Post by Deleted on May 1, 2015 7:59:31 GMT -5
Hello everybody!
I decided to start a new thread on a long-time suspended projet that I re-started some days ago...
It's an historical kit from Heller, well known among the "senators" like Patrick, and it reproduces the Matra-Cosworth Formula 2 raced by the French factory in 1966 season.
During the '60s and '70, Formula two and Formula three races were very popular in Europe and were intended as the way to Formula One World Championship... In the mid '60s, French factories were very active in these series, with Matra, Alpine and Pygmée; Matra (a government-supported technological pole that was involved also in aerospace projects) started with these cars its racing program that led to Formula One World Championship victory in '69 with Jackie Stewart, as well as to several victories in Le Mans 24 hours race and aothers endurance races.
Little French singleseaters were also the way to launch the young French drivers to the top of world automotive sport: Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo, Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and other drivers grew with these cars, as well as the Belgian Jacky Ickx...
I found this kit on eBay six years ago at circa 100 Euros, the price of a curbside resin kit...
It was a dream of my adolescence: I started modeling in '74-'75, when I was an 11 years od kid... I was already a Formula one fan (in 1975 I beg my dad to bring me at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix)... after some Airfix 1/32 car kits, my aunt gave me as a Christmas gift the M7 McLaren kit from Heller... It was the revelation: in that years, when the japanese open wheel kits where still "coarse" and "toy-like", often with electrical motors, Heller kits where the best singleseaters' kits, although quite fragile and complicated, especially for an 11 years old kid... After the McLaren building (great passion, appalling result), I built the 917 Porsche and the Alpine Renault A210 (a Le Mans car)... one of those days, while a was with my dad in a tobacco shop that whas selling also model kits, I saw on the shelf the Matra box... I immediately asked my dad to buy it... in that years, an 1/24 Heller kit was priced in Italy around 5000 Lire (more or less 3 USD of the era), while an 1/12 F1 Tamiya kit was around 17-18000 Lire... The tobacconist' request for the Matra kit (already out of production from many years) was 25000 Lire! "you know, it's very rare"... My dad obviously refused, and the Matra remained as an unfulfilled dream until 2010...
I decided to start a new thread on a long-time suspended projet that I re-started some days ago...
It's an historical kit from Heller, well known among the "senators" like Patrick, and it reproduces the Matra-Cosworth Formula 2 raced by the French factory in 1966 season.
During the '60s and '70, Formula two and Formula three races were very popular in Europe and were intended as the way to Formula One World Championship... In the mid '60s, French factories were very active in these series, with Matra, Alpine and Pygmée; Matra (a government-supported technological pole that was involved also in aerospace projects) started with these cars its racing program that led to Formula One World Championship victory in '69 with Jackie Stewart, as well as to several victories in Le Mans 24 hours race and aothers endurance races.
Little French singleseaters were also the way to launch the young French drivers to the top of world automotive sport: Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Henri Pescarolo, Johnny Servoz-Gavin, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and other drivers grew with these cars, as well as the Belgian Jacky Ickx...
I found this kit on eBay six years ago at circa 100 Euros, the price of a curbside resin kit...
It was a dream of my adolescence: I started modeling in '74-'75, when I was an 11 years od kid... I was already a Formula one fan (in 1975 I beg my dad to bring me at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix)... after some Airfix 1/32 car kits, my aunt gave me as a Christmas gift the M7 McLaren kit from Heller... It was the revelation: in that years, when the japanese open wheel kits where still "coarse" and "toy-like", often with electrical motors, Heller kits where the best singleseaters' kits, although quite fragile and complicated, especially for an 11 years old kid... After the McLaren building (great passion, appalling result), I built the 917 Porsche and the Alpine Renault A210 (a Le Mans car)... one of those days, while a was with my dad in a tobacco shop that whas selling also model kits, I saw on the shelf the Matra box... I immediately asked my dad to buy it... in that years, an 1/24 Heller kit was priced in Italy around 5000 Lire (more or less 3 USD of the era), while an 1/12 F1 Tamiya kit was around 17-18000 Lire... The tobacconist' request for the Matra kit (already out of production from many years) was 25000 Lire! "you know, it's very rare"... My dad obviously refused, and the Matra remained as an unfulfilled dream until 2010...
