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Slot Classic Ferrari 250 GT SWB '60 - Review by Revvvs
The Ferrari 250 GT SWB was introduced in 1959 at the Paris Salon. This beautiful car was designed by Pininfarina and built by Scaglietti. Aside from its elegant looks the car quickly established itself as one of the most successful GT cars of all time, winning the FIA GT World Championships (over 3000cc) in 1960 and 1961, and the SCCA A Production category in 1961. |
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| This is a car which I've long admired so was delighted to see that Slot Classic, one of my favourite kit manufacturers, was to release two versions of it: the 1960 version with bumpers (CJ22) in two liveries - as a red road car or in the Deep Blue LeMans livery of Tavano and Loustel; and a 1961 version (CJ23) in the LeMans livery of Noblet and Guichet. (Racing pics supplied by Swissracer!) | |||
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| Slot Classic make their kits to strictly limited numbers - these days normally a total of 400 models. Previously the total has been split into a predefined number of either unpainted, painted kits or built models. With these releases the total number of models is limited, but the split between the types available is determined by the customer orders. These particular models seem to have been one of the most popular releases from Slot Classic in some time: the CJ22 kit is already showing as discontinued on their website (although it may still be available from some retailers). Don't panic too much though if you can't get hold of one - Slot Classic are planning to release two more versions next year - the 1960 Arents / Connell car from LeMans in yellow and the 1961 Goodwood Tourist Trophy winning car from the Rob Walker racing team driven by Stirling Moss. | |||
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On to the model itself - I elected to get the 1960 LeMans car in a prepainted kit format. I'd say that my modelling skills were moderate and often buy unpainted kits, however the extra 25 Euros I paid to get the kit prepainted was well worth the money - the lacquered finish is really exquisite and far better than anything I've achieved on my own so far! In the box, apart from the bodyshell, you get a vac formed window piece and interior, one bag containing the chassis, one containing the wheels, one with all of the detailing bits. There's no motor or guide provided so you need to source these yourself - I used a standard Mabuchi motor and Ninco guide. Two things to note from previous releases: firstly the lexan interior is certainly an improvement - prior to this model the interiors were all cast resin which to my mind has made the cars slightly top heavy. Secondly these are the first cars to use the new adjustable chassis (again prior to this release the chassis were all cast in one piece of resin). |
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| I started out by making the wheels up. These are the standard Slot Classic spoked wheels which come in 4 parts - a main plastic hub, an aluminium insert which forms the oustide flange of the wheel, and two photo etched spoke sections. The first of the photo etch spokes drops inside the main plastic hub - this is held in place with the aluminium ring insert (check these carefully before inserting - there is a right way round for them to go in! You'll find they insert easier one way anyway). The second etched spoke piece sits on the spindle of the hub - a resin tool is provided with the wheels to bend the spokes into a nice convex shape. Everything is held tegother with a knock off which I epoxied into place. The wheels come with their own set of instructions, but making them up is really very straightforward and shouldn't pose any problems. The effect of the wheels when constructed is really great, however I did have a couple of niggles with them: the main plastic hub piece come with some flashing which needs to be removed - I didn't bother but it may be worth truing the wheel before putting the tyres on. Also I had intended to use a SlotIt gear set, however the axles supplied are Ninco sized so I just used those with the crown gear pre-fitted. | |||
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| The adjustable chassis is a very simple construction indeed - just one screw needed to put the guide holder in place. The kit comes with two side pods and a rear piece cast in resin, although I don't think you would need to fit these. I did use them - a quick coat of satin black and then epoxied into place. When fitted the whole unit sits very snugly into the bodyshell with no need for any trimming or filing. | |||
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| The interior next - as well as the lexan platform you also get a resin cast driver, passenger seat and dashboard, a cast metal steering wheel and column, and a photo etched rear view mirror. The resin parts and steering wheel need painting - the instruction sheet has a colour guide if you need it! The driver and passenger seat have a mouldied mark on the bottom, and the lexan platform has markings on it showing where to position them. I cut the holes out of the platform to allow better positioning and to apply epoxy from the underside for more security. There was no hole for the steering column in the dashboard unit - I only noticed this after I'd done all my detailing so left the steering column out and just epoxied the wheel into the driver's hands - it's up close to the dashboard so doesn't really notice. |
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| Before installing the interior I then turned to the glazing. There was no information at all in the instructions about this and it did have me scratching my head for a while trying to work it out! I'd assumed that the vac formed windows all fitted in in one piece, so began by trimming the edges little by little and test fitting. By the time I had it trimmed as much as I dared it still didn't fit properly - this was when I worked out what the two small unmarked rectangles of clear plastic were for - the side windows! Once seperated the front and rear windows were easy to fit with a little watered down Microscale Kristal Klear. I cut out the side windows from the plastic sheet using my Exacto knife and the photo etched side window trim for a template. The glazing pieces were then easy to install (again with Kristal Klear). The photo etch trim all comes on a flat sheet - I gently bent the window trim to conform to the body shape before fixing it in place with clear epoxy. | |||
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| It was then time to fit the interior. I test fitted everything together and placed it on the chassis to check that it didn't rub anywhere - but there was no need to worry as it all fit very snugly. The windows had my greasy fingerprints all over where I'd been fitting it, so I gave it all a quick clean with a wet wipe before installing the interior (not fogetting to put the rear view mirror in before epoxying everything into place!) | |||
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| The final stage is fitting the remainder of the exterior trim. The front grille is a two part construction with a cast metal piece that fits into the bodyshell and photo etched grille detail. This is quite heavy but on the track I found it's just the right amount of weight in the right position to help keep the guide in the slot. The lights pressed into place nicely (these do have a proper orientation as there is some detail behind the lenses - check the Slot Classic website for reference before sticking them in). I found the holes for the bumpers needed to be opened up a little in order to get them to fit properly - the rear bumper was an especially tight fit but gentle pressure did the trick. The most difficult parts to fit were the windscreen wipers and the front bug screen on the bonnet. There are tiny pinholes in the bodyshell showing where to locate them - I opened them up with a pin just to give me some purchase when stick these bits into place. Rather than filing the wipers and screen part completely flush where I'd cut it from the photo etch I left some tiny flash to fit in the pinholes I'd made in the body. I put a very small blob of clear 5 minute epoxy on each of the holes before fitting the pieces in place. Don't worry about positioning the parts immediately - wait until the epoxy start to cure and grips them then before it solidifies completely it's easy to get them in the right position. | |||
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| Once I was sure everything was secure and with the body mounted on the chassis it was off to my small twisty test track for a run! I have to say that I was immediatly impressed with the handling of the car - I've always founf my other Slot Classics to be very heavy and lumbering on the track - not so with this car. It was very easy to drive indeed with a wonderful drifting action around the complex curves of my track. For comparison I timed just a few laps against my Mercedes PanAmerica RTR: The Panamerica lapped in an average of 7.4 seconds; the 250 lapped in an average of 6.8. I had initially assumed that the car would be lighter with the lexan interior and the new chassis, however the two cars to seem to be approximately the same weight (I don't have scales accurate enough to measure) - probably due the the heavy cast bumpers and grille on the Ferrari. I believe the better handling of the Ferrari is just down to better weight distribution. | |||
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| All in
all I found this to be a very enjoyable car to build and run - and it
looks simply stunning! I'd categorize it as being of moderate difficulty
to put together - the detail bits can be quite fiddly and the instructions
are somewhat lacking, so if you're a complete beginner then remember above
all to take your time and test fit everything first before reaching for
the sticky stuff!
Revvvs - October 2004 |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 21st May 2013 - 15:17 |
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