FSW Weekly Edition #30/2026

Absolute Racing's Suzuka Tribute

Spark's Porsche 911 GT3R 2nd Suzuka 1000kms 2025 #7 Absolute Racing in 1:43 scale brings a slice of Porsche heritage to the modern GT3 era. Fielded by the well-known Hong Kong-based Absolute Racing squad and shared by works Porsche drivers Kévin Estre, Patrick Pilet and Laurens Vanthoor, the #7 911 GT3R finished a strong second in the Pro class at one of Japan's great endurance events, the Suzuka 1000kms. The car's real talking point, however, is its livery: a vivid tribute to the "New Man" colours carried by Reinhold Joest's Porsche 956 in the 1980s, the very sponsorship that helped power the Joest team to Le Mans glory, reborn here on a modern GT3 contender.

Spark's resincast interpretation does the tribute livery full justice, with the crisp casting and fine etched detail that have made the range the benchmark for 1:43 GT racing. The 911 GT3R's aggressive aerodynamic package, deep front splitter and prominent rear wing are all cleanly resolved, while the retro "New Man" colours and period-style typography are sharply reproduced across the car's flanks. Limited to just 600 pieces and due in September, it is a fitting way for Porsche and endurance racing enthusiasts alike to mark the connection between two very different eras of sports car competition.

The Porsche heads a week rich in historic endurance content. BBR revisits the 1964 Le Mans-winning Ferrari 275P family, with 1:18 pre-orders opening for the second-placed Maranello Concessionaires #14, the third-placed #19, the retired #21 works car and the original press car besides. Spark turns to one of Porsche's most infamous liveries with a 1:64 pairing of the 1971 Le Mans "Pink Pig" 917/20 and its plain white practice sibling. Spark's in-stock 1:43 resincast delivery adds a run of Le Mans winners spanning the 1968 Ford GT40, 1980 Rondeau M379B, 1989 Sauber Mercedes C9, 1998 Porsche 911 GT1-98 and 2006 Audi R10, together with contemporary GT3 additions in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo from the 2025 Spa 24 Hours and the McLaren 720S GT3 from the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours. Further back, Spark's latest 1:43 announcement spans nearly half a century of Le Mans history, from 1953 to 2001, taking in Aston Martin, BMW, Callaway, Cougar, Jaguar, Maserati, Mercedes and Porsche, and Spark has also confirmed the first 24 cars of the 2026 Le Mans grid selected for 1:64 diecast treatment, due for release during the first half of next year. Top Marques meanwhile has an ambitious 1:12 programme in prospect, taking in Le Mans and Sebring subjects such as the Ford GT40 Mk2 and Mk4 and the Sauber Mercedes C9, many offered either clean and shiny or in race-finish dirty guise.

There is plenty more for the modern GT collector too. Spark's major new shipment announcement adds the Aston Martin Valkyrie's Daytona test car, a further Porsche 911 GT3R model from Bathurst, and a spread of Super GT contenders from Nissan and Toyota, while Ixo has a substantial 1:18 GT3, Hypercar and GTP programme in prospect, spanning Le Mans versions of the Ford Mustang, Porsche 911 and 963 and Toyota GR010, a Bathurst 12 Hours Mercedes-AMG, a Spa 24 Hours Porsche 911 and the class-winning Porsche 963 from Sebring. TrueScale delivers a fine new batch of 1:43 endurance and GT stars, headed by the Acura ARX-06 that finished second at the 2025 Daytona 24 Hours, the #10 and #40 Cadillac V-Series.Rs from the same race, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of AWA Racing, and Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2s from the 2024 Bathurst 12 Hours and 2025 Sebring 12 Hours. Arena Modelli's latest delivery turns back the clock further still with the 1:43 Chevrolet Corvette C3 of Paul Currin from the 1979 Lime Rock 100 Miles, an excellent project for builders with an interest in historic IMSA competition.

Also strongly represented this week is Spark's earlier major shipment, which digs deep into endurance history with the 1953 Le Mans runner-up Jaguar C-Type of Peter Walker and Stirling Moss, the 1995 McLaren F1 GTR of West Competition, the JLOC Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT, the Spa-winning BMW 3.0 CSL, a brace of Motul Mazda RX-7s from the 1981 Spa 24 Hours and a pair of Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evos from Spa 2025, alongside further Super GT machinery from Nissan, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Porsche and Toyota. Its 1:18 announcements add the Le Mans-winning Jaguar D-Type from 1956, a Scuderia Filipinetti Chevrolet Corvette and the Daytona-winning R&S Mk3.

