Canuck63

Absolutely gorgeous!

If it's me you're referring to...go ahead first and do show us!I don't have to show anything to anybody...just like Crayon I don't like overdone and unrealistic finishes,even if the modeler shows remarkable skills!I've spoken ny mind and I know what a REAL battered tank looks like....do you?I've got this feeling that you have never seen a real,unrestored military vehicle in your whole life! Yes...of course...food for a manga story!A paper-panzer marooned by his long-haired zombie crew in an Austrian cavern and discovered in 2012! Bombed factory were cleared of precious metal to be recycled as early as 1945! Whatever...horses for courses...some like unrealistic finishes even if made by Raffaello and Rembrandt,some don't..as simple as that!You like that?Good for you!The modeler shows remarkable skills but the finish is a clichè...red-oxide parts,various degrees of rust,chipped "schlamm",bright weld lines without having clear where and why the bead should be bright and shiny etc,.....definitely an appealing finish but the reality is another thing altogether!

+1 here!A certain kind of weathering (this is not the case!) would look OK on a garbage truck or an earthmover but not on AFVs that had the lifespan of a hand granade with the pin pulled!I admire the abilities of the modelers but that's just about it! Phenomel painting skills on this PP, though! Cheers Manu

Julien, must have been the same people who saw Atlantis and the lost Ark !Don't you think that in a Country like Germany the Police would have knocked at his door the very same moment that he's started the engine? Cheers Manu

Hi Colin, this kit it's a beaut but I cannot wait to start my 1/12 Ferrari 126C4 or my 1/12 Lotus 79! Cheers Manu Hi Mark, your very WIP,amongst the others, whetted my appetite towards car modelling!Can't wait to see you working on it again!Thank you so much for appreciating my work so far! Cheers Manu

A little update!Nothing to write home about,I know! Cheers Manu

LOL....I'd work for kits! Acu Stion upgrades are a little like the proverbial curate's egg,but if I were you I'd buy from them directly and avoid those European dealers who sell with absurdly inflated prices!If you go on their site you'll find a retailer in Singapore whose prices are quite good! That said,that's exactly what I wanted to do...i.e. buildind a superdetailed 1/20 Lotus 79 with E Jan,Acu,Top Studio,Studio 27 and other upgrades...and that would have set me back a whopping £300....I binned the idea when I managed to buy a 1/12 MFH for €350 including shipping! Too bad MFH only made three Ferraris following the "Hybrid" formula,which ensured an unsurpassed level of detail for half the price of your "regular" MFH 1/20 kit! If you like 70s and 80s Ferraris give this kit a try because it builds effortlesly and comes with everything you need to build a winner!I've linked you to Spotmodel because it's the e-shop with the best price on these 1/20 kits but one or two of them can be found chez Uli at Autograph Models http://shop.autographmodel.com/Model-Factory-Hiro-1/20-car-model-kit-IK02-Ferrari-312T4-Monaco-GP... I see now he's asking €149! Cheers Manu

