1/43rd scale cars
I thought I'd add as section here for several short articles that focus on civilian or race cars. This will probably be added to occasionally, but depend on how often I get to build them.
Jagual XJR9
1/43rd scale plastic kit from Heller
Assembled and painted in 2022
Heller have been manufacturing plastic kits for decades – I seem to remember getting one about thirty five years ago, and they’d been going way before then.
This is from a small range of car kits, and rather good it is too.
The parts are all well formed, with good clear glazing for the windows, and construction is very straight-forward.
The only painting the modeller has to do is to get a decent coat of white sprayed onto the bodyshell, the decals do the rest of the work for you.
Whilst I’m mentioning the decals, these are very good, accurate printing of the multiple colours and apply well.
There’s one or two relatively large ones though, so a bit of care getting them from the backing paper onto the right place on the model is necessary, and with a little setting solution added, they form into the creases very nicely.
A good little kit, recommended.
Ferrari 312P
Resin and Brass Etch 1/43rd scale kit from Marsh Models
Assembled and painted in 2021
I think I can safely say this is towards the top end of the race car offerings in 1/43rd scale.
Marsh models are very nice indeed, a bit more complex than say an Airfix or Revell offering, and command a price that is reflective of that quality.
They’re for the more advanced modeller, involving Resin for the main components to make up the body, and some White Metal and Brass Etch to form the smaller parts.
Of the small scale cars I’ve done so far, this is one of my favourites along with the Chevrolet Corvette.
There’s three or four options for which variation of the vehicle you’d like to portray, with some of the fins being added or subtracted depending on the race it was in.
Assembly is pretty straight forward, but some precision positioning of the fins is left to the modeller to figure out.
I’d advise in the investment of a small Brass Etch bending tool for kits like this, it makes things a lot simpler and I think a little more accurate.
However, the slightly more involved build is well worth the effort, and I highly recommend this company’s kits.
Pagani Huayra
1/43rd scale plastic kit from Airfix
Assembled and painted in 2022
Along with all the NASCAR kits I did some time ago in this scale, I also discovered some civilian sports cars and rally cars in the same scale.
Some were resin offerings, and could be quite draining on the pocket, bit then there were others like this one that were plastic kit offerings from companies such as Airfix and Revell etc, that had quite a few more parts, but were perhaps easier to deal with for the beginner.
This one from Airfix is very easy to construct, and goes together in exactly the same way as one of their aircraft or AFV offerings.
It’s relatively cheap too, prices vary depending on where you source your kits from, but between £10 to £15 is around what you’ll end up paying.
The advantage over the resin kits is that the glazing is hard plastic and doesn’t need trimming to shape, which is much easier for the beginner to cope with, and other than that it’s a case of painting the cockpit etc and leaving the internals separate whilst you spray the bodyshell,
allow everything to dry and then slot the windows into the body, slip that onto the cockpit tub and add the tyres and wheels.
Very satisfying, and easy to do.
I used the Tamiya Mica range of paints on this one – the Blue Mica which might seem a little bit large on the particle grind for a metallic finish in this scale, but it’s pretty close to accurately depicting the paint finish.
1929 Rolls Royce
1/43rd scale Resin and White Metal kit from Starter Models.
Assembled and painted in 2021
This was one of the very first kits I made from Starter Models, and bought very cheaply in an auction.
I’d become all excited about modelling car in this scale after the 1929 Le Mans Bugatti, and saw this one “for a song” in an auction.
It’s a nice little kit too, the only problem was that one of the large headlamps was missing. I managed to replace it with a similar sized plastic lens, but it’s not quite the same, and once noticed, can’t be ignored.
It would do though, for the sake of not making the kit or even worse, putting it in the bin.
Construction is pretty simple, as with all of the Starter Models offerings, although there is an amount of clean-up involved, especially around the front suspension springs.
The spoked wheels are a delight though, and the model paints up into a very nice piece.
I scratch built a folded canvas roof for the back of the car using some copper wire and some flattened out Magic Sculpt, and that was the only addition necessary. The Brass Etch works well, bending easily and forming into the shapes required.
I’d recommend the Starter Models range as good little models that are relatively easy to construct, and although some decal sets are showing how old they are, replacements can be sourced on the internet.
Lamborghini Revention
1/43rd scale plastic kit from Dreamcars
Assembled and painted 2022
A company I’m unfamiliar with – Dreamcars – and I think a simplified version of say an Airfix kit of the same scale.
Not so many parts, around thirty in fact, but all go together well.
The glazing is slightly tinted, and the only shortcoming I can point out is the relatively heavy tread on the tyres. It’s not too bad, but just looks a little coarse for the scale and type of vehicle.
Otherwise a simple to construct and easy to paint kit.
I did think of putting a pin wash into the panel lines, but they seem a little too wide and I thought it might make the kit look bad. It is tempting to go back perhaps and rather than use black or a very dark brown in the panel lines, try a deep orange colour ?
Perhaps that would look better.
I got this off Ebay, very cheap too, I think it was less than a tenner including postage, so a lot more cost effective than almost all kits of this scale.
Chevrolet Corvette 1959
1/43rd White Metal kit from Cilla
Painted in 2022
Of all the civilian cars I’ve made so far, this is one of my favourites.
It wasn’t all that easy to make, there was quite a lot of clean-up required of the main bodyshell casting, and the clear plastic for the windscreen was missing.
I’d bought this relatively cheaply on Ebay, knowing that the clear parts were missing, but I thought it’d be easy enough to replace them – and we know what “thought” did….
However, it is a lovely little kit, with the option of adding a canvas top over the car to enclose the driver and passenger seats. This part is separate and doesn’t need glueing in position, as it will stay in place if the car isn’t being moved around.
There’s a lot of separate metal parts to add, some are chromed and look good, in particular the wheels, headlights and the front grille and bumper.
There’s suggestions offered for colouration, with the crescent from the front wheel suggested as pale cream or white, and the rest of the body being painted a solid, non metallic colour such as red, green, or in this case blue.
Whilst the bodywork paintjob is pretty simple, I did lavish a bit of time and care on the cockpit, the leather seats dashboard and steering wheel are on show with the top removed and deserve a fair bit of attention.
Having looked for more cars made by Cilla, I can’t seem to find any, so I think this is a bit of a rare one. A shame, because as I say, it’s one of my favourites in my collection. Nice to build, and leasing to look at.
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