8 period years difference <g>, but I felt they filled the wheel wells just that little bit better/more convincingly).

The color is probably not correct, but I only had Model Master Guards Red at hand, so I used that. It is a bit darker than your common "Ferrari red" (no such thing existed at the time I'm sure … nor did the Guards Red, for that matter), admittedly not dark enough, but well, I wasn't going to lose time finding a better option.

I added fuel lines (leftovers from a R&MCoM 250 GT engine I recently built), and some electric chord/linings to the engine bay, and some more small items. Oh and I doubled up the white decals to make sure the red wouldn't bleed through, since the instructions mentioned that the decals are rather thin. Which they are indeed.

One point of criticism on the kit I found that the engine mounts were not where they needed to be. So I had to make/reposition new ones - not visible in the finished model, for that matter.

I made a resin copy of the dashboard that I then flattened at the back side, that allowed me (as in gave me the courage) to drill out the instrument openings and add "glass" and then the instrument decals (on a piece of sheet plastic) from the back. Also added one or two knobs or switches, IIRC.

 

Also lowered the rear suspension a bit, come to think - probably has to do with mold wear.

I now remember I also accentuated the "nose bump" a little, it was a bit too faired in on my copy.

I also made clear resin copies of the (3) headlights (the kit parts were somewhat yellowed - this is a 1993 vintage kit !) , and the taillights too (those are/were white metal, nothing wrong with that, but whilst I was at it …)

But all in all, a great kit to build - bit of a challenge, true, what with all the tiny little knobs around the windscreens e.g. - , and it is still possible to add that little extra left and right, makes it even more worthwhile.

One last thing about the "Superleggera" badge(s) on the front side(s) of the bonnet: my research showed just the one on the right side to be there, so I intended to put just that one on, until I realized the other one (left side) must have fallen off sometime during the race. BTW the central headlight also seems to have been moving around, looking at photos.

[cobraman]

Looks great ! I really like it.

[afx]

An excellent build by Mr. De Potter.  I have two of his Escort MkI twin cam engines - they are very nice.

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by afx

[Rich Chernosky]

Gary...thank you so much for putting this up. I have known Wm for many years now and he is an excellent modeler and this one is a fine example of his work. His sense of humor also comes through in the description. Very nice...enjoyed this a lot. 

[vamach1]

Thanks for sharing Gary.  You guys were decades ahead of some of us in terms of using resin, metal, etc. to create some very unique models.  There's a certain nostalgia too about building one of these older "kits" decades later and they still hold up in terms of today's standards.

[Jim N]

That is a gorgeous model.  Great work!

[Phildaupho]

It looks so real. Very impressive model of such a significant car.

[absmiami]

Ummm

well done

I'm the fortunate owner of one of these great kits

still unbuilt - but hey - I've all of a sudden got all of this  free time …..

please ask William how he finished the seats ?

oil based paint  ???

thanks for posting this, Gary

 

 

[65slotcar]

great looking build Gary ! 

[peekay]

Outstanding!

[Dave B]

Great build of a unusual kit William. Tks for posting Gary, just love the early sports racers.

Dave B

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[Anglia105E]

Not only is this a very important period of motor racing history, between the late 1920's and the late 1950's, but this kit that has been assembled and painted by your good friend William is also something rather special. You can see the care and the attention to detail that has gone into the building of this scale model car..... which is truly wonderful. The Le Mans 24 hours endurance racing of those golden years is so fascinating, both from a viewpoint of real racing cars and our replica scale model racing cars. Thanks for sharing the work of your friend, Gary....... marvellous stuff.

David

[Gramps46]

Mike Quarterman responded with a bit more information;

It's great to see this build. I have a hard time connecting to the fact that this was 27 years ago!

For a fun fact, Paul Fisher did the body master and I did all the rest. Probably why people think it's my best. But it was priced at $100 (!!) back then. Only sold about 40 of them.

Sincerely,

Michael Quarterman

UMi Graphics

 

[Peter Lombardo]

Beautiful build, love the old Ferrari's, they are something very special.  Well done.

[PappyD340]

Very nice, well done!

[Gramps46]

23 hours ago, absmiami said:

please ask William how he finished the seats ?

oil based paint  ???

William responded with this explanation:

There was this question about the seats, they were a bit of an experiment, actually. I think I sprayed them first with gloss acrylic paint in a sort of base brown, and then I brushed a darker shade of mixed watercolor paint (the stuff that kids use) to produce some depth in the recessed areas. Makes it possible to wash it off and start (over and over …) again. The watercolor doesn't really "stick" all that well to the undercoat, but that in fact produced just the effect that I wanted to achieve. And once I was satisfied, I sprayed acrylic clear over it, to seal everything. Maybe I should have used a slightly flatter clear - but I didn't have - or find - such in my poorly organized workshop.

[vamach1]

By accident or otherwise the worn leather seats look great.

[wisco8]

Beautiful build Sir!!  That is a very outstanding build and the details are excellent!! I know a modeler Ill be watching.

Steve

[89AKurt]

On 3/18/2020 at 3:23 PM, absmiami said:

Ummm

well done

I'm the fortunate owner of one of these great kits

still unbuilt - but hey - I've all of a sudden got all of this  free time …..

[...]

That's the spirit!  Have a feeling there will be a burst of built models coming.

~cue~ Rush - Red Barchetta
Love this subject!  Great to see any resin kit done so well, appreciate you sharing it.  I have a Herb Deeks wire wheel set, used the tires on the California in my icon picture, too bad we can't just get the tires.

[Silver Foxx]

Super nice build , a lot of top class work in this .

[Dann Tier]

Exceptional!!!!

[1959scudetto]

On 3/19/2020 at 12:24 PM, Anglia105E said:

Not only is this a very important period of motor racing history, between the late 1920's and the late 1950's, but this kit that has been assembled and painted by your good friend William is also something rather special. You can see the care and the attention to detail that has gone into the building of this scale model car..... which is truly wonderful. The Le Mans 24 hours endurance racing of those golden years is so fascinating, both from a viewpoint of real racing cars and our replica scale model racing cars. Thanks for sharing the work of your friend, Gary....... marvellous stuff.

David

Absolutely my thoughts, Gary - William did a wonderful job - I never saw one of these built up (will save these pics as a reference, super details abound, f.i. the leather seats...) as did Paul Fisher back then

(I have all the MRRN mags in my collection and wondered why Paul did NOT add this one to his own range of race car models, too) - Unfortunately, this was out of my wallet then...

[Tom99]

Very nice.

[Italianhorses]

I think this is the first time I'm actually seeing UMi kit built. Turned out great!