Lancia D50 Grand Prix 1954 Test Car by CDW - Model Factory Hiro - 1:43 Scale

[CDW]

Lancia D50 Grand Prix 1954 Test Car, driven by A. Ascari

This will be my first attempt at building a Model Factory Hiro kit, in the tiny 1:43 scale. As is common with any MFH kit, the first order of business will be to check all parts content against the instructions for completeness and deformed/damaged parts (hopefully none). It's common for the fragile little white metal parts to be bent out of shape, but now and then a part may be "short shot". 

For a small model, there are a lot of parts and detail.

As I sort and check the parts, I'll be organizing them into a plastic organizer box after the white metal parts have been run through the magnetic tumbler.

More photos to follow after the parts have been accounted for, cleaned up, and sorted into logical assembly groups. 

[yvesvidal]

WOW...putting together an engine at that scale is pure torture.... an expensive one on top of that 🙂

 

That Lancia is a great car and a very rare model.

 

Yves

[DocRob]

I never put together a 1/20 MFH kit, but plan to do so in near future, but 1/43 . I´ll wait for you to put on your magic, until I may venture that way.
 

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

Sorry my original photos came out so blurry. Here are new photos after the parts ran through the tumbler.

[Old Collingwood]

Holly smokes  Craig  -  your eyesight must be  A1   -  looking forward to this one.

 

OC.

[CDW]

I've watched a ton of MFH build videos while trying to pick up helpful hints, tips, and tricks on how to tackle these kits. One of my favorite modelers to watch has a methodical approach to starting each kit that includes unboxing, examination, parts count, cleaning/preparing parts and organization steps. Comparing each part to the plans has revealed a couple of missing/damaged parts.

On the front suspension assembly, part number M58, circled (by me) in red, was short-shot. Half of the part was gone, either as a casting malfunction or broken and lost in the manufacturing and shipping process. A major part in the rear suspension was missing. Again, the missing part is circled in red for reference. Oddly, it has no part number associated with it that I could find on the plans.

I found small part organizer boxes on Walmart's website for a few dollars each. The part boxes have adjustable compartment panels which allow for a neat and tidy organization of the parts by assembly sequence. Starting from the left bottom compartment are all the engine and gearbox parts, moving to the right are all the frame parts, and so on. This greatly helps in checking the kit parts contents and keeping everything in order as the parts cleanup and preparation stage begins next.

Last night I sat down and wrote a note to MFH in Japan with the attachments as shown here, asking for help to replace the missing/broken parts. I was shocked when I woke up this morning to find a notification and tracking number from Fedex that the missing, broken parts have already been shipped out to me! Talk about great customer service, wow. Never have seen anything like it. On a similar note, I ordered another new kit from MFH a couple of days earlier, and that kit was mailed out the same day I paid for it. It is scheduled for delivery to me tomorrow. I can't get service faster than this from dealers in the USA except for maybe Amazon. MFH is really on top of their game for customer service, I can attest to that.

 

[DocRob]

I can only confirm your approach as well as the ultra rapid and thorough customer service by MFH.
I always check all the parts after cleaning, when they are left to dry against the manual and sort them into similar kind of boxes, like you did.
When I start a step, I identify all parts needed and more important all parts, which need to be added later. This is immensely important for larger steps like the chassis and the body parts, where there are subassemblies added from nearly all steps of the manual.
Next I look for how the individual parts are connected and measure the diameters for drilling ALL needed holes. This, I check twice, as it is sometimes impossible to reach areas with a drill bit, when assembled.

Until now, I never had issues with missing or badly casted parts, but lost some parts (my fault) of my Crocker motorcycle, which were immediately sent by MFH. When I bought a kit from them, it took no more than six days to reach my doorstep, faster than parcels even from the Spanish mainland.

Cheers Rob

[Egilman]

Glad to hear that MFH is one of the few companies in this business that take CS seriously...

 

Excellent to hear... Hopefully some of the others will take heed....

[CDW]

46 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Glad to hear that MFH is one of the few companies in this business that take CS seriously...

 

Excellent to hear... Hopefully some of the others will take heed....

I think it’s part of the culture in Japan. They seem to conduct themselves at a much higher standard than most. That’s my impression of it.

[Javlin]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

I think it’s part of the culture in Japan. They seem to conduct themselves at a much higher standard than most. That’s my impression of it.

My Son says much respect is put forth between individuals firstly.Interesting subject matter Craig the early 50's cool.

