REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

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mcaf123
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Posts: 523
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:45 pm
Location: United Kingdom

REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

Post by mcaf123 » Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:53 am

Back in January of this year, I was fortunate enough to review the 1:18 CMC Lancia D50. Now we’re here, just 6 months later with the sequel to that review – the Ferrari D50 in 1:18 scale by CMC. So what has changed in between then and now? Both in terms of the real car from the Lancia in 1954 to the Ferrari in 1956, and for CMC’s model from January to July. As you would watch the prequel of any film again before you went to see the next installation, I strongly suggest you read the Lancia D50 review here before you continue…..and if you’ve never read it before, then you’re in for a right treat!


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The Ferrari D50 picks up exactly where the Lancia D50 left off. Lancia’s World Champion driver, Alberto Ascari, tragically died on 26th May 1955 at Monza after he decided to try a few laps of his friend Eugenio Castellotti’s Ferrari 750 Monza car. He wasn’t supposed to be driving that day, but decided to give it a go and set off in just his jacket and tie, shirt sleeves, ordinary trousers and Castellotti’s white helmet. In the third lap the fatal accident occured – as he came out of a fast curve called Curva del Vialone (now redesigned into a chicane and renamed Variante Ascari in his honour), the car skidded, turned on its nose and somersaulted twice. 36 year old Ascari was flung from the cockpit and died from his injuries just minutes later. The sport lost an icon that day! Perhaps coincidentally, Ascari’s father, Antonio who was also a professional racing driver, also died at the young age of 36 on 26th July 1925 at the French Grand Prix. Both were killed just 4 days after surviving serious accidents. Both had crashed fatally at the exit of fast left-hand corners and both left behind a wife and two children. Both had also won 13 championship Grands Prix! Creepy? Perhaps.


Ascari’s death was the final nail in the coffin for Lancia (excuse the pun). Debts were mounting and the company had some difficult decisions to make. They knew their D50 was capable of winning races and therefore some within the company wanted to carry on. However, the majority realised that although they were getting plenty of positive publicity from their racing endeavours, it ultimately wasn’t worth the outlay. Gianni Lancia had received a fair few offers, apparently including one from Mercedes Benz themselves for their championship winning racers! Fiat owner Giovanni Agnelli was interested in designer Vittorio Jano’s cars and considered it crucial to national pride that Italy have a Formula One team that could compete with the might of the Germans. Agnelli had actually approached Maserati to race the D50, but they were confident enough in their 250F and turned down his offer. Another Italian, Enzo Ferrari, was next on the list. His last season went badly and he was considering pulling out of racing altogether. Fiat made sure to sweeten the deal for Ferrari, who himself was having financial difficulties. They offered him 50 million Lira a year for 5 years – this was a win-win situation for Ferrari, because he was effectively being bankrolled to take on the successful D50s and race them!


Lancia officially pulled out of racing on 31st May 1955. On 26th July, Scuderia Lancia handed over pretty much everything to Scuderia Ferrari. A total of six Lancia D50s and 60 crates of equipment were shipped via transporter from where the handover took place in the courtyard of Lancia’s factory in Turin to Ferrari in Maranello. Jano also moved over with his creations. Below you can see the handover at Lancia along with some stills from footage shot of the move.


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So Ferrari now had a car easily capable of winning races. All it needed was some world class drivers. Mercedes had pulled out of racing (only to return much later in 1989) after the Le Mans disaster of 1955, where 83 spectators and driver Pierre Levegh died and 120 more were injured in the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history. That left Juan Manuel Fangio without a job and he was thus persuaded to join Ferrari. Italians Luigi Musso and Eugenio Castellotti, alongside British driver Peter Collins, joined Fangio to race the D50s for the 1956 season.

