Ford GT40
Gulf Wyler #1 1966 Le Mans Second Place
Meng 1/24
It’s been a long time since I’ve been active on the forum and always as a large scale aircraft modeler. My twin brother is Joel_W and he will be pointing me down the right path.
It’s been a good while since I’ve done any building with the on-going house renovation and some issues with my medical condition, so I thought I would try to grab some bench time, unwind and build something so very different: a 1/24th scale race car. I haven’t attempted to build a car kit of any type for decades and now seemed the perfect time plus help get the old juices flowing again. My first build: the 1/24 Meng Ford GT40 1966 Lemans Team; car #1 driven by Miles and Hulme to second place. My decision to replicate the second place car was solely the color scheme of Gulf Blue and Orange. My plan is to go as far as possible with the build as I can but the on-going renovation construction will halt the build at some point as there will be way too much dust in the air to do any painting beyond priming.
The Meng GT40 kit:
Molding is sharp, almost no flash and a decent amount of nicely molded parts. Part fit is OK and I’ve only used small amounts of Mr Surfacer 500 where needed based on what I think might be seen when the GT40 is finished The instructions could be clearer on part location and orientation as most part are not keyed and it’s easy to make a mistake figuring out how the part should fit.
Meng color call outs are for: AK and Acryion paints, neither of which I use, so a lot of homework was needed. Some of the colors didn’t seem correct and especially to a guy who knows so very little but learning. Thank goodness for my brother Joel W.(on the forum) is a walking encyclopedia for this type of racing and so far has received more than a fair number of telephone calls and emails on a daily basis.
Exterior paints are going to be from Gravity (Spain) Lacquer paints as well as Tamiya Lacquers. The one color that had me hung up is the dark blue, which seems to be all over the place as I search for information. The closest match I felt comfortable with was either Tamiya LP-41 Mica Blue and LP-45 Racing Blue – I’ll need to do a bit of testing as to which one is the closest and then with my brothers help, we’ll make the call. let my brother make the call.
One HUGE difference between military modeling (I’ve been a military large scale modeler forever) and auto racing modeling is the cars are very specific per Owner/Team, modified and tweaked from race to race or even to another Team car for that same race. Military aircraft do not have that’s types of issues but other ones as well.
I’m not going to be anywhere that accurate as my goal is to just finish, no AM at all and go for the best finish I’m capable of; not even planning on wiring up the engine for my first time out of the gate.
So here we go. I ordered my paints and am carefully following the instructions, cleaning up all the parts, lots of test fitting and deciding what parts will be added prior to priming and what parts after painting each major assembly. My initial impression is the fit is good and nicely detailed. I’ve pretty much decided right now, the front portion of the body will be closed and the rear portion left movable so the GT40 engine and suspension can be displayed or left closed up depending how she looks after crossing the line. Right now, most of the parts are just being test fitted and the business end does look rather busy. The cockpit is nicely detailed but much will not be seen once of the main body shell is in place.
Thanks for looking in;
Peter
