Four Small Wheels 8/2003

news

Penske aplenty

We've had a flood of Penske related subjects recently which is great news for modellers and collectors with various themes. Two of these are shown on our front cover, the recently released SMTS Trans-Am Camaro and Formula Models' very attractive looking PC20 Indy car.

Colin Fraser at Formula tells us that as soon the PC20's are on their way his next new projects will be the 1976 Penske PC4 with which John Watson won his first Grand Prix (FOR020) and PC6 Indy 500 winner of Rick Mears (FOR021) from the same year. These will of course be offered as kits and hand built models and release is scheduled for summer 2004.

Work is also well advanced on several other Indy winners, with Montoya's 2000 G-Force, Gordon Johncock's 1973 Eagle and the Penske run Dallaras driven by Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002 all due for release before the end of the year.

Wish List

Those lists keep coming and it's very interesting for us to see the various collecting themes!

Borgward RS 1500 spider (CPA)
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione 2003
Porsche 917/20 Interserie Vaillant
Maserati 4CL Tripoli 1939
Hesketh 308C Alan Jones

Umberto Mascialino

It was with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Umberto Mascialino in a motorcycle accident on September 7th at the age of 33. Umberto was a well known and popular figure in the model business and will be missed by a great many people. We will certainly miss that cheerful voice on the end of the phone.

His career began at St Martins Accessories in the late 1980s after he come to London to learn English. Having returned to Italy for his National Service, Umberto then became an integral part of the team at BBR, running their shop 'Quattroroutine' for several years. More recently he had been working with Tecnomodel.

To Umberto's mother we extend our sincere condolences.

Signed Editions

The sharp eyed among you will have noticed a new name in the 'forthcoming' listings on page 5, Signed Editions.
Their first two releases will be the 2003 Le Mans winning Bentley, autographed by Tom Kristensen, 'Dindo' Capello and Guy Smith, and the Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 330LMB which finished 5th in 1962 signed by its drivers, Jack Sears and Mike Salmon. Both will be built to the highest standards, the Bentley based on PM's recently released kit and the Ferrari on a Ruf kit. As the latter kit is not yet released this one will be a little while coming but order early because they will only be making 25 pieces of each model and demand will be high.

Here at GPM we will be offering two very special, exclusive signed F1 cars. The first will the Theodore Racing Wolf WR1 (GPS023) signed by its driver, future World Champion, Keke Rosberg and will be based on the Scale Racing Cars model. To celebrate John Watson's first F1 win, he has agreed to add his signature to the forthcoming Formula Models Penske PC4 (see separate story). There will only be 10 pieces of each of these so get your orders for GPS024 in very soon.
There are also several other projects in the pipeline for autographed pieces from various other model manufacturers that we can't tell you about in detail yet, so watch this space for more news!

Cecil Gibson

The foremost historian of Dinky Toys and early supporter of 'special' models i.e. 1:43rd kits and hand builts, Cecil Gibson died recently at the age of 81. Gibson wrote the first ever published history of the Dinky marque
and was a regular contributor to 'Model Cars' magazine for many years.

Don't you just hate it when that happens!
The value of the recently published 'Peter Coltrin, Motor Racing in Colour' was highlighted during a recent visit to GPM by Jade 43 creator Jean Damon. Despite all other reference sources indicating that the Temple Buell Maserati 250Fs were always finished in blue it has become apparent, thanks to Coltrin's excellent photos, that at Monza one of the cars was fresh from the Maserati factory complete with red paint! Why does the critical photo always appear after the model has been produced?
Jean has taken away our stock of built models for re-assembly and is changing the instructions in the kits but be aware, if you already have the kit (JAD4311). In the hope that the picture will turn up at the right time, can anyone help with nose colours for Salvadori's Cooper at the Nurburgring in 1958?
...line by line...
Congratulations to Marie at Provence Moulage on the birth of a bouncing baby boy, Martin..... on pages 14 & 15 you will find a test build feature from a new contributor to FSW, Chris Clay, who offers his thoughts on building Crescent Models' recently released Williams FW23B...... Profil 24 are working on a 1:24th kit of the Greenwood Corvette from Sebring 1976...... Marsh Models have asked us to point out a change of reference numbers. MM086 is now the #7 Ford C100 and MM094 the #6 machine, not the other way round as originally listed. If you already have one on order there is no need to contact us, we have changed the orders...... good news for Aston Martin collectors, Piranha Models are releasing a kit of the gorgeous Zagato styled AR-1 roadster....... while the next classic Le Mans subject from Southern Cross Miniatures will be the beautiful Project 215 which will be offered pre-painted so there will be no problems matching the difficult metallic green colour...... Midlantic have a large and varied future production list, including several Indy 500 winners...... Le Mans Miniatures will shortly release this year's 24 Hours winning Bentley in 1:24th scale...... good news too for Paris Dakar fans, MEA 43 are producing kits and hand builts of the BMW ridden to victory by Richard Sainct in the motorcycle class in 2000, these are 1:43rd don't forget!...... and Museum Collection have a multi option decal sheet for several Dakar bikes in 1:12th scale...... Peugeot have unveiled their new WRC contender based on the 307CC coupe. Who will be first to model this beauty we wonder? The race is on...... more good news for F1 modellers, Z-Model will soon release a kit of the 2003 BAR 05 in 1:43rd..... Silverline are considering their next 2003 subject..... and Tameo tell us that their future release schedule includes a super-kit of the Ferrari 312T3......