Mille Miglia 1956, diorama
On the right Castellotti drives to win.
Church in a small village near Radicofani.
Spectators during the race.
Fangio and de Lageneste crossing.
A view from the top.
Shadows from the sky.
Crossing level (other view).
Petrol-pump attendant.
Amazing Ferrari.
Crossing level (details).
Mille Miglia by night.
Cabianca faces a hairpin-bend.
The holy church.
Hairpin-bend from the top.
Railway station.
Tromp d’oeil road.
Village (details).
Overview.
Overview.
The station master controls his watch.
W Castellotti.
Consalvo Sanesi and his parked “Giulietta”.
Village (details).
How beautiful are Tuscany Hills.
The most beautiful race in the world, as Enzo Ferrari defined it, entered in racing history for its great suggestion on all fans and more. The run snaked through country roads from Brescia to Rome, then went back again through Tuscany up to the starting point.
In this diorama we wanted to offer a photography of the race while crossing the fascinating Tuscany hinterland, near Radicofani in Lucca province. This production is in 1/43 scale and was completely self-built over a wooden base. This 1956 Millemiglia saw Eugenio Castellotti triumphant on a Ferrari mm290 #548, making Maranello team victorious over Mercedes who had performed first and second place the year before.
1957 Millemiglia was the last edition, as a result of the tremendous crash, occurred to the pilot Alfonso Deportago, where several spectators were killed.
Focusing on the “making of” of this diorama, we want to point out that the church was built taking Radicofani original church as a model, with an in scale reduction and an adaptation for perspective reasons.
Diorama volume, excluding its plexiglass cover, is about 150x90x70 (cm) and weights 50 kilos.
About 20 months were necessary in order to shape the basic structure and to place all its components. Houses were built with high density polystyrene and wood, while roofing tiles are in “terra cotta” and gutter pipes in copper.
Walls were obtained in resin, after carving a plaster cast. Level crossing was made in brass with rotating parts obtained by turning. Power poles are in brass too.
All secondary components (mailbox, fountain, various bins etc) are self-built. Moreover, all characters are from Phoenix and they were hand-painted.
Participating cars are:
nr 2 Ferrari 290 MM ( #548 Castellotti e #600 Fangio) Renaissance
nr 1 Osca Mt 4 (#428 Cabianca) Renaissance
nr 1 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Monoposto (#425 Sanesi) Tron
nr 1 Peugeot 203 (#051 Roger de Lageneste) Solido modified.
Other cars are from Brumm and Schuco .
The background is an oil-painting over wood by our friend and painter Roberto Salvato, creating a complex “trompe d’oeil” effect. And finally, street lighting was self-built and full working.