During 1956, the Lancia D50 became the Lancia-Ferrari D50 and eventually just the Ferrari D50. The car underwent progressive changes, often much to the chagrin of the D50’s designer, Vittorio Jano. The car had been difficult to drive with a low centre of gravity and unusual weight distribution. It didn’t slide and was liable to spin with little warning. The iconic fuel panniers either side of the fuselage were ditched, with the fuel tank instead moved to the more traditional position behind the driver’s seat. The panniers were now merged into the main bodywork, with the oil radiators now replaced by a tube oil cooler and relocated to the nose of the car. Four exhaust pipes on each flank are now bundled together, generating a deafening roar from the 2.5 litre V8 engine – now producing 265bhp, up from the Lancia’s 260bhp. The suspension was also modified to account for the change in fuel tank location and the tyres swapped for the Englebert brand instead of Pirelli.

The season got off to a great start for Ferrari. Their “new” car dominated the grid in qualifying, with the racing outfit taking the top three spaces at Argentina! Fangio on pole was 2.2 seconds faster than teammate Castellotti. However, Fangio’s car suffered a fuel pump failure on lap 22 and Maserati was dominating the field with Carlos Menditéguy and Stirling Moss leading the pack anyway. Fangio took over Musso’s car on lap 29 and re-entered the race in fifth place. He quickly overtook Maserati’s Jean Behra, but lost it again when he span off. From laps 40 to 42 all hell broke loose, with Castellotti and Menditéguy exiting the race with gearbox and halfshaft issues. Fangio passed Moss in lap 66 after his Maserati developed engine issues – he would eventually retire in lap 81. This left the door wide open for Fangio to win the race a whopping 24.4 seconds ahead of Behra! Fangio shared the 8 points with Musso and gained an extra point for fastest lap, meaning he was on 5 points to Behra’s 6 points even though he won the race.

LIFE Magazine photographer Thomas McAvoy (one of the original four staffers of the world renowned publication) conducted a photo essay of Ferrari at the second race of the season, the Monaco Grand Prix. These pictures give a stunning insight into the racing of that era – a far cry from the spectators in the stands, far away from the action in the pits. The first set of pictures below show the team unloading the D50s from a cargo plane that had returned from the BRDC International Trophy of Silverstone and then transferred to a Fiat 642 Bartoletti truck for transport to Ferrari facilities. Car #2 is chassis number 0001, as raced by Peter Collins.

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Car #1 on the front of the truck is chassis number 0007, as raced by Juan Manuel Fangio.

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Upon arrival at Ferrari’s facilities in Maranello, technicians set to work to prepare the D50s for the Monaco Grand Prix. These pictures really are great!

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McAvoy then followed the team to the race itself, taking some candid shots both in and out the race: fans swarming over a D50, legendary F1 drivers, cars crashing to barriers, autograph signing, and more. These are quite poignant images, because less than two months after these were taken, on 30th June 1956, Dino Ferrari (Enzo’s only son, and heir apparent to the Ferrari legacy) died from Muscular Dystrophy. Enzo remained forever heartbroken. This is when “The Old Man” began wearing his trademark dark sunglasses as a sign of his mourning, and in remembrance of Dino’s death. His marriage soon failed under the stress of Dino’s passing, and Enzo lived out the rest of his years in a tiny apartment at the Ferrari factory, where he worked tirelessly to forward the Ferrari brand until his own death at the ripe old age of 90 on 14th August 1988.

Below is Eugenio Castellotti. He died at just 26 years old on 14th March 1957, while testing a new Ferrari for the 1957 racing season at the Modena Autodrome.

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Peter Collins (below) died a year later, at 27 years old on 3rd August 1958 at the German Grand Prix. By that time he would already have won three Grand Prix with a promising career ahead of him. In those days there were so many young and talented drivers taken from the world far too young!!

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Below you can see Fangio getting into his #20 car. He would later have to retire his car on lap 94 after smacking it into a wall – the damage can be seen on the following photo.

