These guys move like the wind! TOP Marques unveils their painted samples of the upcoming 1:12 Ferrari 275 GTB. Yellow, Red, and Blue do look delicious, but will the overall example sell to collectors? As per TOP Marques, they believe the 275 GTB is their best example of scale modelling to date.
Product# TM1204A / TM1204B / TM10204C
The model car shown is overall a 275 GTB/4 – NOT – a 275 GTB, which is Much different….mainly the overall body and details on it.
Good choice of car to model, but there is NO excuse for mistakes – inaccuracies, all of which I found after looking at this for about 2 minutes.
Roof line shape not exact – especially noticeable over tops of door windows which should NOT be completely straight – there should be a gentle curve, wheels & tires are Very wrong, each sample has sloppy inconsistent fitting of the directional specific knock-off spinners, exhaust pipes are placed too high and missing their hangers, windshield wipers belong on a toy (maybe those will change on production models?) front side ‘tear drop’ lights are off in size & shape, shelf under rear window is wrong – should Not have any pleats and not have molded in speakers – it should just be flat/smooth, interior console tray should NOT have wood grain, and dash appears to be wrong…. should also Not have any wood grain, and missing surround in front of main gauges. Looks to be a dash from a 275 GTB *Not* a GTB/4.
It is also somewhat difficult to tell if the rest of the body shape is accurate enough, though it looks to be, but given the problem with door window top – roof line, it may not be.
Apparently no one at Top Marques know the Ferrari’s they are making models of, and are also not familiar with the word “research.” If they actually believe that this “……275 GTB is their best example of scale modelling to date.” Then they should get out of the model business and make shoes instead.
Unfortunately the team at TM doesn’t provide much detail. We aren’t an authority on Ferrari or any marque for that matter. When the manufacturer provides little to no detail we are left to our own devices. Seems this is common theme with the brand. I wonder if the purposely done to avoid law suits. You never see Ferrari mentioned in their posts either. Why? Are they using the CMC loop-hole to avoid payment. Curious minds want to know.
TM stop being lazy! And slow down and produce quality models over quantity models!
I realize that DS is at the mercy of the model manufacturers providing information, and all too often, they supply little, and or incomplete details. Similar to how they seem to do any research. I am sure that none of Top Marque’s Ferrari models are licensed. Looking on their web site, Ferrari is never listed, only the type of Ferrari i.e.: 250 Testa Rossa.
Good afternoon,Sorry for my bad english and Sorry for my stupido question.
I ser that a lot of 275 model(CMC,BBR..)are without fuel cap,do you know the reason?
Thank you if you Will answer and Congratulations for your Amazing work and culture
I understand that MLB other wise known as Marshall Buck spends his life criticising other companies work when he himself apart from one or two models has nothing to show for in the collectibles business. Its really unfortunate when people that have self worth and physchological problems love to criticise others as a relief for their personal failures in life. No company is perfect and no product is perfect- there is no such things as perfection however MLB’s continual rant of all other products shows how shallow he is himself in real life. If he were a man, he would go out there and make some models.
Piotr…..This model has problems, and I wish it did not. Your “response” was not appropriate. I am not going to lower myself to any verbal mud slinging, but I will say that unfortunately it is very clear that you do not know what you are talking about, you know nothing about myself nor about my company; you just do not have a clue. As an FYI, though not really for you….my company CMA Models has produced over 30 editions of hand built model cars in many different scales, as well as hundreds of custom built pieces – all properly researched.
We absolutely agree with the comments from others. What Marshall brings is excellent perspective and knowledge, We learn so much from him and others like him. We need to keep manufactures on their toes. It seems TM is taking many shortcuts with their assortment as of late. I personally wish I had Marshall’s knowledge and attention to detail. Thank you Marshall from the DS team!
That was uncalled for. If someone makes a model and brings it out in the open, it is no wonder that it will be criticized. Positive and negative criticism are expected. Maybe the latter more when the model is a commercial effort instead of one person making one or two models on their own. There’s a difference.
Piotr, your comments are totally unfounded; you apparently know nothing about Marshall as a person or as a a highly respected model-maker in the industry. Keep your negative comments to yourself, especially personal ones.
