Mark Oakley - model maker

I have been a model maker since I was a ten year old being inspired by two teachers at my junior school in Kent who built models and started a model making club. This was in the early to mid 1970s. As it happened, one of these influential teachers was a Ronnie Peterson fan and the other longed for Tom Pryce to win a Grand Prix. His day came closer when Tom won the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in 1975, the first Formula One race I attended as a 13 year old school boy. Having each saved up for the £1 note entrance fee, my best friend Gary and I arrived at Brands Hatch in my mother’s metallic light blue Ford Capri 3000 with matt black bonnet. Gary later became my ‘best man’ and we remain best of friends and in fact I look after his autograph book which we each carried around the paddock that day, gathering now cherished signatures. Gary’s man was Patrick Depailler, but sadly neither he nor the Ferraris, Hesketh or the Brabhams were there and neither of us came across Tom Pryce that day, though Gary did meet my hero Emerson Fittipaldi who gifted him two of his signatures, one of which Gary gave to me. I at least contributed that of Graham Hill who was unmoved whilst signing as Ronnie’s 72D was started up on whose rear wing he rested the autograph book - my knees buckled momentarily, so shrill and unexpected was the ‘bark’. We were passing the one Paddock ticket we could afford through the fence to enter the cherished inner sanctum, then on the outside of Paddock Hill bend - I’m sure Bernie and Max wouldn’t have minded. It was overcast, cold and rained somewhat during that mid to late March Sunday, but at least the sun shone later in the day for Tom as Jody Scheckter’s Tyrrell 007 peeled into the pits to retire and the Shadow DN5 inherited the lead. I recall longing after the built Tamiya models displayed in the windows of the Brands Hatch model shop, what a special day!

I had already been terminally infected (as Ken Tyrrell used to say) by a love for motor racing the previous October, when my Tom Pryce loyal teacher took several of us to see the last round of the Formula 5000 championship also at Brands Hatch - what a mesmerically amazing experience that was for a twelve year old! Approaching the circuit via the back of the grandstands on the pit straight, we were surrounded by an almost overwhelming wall of reverberating sound but unable to see anything. We climbed to the top level and standing within, we were presented with the awesome panoramic vista of this natural amphitheatre bathed in sunshine. Seeing the tiny distant F5000 cars in the stadium section practicing ahead of later qualifying, we were physically moved by the harmony of the loudest almost musical engine notes as these several cars worked their way up and down through the gears. This ranged from the triumphant full rev shrieks and roars along the pit straight to the mechanical chattering sounds of their drivetrain components under minimal load coming through Druids corner - this was forever and amazingly memorable. Vern Schuppan later won the race in a Chevron, Ian Ashley, Peter Gethin, Teddy Pilette, Bob Evans and Lella Lombardi featured, but my visual favourite was the fabulously beautiful McKechnie Henley Forklift Lola of Bob Evans.

By this time, I had been introduced to Tamiya F1 models, for in the school model club there was one lad whose father had the resources to provide him with a Tamiya 1/12 scale kit of the 1970 Ferrari 312B which cost £5.99 at the time. The rest of us had tiny Airfix Spitfires or a Mk 1 WW1 tank to build. Over the succeeding year or so, I held onto my dream and received the stunning 1/12 scale Lotus 72D (also known as the ‘JPS Lotus’) for Christmas, which I still have and thereafter I was on my own with such ambitions. 

After senior school and with money still tight, I eventually managed to acquire a part-built red Tamiya Lotus 49 with some parts missing and set about building it as the 1969 car with alterations to the base model including a sensibly large roll-over bar, 49B-style radius rods, seat belts and fire extinguishers which also became obligatory for 1969. This was the nascent moment of my future passion for scratch-building many of the parts to convert a Tamiya kit into something a year or two either side of that indicated by the iconic and beautiful ‘Box Art’. Such indulgences were put aside during my more than five years at University in Scotland during the 1980s. The zenith of my model building period was between 1997 and 2012 during which the spin-offs including meeting several motorsport personalities on a regular basis. From these experiences, my website www.mrof1engineering.co.uk was to come, courtesy of one of my then fifteen year old twin sons who skilfully built something I couldn’t, in about 2010 - and yes I still have the green coat, but I am fifteen years older now.

The quality of the models shown in the website, culminated in what I call the elite models (eg the 1975 Hesketh 308, the 1968 Matras MS10 and 11, 1972 McLaren M19C, both 1974 and ’76 McLaren M23s, 1974/5 Brabhams BT44 and 44B, also the 1968 Lotus 49 (GLTL) and the 1973 Tyrrell 006. These feature in several photobooks I have written and ultimately they came to initiate the nucleus of a large collection of models. These include two of the then doyenne of model making Andy Mathews of the US, with whom I corresponded at the time. The collection is equally supported by original motorsport art with a further focus on autographed items which visitors enjoy. It has grown to include the metal diecast revolution that began to proliferate from the late 90s until the present day, resin having largely taking over nowadays, also mini-helmets and some sculpture.

The website showcases the whole series of 1/12 scale Formula One modelling I undertook up until 2012, the early models being before any modern aftermarket items were available and before the internet and email was widely used. Theoretically with skill and determination, one can now produce world class masterpieces at home utilising the products of the surviving and sometimes thriving after-market suppliers of a myriad of photo-etch, 3-D printed resin, white metal castings, decals and high quality aluminium and brass micro-machined parts. The Tamiya series of kits has been re-issued and photo-etch added in some cases, rather than expanded in range. 1/12 scale kits have continued with Model Factory Hiro being the main survivor of this genre with their ambitious mixed media kits, although I suspect most remain unbuilt. 

To appeal to all, several companies have since produced easy to assemble pre-painted part-works by magazine subscription in giant 1/8 scale, de Agostini being perhaps most recognisable in the UK. Over the last ten years or more, these 1/8 wonders have included Lewis Hamilton’s first Championship winning car (McLaren MP4-23), the Tyrrell P34, the Ferrari 312T4 and several other competition cars including the Ferrari 250 GTO. The plastic and metal Pocher classic car kits in 1/8 scale from the 1990s have been refined towards Pocher’s modern factory pre-painted offerings in 1/8 scale, eg the Lotus 72D and includes superb 1/4 scale motor bikes such as the Ducati 1299 Panigale R Final Edition.

However, Revilo Model Cars range of models and art typifies the type of content of my own collection. I acquired a 1967 Lotus 49 in 1/8 scale from David some years ago, but space and resources limit the many more personal favourites I aspire to, which are well illustrated on the Revilo Model Cars website.

Mark