Carrera Revell Ford GT40 Le Mans 1968 & 1969 (07696) 1:24

[Mike]

Ford GT40 Le Mans 1968 & 1969 (07696)

1:24 Carrera Revell

 

 

Ford began taking an interest in endurance racing in the 60s after a falling-out with Enzo Ferrari during a potential take-over by Ford, and to improve their brand name awareness, which started in the UK in Slough with a Lola chassis, lacking in success initially.  It was taken back in-house so to speak and carried on in the USA, using the genius behind the Lola GT6 that had shown promise, despite it failing to finish the race.  They created the GT40, with the 40 stemming from the minimum height in inches at the time, using some of the Lola’s chassis and a Mustang engine in the Mk.I, which was far too rough and not at all ready for racing at that point.  This led to another change in personnel, putting the famous and rebellious Carrol Shelby in charge, who with input from driver/mechanic Ken Miles undertook a series of significant modifications that gave it a great deal of power and success.  The Mk.II was fitted with a larger 7.0L V8 engine that turned it into a beast that was mated with a four-speed gearbox, to be used by three racing teams to stunning effect.

 

Those teams took 1,2,3 at Le Mans in 1966, leaving the previously successful Ferraris in their dust, which they continued to do for the next two years.  As is usual with racing, improvements were made to the bodyshell, the carbs and other parts, although they were not without their problems.  A technical failure took out every GT40 at Daytona in 1967, causing a brief return to prominence of the Ferraris, but they were back to their winning ways again for a total of three years, taking them through to 1969 which is a long time in racing.  Its successor began life as the J-Car, but after killing driver Ken Miles in a testing accident due to materials deficiencies and aerodynamic issues, it was redeveloped as the Mk.IV, but was often left in the garage at race-time while the Mk.II was still winning, as the older car was a more reliable platform.  By 1968 the Mk.II wasn't as competitive, and the Mk.IV was fielded, but success was elusive. An attempt was made to continue the name with the Mk.V but this was more of a sports car than a racing car.  A few kit cars carried on the look over the years, but in 2002 a new model was released by Ford as a sports car using just the GT name in deference to the original, but its release was negatively affected by Jeremy Clarkson’s unfortunate experience of persistent unreliability of his example that he bought with his own money.  2015 saw a second generation launched as a street car, with an endurance racing team beginning in 2016 and carrying on until 2019 with a healthy number of victories.

 

The Kit

This is a reboxing of Revell’s original tooling from the end of the 80s, and time has been very kind to the moulds, which look pretty modern in terms of detail as well as quality of the pressing if I’m honest.  It’s a good-looking car, and a good-looking model should result, with adequate detail to please most modellers.  The kit arrives in one of Revell’s much-loved end-opening boxes with a fetching digital painting of the real thing on the front wearing its Gulf livery and moving fast.  Inside are four sprues in cream styrene, two bodyshell parts in pure white, a large clear sprue, a linked pair of sprues containing chromed wheels, knock-off wheel nuts, eight translucent poly-caps, a single metal axle, and four flexible black tyres in two sizes.  The decal sheet is relatively large, and the instruction booklet is printed in colour, with colour profiles covering the back pages to assist you with decaling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the floor pan, which has two rectangular parts removed from the rear, an intake added to the front, and the beginning of the front axle laid in the floor, to be partly covered by the interior later.  The two front seats are moulded as one part, with a pair of decals supplied to create the distinctive brass eyelets that are present in each one to help cool the driver’s butt down a little.  More decals are supplied for the seatbelts, although they may benefit from being applied first to a thin sheet of styrene or plastic to give them additional depth.  The interior shell is painted before you progress further, with a detailed diagram showing the correct colours, then the seats, a red fire extinguisher in the front footwell and the rear bulkhead with rear-view window are added to the rear in front of the back wheel arches.  The driver’s weird four-pedal box is inserted into the right footwell, and more of the front axle ironwork is glued into the front within a box-section cover moulded over it.  The dashboard has a detailed painting and decaling guide, with plenty of decals included to give it the detail it deserves, then the steering wheel and column are installed to finish off the assembly, with another decal for the centre boss.  The floor pan, interior and dash are all then joined and have the front dampers fitted between the two suspension arms, with another detailed painting guide to assist you.  Door pockets are clipped into place on the sides of the assembly, then the chassis is put to one side.