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Fangio apparently described Monaco as his greatest race ever. After qualifying on pole position, Moss took the lead soon into the first lap with Fangio playing catchup, which caused him to hit the hay bales on lap 2, thus causing teammate Musso and Vanwall driver Harry Schell to crash out while they tried to avoid him. Meanwhile Fangio was still chasing race leader Stirling Moss as hard as possible. During lap 54 he swapped cars with Collins and kept on pushing to close that gap. He rejoined in third place and eventually overtook Behra in lap 70 to take second, but he was still a crazy 47 seconds behind Moss! Moss ran into a spot of bother in lap 86 of 100, when his teammate Cesare Perdisa had an issue with locking brakes while Moss was lapping him, which resulted in some sort of contact that caused Moss’s bonnet to lift. This allowed Fangio to close the gap by 2 seconds a lap (an eternity in F1!) to eventually finish the race just 6.1 seconds behind Stirling Moss! An absolutely incredible comeback, if not ultimately unsuccessful.

For the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, Fangio was once again on pole, as he would be for 6 out of the 7 races of the 1956 season. He was nearly 5 seconds ahead of Moss in qualifying, but as with Monaco, Moss took the lead from the beginning and Fangio didn’t do so well in the wet conditions and he fell to fifth place. By the third lap he was already up to second hot on Moss’s tail. By lap 5 he had managed to overtake Moss and opened up a good 8 second lead by the time lap 10 came around! Moss’s Maserati 250F lost a rear wheel – he was able to run back to the pits and take Perdisa’s car. This allowed Collins to step up to second place and eventually to take the lead in lap 24 when Fangio lost his transmission. Peter Collins got his first ever win that race!

The D50s continued to dominate the field at the French Grand Prix a month later, with Ferrari securing three of the top four spots. This was the second win for Peter Collins, with Castellotti trailing just 0.3 seconds behind him in second place. Fangio finished in fourth, behind Maserati’s Jean Behra. The D50 was proving to be a huge hit on the track, backed up by some world class racing drivers.

Next came the British GP at Silverstone. This was home turf for Stirling Moss, so you’d expect him to put on a good show. He was on pole position in qualifying, being almost a second quicker than Fangio. To be honest, he had a good excuse – Fangio had been ill for the 10 days before the race with a high fever. He was actually advised not to race by doctors, but the organisers insisted he did. There is no way Health & Safety nowadays would allow that to happen! On lap 94 of 101, Moss’s axle snapped and Fangio took the lead, winning the race over a lap ahead of the next Ferrari. Moss did at least come away with a point after driving the fastest lap of the race. Notably, this was the first race of the season where Fangio had won driving his own car from start to finish!

The penultimate race of the season saw the teams descend on the Nürburgring in Germany. Ferrari once again blitzed qualifying, taking the top three spots on the starting line, with Fangio in pole. In fact, he was the only D50 to finish the race, with all his other teammates retiring at various points throughout the race. And boy did he finish! He was a full 46.4 seconds ahead of second place Stirling Moss – not only that, but he broke Hermann Lang’s 17 year lap record with a time of 9:41.6 versus Lang’s 9:52.2 in 1939.

The final race of the 1956 World Championship of Drivers took place on 2nd September 1956 at Monza, Italy. Yet again, Fangio took pole in his #22 car – his sixth of the season, in fact. They had pursued a journey of lightening cars as much as possible and this time it worked to detrimental effect. Three of the five Ferraris that raced had steering arm failure. Ferrari had drilled holes in the arms to shed as much weight as possible and it didn’t help that there was extra stress and pressure put on the cars from the banked areas of the track. Consequently, Fangio’s steering arm broke on lap 46. Coming into the race Fangio had an 8 point lead over teammate Collins and Maserati’s Behra and Musso was therefore ordered to relinquish his car so Fangio could go on and win the race and ultimately his third consecutive Championship. However, Musso was having none of it and refused to hand the car over. In the most British and sporting way, Peter Collins gave Fangio his car when he came in to the pits for a routine tyre swap, who then proceeded to finish the race 5.7 seconds behind winner Stirling Moss. Collins and Fangio shared the points, but Fangio still won his fourth title. Below is a picture showing the full six car lineup before the race at Monza – quite a sight!

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In the 1956 season, Ferrari had won five of the seven European races. Juan Manual Fangio had managed to achieve three wins, five podiums, six pole positions, four fastest laps and his fourth World Championship. Over its career the Lancia-Ferrari/Ferrari D50 had raced fourteen races and won five of them. Fangio left Ferrari at the end of the season and joined Maserati for the next one. With them he would go on to win his fourth consecutive Championship and fifth in total. At the end of the 1957 season he decided to retire at the age of 47. His five Formula 1 World Championship titles remained a record until his death in 1995, which was not surpassed until Michael Schu­ma­cher achieved the feat in 2003.

