Single seat Can-Am models in 1/43 coming soon

Single seaters get some respect

Marsh Models is rightfully known as a maker of racing models that are accurate and build easily. It feels right that they have now chosen to release single seat Can-Am models because they have produced so many great replicas from the original Can-Am.

First, a little history 

Many fans of the original Can-Am series were not fans of the single seat cars in the “new” Can-Am. The McLarens, Porsches and Shadows in the original series were incredibly fast and sounded wonderful. Only they were the stars of a failing series for high costs and a lack of of competitive cars drove entrants away. The SCCA decided that F5000 was going to replace the Can-Am as an “American F1” series. It didn’t work out because the spectators stayed away in droves.

Race promoters wanted a new series to replace F5000 and so the new Can-Am was born. They needed to rescue all of the existing F5000 cars and teams, so Lola came up with body kits for their F5000 cars that turned them into sports cars. Dallara built a one-off car for the Wolf team. The cars looked different and they were fast with rumbling Chevy engines.

As the new Can-Am evolved, the cars were refined and a new body kit for the Lola F5000 chassis was created in the USA. It was called the Frisbee (right). The shovel nose on the car created more downforce than the stock Lola body and the enclosed rear tires created a sleek look. The Frisbee ended up as the car of choice even though Lola later came out with the bespoke Lola T530.

Single seat Can-Am models in 1/43

A handful of single seat Can-Am models in 1/43 have been created. Kits of the Wolf-Dallara and Lola T530 were made by Provence Moulage, however they are long out of business. JPS produces a Wolf also but their pre-painted model is the wrong color. Models of the Lola T530 run by Garvin Brown Racing are currently available from One Mann Factory and Meri made one kit of a Frisbee driven by Jacques Villeneuve. Lastly, Spark brought out a few of the Lola T333s in built form some time ago.

Marsh models to the rescue!

The first two cars to be released are the Wolf-Dallara and the Frisbee GR2. The first pieces of the Wolf are shown at left. It appears that Marsh will create the fender louvres as photoetched pieces which will facilitate easy painting of the gold louvres that slot into the dark blue body. Turned metal injection stacks are included. Two versions are coming. One is the early season car with the rear wing extended from the bodywork and the second is the late-season version that has more conventional wing supports attached to the gearbox. Both of the drivers (Chris Amon and Gilles Villeneuve) will be included in the decal set. Available as a kit or factory hand built model.

Three versions of the Frisbee are set to be released. The series champion car raced by Al Unser Jr. (top photo) will probably be the most popular. A second Frisbee raced by Rocky Moran (above right) and a third as raced by Danny Sullivan for Garvin Brown Racing (right) will be produced. The Garvin Brown Frisbee was raced only once by Sullivan in the last event at Riverside in 1981. You can create a mini Can-Am team story when coupled with the two Garvin Brown Lola T530s models from One Mann Factory.

The body of the Marsh Frisbee is shown here and as usual the castings are quite good and should need minimal clean-up. All three versions will be available in kit form or as factory built examples.

Where to find them

One of the best outlets for the purchase of Marsh Models is Grand Prix Models in England. You can find the Wolf-Dallara here and the Frisbees here.

No release date has been set for any of the models. From the look of the models pictured here, they are progressing nicely.

For more model car info, click here.

Thanks to the following for the kind use of their photos:
Al Unser Jr. photo by Chris Mann.
Rocky Moran photo by Terry Kapps.
Danny Sullivan photo by Jim Knerr.