Bengalensis

Yes.

Thanks a lot. I've had this one given the full Dinitrol rust protection program as an extra care, with yearly touch up inspections to come, so with a bit of extra washing and general care I hope it will survive well. Time will tell. Thanks a lot. Yes, I don't understand the choice of white myself. There is a dark gun metal type grey metallic that I quite liked, but that red shine is something else. Indeed there is/was a resin conversion to create the RF, I had forgotten about that. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

As simple as that, go ahead, just put the blame on me The guys from Mazda really knew where to look to learn how to make the almost perfect roadster, it's so clear when coming close to the early NA cars, and not least driving one.

Well here is again something that wasn't planned at all, but it happened anyway just a few weeks ago. I bought this kit: So to build it correctly I had to buy some references: Or if it was that I bought the car, and therefore had to buy a suitable kit... Anyhow, neither was really planned. As some of you know I'm an avid Miata MX-5 driver in the summer. Now since some time we have seen the need creeping up to move the daily driven all year cars down a step and get a new one to do the main work. But all new cars within an allowed price range have been far too high and far too bulky with far too weird engines, transmissions and fuel sources for our taste. But there at my favourite dealer, behind (below?) all the cars we did not want to buy, this little one sat in a corner. The idea of a new Miata MX-5 doing the daily all year work hadn't occurred to me before, but it had a solid roof (well sort of) and ticked most other boxes. The boxes it didn't tick were quickly deemed less important. Enter the ND-generation MX-5 2.0 RF. With this being a current generation Tamiya kit I expect a fairly quick (at least in work bench hours) and easy almost OOB build with no problems and only minor tweaks added. The first kit of the ND roadster was released in 2015 and the parts to make the RF version are dated 2020. As expected the parts looks very well tooled and options are included to cover both LHD and RHD cars and some differences for various markets in the world. Luckily there are both the correct wheels (right) and correct seats (left) for my car included. The paint is called "Soul Red Crystal" (all those fancy paint names...) and has a very bright and deep shine to it, varying with the light, and is quite striking in real life. When washed and clean. When dirty it gets a bit less Soul and Crystal, leaving the Red more on its own. The paint involves a trick base coat and a red tinted clear coat. I will try doing the paint job using the original touch up paint set thinned and air brushed. My Mazda dealer kindly supported me with a few paint sets for this project. The car is rolling on 17" wheels, optional Mazda BSS black for summer and stock ND dark chrome for winter, but when measured Tamiya's BBS wheels surprisingly come out to under 16,5". The outside diameter of the fitted tyres measures well to 205/45x17 and the width of the tyres is also good. A quick mock up with the complete wheels under the bodyshell looks OK, so I won't bother further. Black rims will also help. So the work to bring the 1/24 shelf up to date with the 1/1 stable has started. I've been playing with the bodyshell and wheels for a week or two, but only started serious work this Friday. I have quite a bit of "real" work to deal with now, so progress may not be very quick right now. The rims are a bit too wide and I never like that unrealistic thick inner edge Tamiya and many other makers apply to their rims. In this case if the tyre is pushed up to that edge the tyre also ends up sitting too far in. The edge had to go. I sanded down the backside until the edge was gone and then thinned down the inside of the edge. I'm much happier with this look and fit. The bodyshell is cleaned up from all fine mould lines and then given a final light 1200 grit sanding for the primer work. I still have some minor detail to fix later. This is how the small black lips under the front corners are supposed to fit. To reach that I had to thin down the inside edge of the bodyshell just closest to the wheel arch, allowing the lip to come out just and little and release tension in the fit. Despite the trick key-less locking system the car thankfully still has a traditional key hole in the driver's door handle. To avoid supplying double sets of door handles Tamiya provides a silver decal dot, a bit cheap. I drilled out the small recess and I may add a photo etch parts at the bottom. All parts for the exterior are cleaned and test fitted, it's all very smooth and straight forward. All the lights are built up from two or more quite intricate parts and they all look very promising. The low rear fog and reverse lights on my car doesn't match what the instructions tell for their "European" LHD version when it comes to paint and decals, they are much more like the instruction's "Japanese" or "US" versions. I'm not sure if it has to do with some 2022 model change or the country the car was destined for. It's however something that can be dealt with later. Then I started preparing the interior parts, first the dashboard. It's full of details and shapes but the parts looks cleverly thought out and capture it all well. The chrome parts for the climate control knobs and air outlets are too bright and will sprayed with some Alclad Aluminium shade. The interior tub is the same for both LHD and RHD and therefore the passenger foot well is compromised and too deep. Also the drivers left foot rest is missing. If this is a problem can be discussed as I'm quite sure you can't see much down there in the end, but I opted to build up the shapes from sheet styrene and filler. Also the clutch and brake pedal assembly needed to move about 1-1,5 mm to the right to better match the real thing. There were also some ejector pin marks to sand down and even fill. The back of the seat head rests are moulded hollow. I understand why, but I'm missing some parts to add to close them up, as this is visible from the rear. But it was easily fixed with 2-part filler. I also added the knob that adjusts the front portion of the driver's seat and the small loops beside the head rests that the seat belts runs through. Some simple excuses for the seat belt locks were also made from Evergreen bars. The rest of the smaller interior parts are done. Again the chrome, here on the bezel ring around the gear lever boot, is too shiny and will be sprayed with Alclad. The last interior parts were the door panels, again nicely made and capturing the real shapes. The top section is cleverly made separate as it's a hard part painted body colour. Opinions may vary, but I quite like the contrast it adds inside the car. It's a very cosy place to be in. The controls for the windows and mirrors are supplied as decals; again to easy cover both LHD and RHD versions. First thought was again so-so. They are however quite flush with the surrounding surface, except the mirror knob, so I think I might use the decals and just add the tiny black knob on top.