Porsche 911 GT3R 2nd Suzuka 1000kms 2025 #7 Absolute Racing - SPKSJ185

Maserati 200SI 1st Stillwater 1957 #62 Hall - MM350M62

Jim Hall's Stillwater Breakthrough

Marsh Models' Maserati 200SI 1st Stillwater 1957 #62 Hall in 1:43 scale captures a fascinating early chapter in the career of one of American motorsport's great innovators. Long before Jim Hall reshaped sports car racing with the aerodynamic revolutions of his Chaparral programme, the young Texan cut his teeth in SCCA competition behind the wheel of a Maserati 200SI, and it was in car #62 that he took a fine victory at Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1957. As a subject, it offers a rare glimpse of a future pioneer in his formative years, well before the wings and ground-effect trickery that would later make his name.

Marsh Models' hand-built interpretation upholds the standards that have made the range a byword for quality among 1:43 kit and hand-built specialists, with precisely moulded resin bodywork, fine photo-etching and crisply printed decals resolving the 200SI's slender, cigar-shaped lines with real authenticity. Built to order in England, it is exactly the kind of characterful, hand-crafted historic subject that rewards the patient collector, and is available to order now.

The Stillwater winner heads an extensive Marsh Models delivery dedicated entirely to the Maserati 200SI, tracing the car's appearances across American and international sports car racing between 1957 and 1961. Highlights include John Fitch's outings at Nassau and Bridgehampton, Sven Baughman's Santa Barbara racer, and further versions from Marlboro, Sweden and the Mille Miglia, while two further 1:43 resin/metal kits offer multiple race versions from Sebring, Le Mans, the Mille Miglia and beyond. There is more for the historic racing enthusiast at DSN 43 too, whose latest announcement is topped by the 1981 British Saloon Car Championship Audi 80 of Stirling Moss, released alongside the fifth-placed Le Mans 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB4 and the Ypres 1979 Porsche 911 RS of Moortgat, three very different subjects united by their period charm.

Road car and classic collectors are well catered for this week too. Kess's latest delivery brings three fascinating 1:43 resincast road cars spanning more than three decades of Italian design, led by the striking Alfa Romeo Bertone Bella concept from the 1999 Geneva Motor Show, the charming 1967 Alfa Romeo F12 Series 1 Minibus, and the exclusive Ferrari F50 Bolide built for the Sultan of Brunei. Cult Scale Models adds the elegant 1:18 Volvo 262C Bertone in metallic blue, one of the most luxurious and recognisable Volvos of its era, while Autocult turns to Giorgetto Giugiaro's legendary wedge-shaped 1971 Maserati Boomerang concept in 1:43, a true icon of seventies automotive design. Autocult rounds out the week with the remarkable six-wheeled Heylandt Hellhound Tempelhof of 1931, another fascinating piece of experimental automotive history. KK Scale is meanwhile putting the finishing touches to a series of 1:18 1963 Lincoln Continental Convertibles, among them the black screen car from Bad Boys, the metallic blue of The Lincoln Lawyer, a metallic turquoise example and President John F. Kennedy's white presidential limousine, and ABC Brianza rounds out the historic interest with two distinctive 1:43 kits, the elegant Bugatti T44 Rétromobile 2026 and the rare Lancia Boat Molivio LV91.

There is just as much for the modern road car enthusiast. BBR is putting into production a range of 1:18 hand-built models covering the 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO in several colours and the 1995 Ferrari F50 Coupé and Spider in three new colour combinations each, adding to BBR's recent delivery of the 1:18 Ferrari 849 Testarossa and Amalfi and its confirmed 1:43 Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale with panoramic roof, offered in the same six colour choices as the larger-scale version. KK Scale has also added four new colour choices for its 2001 Porsche 911 (996) GT2, expected during September, while Looksmart offers the new Lamborghini Urus SE Performante in yellow, purple and matt green, and Looksmart's earlier announced Lamborghini Revuelto Impavido will be reproduced in 1:43 with its striking Bushido-inspired colours, celebrating Lamborghini's 25 years in Japan. Spark's future 1:18 road car pre-order list is dominated by Porsche 911s spanning 930 to 992.2, with a Porsche Cayman, Lancia Stratos and Donkervoort F22 squeezed in amongst them, Schuco offers the charming 1965 Autobianchi Bianchina Furgoncino and the legendary 1984 Ford Transit Supervan 2 in 1:18, and Mini GT continues its James Bond series with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage from The Living Daylights and the Ford Mustang Convertible driven by SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe in Thunderball.

