Search the Community

I’ve finally beaten this into some sort of submission, it’s the Magnifier nee Trumpeter US Sports Car issue. It has several well-known detail short comings, mainly in the chassis, engine, suspension areas but having built it I can see why the designers did it this way, for despite my detailing those areas are pretty much invisible on the completed model. The consensus is that the body shape is pretty much spot on but the separate panels don’t fit together very well, this was my experience too. So despite spending quite a bit of time during assembly to try and get a snug fit they still refuse to fit very well. My builds all reflect drivers or cars that I’ve seen race and although I never saw the Ford race in anger I did see Mario drive several times during the Seventies and Eighties so his number 6 car from Le Mans 1966 lets me include the model in the collection. Mario’s car was chassis number 1031 and was one of three cars prepared by Holman Moody for Fords push to win Le Mans. These cars differed in details from the three prepared by Shelby Racing and certainly different to the car in the kit which is a mish mash of MKII & MKIIB cars along with a good pinch of Trumpeter imagination. The colour scheme is also a change to all those Ken Miles and Bruce Mclaren finished models. Unfortunately, the car retired after 6 hours with a blown engine cutting short Mario’s first visit to La Sarthe. Anyway, here’s a couple of pictures of the real thing and one of Mario as a young gun, 26 years old fresh to Le Mans after success in USAC stock cars. The model is finished in an approximation of Ford Night Mist Blue using Halfords rattle can Nissan Indigo Blue, in retrospect it’s a bit light. The dayglo yellow race markings are again Halfords rattle can and do glow in the dark! The markings and paint masks are from Indycal and were fine but the roundels aren’t pure white and show grey printing lines in them under close examination. I used parts from a 3D printed 427 engine but again, the extra detail isn’t really visible. The spare wheel is from Renaissance with a homemade bungee cord! Now onto Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus 78. Dave

Finally finished this one It's the first car model I've made, but the kit quality made it an easy one to start with. Tamiya Lotus 79+ photoetch EJan Andretti figure F'artefice decals I'd like to make another one at some point, but just as the bare chassis to go along with this one- so much gets hidden once it's all together.