If you want to see plenty more pictures of the season, check out The Klemantaski Collection online and select Make of Car as “Ferrari – Lancia”. And if you want to experience the Lancia-Ferrari D50 in raw aural form, look no further than the video below which was supposedly shot in the late 1960s/early 70s when Fangio would have been around 60 years old. It is taken from a documentary about him called ‘Fangio – A Life at 300km Per Hour’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-BZ0NbriI

The history lesson is over. Now let’s bring it back to the here and now and see how CMC has linked the present to the past in scale form. As with the Lancia D50 model I reviewed a few months ago, there are a few variants to cater to all collectors’ tastes. In fact, there’s quite a lot more than just a few! They are as follows:

M-180 – standard red version. Unlimited in number and available from August 2018 at 497EUR.
M-181 – Fangio’s Longnose #1 winner from the 1956 German GP. Limited to 1,500 pieces and available from September 2018 at 499EUR.
M-182 – Collins’s #14 winner from the 1956 French GP. Limited to 1,500 pieces and available from September 2018 at 499EUR.
M-183 – #26 car Collins shared with Fangio at the Italian GP at Monza: the car that gave Fangio the Championship. Limited to 1,000 pieces and available from September 2018 at 499EUR.
M-184 – 2 car bundle: Alberto Ascari’s #6 winning Lancia D50 from the 1955 Valentino GP
Andrè Pilette’s #20 sixth place yellow Ferrari D50 from the 1956 Belgian GP. Limited to 1,000 pieces and available at 955EUR.
M-185 – Collins’s Longnose #2 from the 1956 German GP that retired on lap 8 from a fuel leak. Limited to 1,000 pieces and available from September 2018 at 499EUR.
M-197 – Fangio’s #1 winner from the 1956 British GP. Limited to 1,000 pieces and available from September 2018 at 499EUR.
M-201 – 3 car Fangio bundle: Longnose #1 winner from the 1956 German GP
#1 winner from the 1956 British GP
#26 car Collins shared with Fangio at the Italian GP
Special showcase with Fangio figurine. Limited to 200 pieces and available from October 2018 at 1495EUR.
M-202 – 3 car Collins bundle: #14 winner from the 1956 French GP
Longnose #2 from the 1956 German GP
#26 car Collins shared with Fangio at the Italian GP
Special showcase with Collins figurine. Limited to 200 pieces and available from October 2018 at 1495EUR.

That is quite a list! No doubt of CMC getting the maximum value for money out of their molds, there is sure to be some sort of combination to suit all collectors.

Onto the model itself and the 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 contains 1,379 individual parts – all put together by hand, of course. Like the Lancia D50, this model features materials such as real leather and various metals throughout. Time to peel back the layers of this rich red onion and hopefully weep in joy at what lies beneath!

As I was sent a press sample in a plain cardboard box, I cannot show you the unboxing process again. However, the polystyrene shell inside is exactly the same as the retail unit and comes with all the associated accessories, including microfibre cleaning cloth, tweezers and opening tool. Once unwrapped from it’s protective layer within the shell you get the same feeling as you do with most other CMC models – a real perception of heft and quality. You can almost feel each of those 1,379 parts coming together as one, right there in the palm of your hand. It is a feeling you miss when handling the latest ‘composite’ or resin models and goes a long way to justifying the extra cost of a CMC model! Let’s take a 360 degree look around the model first and then we’ll get into the finer details as the review progresses.

Gone are the legendary and revolutionary pannier fuel tanks from the Lancia D50 on this Ferrari iteration. They did look cool and unique on that model , but this Ferrari D50 just looks so more elegant than it’s predecessor! No doubt simply having the Prancing Horse sat proudly on the flanks and nose instantly gives this model kudos. CMC have done another fabulous job on the paintwork here – always one of their strong points. I can’t say for sure if it is the exact same hue as the Lancia, without having them sat side-by-side, but she is definitely drool worthy all the same! The slightly elongated nose on this variant (don’t forget there is an even longer long-nosed version to be released) makes this D50 look much more elegant than it’s forebear and maybe a bit less stubby looking.

