01 • THE DESIGN

AMALGAM COLLECTION

I’m delighted to introduce Amalgam Collection to the pages of b500 magazine. Many of you will already be aware of their incredibly detailed models, but for those of you who haven’t as yet, discovered them, please go online and look them up, (after first continuing to read this)…you can find them at www.amalgamcollection.com I myself first discovered them when I was launching my photo-art series, based on the Jack Vettriano garage scene in his painting Birth of a Dream. I contacted Amalgam and asked to photograph a few of their 1/8 scale models, and they were extremely helpful to me, (with now several of their models featuring in my available artworks).

Since that time, about a year ago, I have called on them for a few different photographic reasons, and so it is now very much my turn, as it were, to return the favour and by doing so, write about this hugely talented and skilled model making business. Over the coming issues of b500, my plan is to write about a different 1/8 scale model and make this a regular section within the magazine. I want to start with what I believe is one of their best models yet. The beauty is in the detail, and what Amalgam have done with their ‘weathered’ versions, is quite simply staggering. To build the model to such exacting detail is one thing, but then to weather it, so it exactly replicates the race dirt as the car drove at high speed through the atrocious conditions

of the 1958 24 Hours of Le Mans, left me open mouthed. These are their special edition race weathered Ferrari 250TRs, ‘Lucybelle II’. This unique edition of only three models have each been meticulously hand-painted and detailed by Amalgam’s master model makers to show every detail of the race dirt, tyre wear and damaged bodywork of a particular car during a specific race. The artistry applied to these extremely limited scale replicas underlines Amalgam’s commitment to creating beautiful handmade pieces which fully capture both the spirit and precise appearance of iconic race cars.

Each of the three models is accompanied by an archive quality Giclée print of the car mid-race, selected by the curator at Motorsport Images. During this exciting year for the Maranello giant, in which the Prancing Horse dominated the World Sportscar Championship, the ‘Lucybelle II’ was entered for the 24 Heures du Mans by privateer Ed Hugus under the race number ‘22’.

To set the scene, the La Sarthe race of that year attracted a huge crowd of some 150,000 spectators, gathered in anticipation of an exciting and closely matched duel between Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Porsche. In and amongst this background of similarly paced works race teams, the Lucybelle, piloted by Ed Hugus and team mate Ray ‘Ernie’ Erickson, achieved a commendable seventh place overall. The Scuderia Ferrari, who had a bumper entry of 11 cars in the race, made up of both works entries and privateer teams, eventually won the race.

To me these are beyond ‘Special Edition’, and I’m therefore not surprised to hear that all three have now sold, prior to b500 finishing this article… There are however, immediate plans in place for two more race-weathered cars, one of which is already underway, and one of the three has already sold, ‘unseen’. More on these in a future issue…