[CDW]

11 hours ago, DocRob said:

I can only confirm your approach as well as the ultra rapid and thorough customer service by MFH.
I always check all the parts after cleaning, when they are left to dry against the manual and sort them into similar kind of boxes, like you did.
When I start a step, I identify all parts needed and more important all parts, which need to be added later. This is immensely important for larger steps like the chassis and the body parts, where there are subassemblies added from nearly all steps of the manual.
Next I look for how the individual parts are connected and measure the diameters for drilling ALL needed holes. This, I check twice, as it is sometimes impossible to reach areas with a drill bit, when assembled.

Until now, I never had issues with missing or badly casted parts, but lost some parts (my fault) of my Crocker motorcycle, which were immediately sent by MFH. When I bought a kit from them, it took no more than six days to reach my doorstep, faster than parcels even from the Spanish mainland.

Cheers Rob

Rob

Have you been using solder to assemble your white metal parts? I'm going to practice on some MFH scrap pieces before I try it on the real parts. Would rather be safe than sorry. 

With this tiny kit, it's my intention to build it on top of a small, flat, presentation board. This way I can properly space everything out, keep it square and leveled so that all four wheels touch the surface with no awkward stagger or misalignment. I plan to first assemble the kit with thin CA glue for the initial fit then soak it all in acetone to remove the CA and disassemble it all once I am satisfied it fits together properly. By then I hopefully will know the correct build sequence to follow and details that need close attention. After that, would like to solder the white metal pieces if possible. I have heard good modelers who prefer CA or epoxy, then others who prefer solder but I have been warned about the MFH white metal low melting temperature. 

How does one stay informed about the kits MFH plans to release or rerelease in the future? I don't see that information on the MFH website. I get the impression that all their releases are first-come, first-served. Buying directly from them is the most cost-effective way to go but often times the only way to acquire a kit not currently in production is to pay a "middleman" a higher cost. This last kit I bought from them directly was substantially less cost than from any shop who stocked the same kit.

[gsdpic]

2 hours ago, CDW said:

How does one stay informed about the kits MFH plans to release or rerelease in the future?

That's a good question.  I have seen on the spotmodel.com web site indications of MFH kits to be released soon but as you noted, there does not appear to be such info on the MFH web site.  The particular example I am thinking of is the McLaren F1 GTR '95 LeMans winner.  Apparently MFH released it originally in 2020 but it still just shows as "out of stock" on their web site, but spotmodel.com indicates that it will be rereleased and available again soon. 

[DocRob]

6 hours ago, CDW said:

Rob

Have you been using solder to assemble your white metal parts? I'm going to practice on some MFH scrap pieces before I try it on the real parts. Would rather be safe than sorry. 

With this tiny kit, it's my intention to build it on top of a small, flat, presentation board. This way I can properly space everything out, keep it square and leveled so that all four wheels touch the surface with no awkward stagger or misalignment. I plan to first assemble the kit with thin CA glue for the initial fit then soak it all in acetone to remove the CA and disassemble it all once I am satisfied it fits together properly. By then I hopefully will know the correct build sequence to follow and details that need close attention. After that, would like to solder the white metal pieces if possible. I have heard good modelers who prefer CA or epoxy, then others who prefer solder but I have been warned about the MFH white metal low melting temperature. 

I have only some minutes, therefore a short answer, Craig. I never tried soldering MFH white metal parts and use only CA for construction. I feel very comfortable with Colle 21 CA, which can be found on SpotModel.
 

6 hours ago, CDW said:

How does one stay informed about the kits MFH plans to release or rerelease in the future? I don't see that information on the MFH website. I get the impression that all their releases are first-come, first-served. Buying directly from them is the most cost-effective way to go but often times the only way to acquire a kit not currently in production is to pay a "middleman" a higher cost. This last kit I bought from them directly was substantially less cost than from any shop who stocked the same kit.

 

4 hours ago, gsdpic said:

That's a good question.  I have seen on the spotmodel.com web site indications of MFH kits to be released soon but as you noted, there does not appear to be such info on the MFH web site.  The particular example I am thinking of is the McLaren F1 GTR '95 LeMans winner.  Apparently MFH released it originally in 2020 but it still just shows as "out of stock" on their web site, but spotmodel.com indicates that it will be rereleased and available again soon. 

I follow the information on the MFH page daily, where they announce their regular releases about one month ahead. You can pre order then or wait until the kit is released, but bear in mind, a kit can be sold out in the pre order phase. This happened with the re-release of the McLaren F1 GTR '95 kit. SpotModel obviously ordered some and they will have stock, when the kit hits their shelves.
I bought the Williams FW16 limited edition on the first day of the pre order phase luckily, because it was gone minutes later.
It seems, that MFH sometimes re releases older kits, but I´ve never seen them release a kit for a third time, but I stay corrected. 
To me prices are best directly from MFH by far.