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The side profile still retains that signature look of the Lancia D50, with a similar appearance in the bodywork between the wheels. This time the fuel panniers have been absorbed into the body itself and the two exhausts moved from the rear of the model into a bank of four exhausts on each side, right below the driver. Imagine being the driver of this car (how many of you are picturing yourself as Juan Manuel Fangio right now??) with that thundering V8 in both your ears!

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As we move around towards the back, the rear retains the same overall shape as the Lancia with that lovely curve from the driver’s head all the way down to the tail. However, I do think the rear looks a lot busier with all the extra screws and rivets all over the place. Maybe this had something to do with having the main fuel tank in the rear now?

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I really like the view of the front as shown below. The model just looks so purposeful and planted. The mesh in the nose is clearly visible, as well as the slightly larger air intake atop the engine cover.

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Zooming in now and CMC gets about 95% on this front Ferrari badge. The Prancing Horse is pretty good. The white parts that gives the famous equine some visual depth seems to be missing the detailing around the mouth and eye, but I don’t think you’d notice. The Italian stripes above it are fully complete and laden with colour, no faults there. The Ferrari lettering below could perhaps be slightly more defined, but as a package it looks great.

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The Scuderia Ferrari shield is present on each flank, just ahead of the wing mirrors. These sit large and proud, displaying their bold colours for all to see. There is just something about seeing these badges that really evokes strong emotions, whether you’re a racing fan or not. Even if you don’t like Ferrari’s road cars, no one can deny their history, pedigree and their relentless pursuit of technological advancement – all in the name of speed and driving perfection!

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As an aside, here is a short history lesson behind the world famous Ferrari logo. The black horse was painted on the fuselage of Francesco Baracca’s fighter plane during World War One. He died in 1918 and was considered a great and heroic airman. In 1923 Enzo Ferrari met Count Enrico Baracca, Francesco’s father and then his mother, Countess Paulina. She said to him one day, “Ferrari, put my son’s prancing horse on your cars. It will bring you good luck.” The horse was, and still is, black, and he added the canary yellow background which is the colour of Modena, his home town. In 1932, the Ferrari shield appeared for the first time on the Alfa Romeo cars of the Scuderia racing team at Spa. In 1947, on the Ferrari 125S – the first car to be produced at Maranello – the Prancing Horse appeared on a yellow background, and always with the Italian flag at the top. This time no longer within a shield and with the letters S and F (Scuderia Ferrari) replaced by simply the word Ferrari. From here the Ferrari brand was born, and since then has been on all the cars the company produces. Below you see Count Francesco Baracca posing by his SPAD S.XIII.

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In the front nose section there is this little flap that opens to reveal the cap to add fluid to the radiator just ahead of the engine. We’ll get a better look at this when we start ‘undressing’ the model later (steady now lads!).

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As with the Lancia D50, there is a small panel that lifts up to allow air into the footwell of the cockpit to keep the driver cool during the race. If you scroll back up to Thomas McAvoy’s pictures of Castellotti and Collins at Monaco, you’ll notice there is a central metal arm that appears to hold this flap open. This is missing from the CMC model and I would have loved to have seen a fully functioning replica on this facsimile. An oversight on CMC’s part, I assume, but a detail one would perhaps come to expect of the company.

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Behind the driver’s head and at the highest point of the model is the fuel flap. CMC replicated this really well and I quite like the silver cap contrasting with the red bodywork. It adds a nice touch to the otherwise red body.

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There are two spring loaded catches that hold down the engine cover. This is where you’d make good use of the included tweezers to help lift them up and away from the metal holes they nestle into. It is miles easier to lift off and put back these catches than it was on the Lancia D50, simply because they’re at the top of the model here, whereas they were right down deep in between the fuselage and panniers on the Lancia. I found them really finicky to use. Also note the rivets on the body that perfectly follow that almost sensuous curve down and back up where there used to be dead space to allow air into the side-mounted radiators on the Lancia. The shark-like gills to allow the engine to breath are present and correct.

