Post by 1961redlegs on Jul 12, 2021 20:54:51 GMT -5
Tonight, I finished my replica of the Porsche 550A Umberto Maglioli drove to victory in the 1956 Targa Florio. The Targa Florio was an enduro run on the mountainous roads around Palermo in Sicily. In it's 40th edition in 1956, Porsche entered the race for the first time-a single 550A driven by one of the best pilots of the era in Maglioli.
Porsche was really using this race to see what their new 550A could do, but the car and driver performed so well that they kept going. All the while, the mighty Scuderia Ferrari fell aside as all three of their works entries faltered due to mechanical ills or crashes. Maglioli drove an outstanding race and was one of two drivers who completed the whole of the contest without relief help. Maglioli's success was the first of eleven for Porsche in this event.
This kit is the Fernando Pinto Porsche 550A and I built it straight out of the box. It needed a little cleaning up (almost all resin kits do), but it went together well. I painted it Tamiya pure white, with silver wheels, and an aluminum chassis. I did some detail painting on the steering wheel, using different shades of brown and clear yellow to give it a proper wood look. I used a gray wash on the body panels and a black wash to bring out the wheel detail. The original car had masking tape over the headlights in order to avoid their damage by errant gravel or other roadway detritus, so I too used masking tape to cover the headlights. It may be just a tad clunky, but it covers the headlight and bezels better than just painting it and gives it a more authentic feel (at least to me). This was a pleasure of a kit and I thank you for looking!
Porsche was really using this race to see what their new 550A could do, but the car and driver performed so well that they kept going. All the while, the mighty Scuderia Ferrari fell aside as all three of their works entries faltered due to mechanical ills or crashes. Maglioli drove an outstanding race and was one of two drivers who completed the whole of the contest without relief help. Maglioli's success was the first of eleven for Porsche in this event.
This kit is the Fernando Pinto Porsche 550A and I built it straight out of the box. It needed a little cleaning up (almost all resin kits do), but it went together well. I painted it Tamiya pure white, with silver wheels, and an aluminum chassis. I did some detail painting on the steering wheel, using different shades of brown and clear yellow to give it a proper wood look. I used a gray wash on the body panels and a black wash to bring out the wheel detail. The original car had masking tape over the headlights in order to avoid their damage by errant gravel or other roadway detritus, so I too used masking tape to cover the headlights. It may be just a tad clunky, but it covers the headlight and bezels better than just painting it and gives it a more authentic feel (at least to me). This was a pleasure of a kit and I thank you for looking!
