Michel Ottenwaelder has been producing Vroom kits for many years. He is a great fan of the Porsche and Bugatti marques and these comprise the bulk of his range. Included amongst these however are some other very attractive subjects, the Iso/Bizzarrini Le Mans and Sebring cars a couple of Matras, the Mercedes 100MPH transporter and the very pretty early Ferrari 275 GTB. I have several Porsche kits to build so they will probably feature in future months but this feature covers the Matra 640 and 660, Iso Rivolta LM1964 and the Ecurie Franchorchamps Ferrari 275GTB from Le Mans 65.

Vroom kits

They are almost entirely resin even wheels and very fine steering wheels are cast in resin. The engine for the 640 Matra is one of the finest castings I have ever seen. Vroom kits are one of the ranges, which encourage one to make that little extra effort, the base kit being so good that I find myself rushing to the bits box to add just a few extra details.

Matra 660

This is the 1971 car driven by Amon and Beltoise, the car retired after 18 hours. The model has a couple of particularly nice features, the white "Cockpit" is a separate part making painting very easy, it has a very nice driver figure and best of all is the Headlight covers which are vac formed and fit from inside the body and as a result no glue should show.

Matra 640 Choulet

Matra and Alpine obtained special dispensation from the Sarthe Ministry to test on the Hunaudieres (Mulsanne) before the 1969 race. There was some doubt before the test about the stability of the car and this worry was proven correct when Henri Pescarolo "looped". The car was very similar to the first Porsche 917 which also made its Le Mans debut in 1969 and Porsche too had enormous problems with stability. Aerodynamics in racing car were little understood at the time and the Coupe Matra was abandoned. Porsche persevered with the 917 and results cane through in the end although most success was with the short tail 917K.

Ferrari 275GTB

This is the Ecurie Francorchamps car that finished 3rd OA and 1st GT in the 1965 Le Mans 24hrs. I have always liked Ferraris in other than red and this kit particularly appealed. This an the Iso had the moulded on side lights replaced by Meri lights and also gained photo etch steering wheels, mirrors and pedals from my bits box. I also bare metal foiled the window surrounds and other bright metal parts. The wheels in the picture are two from the Iso painted silver and two wire wheels from the Ferrari. The discs on the wire wheels are from the bits box.

Iso Rivolta

This very pretty GT coupe was driven by Edgar Berney and Pierre Noblet to first in over 5 litre class and 14th OA, In 65 a similar car would again win the class and finish ninth. In 1966 the car now a Bizzarrini and a rear engined spider failed to finish. All the le Mans cars plus a Sebring car are available from Vroom. The wheels are painted silver in the wheels picture as per instructions but pictures suggested they may have been gold. I consulted Tim Dyke who built this model in his MPH range and it appears the car raced with both silver and gold sets. The gold looked rather nice so this was chosen for the built model.