This is a review of the Ford Escort Zakspeed Gr.2.

Engine

The little 4 cylinder engine is well engraved. I was a little disappointed that there was no distributor.

Interior

Interior is wonderfully engraved and everything fits perfectly. There’s seat belt decals for the driver seat. The kit also had seat belt latches but they weren’t supposed to be used.

Body

Body was crisp and clean with no flash. I used a wonderful Tru-Color Grabber Blue because the kit is a Ford. A 2-part urethane clear was used to finish the paint.

Chassis

The suspension parts are separate from the chassis pan as is the exhaust system. There’s really not much detail to the chassis or suspension.

Instructions

The instructions are several pages long with suggested paint color for specific parts.

Many enthusiasts dream of finding a Bugatti or a Bentley in a barn or a long disused building. In reality, such finds are more likely to be an Austin 7, Ford Popular or a Mini. This book is stuffed with these so called “barn finds”. The author has tried to find out the background to the abandonment and the previous history of the “as found” car when it was in regular use. Why was it put away and apparently forgotten?

A presence on the racing scene from 1976 to 1981 when FIA rules changes finished their run, the Porsche 935 series of race cars won about a third of the all the races they entered. This car, a 935 K2 series fielded by the Porsche-Kremer racing team ran the 1978 Le Mans race finishing 25th. Kremer would go on to win Le Mans in 1979 with a 935 K3. These cars were powered by flat six 3 to 3.3 liter twin turbo charged engines producing over 700 hp. Based on the 911 body, numerous aerodynamic improvements made these cars serious contenders.

The Beemax kit is a reissue of a Platz kit. The parts are molded in black, white, clear and chrome. Masks are provided for the glass as are rubber tires and mesh for the rear wing vents. Two styles of wheels are provided as are the brake vent disks used by many 935s. Three decal sheets, detailed instructions and a color decal guide round out the kit. Quality of the parts are top notch as is the fit of the parts.

While most Americans might believe otherwise, the first production automobile was built in Germany in 1886 by Karl Benz (of Mercedes Benz fame). The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was built in very small numbers between 1886 and 1893. ICM first released a kit of this vehicle in 2020, with photo-etch parts for the wheels and and drive chains. This year they released an “easy” version of the kit that replaces the photo-etch parts with plastic versions at a significantly lower cost.

The kit comes in ICM’s sturdy thick cardboard box and consists of several sprues of parts in a soft gray plastic. The softness of the plastic is good, because it means that the many small, delicate parts tend to bend rather than break.

The parts had almost no flash and very few mold lines. This is fortunate, because filing or trimming off excess plastic is almost impossible on many of the parts due to their small size and fragile nature.

This Part 2 of the review of Meng’s GT40 Mk.II ’66 focuses on the chassis & suspension assembly of the Meng kit. Part 1 of the GT40 review included ‘What’s-In-The-Box’ and a comparison of the Meng kit to the previously released Trumpeter GT40 kit.

Ford GT40 Mk.II ‘66

Developed by the Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby to end the dominance of Ferrari in the preeminent 24 Hours of LeMans, the Ford GT40 Mk.II become an iconic American built race car. After failing to finish the race in 1965, the Ford GTs finished 1-2-3 in 1966 in a humiliating loss for Ferrari to win at Le Mans. This also ended Ferrari's five-year-long dominance of this race.