Nothing short of AMAZING! Cheers Manu

Hi Codger, 1/20 and 1/12 kits sure consist of several hundreds parts but I've never counted them!The 1/20 kits are simpler but the parts count is very high nonetheless! the 1/12 Lotus 79 above comes with several hundreds rivets that will add to the count and that must be glued to the monocoque once you've drilled the locating holes........a ROYAL PITA! I hear you Noeyedears!Many white metal kits have parts that are roughly cast and not very detailed,but the MFH are another story,especially the ones made from 2010 onwards.In some cases the parts show some pitting but the quality is very,very high and,in many cases,sublime! I strongly recommend to get one of these "Hybrid" kits for they're great value for money,still I don't understand why they don't make them in resin,at least those parts that won't have to bear heavy loads or handling.Several 1/12 MFH kits come with bodies and engine blocks made of exquisite white resin castings,especially the Ferrari 126C series.The Lotus 78/79 comes with a resin body but the monocoque,engine (with interior detail) and suspensions are all made of white metal! Consider that a 1/20 Fujimi Ferrari 126C2/CK/2000 or a Tamiya/Hasegawa Lotus 78/79 would need quite a few AM sets to be brought to these standards, and that alone could and would easily set you back a pretty penny,read a few hundred quids all in.The kit I'm currently working on can be bought for under €157 (£112) here: http://www.spotmodel.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=34&products_id=16960 (scroll down to see a real feast for the eyes!) It comes with everything you need;i.e a very detailed engine,transmission and suspensions,Tamigawish plastic parts,machined aluminum rims,rubber tires,vacuformed windscreen,fabric seatbelts,turned aluminum shock absorbers and velocity stacks,a comprehensive PE set,a beautifully cast aluminum monocoque,piping for the spark plugs etc...definitely great value!Unfortunately when these 1/20 Ferraris will be sold out they won't be available anymore,since Hiro-san has privileged the 1/12 kits and stopped paying Ferrari Auto SpA the royalties for the 1/20 312s and the 1/20 126s, amongst the others!If you're into Lotuses and such you'll be one happy camper though,for you'll have the embarassment of riches! HTH Manu

Absolutely,Colin!And the 1/12 kits are even better! The quality is outstanding but be prepared to find all the parts mixed up in little zip-lock bags.Before starting the build I'd suggest to carefully lay all the parts on the table,sort them out and put them in the bags following the assembly stages,this way you'll have all the pieces handy without loosing time looking for them! You want to go from this: To THIS:

In a nutshell,the note should read" part M2 is to be used ONLY if you want to display the monocoque WITHOUT the undertray and side pontoon!" Cheers Manu

The instructions are great and easily followed but apart from the erratic colors suggestions there's an odd mistake I've encountered on step 17 and that I'd like to point out to the ones wishing to build this very model.There's a note telling you that "the part M2 is used only when you want to display the monocoque only with the undertray and side pontoon"!Now..I've been living in Italy for a few decades and that has surely affected my English somehow still that note is quite puzzling,to me at least,In fact part M2 is but the center of the plastic undertray cast in white metal and if you even try to slip the undertray under the front suspension with the part M2 underneath it you'll pry the whole front suspension and distort the delicate parts!

I've proceeded to temporarily fix the undertray to the monocoque and the fit is absolutely first-rate.Just make sure to align the holes of the undertray with the matching holes on the monocoque and you're good to go....just be careful not to overtighten the screws to avoid stripped threads! I've seen lots of otherwise beautifully built cars with a gap between the upper and the lower bodies therefore,instead of building this car "from the ground up" I've decided to build it "from the roof down"! The fit of the two halves is almost perfect (gotta clean the last traces of the points where they were attached to the sprues) and if a gap will start developing it'll be oviously due to something I've done the wrong way or to a part standing too proud that got unnoticed.This is a very important step,since the sides house the radiators and other substantial parts and I'll be much better off correcting mistakes and misalignments this way than asking myself LATER the reason why I've got that nice gap!

As a side note at first I wanted to drill each "rivet" on the gas tanks and rear wall and shave off all the molded-in nuts and bolts and use SS rivets and SS and brass nuts and bolts,but I'll save it for my next build!This s my first foray into model cars and I'd rather keep it simple and as much OOB as I possibly can! For those who can't live with the "divots" on the gas tanks and rear wall there's a simple solution...well,let's make two!First would be smearing some putty on the parts and into the "rivets",wipe off the surplus and have shallower negative rivets.The second,more realistic solution would be filling the neagative rivets altogether and use some HGW and/or Archer rivets.At first I wanted to do that on the monocoque as well,sanding off the siorta underscaled and too pointed rivets and use Archer's instead! I've extensively used the latter inside my FW 190 D-9 wheel wells and they definitely look great.;EACH single rivet is an Archer....you be the judge! Cheers Manu