Alan R

I am beginning to detect a theme here... people would like their memories in plastic. We all love the fantastic hyper-cars that the manufacturers produce for us, but deep down, we also all want to make models of cars and bikes that we or our parents (or grandparents) owned in the past. 1956 Ford Thames van, anyone? I'm not saying that we shouldn't get excited by the hyper cars, I regret that I didn't pick up an Aoshima Pagani Huayra. However, I'd still like to have a 24th scale Mark 2 Cortina. My dad owned one in the very early '70s. I would go out and buy a Fiesta XR2 Mk 2. I owned one of those and loved it! 1964 Ford Zephyr 4, 1966 Vauxhall Victor 101, 1980 Lancia Beta saloon, 1989 Vauxhall Astra GTE 16v, 1963 Wolseley 1500, I could go on. All of these cars have either been owned by my dad or me over the years. At least I can have a model of the Honda VF 750F. I have the Tamiya one of that. (A 85 RFB, if I recall...) Cheers, Alan.

This is simply stunning work. The size of the pieces is incredible. I con only imagine the skills you have had to learn to produce work this detailed in this scale. Is there anything of the Fujimi GT-40 that you are going to use? Cheers, Alan.

Hi Ian, Love this car. I think that it and it's Cayman sibling are my favourite Porsches. Your preparation work is meticulous. I'm sure that the primer and top coat will adhere well to that. I shall have to take a look at the Zero Paints 'Key and Clean', as I use their primers and colour coats already. I only wish I could afford the real thing! Keep up the great work! BTW. What's the other white car front? All the best, Alan.

I believe that in Italy, yellow is the more common colour for Ferraris. Could be an urban myth, though... Cheers, Alan.

Hello All, Well, I'm calling this done! Finally after all the work done the this old Revell kit, I have finished it: On the whole an interesting learning experience. I did a fair bit of modifying to get it this far. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Hi Roger, I am hoping so. I also have a Fujimi 365 Daytona and 365 Daytona open top and a Ferrari 246 Dino to build. A right Ferrari-fest... Anyway, one small update to this. I mentioned above that the ignition leads went ... somewhere. I did the usual Google thing, and searched for Ferrari 348 Ignition images, and got a load of pictures. One shoed that the leads disappear behind the engine. Another showed that the leads connected to a four-way ignition 'coil' block attached to the back of the cylinder block, as far as I could tell. Another image showed what these blocks look like. They are square with four points where the leads go. I even found that you could buy new coils from Europarts for 91 quid... A bit of useless trivia, that. Anyway, here is where I have got with my scratch-built coil blocks... They don't look much, but consider each of those grid boxes is 1cm across... What they are made up of id a 3mmx3mm square of 30 thou card, with a 2mmx2mm square of 20 thou card cemented on the top. Underneath (I haven't got any pictures of the bottom) I have cemented two half rounds of 3/64th diameter rod, to simulate the coils. Then I have cut eight very short lengths of 3/64th rod (or was it 1/16th...), and drilled tiny holes in the ends of those shot segments of rod (Not without a huge attrition rate...), then glued them on to the corners of the coil blocks. Obviously, more work to be done. Some careful sanding and painting will make them look a bit better. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Hello All, Roger, your kind comments are really appreciated. Anyway, I think this may be the last 'build' update for this before it goes to 'RFI'... I was really not happy about the way those front lights looked. One seemed to fit OK, but the other just looked 'odd'. When I assembled that bit, I actually put them in the wrong way round (Well, upside-down to be precise!) I am much happier. In a previous post, I alluded to the ignition coil being put on the fire-wall, but that once assembled, they would probably disappear.. Well, I looked more closely while I was doing the 'light' surgery, and you can actually see them. Whether this is accurate, I don't really care. The leads have somewhere to go, AND you can see where... There they are just in front of the engine... Well, that's put that to bed. Thanks for looking

Hi Vince, Thank you for your kind comments. Apart from the bonnet 'problem', I am really pleased with the way this came out. Cheers, Alan.