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A closer look at the quad side exit exhausts here. Finished in a really high quality metal, the tips curve outwards. Not much to say here, except they look really menacing! I’m trying to think of another car that has eight exhausts in total – feel free to let me know.

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The rearmost section behind the cockpit and around the rear wheels is full of detail. You can just see the high mounted horizontal transverse leaf spring suspension poking through the cutout in the bodywork as well as parts of the axle system below it. Plenty of rivets to be seen here as well, including a line of silver flat head screws arching around the rear section. When it comes to removing this section from the top, you only need to remove the very bottom screw on either side of the model. Make sure you’ve got a really really small screwdriver to unscrew this. I had to make do with a flat hair clip, because my watchmaker’s toolkit simply didn’t have one small enough! As you can see on my sample below, that bottom screw wasn’t screwed in properly and there seems to be a spider crack emanating from the rivet next to it – I’ll chalk this one down to a QC issue.

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The driver’s cockpit area is great to look at. The genuine leather seat is brown this time, versus black in the Lancia D50. I definitely prefer the brown on red look of the Ferrari D50. Do note that the headrest is actually a separate piece of the seat and is attached to the rear removable section.

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The steering wheel and dashboard look very similar to the Lancia’s. However, there are some key differences. First and foremost, the Lancia badge has obviously been replaced with the Ferrari logo. The three spoke steering wheel now has seven holes per spoke instead of six, and the dials now have silver surrounds instead of black. Let’s not forget the Lancia had round wing mirrors versus the rectangular ones on this Ferrari D50, plus there are now also three metal studs on the dashboard. Comparing this picture to the Lancia’s interior does highlight some shortcomings on this model. Namely the quality and legibility of the dials themselves. They are far better on the Lancia and definitely feel like a step backwards here. The main culprit is the rev counter – the Jaeger logo is completely blurred and it just doesn’t look as crisp as it’s predecessor. Let us remember that these photos are taken on the macro level, so may be otherwise difficult for the human eye to notice, but it is an issue nevertheless.

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I’m honestly not sure what that yellow and grey part is. I’m guessing it is some sort of fluid reservoir? The copper piping in and out of it looks good, but I don’t like the mold line running right across the middle of the yellow lid. Unless it is actually supposed to be like that? I haven’t been able to find any pictures of the cockpit online, so if any of my readers can shed some light, it would be much appreciated!

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Down by the driver’s left hand side is the handbrake lever. This is done well – a real meaty silver knob sitting atop the stick.

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This next picture was a really tight shot, but I just managed to photograph one of the pedals. This is where CMC excels – being able to reproduce the small details in the darkest areas, where most collectors might not even be able to see into! This reminds me of a picture I saw recently – it was the engine of the Bartoletti transporter that had been removed from the model. Despite most of it not being visible under the bodywork, that didn’t stop CMC from lovingly replicating it. Great craftsmanship!

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Taking a look at the excellent wheels and tyres now. CMC have absolutely knocked these out of the park yet again, what with the metal air valve and painstakingly hand threaded spokes. The tyres now bear the Englebert brand, rather than the Pirelli’s on the Lancia D50. You will also notice that the front and rear tyres have different width sections and sidewall heights – despite both sitting on a 16 inch rim. The rear centre locking nuts have three branches, versus two at the front.

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We’ve admired the model in it’s fully dressed state and now it is time to slowly peel back the layers. Removing the locking wheel nuts first to get a better look at the wheel hubs, with more of the suspension system being visible behind it. The picture below shows the rear wheel removed – the hub is much thinner than that on the Lancia D50. The high mounted transverse leaf spring suspension system certainly looks different and CMC appear to have left most of the suspension components unpainted bare metal. The Lancia had pretty much all of it painted in the same grey colour you can see below. I’m not sure what finish I prefer, to be honest. The unpainted metal looks like the car is fresh off the production line, but the painted finish gives it that more authentic, period feel – each to their own I guess!

