Vehicle Content

Beautiful clean build! Love love love that color!

“Wish I still had” cars: ‘86 Toyota MR2, 2002 Subaru WRX Sports Wagen, 2011 Mustang GT (only car I ever pre-ordered, so miss the sweet rumble of that Coyote on cold start-up!) “Glad I don’t have anymore”: really nothing, of the +20 cars I’ve owned/ co-owned over the last 50 years, they were all pretty good and got progressively better with each model. Cars now days are the best they’ve ever been in terms of performance/ safety/ reliability. I drive a 2018 Mazda 6 GTR (2.5 L turbo/ 6 spd auto), it’s been an economical trouble-free car that’s a joy to drive, nice to look at and easy to find in the car park (candy red). At 5K miles/ year, I’m sure it will outlive me.

Should be an interesting build. I have bought a few "new" Aoshima and Fujimi kits in the last few years that are actually re-releases of much older kits; in a couple of cases old motorised kits! Still, they can make decent shelf models. All the best with the build.

I wished I had kept my 2000 Civic SiR in Nighthawk Black Pearl. I bought it brand new, and only kept it for 2 years to the day. This was a watered down coupe version of the Civic Type R that was exclusive to North America. It and the preceding 1999 model were the #1 stolen car in Canada for years. They were getting stolen and stripped as it was the only Honda sold in Canada that came with the B16 engine. Mine was never stolen or crashed so the dealer jumped all over it when I came in to trade it for a 2002 SiR. Carl

Very decent of them I'd say - I can only guess that they are referring to the solid axles, one-piece cabin glass and fairly basic chassis as the rest looks pretty good to me. I've certainly had kits which don't seem to be as good out of the box (Revell's '53 Corvete springs to mind), but then again I haven't started building it yet! The colour plan is pretty much the box car, black over silver. Hopefully it won't be too long to get it in paint but I will be spraying around trying to sell the house so who knows what will happen timescale wise with that!

Another one who has never owned a car they've hated - everyone has had something going for it, although I admit there may be some rose-tinted spectacles I've been sorry to see the back of all which went. Like @Windy37 I too think that my 2015 Fiesta Ecoboost is a brilliant all-rounder, while my 5-cylinder Focus ST always puts a smile on my face - I've had it since 2010 and have no intention of selling any time soon. But for the surprisingly good factor, I'd have to go for my '98 Nissan Almera - no it's not a car people lust after. Yes, it died from too much rust, but the engine was still a willing performer beyond 160,000 miles and felt like it had another 160,000 in it despite only being a 1.4 But the best bit was the handling - despite both current Fords having more grip, I'd have to say that the balance of the Almera was at least a match for them; after all it did come from the time when Nissan really built good handling cars. I can still remember leaving a (then quite new) 911 behind on a twisty road only to have him roar past me in an obvious fit of pique on the following straight section

Sounds like the car which my younger sister's arrival led to my parents selling... two doors was copeable with one child but not two apparently.

If I'd realised how rare they are (5 in the UK apparantly) I'd have grabbed a shot, but one of these was parked at the station today - 007 Land Rover Defender: https://media.landrover.com/en-gb/news/2021/09/new-land-rover-defender-v8-bond-edition-inspired-no-time-die Must admit to being more shocked at the price in the article than the car itself though!

Sorry, I forgot my first car... 73 Mini equipped with Innocenti 1001 engine similar to a Cooper with approx 48hp,lowered 8cm static . Marco F

I would like to see my last Mini in my garage. It was a 90' one backdated to an MK3 Cooper S 1275cc engine with stage 3 head, HS6, 288 camshaft, RC40 system, 10x6' wheels, HiLos, adjastuable negative camber ,twin tanks, 2seater and indivual dash with Jaeger Instruments, painted in Mediterian blue by Porsche. The other one I would like to have back is my Volvo PV544 in bright red, bumperless, with 5.5' Kronprinz deepdished steelies. At least my old 62 SpeedTwin Triumph would be fine... Marco F

Cheers Chris 😀 It's an iconic car that looked right from the start, probably my favourite F1 car of all time. Not one of Tamiyas best kits, but it does look proportionally right. After the paint woes, the recommendation of the MrColor red really made it less of a fight 😀 Ian 😀

That's what I'm going to do, I just wondered if there was much of a car modelling presence there - and indeed here.

Ian. That is really nice. I know it fought you on the paint front but you overcame it well and ended up with a stunning model. MP4/4 is a lovely looking F1 car and your build does it justice I enjoy your build posts and look forward to your next model on the bench Chris

Calling this one done for now thank god, its had its fair share of challenges along the way. Just a couple of quick pics and I'll post a write up and some more pics in RFI when we get a nice day outside in the natural light. 😀 Time for a next victim choice now Ian 😀

Neddy, why don't you just go and see the show for the day and talk to those guys.