Hello All, This one has also been on the 'shelf of doom' for some time. Probably about 4 or 5 years... It's the Hasegawa Ferrari 348 tb. It'll go well with the other Ferraris that I have been working on. What with the 308 having been finished, and the 288 GTO nearly complete, I thought that I would clear the decks of old builds and add this one to the list of 'in progress'. The box. A pretty car, if not quite so beautiful as the 308 & 288... The sprues. It doesn't look a lot, but the engine is already built and almost ready to be put aside. ... and, the instructions. I'm hoping that this Hasegawa kit will be a bit more successful than a couple of others I tried... I tried to construct the 1/24th Ferrari F189, but it went completely pear-shaped on me and the body work would not fit. I binned it! I also tried the 1/24th Jaguar XJR8 (or was it the XJR9?, I can't remember). That was going well, then I managed to split the rather large wind-screen! That ended up as spare parts... On the other hand, the 1/32nd F-16 seems to going rather better. Anyway, more pictures... The body has been painted with Halfords acrylic spray paint. I can't remember the colour. But I don't need any more (unless I screw up with the cement!). If I do, I'm pretty certain that I can mix up the right cocktail of (Tamiya) colours to get a near enough match. The engine, not quite fully assembled. Again, I have added ignition leads. No engine looks right without ignition leads, except a Diesel. Actually, my wife's Meriva is a petrol, and the ignition leads are nowhere to be seen. Each spark-plug is fed by it's own coil in an ignition block that sits on top of them. Anyway, utterly irrelevant in this case, as the 348 has separate leads to each plug, and they go ... somewhere! (More on that later!) The wheels. Matt chrome seems to work on car kits. I always thing the the high-chrome finish looks too toy-like on 1/24th scale! (Actually, I built the Revell 1/8th scale Jag, and the chrome on that looked too bright and toy-like!) The windows, door-mirrors and the engine cover. That's it for the moment. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Hello All, This is the final assembly. All the car needed to look like a runner was the wheels. My biggest concern was that since I had added disc brakes to the Revell hubs, the wheels would no longer fit, or would look odd or something. I was fairly sure that I had measured everything correctly and that the wheel axles would fit in the brake hubs, but you never know. After my frustrating experience with the Fujimi FIAT 500 wheels and brakes (and that was as supplied in the kit!), I was a bit concerned that my 'bodges' might have messed things up... I needn't have worried, they fitted like a dream... Not only did they fit, but the car sat four-square as well. A real bonus. The only thing I'm a bit miffed about is the fit of the bonnet. You can see that it protrudes on the right hand side. I think that it was the result of my having to re-glue the bonnet after attaching the body to the floor-pan. Nothing I can do about it now, so it will have to stay 'protruded'! I think that it also sits a little high, but I think that is a problem with the original kit and not my mods. From the front. I'm not sure about those signal lights. I might try to put them in again... When it came to final assembly, I noticed that the exhaust tail-pipe was missing from the 'chrome' sprue... So, I fabricated a new tail-pipe from a short length of 1/8th styrene tube. What would we do without 'evergreen' styrene rod, tube and sheet? I then hollowed out one end to make it look more accurate, and painted it aluminium, and the inside of it black. Beats model 'chrome' any time! Looks the part, I think. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Hi John, I used Zero Paints 'FIAT Smooth Mint'. I looked up the colour on the FIAT UK web-site, then searched the ZP database for 'Smooth Mint'. It was my daughter's choice, that's exactly the colour she wants when she gets a real one! I cannot praise the Zero Paint too much. They are superb and as far as I can tell pretty robust. You just have to make sure that you prime the plastic really well before applying the colour coat. Cheers, Alan.

Hello All, This is the final assembly stage. On with the lights etc. The lights are a mix of clear parts and 'chromed' parts. Not ideal, but after the battles I have had with this in the last few weeks, trying to fabricate lenses from clear styrene was probably a bit too far! So, pictures: The wipers were left 'chrome' because the originals were chrome, I think. However, I did paint the rubbers black. It's not that obvious here. Also, if you look very carefully, there is a radio aerial at the back. It happens to exactly line up with the join in the door frame behind it! The disc brakes and callipers are visible here too. I think that they don't look too bad... The front. Looks like it's a bit skew. I blame it on stormy seas... The wipers look a bit odd, but I think it's the angle at which they are seen. The aerial is a bit more obvious here. The 'chromed' monstrosity was replaced by a bit of 30 thou rod with the end sanded to a blunt point, then painted silver. I think it looks better. Next, final assembly. Putting the wheels on.

Love this! I know, I said it before! I have always had a soft spot for US 'Heavy Metal' from the 50's & early 60's. Gonna have to get some! Cheers, Alan.

Spotted yesterday in Chippenham. A green (ish) Triumph Spitfire (W reg - 1981 ish) A green Triumph TR7 - Amazing that any of them still run... A blue Vauxhall Monaro Coupé (Holden imported into the UK, I believe) Cheers, Alan.

Hi Robin, Than you for your kind comments. I am really pleased with the way it came out, and my daughter was really happy with it. Regards, Alan.

Hi Robin Lous, I have posted the FIAT in 'Ready for Inspection', but I'll post the images here as well. I hope you like what you see. I was very pleased with the result! Thanks for looking. Regards, Alan. .

Hi Pascal, I thought that I had read that the 288 was a derivation of the 308/328. The similarity in shape, if not in engine layout is too much of a coincidence. I do believe that Tamiya did a 'part-assembled' 1/12 288 GTO, albeit at an astronomical price! Hiroboy list it, but as discontinued, sadly: http://www.hiroboy.com/112_Ferrari_288_GTO__SemiAssembled_Premium_Model--product--2734.html Best Regards, Alan.

Just seen this. Absolutely fabulous! This is one of my all-time favourite cars, and if I had the money (lots and lots!!!) I would buy one, even a scrapper, tomorrow! Beautiful! I am awe-struck! Cheers, Alan.