Schumacher's Spanish Sensation

Tecnomodel's Ferrari F310 1st Spain 1996 #1 Schumacher in 1:18 scale immortalises one of Formula 1's most celebrated drives. Just months into his first season with Scuderia Ferrari, Michael Schumacher produced a masterclass in atrocious conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, lapping much of the field in a car that had shown little promise all weekend to claim his first victory for the Scuderia. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wet-weather performances in the sport's history, it was the result that convinced Ferrari's famously demanding tifosi that their new signing was the real deal, and marked the start of a partnership that would go on to define an era.

Tecnomodel's superb resincast finish does the subject full justice, with the F310's distinctive raised nose, period Shell, Pioneer and Asprey sponsorship and Schumacher's #1 rendered with the crisp printing and fine detail collectors expect of the range. Built to the substantial 1:18 scale, it captures the purposeful, high-nosed profile of Ferrari's transitional mid-nineties challenger with real presence, and is available to order now for any collector wanting to mark one of the defining drives of the modern Formula 1 era.

The Ferrari heads a strong week for historic Formula 1 collectors. Hasegawa's latest delivery brings the 1:20 Lotus 79 of Héctor Rebaque from the 1979 World Championship, a highly detailed plastic kit of one of the sport's most iconic ground-effect cars, while Spark's major shipment is once again strongly represented among the historic single-seaters, with fresh Arrows A6 releases, Graham Hill's Lotus 49B, Ayrton Senna's victorious Lotus 98T, Damon Hill's Williams FW15C and a raft of classic Williams, Renault, Brabham and Osella entries. Spark's in-stock 1:43 resincast delivery adds a further sweep of Formula 1 classics, including the ATS HS1 from Monaco 1978, the Brabham BT26A, Lotus 21, Surtees TS20, Tyrrell 024 and the race-winning Williams FW08 of Keke Rosberg from the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix.

Built and ready-made Formula 1 content runs equally deep on the modern side too. Spark's major new shipment announcement adds the Haas VF25 and VF26 of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman, Max Verstappen's Italian and Las Vegas Grand Prix-winning Red Bull RB21s and Carlos Sainz Jnr's Qatar podium-finishing Williams FW47, alongside an expanding range of 1:5 driver helmets for Lando Norris, Ollie Bearman and Kimi Antonelli. Its earlier shipment adds the Alpine A525s of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, Lando Norris's Brazil-winning McLaren MCL39, the McLaren Constructors' Championship set and the Mercedes W17 victories of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, complete with Oscar Piastri's 2025 United States Grand Prix helmet in 1:5. Looksmart's latest delivery features the 1:43 Ferrari SF-25 of Charles Leclerc from his seventh place at the 2025 Miami Grand Prix, and the maker adds a fresh run of 1:5 helmet replicas too, covering Leclerc's 2024 Italian and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix helmets, Carlos Sainz Jnr's 2024 Abu Dhabi helmet and Lewis Hamilton's 2025 Italian Grand Prix helmet. BBR's latest delivery completes the picture with the 1:64 Ferrari SF-23 of Leclerc from his sixth place at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.

Rally collectors have a good deal to look forward to as well. Trofeu's latest group of 1:43 models is devoted entirely to the works Audi rally team of Quattros from the 1984 Portugal Rally, made up of winner Hannu Mikkola, sixth-placed Walter Röhrl and the non-finishing cars of Stig Blomqvist and van der Merwe, a rare chance to assemble the full factory squad from a single event. Ixo turns to more recent history with the 1:43 Lancia Ypsilon Rally4 HF test car driven by two-time World Rally Champion Miki Biasion during the model's development programme, capturing the return of the famous Lancia name to modern rallying. Spark's major shipment brings further rally interest too, with the 2025 Dakar Ford Raptor T1+ quartet, a Ford Puma Rally1 and a Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Monte Carlo entry, while its earlier shipment adds the Lancia Ypsilon Rally4 HF in both competition and presentation form.

Touring car collectors are not forgotten either. Spark's major shipment adds new BTCC Ford Focus models for Ashley Sutton, continuing the maker's comprehensive coverage of the British series, while Looksmart's Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3s of Ben Green and Jack Aitken bring a slice of the 2025 DTM Championship to the shelf.

Ferrari F310 1st Spain 1996 #1 Schumacher 1:18 - TEC18387A