Re: MATRA MS 11 Tamiya 1/12 scale
Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:53 am
That is a beauty. Excellent engine detail.
Hi JamesJamesB wrote:Ah! and that Itala Pechino-Parigi!!
The model at the top of the bookcase is not a Pocher but, rather, an 1/8 scale ITALO Beijing-Paris of the Metropolitan, made by Arnaldo Pocher.
In fact, years after the Pocher adventure, which ended with the transfer of the company to Rivarossi, a well-known Swiss collector, Count Giansanti Coluzzi, commissioned Arnaldo Pocher for the kit of the Itala Beijing-Paris which was supposed to be produced in 2000 copies.
In reality, just over 300 were made and mine is number 155, certified by a card attached to the kit.
The model is about 60 cm long. It is made up of about 600 pieces of: molten metal (pewter), aluminum, copper, brass, leather and plastics.
I built it in 1988 and, unfortunately, with the passage of time, the pewter details have undergone an inexorable degradation which, I think, will compromise the general integrity of the model.
The kit was sold pre-painted in a very dark blue (see attached photo), not at all suited to the blue "sky" that I had seen on the original Itala specimen that was kept at the Biscaretti Museum in Turin. However, on the occasion of the historical re-enactment of the Beijing Paris Raid of the 90s, Itala underwent a restoration that changed its external appearance (very long and inclined mudguards were mounted that I have never seen in historical photos) and, especially the color which, from blue "sky" was surprisingly changed to dark gray, as it appears to those who go to see it now.
Not sharing the shade of that blue, I decided to ask Mr. Arnaldo Pocher for an explanation. He very nicely invited me to his house in via Foglizzo in Turin.
We spent an entire afternoon discussing modeling and he also let me visit Pocher's old factories which were next to his home, closed after the fire suffered.
In fact, I confirmed that he also did not share the tone at all, but he also told me that it did not depend on him because the painting was done externally.
I decided to paint it all off and, after having passed the primer, I combined the color corresponding to me with the acrylic paints of Tamiya.
This is to say that, despite the past primer, the crumbling of the metal is visible on my model on the tank located behind the driver's seats and in the tank located under the rear trunk.
Perhaps, my trick to expose the model on supports that support it on the two side members, has avoided major troubles such as that of breaking into two that you can see in the attached photo.
One day I will have to decide to put in hand a restoration which, I'm afraid, will be very complicated.
Ciao,
Giovanni La Rosa