More progress, but not without some heartache! I have the interior coloured. I chose a pale grey, rather than the usual black, thus: I have also painted bits I thought would be visible but not interior black. The next attempt was to put the body onto the floor. This is where the heartache happened. The fit of the body was somewhat tight over the wheel-arches. and after some grappling, the body popped onto the floor-pan. It didn't look too bad. BUT the bonnet that I had glued in popped open, breaking the cemented join. "Not a problem!" says I, "a bit of cement should put things right!". I put some liquid cement (Revell Contacta) into the groove and thought nothing more. I decided that I would clamp it, so I man-handled the model to get the clamp in place only to notice cement all over my lovely yellow paint! Grr!!! Well, after removing as much as I could, the damage was bad but repairable. I carefully sanded the offending area and applied very thin coats of Taniya X8. The yellows, as I mentioned before are very close. I'll need to buff the area when the paint has cured, but I think that it won't be too noticeable. It won't win any awards, but I am not ashamned to put it on display and NOT into the rubbish bin of doom! Anyway, enough waffle, piccies: Sorry that the last four pictures are a bit 'noisy', but the light level was very low in the conservatory, and to get a depth of field, I was using a very small aperture on my 28-80 zoom lens. However, the rescue seems to be working. Next, wheels, lights and fenders, followed by the few decals worth putting on and she's done! Thanks for looking, Alan.

Hi Roger, Thanks for your kind comments. It's interesting to note that the 288 & 308 aren't dissimilar in size. I guess that the 308 was the base platform for the 288. They look so similar as well. My major concern with the 288 is that I have read builds on other forums that the rear wheels tend to stick out past the wheel-arches. Only time will tell... All the best, Alan.

Hi Roger, Than you for your kind and encouraging comments. I must admit that when I restarted this kit back in 2015, I didn't think that it would take quite this long! Still, I think that the end is in sight for this one. These old Revell kits were actually very good. I remember the Douglas 'stiletto' aircraft kit that I built way back in the 60's. That was an easy to build kit even for a 10 year old, and if I recall, the fit was good. All the best, Alan.

Just a small update. When I decided that I wanted ignition leads on the engine, I first realised that there was nowhere, no distributor for leads to go to, so I first fabricated the distributors for the leads to go in. OK, having done that, I then thought, there should be a coil so that the distributors didn't look a bit false. So, I fabricated a pair of ignition coils (No pictures of them on their own...). These were made out of some styrene tube with a 30 thou rod through the centre. Then I pushed over the end of the 30 thou rod a piece of insulation of one of the wires of a USB cable. This meant that I had a receptacle for where the lead could go. I then attached the coils to the rear firewall and then pushed the ends of the leads into the cable insulation. That's a lot of words where a simple picture will make more sense, so: It's not the sharpest image, but due to the lack of light and the fact that I couldn't be bothered to get out my tripod, the shutter speed was about 1/12 of a second. That means shake if hand held... Anyway, you can see the two coils attached to the firewall, and the HT leads coming from them to the distributors. I know that is not absolutely accurate. I'm not even sure where the coil (or coils) would be placed, but the firewall looked like a likely place. Anyway, that's where I have put them and it does busy up the engine compartment a little. Still quite a way to go before completion. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Like it! I want one! Cheers, Alan.

I have this kit as well. I'm making it 'stock', except for a replacement set of wheels... All the best, Alan.

Hello Chaps, Some more progress on the GTO. I managed to get the glazing in and the interior painted, and the rear-view mirror fitted before putting the body on the floor-pan. The body fits really well. My main concern was ensuring that the rear window fitted in the recess on the cabin. I needn't have worried, it fitted perfectly. But, there's always a but isn't there... I had fitted the body BEFORE putting in the rear-view mirror. So, off with the body and in with the mirror. However, as I removed the body, I removed one of the door mirrors ... doh! Fortunately, it fitted back OK and after installing the rear-view mirror, the body went back on well as well... I was nearly tempted to not bother. However, I would always be bothered that it wasn't there, even though you can barely see it! Another thing is how Italeri want you to support the engine cover. They provide four small rectangular pieces that you are meant to glue onto the bottom of the rear buttresses. Anyway, I decided that they would look really naff and make the model a bit too toy-like. So, I cut two 2.5 mm wide strips of 15 thou styrene sheet, and cemented them on to the bottom of the buttresses, thus: As you can see, they are a bit white at the moment. However, I painted them with a red cocktail that I mixed up (5 parts Hu19, I part XF9) which matches the body colour closely enough. I also painted the underside of them black to match the colour in the engine bay. It fits like a glove. Notice that the mirror is back on... Still a lot to do. Mostly, the front and rear fenders and lights. Then I'll put the wheels on. This is where things might get tricky. Other builds of this kit state that the rear wheels tend to extend outside the wheel arches, but to be forewarned is to be fore-armed, as they say (whoever 'they' are...). This was a review of the Testors version, so whether that has an influence, I don't know. Thanks for looking, Alan.