Ferrari 250 GTO 1:24 Revell

[richellis]

Ferrari 250 GTO
1:24 Revell plastic kit

The Ferrari 250 GTO was developed as a homogenisation car for Ferrari to enter the FIA group 3 GT car category, built between 1962-64 the GTO means Gran Turismo Omologata in Italian, or Grand Turismo Homologated in English, only 39 where built. The Tubular chassis holds the 3l V12 engine up front, driving the rear wheels through a 5 speed manual gear box. The car carries a Berlinetta style body, (Italian for sporty couple) that was designed using a wind tunnel and track testing; it was unusual in not being designed by a design house or an individual person.
The 250GTO has become a big collector’s car, with only 39 genuine examples being build the demand is high, driving prices well into the millions, with one belonging to Sir Sterling Moss selling for $35million in 2012
Revell have given us a Ferrari 250GTO in 1:24, giving the option of chassis Number 3757 in its Le Mans 1962 colours, or later while owned by Nick Mason or a silver car, chassis 3851 as raced by Henri Orellier at Montlery in 1962.

Construction kicks off with the engine, it’s a copy of the 3 Colombol V12 from the Testa Rossa with the engine being made from a number of parts, the block is in 2 parts with ancillary parts being added to it. I will take time to look at reference photos to get the parts painted and detailed nicely. The tubular chassis come cast as a big part, but take care my example has broken with one of the front rails breaking,

The rear axle sits on leaf springs and you will need to get the drill out to open up some holes to fit it together, don’t glue the axle between the springs and this will help you line up the axle, prop shaft and engine later in the build. The front A frame suspension is added and here you need to add the real metal springs, and it’s held together with some small screws, careful application of glue should allow the suspension at the front to work but I wouldn’t be too heavy handed trying it out!

The interior come next and the parts copy the real cars interior well, looking at the instructions you can build the body, engine, chassis, and interior separately, and paint them before bringing them together for final assembly.

The body comes moulded as a single part, with the various doors separate. The shape looks good to the pictures I’ve seen and it captures the shapes and lines of the 250GTO nicely to my eye. There is a big mould sprue in the windscreen aperture that needs removing and you will need to be careful not to damage the body when chopping it out.

The doors, bonnet and boot parts come on the next sprue, this looks well moulded and a quick dry run shows the parts are a good fit into the shell. They all have hinges to allow you to pose them open or closed on your build. The lower front valance is also a separate part, and looking it should be OK to glue this on before adding the chassis and interior which is good as the fit on a dry test isn’t great and will need some sanding and filling to erase the join, I will do this before painting the shell.

You get two chrome sprues in the kit the first shown above contains details and parts for the body. I feel my review sample is a little heavy on the chrome and I will strip this and re-paint on my build.

The second sprue contains parts for the Borrani wire wheels, each wheel is made up from 3 parts the wheels look nicely done and the parts look to be nice and in scale when built up, again I’m not sure on the chrome finish and I think I’ll strip the chrome and re-paint it for a better finish. Please note there are 4 parts that aren’t needed for this build on this sprue.

There are 4 rubber tyres, I feel the detail is a little heavy on the side walls, but should be OK after a rub with some sand paper to weather them down a bit; the tread detail is nice though and again after a rub over will be great.

There is a clear sprue in the box; it is bagged separately to protect it from scratching, with the parts not being too thick to spoil the look of the model.

There is a nice decal sheet that will allow you to build one of 3 cars as mentioned above. Looking at pictures on the net they look correct. They are well printed and the colours look good and they should cover well.
Conclusion
This is a nice model of a very sexy car! I look forward to seeing this model on my bench. There is a variety of aftermarket bits and bobs to enhance your build should you want to, but it is well detailed out of the box.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

[roymattblack]

I too have this kit awaiting attention.

I bought an amazing set of etched wire wheels for it - Hobby Design - from Ebay a while ago for £16 plus 2.50 p/p.

Keep your eyeballs peeled. The wheel sets pop up frequently and really are excellent quality.

Roy.

[cmatthewbacon]

It looks pretty good, and I suspect if you stripped those wheels and painted them with a less in your face silver, they'd probably look OK made up. I don't know if there are guides marked on the inside, but to do Nick Mason's car, certainly the way it is now, you'd have to cut a third cooling gill slot ahead of the doors.

bestest,

M.

[DURKAN]

Would love one of those!

[rmcclure]

Very nice looking kit. I made the Fujimi version a while ago and it does come out well but I can see from the shots, here, that Revell definitely has the edge on the kit wheels and the sliding windows look good too - Fujimi's efforts were single moulded pieces that weren't too pretty. I think I could be tempted by this but, as Roy pointed out, AM wire wheels are a must if you really want this model - or any version available - to pop. When built up they are in a different league to the kit options and add massively to the finished effect. This picture is a comparison of AM to Fujimi kit wheels to give you an idea.

I don't know what other AM PE is out there for this kit but some of the chromed parts look a little heavy (bonnet catches and badges, for example) and will be much finer in PE. That was certainly my experience with the Fujimi kit, anyway.

Thanks Rich - great review.

Cheers all,

Roger

[Diamondbacks VF-102]

KA-models producing a sweet Upgrade set for the Revell 250 gto offering. Turned alu rimms etc included.

http://www.ka-models.com/index.php?route=product/product&keyword=gto&category_id=39&product_id=87

and the deluxe version

http://www.ka-models.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=35_51&product_id=188

Edited August 10, 2014 by Diamondbacks VF-102

[Steve86]

Thanks for the review, I've got one of these in the stash I might just have to dig it out sooner rather than later!