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Removing the front wheels shows off even more exquisite detail. You can see the copper wire representing the brake line snaking its way around the back of the hub. The metal parts here look so busy (in a good way), showing off CMC’s breadth and depth of engineering prowess in scale form. It gets even better when you steer the wheels left and right, admiring all the parts working in sync. Really well done job here by the team! Again, the components are bare metal compared to the Lancia and my earlier reservations still remain.

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Removing the engine cover using the opening tool to lift the two small sprung metal latches allows us to gaze at the Lancia 90 degree, 2.5 litre V8 engine. If you’re getting that feeling of deja vu thinking you’ve seen this before, that’s because this is exactly the same unit CMC put in their Lancia D50 model – the same four dual-throat carburettors and copper and black cabling is still here. Of course, this is factually correct. However, I did have some negative comments about that engine and these of course carry over to this review. The detail is still way off that of their Talbot Lago model I reviewed a while back and the wire covers for the carburettors are too thick and should be more of a thin mesh wire – just look at McAvoy’s picture of Castellotti sitting in his D50 with the engine on show earlier in the review to see what I’m referring to. The carburettor bases are still formed plastic, painted to look like metal and the copper piping that snakes through the four banks of carburettors still lacks finesse and simply looks like painted plastic. Due to the design of the real car you also see much less of the lower parts of the engine, because the bodywork wraps around a lot more than on the Lancia, where the entire cowl can be removed. From a commercial perspective I can see why CMC never bothered changing the engine detail, but from the collector’s perspective we will certainly view it as a missed opportunity.

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The entire nose section can be removed, thankfully. This gives us a glorious view at all that front end detail. You’ve got the black radiator sitting there at the very front, which can usually be seen behind the black mesh grille in the nose. The design in the Ferrari differs from the Lancia due to the team at Maranello removing the two oil coolers from between the panniers and replacing it with this tube oil cooler at the front of the radiator instead. All the cooling pipes with metal clamps coming from the top of the radiator and slither their way into the engine bay. Some more of the suspension and steering setup is now visible, as well as an even better view of the rear section of the hubs with the brake lines. A proper visual treat!

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The rear end of the Ferrari is a different setup to the Lancia, because the fuel tanks in the panniers were consolidated and moved to a single tank in the rear. Whereas the entire rear clamshell came off in one piece on the Lancia, it’s successor has a two-piece setup. A couple of really small silver screws on each side and one on the bottom liberates the section covering the oil tank. There isn’t that much to see here to be honest, but the filler cap for the oil tank looks nicely done.

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Removing the next section right behind the driver’s head is where all the buried treasure can be found – almost as if the Philips head screws hint at an X marking the spot! There are some splendid details to behold here. Your eye is instantly drawn to the new suspension setup – the raised horizontal transverse leafspring system with pushrods and friction dampers, of course all made in lovely metal. Below that is the de Dion tube, also present on the Lancia. Next to that appears to be the 5 speed gearbox and transfer case. Everything appears to be present and correct – to my untrained eye, at least!

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It would appear that access to the underside of the model is not possible. There are four screws, one in each corner which on my sample were completely stripped of any head to give the screwdriver any sort of grip. I don’t know if CMC purposely did that to stop people from taking the model apart, but I did look in every nook and cranny and it appears that this large bottom piece serves as mounting points for many of the parts. This is a crying shame, because the Lancia D50 had so much going on even on the underside, that it was difficult to know where to look first. This Ferrari is a bit boring from the bottom – the oil sump is pretty much the only thing of note down there.

Below you can see all the various pieces laid out. Just like the Lancia and indeed many other CMC models, this Ferrari D50 will make a cracking showpiece in a diorama. I can already imagine the creative scenes collectors will come up with! This is a side of the hobby I really enjoy seeing.

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Finally we come to the battery booster trolley and assist start device. I described this as a little “Easter Egg” in my Lancia D50 review and it still feels that way. It looks to be exactly the same as the one included with the Lancia, except for the end piece that actually slots into the car. There it has a round disc at the end, whereas here it doesn’t in order to allow it to fit inside chassis, as shown below.