Excellent detail and decal work!

There it is unified in paint! That's looking really nice now, Excellent work.

Taking shape nicely! Good to see the roll cage padding, a detail often missed. Did you add it or was it moulded in?

Lovely intricate detail work! This is most impressive!

Good decision. It's always smart to be careful and leave things to cure and settle safely. There is no need to push luck when it's looking so promising.

That's looking very nice! It'll be interesting to see the paint going on. Myself always find it a challenge to paint such complex assemblies in one piece, to get the paint to reach in everywhere.

Ah, life as a modeller gets a little complicated again , but good you still have the jig, making life easier. It worked out very well the last time

Good work going on here! Restored cars are often very unreliable as reference for historic accuracy. Then again, it is also important to remember that what really counts in the end is to enjoy the time spent at the model work bench the most, so at some point one has to draw a line in the research if it gets too problematic. That line may vary a lot between different modellers and their different subjects.

Good question... Looking back at my build thread I think the base coat may have been Alclad Dark Aluminium, but it could also have been Alclad Aluminium. This was followed by some light random dry brushing, possibly both black and dark grey.

Enzo's Scuderia Ferrari prepared Alfa Romeo Monzas in 1933 where very much the same Monzas entered by Alfa Romeo in 1932, but often with the engine displacement enlarged from 2,3 l to 2,6 l. The same basic engine, single compressor, left side exhaust. Not to be confused with the 1932 works Alfa Romeo P3 (Tipo B ) single seaters with twin compressors and right side exhaust. The P3's where silent for a large part of the 1933 season as Alfa withdrew at the end of 1932 and left the operation in Enzo Ferrari's hands for 1933, but the P3 cars where only made available to Ferrari late in 1933. I haven't studied the Marne GP events at Reims especially close, but from what I can make out by some quick reading the #12 car in the photo you show, with two white stripes across the photo, could be Tazio Nuvolaris Scuderia Ferrari 2600 Monza of the Marne GP 1933. In 1932 Nuvolari drove an Alfa Romeo works P3 at Remis, also with #12, but not the same thing.

