PENELOPE PITLANE ASTON MARTIN DBR250 many more

This kit is a bit of a departure for me, I normally collect modern Sports and GT cars, but there’s something about some of the 50’s and 60’s Grand Prix cars that is simply irresistible.

Penelope Pitlane are a new company, offering resin kits of a variety of charismatic classic cars, including the Bentley Birkin, Lotus 18, Scarab F1, Bugatti 251 and this, the 1959 Aston Martin DBR250, one of the last of the mighty front-engined Formula One cars.

The chassis is brass – my first experience with a metal chassis. At first glance I did wonder what I’d let myself in for! But once I worked up the nerve, it was surprisingly easy. It’s also worth noting that an alternative chassis is available with a front-mounted motor allowing fitment of one of the full length driver figures that the company have recently introduced.

The chassis comes as pre-cut pieces with etched fold lines. It’s a good idea to read the instructions first! You simply remove the pieces from the frame, file off any excess and work it into shape. The sides and rear of the chassis need to be bent until they’re at right angles to the base, followed by the motor mounts. Then you move onto the front section, forming the sides and guide mount. The two pieces are then fixed together using the nut and bolt supplied. Even working slowly and carefully the whole process only takes a few minutes.

The next step is fitting the motor. The chassis is designed to fit the ‘slimline’ motor fitted to some Scalextric F1 cars and MotoGP bikes. To fit the motor you either need to remove the pinion or cut a slot in the top of the rear motor mount with a Dremel type tool and cutting disc. I chose to cut a slot because it seemed to be the easier option and I wasn’t sure about trying to refit the pinion with the motor in situ. Don’t worry if this all sounds a bit daunting, the instructions supplied are clear and concise.

The motor wires need to be soldered to the motor, and the guide fitted. The guide is a Ninco ‘sprung’ type, and I would suggest supporting the guide mount carefully when fitting the guide just to avoid the risk of accidentally bending anything out of place. It’s a tight fit so a couple of drops of oil may be necessary to allow the guide to rotate smoothly.

The final stage of chassis construction consists of fitting the axles and wheels. The front axle is solid and runs directly in the chassis without bearings. The rear axle is fitted with a plastic Scalextric type crown gear and nylon bushes. The bushes are a tight press-fit into the chassis. Both axles needed trimming to length, and the front axle benefited from spacers to set spacing and alignment.

Time to bring chassis and body together. It’s a pleasant surprise to find that the body posts line up perfectly with the holes in the chassis (not always true of some resin kits). The body posts need to be drilled to accept the screws, but the resin is easy to drill, even by hand. The underside at the front needs some trimming and sanding to allow clearance for the guide.

The wheels are a little bit special. The front wheels are a push-fit, though it’s easy enough to add a couple of drops of super glue if desired. The rear wheels are each secured with a single grub screw. Each wheel assembly consists of no less than four parts – the wheel itself, two inserts per wheel and the central knock-off spinner. Assembly is fiddly rather than difficult and the results are well worth the effort - some of the nicest replicas of wire wheels I’ve ever seen.

With the wheels fitted the chassis is complete so it's time to move on to the body.

The body is resin, as mentioned. Very little finishing work is needed as the surface finish is very good and there is very little excess material to remove. Obviously this type of car does not have the numerous vents, intakes and other details of modern cars, but the car is nicely presented. Panel lines are quite crisp and clearly defined and the opening at the front of the car is cleanly formed. 

The body was primed with grey primer, sanded smooth and then painted with Ford Forest Green Metallic (as recommended in the instructions). Detail parts were brush painted with acrylics. 

No driver figure was supplied so I used a Cartrix ‘classic’ driver, repainted and mounted on a flat piece of plastic sheet, super-glued to the inside if the body. The twin side exhaust pipes are supplied as a white metal casting, which lines up perfectly with its mounting points.

Decals are supplied for the white roundels and a choice of numbers. Be prepared to fit two layers of roundels to achieve a nice solid white. You’ll need some form of decal softener to help the rear decals conform to the distinctly rounded tail.

And that’s it – suddenly, somehow I have a complete car sitting in front of me!

The finished car really does look impressive, long and low and impossibly narrow. It feels reassuringly sturdy (again, not always the case with kits) and surprisingly heavy, it will certainly be interesting to find how it behaves on the track…

The first runs were on my small Scalextric Sport track. Grip is rather limited because the car has narrow tyres and no magnet, but the Aston behaves itself nicely. It’s not a full throttle racer, you need to be gentle to get the best out of the car, but when you get used to it the DBR is fun to drive and rather quick. 

The bigger routed track gave the Aston more room to stretch its legs. Straight line speed is quite impressive and it corners surprisingly well. Most of the weight sits low in the chassis so the car tends to slide rather than tip, in fact it showed no desire to de-slot at all. You can push the car into corners faster than seems wise; mistakes are punished with a slide rather than a trip into the scenery.  As on the Scalextric track, a gentler approach is necessary, but you soon get to grips with it. With both types of track, clean tyres and dust-free track will definitely improve performance!

It’s hard to say anything other than “this is a great kit – buy one!” I’m a relatively inexperienced builder, but it was surprisingly easy to get a good result. The body is beautifully done and the quality is very good. The chassis is a neat idea and simple to build. If the cars from this era of motorsport history appeal to you, then the Aston DBR250 is hard to resist.

Many thanks to Pendle Slot Racing 

for supplying the review model 

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