1/43 Michael Andretti Custom. Help Solve a Mystery!

[11rowsof3]

Hello all. I recently bought a 1/43 Michael Andretti custom from a Minichamps on eBay. It's pretty impressive. The mystery customizer did a ton of work on this and appears to have made a custom rear wing and did a lot of reworking of the sidepod winglets, etc. The wheel covers are also not from an Onyx car, but rather appear to be photoetched and maybe from a Tameo or Ampersand kit?

Even a larger mystery is that the decals appear to be screen-printed and of HIGH quality, not a home-made ink-jet print at all. Even the tiny Lola decal on the nose is crisp and readable.

Anyway, I'd love to spend more money with this person or at least find out who did it and who made the decals to see if any others have been made. Specifically I have a set of IndyCals 1992 Guerrero and I would dust off the air brush compressor myself if I could locate some wheel covers and rear wings.

As many of you may know - I only collect 1/43 and this thing made my day.





I also bought a 1/43 SIGNED Nigel Mansell diorama for $20. It's been a good couple of weeks.

[Deleted]

I can't help you with who did the build, or where the decals came from, but the wheel covers look like ones from Tameo Indycar kits from the late 80s. Five round holes, right? I've got a 1988 Penske PC17 Danny Sullivan Miller Beer kit with those wheel covers. It's hard to tell, because all the details in question are black, but it looks like the builder combined the chassis from one year Minichamps diecast with the speedway wings from another year Minichamps. I've got both models I refer to, so if you can provide closer pics, I should be able to verify excatly what he did.

[indy]

Nice pick ups. Those are 6 hole wheel covers, so they might be Tameo but they aren't from the Penskes.

Jordan

[11rowsof3]

Thanks guys!

The Wheels Covers: They are six hole. I got out some of my old kits and I think they are from a Ampersand 1990 Luyendyk kit. They are identical, but were covers ever sold aftermarket? You wouldn't think someone would use a $100+ kit just for the covers.

The Rear Wing: Definitely not a 1994 Minichamps and not a Onyx rear wing either, it's a custom-made piece I believe.

The pop off valve: Not sure what that is from but also not standard Minichamps.


Very interesting but glad I bought it.

[11rowsof3]

Bump, just in case someone logs on who didn't see this 2 years ago.

I am making a 1992 Guerrero finally and using this one as my template. Still one of the coolest diecast customs I've ever found.
Here's a higher res pic!

[harveythedog2]

Interesting. I missed the original post Shayne when you posted it. I wonder, did you ever find the builder? If he went that far on the custom, I wonder why he didn't detail the driver figure uniform, belts, etc. Regardless it's a very nicely done 1/43rd.

[11rowsof3]

Jul 25, 2017 10:13:44 GMT -5 harveythedog2 said:

Interesting. I missed the original post Shayne when you posted it. I wonder, did you ever find the builder? If he went that far on the custom, I wonder why he didn't detail the driver figure uniform, belts, etc. Regardless it's a very nicely done 1/43rd.

Nope, that's why I thought I would bump this thread one time and then just let it go. I have not located any more info and nothing else has ever come up on eBay. So odd, but someone really did an awesome job and had custom decals made. A ton of work for a car I bought for $30 and especially if no others were done.

My worry was since of the pricing someone may not have known what they had and made it was an estate sale or a wife/family member selling this stuff. I mean, a SIGNED Nigel Mansell built NewmanHaas Lola for $20, (just the Colin Fraser car goes for $200+) I kind of felt guilty, but others could have bid too, so....

Thanks!

[IndyCarModels]

Nice buy!!!!