bevita

Hello! I show to you one of my last builds: the 1961 F1 World Champion, i.e the 156 Ferrari better known as "sharknose" . After seven years with the 2500 cc atmospheric engines or 7,1961 was the first season with the new technical rules (1500 cc atmospheric engines), and the English teams (Cooper, Lotus, BRM) suffered the lack of a good engine for these new rules. Thus, Ferrari, that had already an excellent engine for the new formula (the 1500 cc Formula 2 V6 engine, named "Dino" as it was designed by the first Ferrari's son before dying by a muscular dystrophy) dominated the season. Phil Hill, Wolfgang Von Trips, Richie Ginther and Giancarlo Baghetti were the works drivers. At the end of the season, Phil Hill won the championship by winning the Italian GP in Monza, in the same day that Von Trips and 14 spectators died in a terrific crash. The model was realized starting with a South Easten Finecast 1/24 white metal kit. The SEF kits are very old (mid '60s), but they are still produced in their original version, with no updating. Although the Sharknose is one of the most reproduced racing cars in all scales, when I purchased this kit some years ago, it was the only 1/24th model of this car available. Today, an excellent resin kit from Fernando Pinto, Portugal, is available. As I already had the SEF kit on my shelf, I decided to work with what I had... This is the starting kit: an extensive cutting-welding-puttying-panel lines scribing-riveting job was done on the body... the wheels were replaced by hand-laced spokes items by Fernando Pinto, the steering wheel is an aftermarket item from MG Model Plus, and the seat was covered with real tissue (silk taken from my wife's old trousers)... the exhausts were lenghtened, the shock absorbers were scratchbuilt and many other details were added, This is the final result: Many thanks for your attention! One more thing: the model reproduces the Belgian GP winner (Phil Hill)

Many, many thanks Steve for your comment... coming from you, it makes me proud... I'm working quite hard on this project because I hope to finish it in time for the end of november, when I will go to a model show in France, near Lille... but it's not so sure, my job and my family take a lot of time, and I'm doing everything to complicate my modeller's life...

very nice build!

Thank you Paolo... are you Italian?

Xx

Many thanks, Bristol... glad that you got the "less than perfect" look... that's exactly I wanted to render... it was typical of those day's racing, especially in road endurance races...

Hello! After my presentation, I want to show you some of my models... I saw that the building level in this forum is very high, but I dare,,, Being Sicilian, I'm also a Targa Florio road race fan... this model reproduces the Alfa Romeo works Giulia TZ2 that raced in 1965 Targa Florio... The starting kit is an old resin item by HTM (Historic Targa Models), a little (almost one-man) sicilian factory that ended its production some years ago after issuing some remarkable subjects... It was an almost "straight from the box" build, with minor improvements... Many thanks for your attention!

Many, many congratulations!

Ancient kits are very interesting, especially because they often reproduce rare and "forgotten" subjects... Merit kits are excellent bases for the ancient racing cars fans... the body lines and proportions are very well replicated, the plastic is high quality (I never found a warped body, even in a badly worn box), and the subjects are often unique... they are very "basic" and simple, but with a reasonable improving job, you can get great models... ...as Steve showed to us...

Thanks Steve! By studying the images that I collected for the BRM, I noticed that you don't need to say that is is the Hawthorn's car with a wrong number... the #25 car at 1956 British Grand Prix was the Ron Flockhart's BRM P25! So, you correctly reproduced a 1956 British GP entry! If you want, you can follow my Connaught's WIP on www.forum-auto.com... it'a a French forum and the WIP is in French language... http://www.forum-auto.com/automobile-pratique/modelisme-modeles-reduits/sujet13750.htm PS: your finishing and paint jobs are astonishing... I hope to reach such a level...

The Connaught is wonderful too... did you make a WIP for it? I found the BRM's one very inspiring, and I would be curious to see this model's building... I noticed that many modifications that you made are very similar to mine...

Hello Steve, first of all, I apologize for my English (I'm Italian, from Palermo, Sicily). I'm a Merit kits fan, I collect them and I recently started the Connaught in order to replicate the '55 Syracuse GP winner (Syracuse is in Sicily... )... I also recently purchased a (badly) built BRM... me too, I love this car, and I'm delighted by your restoration, Just a little question... why did you change the wheels? The original kit's wheels have the correct 16-hole pattern, and even little "buttons" between each couple of "big" holes that one can drill to reproduce the little holes... many congratulations for the excellent job Beppe