Do not miss the fact that Scuderia Ferrari's 8C Monzas in 1933 often raced Enzo's bored out 2600 engine, sometimes breaking sometimes surviving. This can be confusing if they are only refered to as 2600 Alfas. GP de la Marne at Reims 1933 should have #12 as Tazio Nuvolari in Enzo's 2600 8C Monza, possibly the car in your last photo above. Not a bad choice of subject.

Welcome to the world of pre war racing research It is never easy and sometime hopeless to get the definitive answer, but always very rewarding and a source for a lot of interesting mental time travelling. I don't know if you have seen Leif Snellman's excellent web site: http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/

Lovely! I'm looking forward to see what you will make of this kit. It's also an interesting choice of subject to build that car of Nuvolari instead of the usual ones (including my own). I remember my build as a rewarding project that I enjoyed a lot, I hope you have the same experience! And good look with threading all those wire locking bolts

Business is good for the Van Dordt company, they now had to invest in a brand new trailer to keep up with the increasing workload Very impressive build!

That is very nice work, and those details with straps bring some added attention. I passed a thing pretty much exactly like the one you have built here when on route on the highway this morning, with the raised ramps and the straps just like this. So to me it looks like you've nailed it very well.

It's been mostly a joy to build this model and good to have you all on board, thanks a lot! I think I'm calling it done now, and have uploaded some pictures in the RFI-section over here. I hope you will like them.

Meet Robert Opron's iconic master piece; the Citroën SM in 1/24 scale! I have built the model from Ukrainian maker USCP's resin kit released only a few years ago. Overall it has been a very nice experience. I did do a few small tweaks, and the wheels, tyres and steering wheel are 3D printed from cad models drawn by Master Johan Brusefält and myself. I wanted to build it sitting at the very lowest parked level which also meant some modifications to the suspension parts. I also printed my own license plate decals, with the aim of placing the car in the Kyiv region of Ukraine on current plates, as a restored or well preserved SM owned by some Ukrainian Citroën enthusiast. I hope you will enjoy some photos. There is also a WIP-thread that can be found here.

Thanks a lot Pete! I hope you can find use for the clamping idea, just remember to go carefully... Thank you very much Jeroen! Many thanks Mike, glad you like the work! Thank you very much for the kind praise Andy! Thanks a lot, you are most kind! Thank you very much Keith! The styling is special, but Opron knew what he did with his pen. And yes, that interior... Many thanks Trevor, I'm glad you think so! Thanks a lot Vesa, I'm most overwhelmed!

Thanks a lot to everyone who followed the build. I hope you will enjoy some pictures of the finished model in the RFI-section overe here.

This is the BRE Hino Contessa 1300 Coupé that formed the beginning of Peter Brock's BRE team (Brock Racing Enterprises). The team raced the cars in USA during the 1966 season, with a few victories, and made further development for the 1967 season. At that point however Toyota bought Hino, car production and racing was halted and Hino concentrated on building trucks. The model is built from a 1/24 scale resin kit by Q Models of Japan, released in the mid 90's, pretty much straight from the box, albeit with some preparation. The kit tyres were reduced to melted blobs in their bag already when I bought the kit 10-12 years ago, so 3D printed replacements were used. The model represents a late test car for the 1967 season. There is a build thread that can be found here. I hope you will enjoy some pictures of the finished model.

Thank you very much for your kind praise! It feels good to bring something a little different to attention. Thanks a lot Pete! It sure has a bit of speed drawn into the design. Although "only" a standard four door that car does look to be in very nice condition. I suppose it has. I wonder what a two door coupé in similar condition would cost, probably even quite a bit more. Many thanks Keith! Thanks a lot Roger! Good to know you fins the work useful. Thank you very much Vesa! Many thanks Trevor, glad you like it!