Four Small Wheels 08/2001 - reviews, page 8

reviews, page 8

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Gamma

Gamma -New 1:43rd resin kits

GMK094	Alfa Romeo 1750 Spa 24hrs 1968	£25.20
GMK083	Fiat 1500 Saloon Street 1966	£25.20
GMK091	Alfa Romeo Alfasud Giardinetta 1975	£25.20

All of these kits are very well cast and the body shapes and detailing appear to be accurate. All have very fine p/e parts for grilles, window frames and badges etc. The instructions consist of well drawn diagrams for the fine detailing with colours for the fine details clearly stated. What is not clear are the body colours of the Spa 24hrs cars, especially as there appear to be five decal options. We know that an Alfa 1750 won Group 1 in Ž68 and that another won the Ladies prize but do not know the race numbers. Can anyone help?

Tokoloshe

Tokoloshe - New 1:43rd resin hand-built models

TOK011

Ferrari 512BB Le Mans 1977 Le Must

Ł41.75

A very well finished, reasonably accurate model of the class-winning NART entry of Migault and Guitteny. The race numbers on the doors are slightly too far back but otherwise the decaling appears to be correct.

C.C.C. by Georges Pont

CCC - New 1:43rd resin and metal hand-built models

CCC148M	Peugeot 402 Legere Monte Carlo 1938	£98.65
CCC155M	Hotchkiss 20CV GS Monte Carlo 1949	£98.65
CCC088M	DB Renault Le Mans 1954 #64	£89.75

When we reviewed the kits of the two Monte cars we couldnąt find how they finished. We still know nothing about the little Peugeot but we have managed to discover that the Hotchkiss was in fact a winner in the hands of Trevoux and Lesurque. The car is very well finished in an elegant dark grey with red pinstripes while the Peugeot is pale blue and looks fabulous with its roof-rack full of snow shovels and picks. The 750cc DB Renault retired very early in the 1954 Le Mans race and the model looks accurate of line though the positioning of the rear number is too central when compared to the photo in the two volume Le Mans ¨bibleą.

MUSEUM ACCESSORY PARTS

Museum Accessory Parts

MUS001

Tyre Stencil 1:43,1:24 and 1:20

Ł7.45

A very useful p/e stencil pack with Pirelli, Goodyear, Dunlop and Bridgestone logos for all cars. There are even front tyre stencils specifically for the P34 Tyrrell in 1:43rd and 1:20th.

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Renaissance

Renaissance -New 1:43rd resin kits and hand-built models

REN4324M54	Osca 750s Le Mans 1960 #54 - built	£113.45
REN4331	Ferrari 500TR LM 58 #25 - kit	£32.65
REN4333B	Ferrari 275p Ring 1964 #142/143/144 - kit	£33.55

A superbly finished miniature of the N.A.R.T. entered Osca heads up this months' new releases form Renaissance. The model accurately depicts the car of Bentley and Gordon which finished a creditable 18th overall in 1960. The 4-cylinder 500TR was the first of the Testarossa's in 1956. By 1958 it had been sold on to N.A.R.T. and re-bodied in the style of the large V12 engined cars. It was initially entered at Le Mans for the Rodriguez brothers but the ACO decided Ricardo was too young at 16 and so Jean Behra's brother Jose stepped in. The kit looks accurate and should build well, though on our sample the base plate was rather thin.

The 275 P kit again looks pretty accurate and offers options of the Maranello Concessionaires car of Graham Hill and Ireland, the works car of Surtees and Bandini or the winning works car of Scarfiotti and Vaccarella. The instructions don't clearly show the placement of the blue stripes on the Maranello car. On this event the car ran with a stripe over the front and rear decks but not around the radiator intake or the rear panel, so you only use the narrowest blue decals. We have spoken to Renaissance and they say they will change this part of the instructions to make it clearer. Also on race shots of the winning car there is a crease in the centre of the roll over bar. This appears to be damage caused during the race so the model accurately depicts the car as it started.

New 1:24th accessories and decals for plastic kits

REN2492	Peugeot 206 WRC Spain 01 Gauloises trans-kit	£13.55
REN2493	Lancia 037 resin engine cover	£2.85
REN2494	Ford Sierra Gr A Rally 1:24 Transkit	£7.35
REN2495	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5 1:24 Transkit	£4.55
REN2497	Ford Focus WRC Cyprus 2001 Martini trans-kit	£14.50
REN2498	Subaru Impreza WRC BRC 01 Snijers trans-kit	£13.55
REN24104	Toyota Corolla WRC DRC01 Kremer decal	£9.95

The transkits here have well printed decals and finely cast resin accessories to update a variety of plastic kits.

The resin engine cover for the Haswegawa Lancia 037 will enable modellers to show of the engine detail of the rally super-car but it would be nice if there was some sort of instructions, maybe suggesting how this could be hinged? There are no instructions with the Mitsubishi parts either but this is a straightforward replacement front bumper and spare wheel set. All of the decal sheets and other transkits have good, clear instructions including colours, suggested base kits and decal placement. The Sierra transkit consists of the resin parts needed to adapt the Tamiya circuit racer to a rally car, the 206 and Impreza have decals and wheels, the Focus has decals, replacement front bumper and rear spoiler and the Corolla is just a decal set. All of the decals have very vivid colour schemes!

DMC

DMC - New 1:18th, 1:24th and 1:43rd decal sheets

DMC18063	Porsche GT3 Cup 99 Chereau/Fat Decal 1:18	£7.00
DMC24188	Mitsubishi Lancer Marlboro Decals 1:24	£6.00
DMC43186	Mitsubishi Lancer Marlboro Decals	£5.00

Well printed decal sheets with good colour density and useful colour laser copied 'instructions' for decal placement. The Porsche set is intended for use with a die-cast and is a full livery. The Mitsubishi sheets are simply a collection of Marlboro logos and will also be useful also for other models.