Four Small Wheels 1/2004

news

SLM 43 are go!

Nearly a year after the announcement of Christian Gouel’s new 1:43rd kit and hand built venture we are pleased to announce that the first releases have now arrived at GPM. In case you were wondering what has taken so long take a look at the list in the arrivals section, there are no fewer than 45 subjects modelled! Now that’s what we call arriving with a bang! The vast majority of these are pre-war and this has made the research a mammoth task (see separate story).
We will have to split the reviews over the next couple of issues, otherwise there won’t be room for anyone else! Order that new cabinet now.

Wish Lists

A few more ideas if any manufacturers out there are twiddling their thumbs and wondering what to make next. We can’t promise to create too many new millionaires.....

Lotus-Renault T95 1984
VW Taureg Dakar 2004
Williams FW07C 1981
Maserati T63 Le Mans 1961
Delage V12 1924
Maserati GT 2004
Williams FW26
McLaren MP4/1b 1982
Audi A4 DTM 2004

A Year To Look Forward to!

There are so many exciting new machines due to compete, and hopefully be modelled, in 2004 that it’s hard to know where to start! What is certain is that, whatever your collecting theme, there will be something for everyone!

Unless you’ve been hidden half way up a mountain for the last few weeks it is impossible not to have noticed the new Williams FW26! The car may be monumentally ugly but it is also refreshingly different! How the radical design will work remains to be seen. We suspect that it will either wipe the floor with all-comers and in 2005 they’ll all look like this, or it will be sweeping the crumbs left by Ferrari, McLaren, Renault et al. Whatever the outcome, with the resurgence of modern F1 subjects in kit form from Tameo, Crescent Models, Silverline and Provence Moulage, the prospects of a kit in the next 12 months look promising. Hopefully we’ll get plenty of the rest of the grid too!

This time last year we showed you Maserati’s new one-make racer which has subsequently been modelled by BBR. For 2004 they now have an N-GT version which could possible race at Le Mans and then there’s the sensational looking Maserati GT. Apparently aimed at the GT class it will be interesting to see what the competition make of it but who cares when it looks like this?

We also took a look at the new Daytona Prototypes and this new class of cars has really taken off in America with plenty of great modelling subjects lining up for the Daytona 24 Hours in a few weeks time. Then of course there will be the Sebring 12 Hours and plenty of Indy subjects from American race fans.
At the time of writing, Stephan Peterhansel was winning his first Dakar Rally on four wheels and Provence Moulage have already announced a kit of his victorious Mitsubishi. Alain Prost has adapted well to the discipline of Ice Racing and won a couple of rounds of the Trophee Andros, a kit from PM of this one too. By the time you read this Sebastian Loeb will probably have won the Monte Carlo Rally for Citroen, or will he? With radical new cars from Peugeot and Mitsubishi, not to mention Panizzi at the wheel of the latter, there could well be a surprise. That’s not to rule out Subaru or Ford who will be forces to be reckoned with. The 2003 season was close and 2004 looks even better. Kits from PM and Racing 43 no doubt, and then of course there are all the 1:24th plastic kits and transkits to come.
The DTM sees new cars from Audi and Opel with proper 4-door saloons replacing the coupes that they’ve used previously and what great looking cars they are too. The ETC is also going from strength to strength with plenty of colourful subjects. All we need now are kits to build them from.....

Aston colours
Producing models of pre-war subjects is often a headache for manufacturers as, while there may be plenty of photographs to work from on many subjects, they are always in black and white. This has been highlighted recently with MCM and SLM43 covering most of the Le Mans Aston Martins between them. Period race reports suggest that some of the colours weren’t as expected and this has had us delving a little deeper. Up to and including the 1934 Le Mans 24 hours the factory Astons were finished in a dark shade of British Racing Green. After the farce that was their Le Mans, the decision was made to change to ‘lucky’ Italian red for the TT in 1934 and this colour was then adopted for the works racers. To add to the fun there were private entries in French blue and Dutch orange (this one not yet modelled). In 1937 we have several reports which describe the cars as still being bright red but there is some question over 1938 and 1939. If anyone has a definitive answer on these then please let us know.
Meanwhile many of these cars have now been released. We have given our findings to MCM and SLM and they are now building models in the correct colours and re-printing the instructions. It just goes to show how we now take for granted the fantastic coverage that modern sport gets!
...line by line...
Provence Moulage have a number of projects on the go, among them a superkit of the 1966 Le Mans winning Ford GT40..... they also intend to offer all of their kits in built form. Providing they can work out the logistics..... we were going to say that Faenza 43 appear to have disappeared, but we’ve just received an email from Sr. Monducci assuring us that he is very much alive and that we may even see some more models in the near future..... Georges Pont at CCC is rationalising his range as it has grown a little unwieldy. All Le Mans and post-1950 subjects will be deleted from the range, though curiously the new release list includes a 1952 subject...... fear not about the deleted models, they will reappear in another range at some stage, as soon as we know where we’ll let you know...... Ugo Fadini tells us that his long awaited Phoenix speed record truck is nearly ready for release...... Original Miniatures are working on several new versions of the Maserati 300S......Feeling 43 are preparing a transkit to superdetail BBR’s Ferrari 550 Maranello kits. The transkit will inlcude opening panels and engine detail..... Mini Racing are adding two more of their popular rally service sets, one of which includes a Peugeot 205T16 with a transport cover fitted...... Marsh Models have a full schedule for 2004 with subjects as diverse as the Shadow DN1, Greenwood Corvette and McLaren M1A...... Ron Peggs popped in the other day and says his 2004 build rate is running ahead of his self imposed 1 a day schedule!...... Silverline’s next kit release will be the Williams FW25...... AMR is officially back, André-Marie Ruf tells us he is once again to use the famous name and logo for his range of metal and resin kits.....