MPC 1/32 Ferrari 250LM

The Ferrari 250 series was one of their most successful road and race cars. The 250 describes the displacement of each cylinder in cc so the total displacement was 3.0 liters.

The mid-engined 250 Le Mans looked very much the prototype racer but was intended for production as a road-going GT. Descended from the 250 P, the Le Mans also appeared in 1963 and sported Pininfarina bodywork. Ferrari was unable to persuade the FIA that he would build the 100 examples required to homologate the car for GT racing. Eventually, 32 LMs were built up to 1965. As a result, Ferrari withdrew from factory participation in the GT class of the 1965 World Sportscar Championship, allowing the Shelby Cobra team to dominate. A 250LM, competing in the Prototype category, won the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. As a note, Ferrari did not win LeMans again until 58 years later in 2023.

Only the very early LM's were true 250 models. All the others were made as 3.3-litre models, and as such should have been named 275 LM. The early cars were converted to the 3.3-litre engine.

This kit was initially released by Airfix in 1965. MPC reboxed it twice. Once in 1967 (which is this boxing) and again in the early 1980s. The most recent Airfix release is in 2000.

The kit is molded in white plastic with clear windows and headlight covers. A clear display stand is also included which is a rather odd addition for a car kit. The molding is still fairly good and one has a chrome sprue for wheels, headlights, tail lights and grille. The grille itself is poorly molded with the hatched grille detail being fairly amorphous instead of distinct.

The lower chassis pan includes the lower forward and aft body detail. Onto this the suspension and engine lower section are attached. The kit is a curbside without a full engine. An interior tub is provided for the seats, instrument panel, steering wheel, gear shift and rudder pedals. The latter fits into an extended footwell.

The tires are plastic and the chrome wheels slide into them. Knock-offs are separate and typical of chrome parts, the plating needs to be scraped away prior to installation or they won't stick. These are then glued onto the front and rear axle stubs. The windows piece is glued to the inside of the body followed by the interior. Last bits are the headlights, headlight covers, tail lights, fuel caps and the forward grille. The builder should, of course, paint the body sections at an appropriate time before any detail parts are attached.

Instructions are well done with photos of some of the construction steps so one can judge how well one is doing. There are useful notes included. The decal sheet is very old school in that it has a single carrier over everything. The decals are spurious as I've never seen any photos of this car with these markings. Usually, it is little more than Ferrari logos (which are absent) along with a white roundel with a car number on the inside.

I originally purchased this kit so I could make a slot car from it. However, as often happens, one of the major companies came out with this in their line-up and it is considerably more detailed than this one is. Now this kit will be relegated to a static display car. Overall, it appears to be easy enough to build and fixing the poorly molded grille won't be all that difficult. Not jazzed about the plastic and featureless tires, but it is a 60 year old tooling.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_250

 May 2025

Copyright ModelingMadness.com. All rights reserved. No reproduction in part or in whole without express permission from the editor.