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

There is no doubt resellers watch those announcements closely. The worst are resellers on EBay. Not only do they make a profit, the buyer pays their EBay fees as well. It’s not uncommon for resellers to sell out of production MFH kits for twice the original price. I only recently learned I could buy direct from MFH. I’m trying to learn how to stay in the know so that I don’t miss subjects that interest me. ( the McLaren mentioned for example)

[DocRob]

26 minutes ago, CDW said:

There is no doubt resellers watch those announcements closely. The worst are resellers on EBay. Not only do they make a profit, the buyer pays their EBay fees as well. It’s not uncommon for resellers to sell out of production MFH kits for twice the original price. I only recently learned I could buy direct from MFH. I’m trying to learn how to stay in the know so that I don’t miss subjects that interest me. ( the McLaren mentioned for example)

You have to check their homepage daily, Craig. It happened to me three times now, that a kit was sold out in one or two days in the pre -release phase. The last was the Alfa Tipo 33 Stradale, announced together with the McLaren. I thought about buying it for two or three days and whoops the decision was made by others .

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

Arriving at my house today 🙂

Known as "the Rolls Royce of motorcycles", this bike from 1926 set speed records of over 130mph. Lawrence of Arabia was killed in an accident while riding his Brough Superior SS100, according to an article in Wikipedia.

Edited January 10 by CDW

[DocRob]

You´ll love it Craig. Having enjoyed their Crocker build immensely as my first MFH kit, I know you will have loads of fun during the build. I thought about buying this one too and maybe even do so soon.

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

2 minutes ago, DocRob said:

You´ll love it Craig. Having enjoyed their Crocker build immensely as my first MFH kit, I know you will have loads of fun during the build. I thought about buying this one too and maybe even do so soon.

Cheers Rob

I wish I had bought the side car in time. Perhaps it will be rereleased, I don't know if it was a new offering or if it was already a rerelease. Is there any way to know?

[CDW]

Look at the level of craftsmanship this Japanese modeler put into his D50 model:

 

1/43scale D50 / Tipo159 built by Hiroki Muto

[yvesvidal]

Yeap, these Japanese modelers are perfectionists. They are incredible.

 

I am always amazed when I try to build a motorcycle kit, at what Kinichi Karube is capable of doing in the scale of 1/9th:

 

http://kimshouse7015.com/index.html

 

Yves

Edited January 10 by yvesvidal

[gsdpic]

I need to stop following @CDW and @DocRob, all this temptation.  I just caved in and ordered the Eagle-Gurney-Weslake direct off of the MFH web site.  I've had my eye on it a while but kept resisting the temptation.   Hope my experience with them is as good as yours.  Ok, sorry for the tangent....

 

[Egilman]

I remember acquiring my two MFH kits, both of Sato's winning rides in the Indy 500... Pricy, pricy, hard to find... Definitely would have been cheaper off the website but they were both out of production with no though of re-release...

 

I was lucky to find them...

[DocRob]

On 1/10/2025 at 2:55 AM, CDW said:

How does one stay informed about the kits MFH plans to release or rerelease in the future? I don't see that information on the MFH website.

I just stumbled over this notification on the MFH site. I don´t know, if it means, there is a chance of a re-pop, while other kits strictly say "Out Of Stock"




 

 

On 1/10/2025 at 4:56 PM, CDW said:

Look at the level of craftsmanship this Japanese modeler put into his D50 model:

Bah, I thought, I can resist the hype you started with 1/43 kits Craig but I´m weak. I just ordered a 1/43 Williams FW16 kit, as a test mule for my 1/12 kit. I also wiped my magnifiers 

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

Cherish the level of craftsmanship and customer service you get from Model Factory Hiro. There are few such companies in the world today.

[Canute]

Nice touch by Hiro-san. She'll be a beauty.

[yvesvidal]

That is really nice. I love the little origami they included with the note.

 

Yves

[CDW]

Last Wednesday I wrote MFH concerning two missing parts. The parts arrived on my front porch this morning. Talk about great customer service, Wow!

[yvesvidal]

Well, these kits are expensive but support is top. It reminds me a little bit of what CAF Model does on the wooden ships side.

 

Yves

[Old Collingwood]

That is Superb service.

 

OC.

[CDW]

First steps will be filing, cleaning, test fitting, then building the engine and gearbox. Here are the associated parts with a straight pin for size reference. If there are any available, would like to find some smaller files. The Tamiya and generic jeweler files we are all familiar with are not small enough for some of the fine work necessary at this scale. If you know of a source for such, please advise.