Click on a link to order
a model or the logo to see the complete range from that manufacturer |
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| QUE034 |
Gordini T16 F1 1952/53/54/55 - kit |
£68.15
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| QUE034MR |
Gordini T16 1st Reims 1952 #4 - built |
£187.50
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| QUE034MM |
Gordini T16 7th Monaco 1955 - built |
££187.50
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We have
a few manufacturers this time round who we havenÃt heard of for some
time, the last new release from Top Queens being in FSW 02/2002.As
usual the kit contains a wealth of fine metal castings, p/e parts
and plated parts for all the beautiful chassis and engine detail.
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Unfortunately the
two main body castings have some fairly pronounced mould lines and
excess material, which will require some careful cleaning up. Not
necessarily huge problems as these kits aren't exactly aimed at the
first time builder, just not something we usually expect from MCM/Top
Queens. A small amount of adhesive metal foil is included for blanking
off the oil cooler and part of the radiator grille on the Pau cars
and that oil cooler has to be made up from sixteen tiny etched pieces
attached to the main p/e grille. Like we said, not for the novice,
but at least they include two sets! There are twelve race options
shown on the instructions and if you opt for the Monaco 1955 car it
will be necessary to file the base of the cockpit sides flat. This
is shown on the instructions but perhaps a paper template would have
been helpful. Overall the shape doesn't look bad but it may be helpful
if you have extra reference material for some of the smaller details.
For example, the positioning of the mirrors is slightly wrong when
compared with photos we have of Pollet's 7th placed Monaco car. The
built models have some very finely applied details and the chassis
looks fabulous beneath the removable body. The paint finishes on both
builts are smooth and glossy but there is a lot of paint there and
some of the finer details, such as louvres, have all but disappeared.
Behra drove the Reims winning car in 1952 but this was not the French
GP, as stated on our photo captions in the last issue, but the GP
de la Marne. The French GP was at Rouen in 1952 and all three works
cars (Behra, Bira and Manzon) are among the options in the kit, as
are the other two from Reims, four options from Pau 1953, Berger's
yellow machine from Reims 1954 and the Pollet Monaco car from 1955.
There were two other cars entered at Monaco for Manzon and Bayol and
these could also be made if you have photos! If it weren't for the
mould lines on the kits and heavy paint on the builts these would
have made Models of the Month.
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| MRA447M |
Toyota Corolla 1st 1000 Lakes 1975 #1 |
£85.30
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| MRA475M |
Talbot Sunbeam Lotus TDC 1979 #4 |
£85.30
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| MRA469M |
De Cadenet Le Mans 1978 #12 Bat |
£87.70
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| MRA474M |
Ford Capri RS2600 Le Mans 1972 #84 Shark |
£87.70
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| MRA443M |
BMW M1 Le Mans 1982 #61 SOS.99.99 |
£85.30
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There seems to have been an unfortunate
drop off in quality on Mini Racing's builts of late. First up is Mikkola's
1,000 Lakes winning Corolla which has reasonable paint but some of
the details are slightly off, for example the Finnish flag on the
drivers door appears to have been thrown at the car as it passed and
some of the detail painting is a little rough. The Sunbeam is similar,
with basically good paint but wonky decals and a poorly painted windscreen
surround.
