1/18 news

Marshall, I have the chassis/engine kit right here

 

Looks very decent... nice!

 

Unfortunately this is another misleading photo from Tecnomodel. Their photos are always "touched up" and show better more detailed items than what the actual production models look like. At least this photo does not appear to be as overly "touched up" as all past images have been. Nonetheless, it is always best to look at actual photos of their models from various model dealers before buying.

 

I like the Buenos Aires version that Piero Drogo drove. Not everyone realizes he was a race driver before he designed the Breadvan and several Ferrari racing cars.

 

I can't get too excited until it actually turns up, given I had a pre-order in for the 512S that never appeared.

Jonathan

 

And keep in mind these are only photos of the first rough hand sample - GMP will be making many improvements. Can't say anymore, but keep watching for future updates from them.....

 

I think Tecnomodel has been incrementally improving their models. I have their Aston Martin DP214 displayed next to a BBR Ferrari 250GTO, which cost twice as much, and I don't see much difference in quality. Their Aston is much better than their Tecnomodel's 250GT Sperimentale I bought not a long time ago.

Fifties race cars, even early Sixties race cars are very difficult to research because there were very few photos taken of a given car. And every car of a given type was different in details, even shape.

Looking at restored cars doesn't help, because even if you have the exact same car, changes have been made. A good example is Spark's Ford GT40 MK 2 Le mans winner. The restored car has two rear body attachments for added safety. The original didn't. Huge uproar from collectors. This becomes much more difficult with fifties race cars when you have only one or two period photos. Often not very well focused and almost always of the front.

I do a lot of modification to my models, often changing liveries and details to fit a particular race car which no one has made. So I know what it is like to research a given car.

 

Regarding Tecnomodel.....It all depends on the model they make; and they also have a higher level more expensive line for some modern cars, and those are great, and far superior to the majority of their other models, of which I have several, and have seen many more. I have recently received two new releases from them for my own collection; one was produced right after the other. Aston Martin DB3S, and Aston Martin DP214. The DB3S model is very poorly done, numerous mistakes, and just not a very good model. But the DP214 is great! All the information to make the DB3S correctly is readily available. I am not a fan of BBR for a number of reasons, but their models do still have better more detailed interiors than Tecnomodel's, and BBR's wheels are better too. One plus that Tecnomodel has easily over BBR is that their models are much more limited than anything from BBR, which is a very good thing.

As far as their 1:18 - 250 Sperimentale models go, I agree, just not very good. I had several that I sold to customers - a few of each version. They are working to a price point now, and a level of what they think is "good enough." The extra big disappointment with the Sperimentale model was that they made this very same car, many years ago in 1:24 scale, and with engine detail, and it was an excellent, very highly detailed model inside and out. I have one, and compared it with their 1:18's. What a huge difference, and disappointment.

As far as researching 1950s & '60s race cars for model production goes.... well it actually comes down mainly to effort (or lack of) and sometimes money as in paying for some photos, and buying some books. There is a great deal of information available if you look hard enough for it. Certainly not just the internet, which is often useless and full of mistakes, and there are many, many voids, and only certain images are available, some very limited as you have cited. But if a manufacturer is not lazy and or cheap.... then photos can be sourced. Various photo sources are out there, as well as books, old magazines, etc. I know, I deal with this all the time, and have for many years.

I agree completely about restored cars, and they never match they way they were. Even when they are supposed to replicate how they were at a specific race, they almost always fail to be correct, let alone exact.

Spark's GT40 Mk II, 1046 is not a good example. This car was easy to make correctly. Looking in any of the many available books shows most all of the information they needed, and numerous photos are available as well. It never had those two hood pins on its rear, it always had just the one, centrally located. Maybe some replica might have had two the way Spark made their model, but not the real car; this was just a stupid and careless mistake by Spark. This is also a car I have personally researched and spent time with.

Marshall Buck
CMA Models, Inc.

 

I read that Spark worked from the restored winning car. 1046 was at Le Mans for the historic event, where Spark took extensive photos. It seems unlikely that they would make such a mistake from photos of the actual car. On the other hand all the period photos I've seen of the car show one pin, as do the restored photos.

Maybe it was a temporary solution for high speed running at Le Mans. The Mark IVs had real problems with the rear body falling off and the owner may have been nervous about the single pin on the Mk II.

I would be surprised that Spark lied about it or took photos and then ignored them.

The other uproar was about the gold wheel rims. However I've seen race photos of that car with gold rims, silver rims and both colors at the same time. Teams weren't terribly conscious about rim color match. You can see many photos of Ferrari 412Ps with different colors as well as different types of rims on the same car at the same race. The Ecurie Francrchamps car at Spa 1967 is a good example. Blue steel wheels with cooling holes and gold five spokes.

 

I'm not implying that Spark lied; they simply screwed up - made some mistakes, which is not unlikely at all. Spark has made numerous mistakes on other historic cars. Wheels for 1046 during the race were as shown on the re-restored car now - always champagne gold, anything else shown such as a darker gold is wrong, including how it may have been shown at any "historic event." Often cars shown at certain events or during certain time periods will be shown with wrong bits and colors, it happens all the time....And that is why I always say that a real effort has often not been put into proper research by most model manufacturers. To do it right, you have to put in the effort - spend the time and money.

The Indy museum showed the restored 1965 Le Mans winning 250 LM at Pebble Beach and other shows with race numbers that were the completely wrong font. The real car guys make mistakes, and most model companies certainly do much of the time. I won't bother with talking about other details on this LM. There is also a well known high end model company that has produced a 1:18 model edition of this car, and somehow they got the shape of the nose/front very wrong.

Another one of countless examples is the soon to be released 1:12th model by CMR of 1075 as the 1968 Le Mans winner. The rear body work is wrong for this car at that race. That is because that is the way the car has been shown in recent years by its current owner, and that is the main reference point that CMR worked with. The Mk I's had many variations and different rear body panels used throughout their racing careers. (previous two owners are clients, and I know the current owner). I am not trying to blow my own horn here, just to point out that I do know a good amount, I'm often in contact with restorers, historians and other entities involved with the cars, and have been deeply involved in the model car industry for over 30 years.

I have also worked with and consulted to a number of model manufacturers, and have had lengthy dialogues with one of the partner/owners of Spark.

Sorry, wrong on the hood pins. There was no "temporary solution" regarding the Mk II's for Le Mans.

As a model manufacturer making models for collectors, not toys, one should not base all research solely on what they see in some photos, as well as working only off of a restored car seen at a show/event. You need to review hundreds of historic photos, and also communicate with people involved with these cars then and now. That's part of what I did with this car, as well as what I do with many others.

Everyone makes mistakes, but the key here is to learn from them, and Spark, CMC, and many others do not learn from their mistakes, and they still do very poor research. I learned this lesson the hard way, by making errors on my first limited edition production model run in 1989, and shortly after, just with one glitch on another, but we remedied it. I got burned on that second one by an "armchair expert" - I was right and he was wrong, and I never should have listened to him.

MB

 

Has anyone ever ordered from carmodel.com? Are they a trustworthy vendor? Thanks.

 

I have already ordered a few times at this company, no problems at all, they are OK, Peter!

 

Ordered 3 times Peter. Each time delivery was prompt and prices seemed very reasonable

John

 

fast delivery
well packed
TOP

 

they have a news letter every day
and around five times a year 10% discount