Not really owned many bad cars , maybe boring , or " just a car " as I like to describe something that gets you from A to B and nothing else. Two of my favourites have been F882XWX , a white Vauxhall Nova GTE and a red Peugeot 205 Turbo D . The Nova was from the early 90s , my boy racer era . I would do a front pair of Yokohama A509 tyres in 6 months and when it got to 80,000 miles ( nothing in today's terms ) I reached under the dashboard and removed the speedo cable until MOT time ... A pair of Cibies on it and I thought I was Dave Metcalfe ( if you know , you know 😉 ) . The 205 was basically a GTi with a 1.8 turbo diesel engine and was probably as quick as a GTi . God it would pull !! Unfortunately it rattled and squeaked and blew bulbs and leaked like French cars do but I was gutted after I got rear ended one Sunday night coming home from a BTCC meeting at Donington on the M1 . I'd had it 18 months and the flimsy shell was nipped so it was a write off . The worst I / we have owned was a Mini R56 1.4 One . Bought as a second car it must have been built as a tribute to BL in the 70s as , with only 51,000 miles on it needed , over 3 years , a passenger seat airbag , radiator and 2 x coil springs . It never run right ( the EGR was always blamed but never cured ) and drank engine oil ( I was told " that's what that engine does ! " ) . We moved it on after 3 years ( the air con wouldn't hold gas by then ) for a 15 plate Fiesta with the tiny 1.0 litre 3 cylinder engine which is an amazing car which I love to drive as much as my Golf GTD daily . Gary .

Once again that is some incredibly neat carbon decalling on some very tricky looking shapes - really good work again Urs! All that c.f. stuff is one reson I don't build supercar models!! Did you post pics of your Morgan & Mustang, if so I missed them.... Keith

My stripped out BMW E21 320/4 hand made intake manifold with a set of motorcycle carbs, only came alive at about 3000rpm!! It might even have made its original 110hp.....🤣 Then the world entered trough the rear arches....🥲

Glad you didn't ask about motorcycles, I'd write a novel... I've never owned a car I really didn't like, or wouldn't like to have now, but the one I wish I still had is my first car, a 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan. Bought it when I was 18 and very reluctantly sold it 13 years later when I was moving to another state and didn't have anywhere to keep it. A very bad decision! Mine had the 283 V8 and Powerglide- it was the early Glide with cast-iron case. They weigh a ton but the bearings last forever because there's no flex or movement with the massive, rigid iron case. They'll still be running when we go into the Mad Max phase of post-industrial societal collapse. No boosted brakes, it needed a strong left leg to stop. The non-power steering was great though, light and nicely weighted. Not that precise maybe, but look ahead and relax and it would go straight. The little 283 was game and it would accelerate quite well. I went everywhere at 80mph, no mobile radar then, and fuel economy was reasonable with the original 2-barrel carb. People moan about the handling of large American cars of the era but it was actually pretty decent. I raced a MkII Jag once on a winding road and he couldn't stay with me. Eventually I replaced the 283 with a 327 with a boat cam, a 4-barrel Rochester carb, and rebuilt the Powerglide as the brake bands were past their best. It sounded like a boat and it kind of drove like a boat too- foot to the floor and the front would come up, there was a distant rumble from the back, and it stayed that way until there was a violent gear shift at 70mph or power equaled drag at about 110mph. You asked, that's my car... and I'm not upset, I just got something in my eye...

83 Datsun Maxima Wagon.

funnily enough, my neighbours from a year ago have a grandson whose first car is a 120Y, in a sort of reddish/orangish colour..... good lad

Almost as if this place is populated by Gen X and Boomer blokes, isn't it 😀 The thing about Capris is that I've found the experience to be wholly defined by the engine. I had a couple of 2.8 Injections in quick succession nearly 25 years ago but I tried various examples before settling on the big V6. The marginal saving that a 2.0 or 1.6 presented at that time just wasn't worth it. These days a 1.6 is still half the price of a V6 but it's a ten grand gap rather than a grand. The 2.8 feels like more than double the car though; better noise, nearly twice the power, longer legs and the wonders of quick power steering. Occasionally I imagine I could buy a 1.6 and ask an adult to drop a Zetec in, which would doubtless improve matters but it would still be missing 2 cylinders. Maybe the answer is to buy one with no engine at all and just sit in it while humming the theme tune to The Professionals.

Overtaken on the M3 southbound this afternoon by a beige / pale grey Porsche Cayenne or Macan(?). With NO plates front or rear (or trade plates as far as I could see).

I agree, this is really nice detailing work. Looking at the spare wheel in the trunk, I suppose you are doing the road car, not the the racing version (Italeri did them both)?

Well then, two unexpected classics today. First was a VH Valiant ute. It was Chrysler orange with the Valiant R/T 265 Hemi colour scheme used on the Valiant R/T Charger. I'm not sure if this paint was an original option, or if the "six-pack" triple Weber carbs were available on the utility, but it looked good! My dad had a VH ute as a work vehicle in the early 70s. It was the base model, definitely not with triple carbs, but it certainly didn't lack for power. It also had the most useless suspension on any vehicle, ever. Apparently they just increased the diameter of the torsion bars to cope with the loaded pick-up bed without doing any other calculations and it didn't work out well. It would spin the wheels hopelessly on the level on short, damp grass- no grip at the back whatsoever and I don't think the utilities sold very well. Chrysler Australia marketed the VH passenger cars very effectively compared to the stodgy Holden and Ford marketing of the day, but I get the impression they appealed to younger people who mostly couldn't afford to buy them. If I remember correctly, Pamela Stephenson featured in some of the TV ads, before she departed for the UK and even greater fame. Dad was a reasonable but rather upright person, so he was quite annoyed when his younger colleagues did donuts in his official government Valiant, which is about all it was good for, and very happy when it was replaced by an HG Holden! So much so that he bought the HG when it was sold off, and I learnt to drive in it. But I digress... Next spot was a pleasant surprise- there's a new farm filter service operating in my area, delivering and fitting oil and hydraulic filters on-farm. I saw their service vehicle today, a beautifully restored Series 3 Landrover short wheelbase utility. It looks great with a logo on the doors that's in a suitable style for the age of the vehicle. Slow and uncomfortable for sure, but I'd try them for filters just because of their choice of transport!!!