Rocking in Resin

Ferrari’s ground-breaking engineer Carlo Chiti brought the science of using scale models in a controlled environment to Maranello in the late 1950’s. Red Line models (www.redline-model.com, distributed in America by Minichamps, NA, www.minichampsna.com) has brought the science of high-tech modeling to render the results in 1:24. I’ll get right to it; these models of the Le Mans-winning pair of TRs (the TR61 that Phil Hill and Olivier Gendenbein won Le Mans in in 1961, and the 330 LM TR1 they repeated with in 1962) are incredibly beautiful, wonderfully artful replicas that not only represent these historically important Ferraris, but pull the viewer in with just enough hand-built feel to make them viscerally exciting and consistently fresh on display.

The first part comes from great sculpts and hi-end resin castings, and the rest from painstakingly applied multi-media detail bits and subassemblies. There are photoetch handles and spoked wheels, impeccable lensing and scale-thin wind fairings, and hand-placed transfers and painted rivet details which make the images as entertaining as curbside models can be. Velocity stacks stand mute, dovetailed together under clear hood scoops, and at the other end, four baffle-stuffed pipes hang like silent shotguns under the cars’ rears. Screening is inside the ports and scoops, and the cars’ interiors - no-nonsense affairs with painted dashes and toolkits rolled up in the passenger seat - look ready to rocket down the back stretch at mind-blurring speed. Aside from the difference in liveries, the cars are held apart on sight by the aggressive wing that rises from newer car’s hips, as well as the scoop on its nose - necessary to feed air to its 4.0 liter V12.

Mounted to heavy bases and shipped with clear, heavy acrylic display covers, each model comes from a limited run of 1,000 pieces, and sells for around $195.00. Sometimes science results in art, after all - CRM.

Red Line Models Ferrari TRs, distributed by Minichamps, NA, www.minichampsna.com

Comments   (0)