Provence Moulage 1/43 Toyota GT1

[glueman]

This is not your usual Ready for Inspection post.  It is more of a Celebration of Modelling post.  

 

The model in this post is a Provence Moulage 1/43 scale resin kit of the Le Mans Toyota GT ONE which I bought in September 1999.  At that time my job was taking me all around the world, on average 1 week in every 4 weeks continuously for nearly 4 years.  During that time, I was living in a digs (in a pub) Monday to Friday on the eastern side of the country then driving back to the western side of the country Saturday and Sunday to be with my wife and 2 year old daughter.   My globe trotting life sounds glamorous ... but the novelty very quickly wears off.  One hotel room looks like the next (in those days, most hotel rooms were decorated with various shades of brown) and every TV had the same 100 channels of rubbish to chose from.  

 

So to keep me sane I turned to modelling. These 1/43 scale cars were just the thing.  Small enough to tuck away in my suitcase with a few tools and some glue.  They helped to pass the time in the brown hotel rooms.  Each car had it's own build diary so that I could keep a track of what I had done and when and in which hotel.  This little car went with me to Houston, Bergen, London (several times) ... and the most exotic of all ... The Palace Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan.

 

During lockdown and the new normal I decided to finish off this model. It wasn't because I had to ... it was because I wanted to as the car and others like it kept me going when things got a bit rough.  

Unfortunately, various parts have gone missing over the years such as the windscreen, head lights and some photo-etch parts.  Some of the decals didn't work properly even after long periods of soaking in water.  So there are bits missing ... but that doesn't matter to me.  The finished car is more than the sum of its parts.

 

Hope you enjoy my little Toyota GT ONE.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

[cmatthewbacon]

That’s something special... Your story sounds very familiar, though in my case it was figures and some Citadel paints I carried around in a little box. But the “glamorous” hotel living out of a suitcase is something that I’ll be very glad not to go back to.

Thank you for sharing!

best,

M.

[glueman]

Thank you M.  I don't miss that life style at all.  

[Kitkent]

Nice to see a 1/43 build on here. It’s very well done even with the missing bits! I believe this was the 2nd. Place car 1999. Chris.

 

[klubman01]

I am very familiar with your nomadic lifestyle.  I too moved around a lot with work.  1/43 scale models lend themselves to "remote" modelling, just as you say.

 

Great model. Shame about the missing parts, but always nice to see another 1/43 RFI.

 

Trevor

[CliffB]

What a great story and a sharp little model.

 

Cheers