 

The four hubs are pre-chromed for your ease, although some folks prefer to strip it and do it again themselves, but these look pretty good, and the centres are painted in Gulf Orange before they have their knock-offs added, and the flexible black tyre is slipped over from the outside without glue.  This is done four times, making up two pairs, two narrow for the front, and two wide for the rear.  The brake discs are again painted with correct detail, and with the addition of two poly-caps and a short axle-pin within that secures the wheels to the brake assembly.  This is done for both the front wheels, while the rear axle is handled differently.  The two front wheels are offered up to their axle location points and secured in place by the steering arm, which is again shown with detail painting instructions.

 

The full engine is not included in the kit, but a representation is provided that will be seen inside the car later, which is again detail-painted to give it the correct look.  The first part represents the rear of the engine, and some small holes are to be filled here, with additional suspension and casting parts added, then braced with suspension arms and the rear brake discs, which are again detail painted.  The metal axle is slipped through the assembly, and the rear wheels are mated to it using more of the poly-caps, after which it is installed in the rear of the vehicle with two bracing parts and a new rear floor pan section.  Two radiator baths of differing sizes are fixed into the new section, and the forward section of the bay is overlaid with a shaped cover with upstands that hint at the engine beneath, with a frame laid over the detailed section.

 

Preparation of the bodyshell begins with the forward section, which has the bonnet glued in, the light and indicator recesses painted up for later, and the filler cap added to the left wing, which is then promptly filled over for this variant.  Turning the shell over, three holes in the roof can be opened up for the 1969 vehicle only, then the light clusters are populated with lenses and the clear covers, with repeaters on the sides of the wings, and another filler cap on the right wing that escapes the filler this time because it should be there.  The windscreen with rear-view mirror and the side windows with their little cut-outs are all installed at this stage, along with a small bump on the left door, low down near the rear.  The back of the bodyshell is completed by the addition of the rear bulkhead and lights, repeaters on the wing, another bump on the rear wing, plus the back windscreen with optional black surround decal that has silver rivets on it.  The front bodyshell is mated to the chassis first, then the rear section is put on, taking care to thread the exhausts through the holes, and make a choice of a fine grille or a larger 9-hole “egg-box” grille over the engine.

 

 

Markings

There are two options from the decal sheet, 1968 or 1969 as you’d expect.  On the surface they both look very similar apart from their racing number, but there are subtle differences between the two, so take care when applying them.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Ford GT40 Winner 24-Hours of Le Mans, 1968 (Pedro Rodriguiez, Lucien Bianchi)
• Ford GT40 Winner 24-Hours of Le Mans, 1969 (Jacklie Ickx, Jackie Oliver)

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  The inclusion of gold-coloured eyelets for the seats also permits them to print decals of the gold Firestone logos and pin-stripes around the tyre rims.  There are also silver decals for some interior panels, the drivers’ pedals, and the furniture on the seatbelts.  The addition of the black ‘mascara’ around the light clusters and the orange centre-line stripe in pre-cut sections also simplifies painting substantially

 

 

Conclusion

While this isn’t a new tooling of the GT40, it’s a good one that offers detail where it will be seen, and finesse in the bodyshell, interior, all finished off with excellent clear parts.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

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

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[Paul H]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

This is a reboxing of Revell’s original tooling from the end of the 80s

 

Whilst Revell have released it previously, it is a Fujimi kit, not Revell's own tooling.

[Bozothenutter]

39 minutes ago, Paul H said:

 

Whilst Revell have released it previously, it is a Fujimi kit, not Revell's own tooling.

This👆

Rear body is wrong not wide/curvy enough

 

 

 

[Rick Brown]

23 hours ago, Bozothenutter said:

This👆

Rear body is wrong not wide/curvy enough

 

Wasn't there different rear panel widths depending on wheel/tyre fit?

There's something at the back of my mind about this, but I can't remember where I read it...

 

Rick.

 

[Mike]

37 minutes ago, Rick Brown said:

There's something at the back of my mind

I thought that was the gerbil that's in charge