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These next pictures are taken from my Lancia D50 review – I didn’t see the point in taking new pictures as the parts appear to be exactly the same.

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The innovation of the Lancia D50 lived on in the form of the Ferrari D50, not so much in the technical sense, because it didn’t move the game on like it’s forebear did, rather in the sense that this machine racked up some serious wins with some of the best driver’s the world of Formula One has ever seen.

Should you buy it? As always, that is for each and every one of you to decide – I would never tell anyone not to buy something, unless it was seriously rubbish. CMC’s racing cars seem to appeal to very many collectors, with plenty of Facebook groups dedicated purely to F1 model cars. No doubt they will pick up at least one of these Ferrari D50 variants, if not one of the bundles highlighted earlier in the review.

The evolution from Lancia to Ferrari is clear to see and I personally think this is the prettier car, but maybe the Prancing Horse is swaying my opinion somewhat! In terms of details, I do feel like this is a bit of a step back from the Lancia D50. CMC had the perfect opportunity to correct the worst aspect of the Lancia, which was the engine. The rest of the details were really lovely and fully worthy of the CMC stamp. They never did that with the Ferrari successor, which I do feel a bit let down by to be honest. With the seemingly non-removeable bottom tray there is a lot less detail visible if you wanted to take the model car apart. But on the whole I’m still really happy this car has been produced in 1:18 scale – and let’s not beat around the bush, if you’re going to want anyone to make it and do it even an ounce of justice, it has to be CMC! Putting the negatives aside there is still plenty to like about this beautiful red machine. The paintjob, the detail hidden behind the removable panels that they did do a stellar job on – especially in the suspension and steering department. I wonder how many collectors actually opt for the plain bodied cars like this one, as I would have thought the numbered cars have proper history to them?

When you compare it to the sealed resin “bricks” from the likes of BBR and Tecnomodel who often do old race cars, this CMC Ferrari D50 is probably just about double the price. But let me tell you this, it is definitely more than double the model – this model really is the sum of it’s 1,379 parts! And if you want to see some pictures of the CMC production process for this model, check them out here – you will be amazed by the craftsmanship and tiny parts everywhere.

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[KRAFTIG]
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Re: REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

Post by [KRAFTIG] » Thu Aug 09, 2018 8:57 am

An impressive model to say the least. I'm sure it will sell well. This is what the hobby is all about. Lot's of detail, big and small. Opening and full access. I wish CMC would move into some modern sport and supercars... Careful what I wish for, I'd most likely go broke!

mcaf123
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Re: REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

Post by mcaf123 » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:01 am

[KRAFTIG] wrote:An impressive model to say the least. I'm sure it will sell well. This is what the hobby is all about. Lot's of detail, big and small. Opening and full access. I wish CMC would move into some modern sport and supercars... Careful what I wish for, I'd most likely go broke!
Agreed - refreshing to see details in this day and age.
New and modern stuff would go against their name lol.....but I do really hope they start some sort of modern sub-line.

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Re: REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

Post by Atalante » Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:01 pm

Thanks for the detailed review, very well done!

Many CMC repeat customers (and I am one) don’t want them to move into the modern sports cars. There are still so many great classic cars begging for a good scale replica. And by the way you don’t want visible phillips screws on your favorite supercar, LOL. It is OK they do a modern sub-line but I’d rather see Almost Real take car of this.

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Re: REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

Post by mcaf123 » Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:51 am

Atalante wrote:Thanks for the detailed review, very well done!

Many CMC repeat customers (and I am one) don’t want them to move into the modern sports cars. There are still so many great classic cars begging for a good scale replica. And by the way you don’t want visible phillips screws on your favorite supercar, LOL. It is OK they do a modern sub-line but I’d rather see Almost Real take car of this.
Thanks for reading!

I hear what you're saying and its a very valid point!

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Ivan911
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Re: REVIEW: 1:18 CMC Ferrari D50 - 1956

Post by Ivan911 » Wed Dec 29, 2021 5:28 pm

I have only two 1/18 in my collection, and one is CMC. Enough said :drool:

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