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| The de Cadenet is
nearly there but the mirrors will need tweaking so they look like
they're for checking on following vehicles rather than the local air
traffic. The lacquer coat on the Capri is rather heavy, but otherwise
this one doesn't look too bad. The release of this same subject by
Trajectoire has opened up a couple of questions though. First up are
the colours. Mini Racing have used a slightly darker red, which looks
better to us, but should the blue sections be solid (MRA) or metallic
(TTR)? Also the sponsors decal above the windscreen is for Dunlop
on this model and SOS99.99 on Trajectoire's. The only photos we have
are from inconclusive angles. Does anyone out there have photos? Finally
we have the white BMW. Again the main paint/lacquer finish is OK,
apart from the odd fleck of dirt, but the detail painting could be
better. The problems with all of these are basically quite small and
could easily be rectified. |
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Click on a link to order a model or the logo to
see the complete range from that manufacturer |
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| MGM135 |
Alfa Romeo 178 Monza 1979 Brambilla
- kit |
£30.25
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| MGM135M |
Alfa Romeo 178 Monza 1979 Brambilla
- built |
£136.65
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| MGM131M |
Ferrari 246/296MI Italy '58 Gendebien
- built |
£136.65
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| MGM132M |
Alfa Romeo 177 F1 Test 1978 -
built |
£136.65
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| MGM2425 |
Ferrari 250GT Breadvan Le Mans
1962 1:24 |
£82.75
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| MGM2426 |
Ferrari 250GT Breadvan Brands
62 #8 1:24 |
£82.75
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| MGMP1213 |
Ferrari F2002 World Champ 2002
1:12 - kit |
£314.35
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| MGMM019 |
Ferrari 250LM V12 Engine 1:12
- built |
£122.45
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| MGMM017 |
Ferrari 250GT V12 Engine 1:12
- built |
£122.45
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As with the Belgian GP version
of the Alfa Romeo 178 that we looked at last time, the model of Brambilla's
Italian GP mount nearly made it as a model of the month in built form.
It didn't because, although the detailing is very good and the hand
built model beautifully assembled, the front wing/nosecone area is
not straight on the basic kit.
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| On our kit there
are a number of air bubbles in the underside and the rear wing shows
evidence of holes right through it, but MG have already filled those
defects in obvious places for us. A fair amount of p/e is included,
along with smaller white metal parts for the engine, brakes and exhausts,
it's just a shame the body isnít straight. The finished model still
looks very attractive, as does the Lauda test car from the previous
year, and these first all Alfa Romeo GP cars since the 1950's should
be gratefully received by collectors. The ex-Monza 500 mile race 246/296
is also very well finished and represents very well the car which
Gendebien qualified on the second row but retired after just five
laps. |
Both 1:24th Breadvan kits contain
virtually identical sets of parts, apart from the decals that is!
The resin bodies capture the basic shape pretty well, though you may
wish to open up a few of the vents a little more and on both of our
review kits there were identical air bubbles in the top of the right
hand door frame adding a little work to the clean up process.
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| The rear suspension
detail is moulded into the chassis but separate white metal parts
are supplied for the brakes, exhausts and other sundry parts including
pedals. The windows, except for the flat rear screen, are fairly clear
vac-formed pieces and the latter is made up from a flat sheet sandwiched
between p/e inner and outer frames, which should look very convincing
when finished. (You could even pose the rear open for access to the
spare wheel.) Other p/e parts include the usual wipers, panel fixings
and number plate backings along with spokes for the steering wheel
and the kit form wire wheels. Whichever you choose should look very
good when finished, but there is a fair amount of work involved. We
gave you a sneak preview of how MGís 1:12th F2002 should look last
issue and you will be able to find more in the colour pages this time.
With the release of the F2001 we were very unhappy about the thickness
of the main body panels. We are pleased to report that MG have addressed
this and the removable rear deck and the undertray are now much finer
castings. The main tub has rather a lot of bubbles, fortunately in
mostly invisible areas, and there will also be some filling necessary
in some of the smaller resin parts. White metal castings are included
for brakes, wheel centres and suspension components to mention but
a few and a wealth of small p/e details include numerous clips, fixings
and cable-ties. The clearly printed decals include a large sheet of
carbon fibre and hopefully when we see the built models MG will have
used some of this rather than painting the suspension as last time....
The two built engines include a reasonable level of detail and are
well finished. But, we wish that MG would go back to using proper
wooden display plinths and not the tacky plastic cases we keep seeing.
These deserve better. |
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| Die-casts are definitely improving, but they’re still no substitute for well built kits. The level of finish is very good but it’s the fine details like the suspension that let these down when compared to a Tameo for instance. All include driver figures and the liveries for the Williams and Toyota appear complete. The Renault has ‘Blue World’ lettering in place of ‘Mild Seven’. Kits already exist of the Renault and Toyota but the Williams will fill a gap in the cabinet and is the best of this group anyway, with a fair amount of carbon fibre decaling on the suspension, rear wing and undertray. |
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