FSW Weekly Edition 25/2018

As we look at the list of new releases for the past seven days, it’s been a good week for kit builders. Hiro has released its high detail 1:12 Ferrari 250LM with various race options available across several kits, including of course the 1965 Le Mans winner. It also has a new Le Mans winner in 1:43 with the Mazda 787B offered as a full detail release. On the same theme, Studio 27 has reprinted their 787 decal sheets which arrive along with carbon sets for Tamiya’s classic Porsche GT1 release and their recent Ferrari SF70H but it is its latest 1:43 kits which we find most interesting this time around with three different race versions of the 2017 World Championship-winning Mercedes W08. 

Mercedes W08 1st UK 2017 Hamilton/Bottas Reference STUFD43040

Datsun 260Z Safari 1975 #16 Dinkelacker Bier Reference SEC036

There’s more in kit form from the Tameo stable with the release in the SilverLine range of the Ferrari 312 with which Chris Amon finished second in the 1968 British GP. We’ve a couple of new books, the pick of these, in our view, is a comprehensive look at the Jaguar E-Type in competition, from the earliest production races to the mod-sports machines of the 1970s and 80s. On to hand built models and from BBR we see two new colour options of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV, both in 1:43, while in 1:18 we have an impressive rendering of the Ferrari 500 Superfast built for Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. We also welcome a new 1:43 hand built range, Second Chance Models, the first offering we see from them being a well proportioned miniature of a Datsun 240Z from the Safari Rally..

There’s a fair amount of variety from the Chinese factories this week too. In 1:43 there are resincast releases of a Lincoln Zephyr and 1979 Ford Fiesta rally car from Neo. There’s a Fiesta rally car from Ixo too, this time from last year and this appears among several colourful GT Porsches and a well-finished Lotus Formula 1 race transporter. Oxford has new colour options on their Rolls Royce Silver Dawn and Aston Martin Vantage V12 and we also see a new colour variant of Almost Real’s excellent Mercedes AMG GT-R. Finally we move to 1:18 and a new release from CMC in the form of a fully detailed chassis for the magnificent Lancia D50 (although the modern seat belts are a rather strange and unnecessary addition! A sharp scalpel should fix the problem.). 

Lancia Ferrari D50 Chassis 1955 1:18 Reference CMCM198