Marshall’s observations are absolutely correct – his feedback is helpful to the industry and to potential purchasers. If a collector wants this model, he’ll be much better informed of what he’s getting for his money with this information. I was very interested in this model, and would be willing to overlook the interior errors caught by Marshall, as well as the slightly off door arch and tailpipe issues (I could live with the first and could correct the second). But even I can see that the headlights are incorrectly shaped (unless it’s just a trick of a wide-angle lens) and that will put me off.
Thanks Craig, I appreciate your kind words.
BTW – for some reason this Ferrari seems to be the most difficult for model manufacturers to make – the most accurate seems to be BBR versions in 1:18.
People seem to forget one essential element when discussing any automobile manufactured in the 1960’s by specialised car manufacturers. These cars were all handbill and each one is different. There was no mass production of automobiles in Maranello and all chassis were banged out by hand by Italian artisans. The same goes with the interior. If you took 50 275’s and looked at the inside each one would probably by different as Maranello sourced panels and pieces as they could get their hands on them. So when people tend to pontificate about the exactitude of 1960’s sports cars- they are using 21rst century methods of valuation for hand made cars none of which were made with an industrial production logic. There was no tooling, there were no cads, there ws no standardisation,. This is what precisely makes these cars so beautiful and wonderfully subjective to discuss. They aren’t a Honda Accord
These comments I can support.
Top Marques makes some very good 1:18 models, but…. there are problems with most of their 1:12th models. Judging by piotr’s posts, he or she might have a strong connection with Top Marques.
I am not intending to be arrogant here, but I’m sure that some people will think that I am, and so be it. I’m just stating facts throughout this entire response.
Unfortunately most model manufacturers do not bother to spend any or enough time and/or money doing proper/complete research. BBR, CMC, AutoArt, Tecnomodel, GT Spirit, and most others have all been guilty of this. These companies are not philanthropic organizations; they are all for profit companies, which is fine, in fact it’s a good thing. They want to sell us ‘collectible’ models, and many collectors want and expect a good quality product, these are not cheap little toys – so it goes without saying that accuracy is also expected. If you are going to produce a product of any type and sell it for profit then you have to expect and accept reviews….especially if they are dealing with and stating the facts. Movies, restaurants, hotels, etc are not free, and they all expect and receive criticisms or cheers dependent on what they deliver.
piotr is right that these cars were hand built by artisans….but wrong about the differences from exterior to interior. Many 275 GTB’s and GTB/4’s were virtually identical. Certainly there are small nuances of detail and panel differences on many of the real cars, but none of those have anything to do with the flaws of this 1:12th model. The GTB & GTB/4 were production cars for Ferrari and there was standardization. Around 1,000 cars combined were built including long & short nose. This was quite a large production run for Ferrari back in those days. Many if not most of these cars were the same. The mistakes which Top Marques made have nothing at all to do with the hand built nature of the real cars. My list is correct, and the model is not.
I and others who know these cars are not using so-called “….21st century methods of valuation….” If piotr or anyone else wants to claim this model as being correct, then cite the serial number of the real car they used as reference so the model can be compared to it.
It doesn’t cost any more money to produce a correct model rater than a model with obvious and easily avoidable flaws.
Please get as involved with CMCs coming Ferrari 275 as that is a model I’m hoping will be great! CMC can also get the overall shape very wrong, the DB4 Zagato comes to mind.
This does look very pretty though so to think with a few tweaks it could be amazing!
Daniel, I used to consult with CMC, but have nothing to do with them now. They rarely paid attention to notes and lists of corrections etc. They just want to crank out models their way….always with mistakes. Some little and some huge. Some of their models are great and some are so-so,and then some are terrible.
They completely screwed up in very many ways with their Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. That is what happens when you do not do proper research, and when you use a well known replica/fake car to make a model from, which is what they did.
I am sure the 275 GTB/C will have mistakes….hopefully they won’t be big ones. And hopefully they will pick the right car to model, not like the one they chose to use as reference for their 250 GTO.
CMC’s are tricky. Some are beautiful, some are ruined by the overscale details, like massive steering wheels, giant patterns on the interiors, behemoth screws. You really need to be selective when buying a CMC. The 250 GTO was terrible, especially the interior.