Alan R

Evening All, Not a huge update on this one. I have managed to assemble and paint the seats. Mind you they are a bit of a painting challenge. I started by priming the seats with a light grey coat, followed by a white stripe down the middle. I then painted in the horizontal strips red (XF-7). Then with a lot of care, I painted the black horizontal strips with my favourite Abbadon Black. Then I finished on the bolsters and the backs of the chairs. Several touch-ups occurred before I was totally happy. Once complete, I gave them a quick coat of satin varnish just to even out the finish. Hopefully, I'll get the cock-pit complete soon. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Evening All, I cannot believe that I haven't reported anything on this for eight months. Well, here is another update. I have finally assembled the chassis and the cockpit. This is where we are now. The Cockpit: Dash-board added! The pedals all but disappear, but I know they are there... The kit comes with brake and clutch pedals, but nowhere in the instructions does it tell you what to do. However, it's fairly obvious where it goes as there is a slot for them in the bulkhead. No throttle pedal was provided, so a strip of 10 thou card was cut out and cemented in in the appropriate place for a throttle pedal... The gear-stick in the kit was a pretty anaemic affair, so I got a sewing pin from the wife's sewing basket, cut off the sharp bit and painted the head black. A bit of CA carefully applied with a cocktail stick, into the hole provided and it looks quite realistic. The brakes in place. You'll notice that they are a bit out on the tracking! I had made the steering rack a bit too long by about 4mm. I solved that by cutting out the 4mm section in-situ, then slipped a 1/8th" diameter tube over the two halves of the rack, then carefully aligned the two hubs so that they were parallel. I then dropped some contacta glue into the tube to set the rack to that length, followed by a bit of CA glue over the ends to strengthen the bond. This is the end result: A slightly closer look. Well, some tidying up around the wish-bones etc., and I can move on to putting the cock-pit on the floor pan, then the body shell on. Maybe it'll take less than eight months for that. Thanks for looking, Alan.

During the last week: An Aston Martin DB9 in our office car park, Two Audi R8 cabriolets on the M4 between Chippenham and Bristol (a white one hood up, and a silver one hood down) A V-reg Vauxhall Chevette on the M4 between Chippenham and Bath. It was easily holding its own with the traffic... A Lamborghini Hurracan (or it might have been a Murcialago!) in lime green on the M3 in Hampshire Not bad for a few days... Cheers, Alan.

I have this one on the shelf of doom! It's a very old moulding, moulded in red, and it has the very old 'wordy' instructions! The price must have been in shillings and pence! The reason it's on the shelf of doom is that the chassis rails were warped, and in the process of trying to 'un-warp' them, I applied a bit too much pressure and bits of it went pinging all over the workshop! Fortunately, I was able to recover all the parts, but I kind of lost interest... Anyway, this may inspire me to try again with it... Cheers, Alan.

This is a truly amazing piece of workmanship! Well done! If I could even come halfway close to doing something like that, I would be well pleased with myself. Seeing the engine, literally slung underneath the chassis reminds me of the Diesel Multiple Unit trains running on a number of British railway lines. At least there, they don't have ground clearance issues! I assume that the ease of access reason is why the trains use this layout: Drive it over a mechanics pit, there it is all above you... Again, congratulations. Alan.

I'm not sure why this has lasted so long! Plenty of other models I made from a similar time didn't fare so well. I binned a whole load of old models a couple of years back, deeming them unrepairable at the time. These days, after seeing other people on Britmodeller rescue old builds, it might have been a different outcome. Alan.

That is such a pretty car! Glad that this one is proving to be a better build than the MPC one! I have an MPC 1/20th 'Lazer' Vette to build. I'm wondering if I'll ever build it now! Cheers, Alan.

Hi All, I built this in my last year at University as a distraction from revision when it got a bit too much. That was way back in 1976. Must have worked, as I got my degree... Anyway here are the pictures: Not too shabby for a 41 year old model. even if I say so myself. Nothing has fallen off, and I have hardly done anything to it apart from the occasional dusting. Thanks for looking, Alan.

I built this maybe 45 - 50 years ago. Brings back memories, that does! I wouldn't mind having another go, along with the Ford 3-litre GT Cheers, Alan.

You managed the impossible. A silk purse out of a sow's ear! Well done! Alan.

More progress: I have added some more to the engine: This is the engine in the sub-frame just prior to putting the whole shebang into the floor-pan. I'm not sure whether it is correct, but I painted the axle stubs aluminium, and the wish-bones gold. I used Tamiya Titanium Gold as it's a bit more restrained than the usual gold. I think that it looks OK. I had to do a bit of filling with Mr White Surfacer on the wish-bone where the axle was attached to the wish-bone, as Italeri had made the pin a bit short, and the hole all the way through the wish-bone. After a bit of sanding and re-painting, it more or less disappeared. The engine and sub-frame in the floor-pan. The plumbing fits where it touches, and I am not going to try to force anything to join correctly. It's only visible if you peer inside the back with a bright torch! It will be completely invisible when the body is put on, I hope... The image is a bit washed out, I think it's to do with the white table on which I took the photographs. On this one it's a bit more obvious than the others. In all these images, I tweaked the contrast and colour balance a bit. In this image, you can see that I have also put the front suspension on as well. Again, I painted the wishbones Titanium Gold. Thanks for looking, Alan.

Lovely! Cheers, Alan.

My very first car whilst still at school was a light blue Wolesely 1500. Lovely car.

Spotted in and around Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday: A Beautiful mid-sixties E-type coupé and A mint Triumph TR6 (In mustard, not the best colour for this car...), still looks gorgeous. Cheers, Alan.

I only rode bikes seriously for about 9 years, from 1975 to 1984. Ran into the back of a stationary car on my CB 400F. Entirely my fault. No serious damage done, to me or the bike! After that I owned a Suzuki GSX 550 Katana and then a VF-750F. No accidents on either of those, but many, many scary moments due to other road users! I'd love another bike, A Triumph Street Triple would be nice! (Getting on a bit, don't need a suicide machine, these days... ) The wife would kill me! Cheers, Alan.

Hi Shaun, That looks a real beauty! I have wanted one of these for a while. You have truly made a silk purse out of a sow's ear! Look forward to seeing more updates. Cheers, Alan.

Hi Ashley, I'd love to do that, but space is limited. I already have about 60 24th scale car kits to build other than the ones I'm already working on! (I daren't event look in the Loft and Garage!) I recently did a speculative summing up of models that I would love to get from Hiroboy, and the result was around 850 quid! More kits are in the pipe-line, but as and when the wife agrees... (We still have two adult children at uni that need financial support... ) Still, your list looks impressive. I look forward to seeing those builds... All the best, Alan.

Having real problems getting the turbos and pipes to fit properly... Hopefully, once the cement is set and any touching up is done, it won't look too bad. I think it'll all be hidden by the inter-coolers anyway...

The trio has become a quartet... I finally decided that the R-35 is a worthy GTR after all. I'm still not sure about the looks, but it does go like a rocket! It'll look great with the other GTRs when built I chose this one over the Tamiya partly because it was cheaper (!), and partly because it has a bit more detail for the engine. One review I read on the Tamiya R-35 was that the engine detail (which is really just the top end...) will be a challenge to mask and get to look good. Since the engine is a separate item on this one, that should be a bit easier... Here's hoping. Alan.

A tale of two turbos (and an exhaust system)... After a lot of fettling, i.e sanding painting, seeing flaws, sanding, painting ... this is where I have got to. They are ready to add to the engine, at last. Thanks for looking, Alan.

I'm not sure what the top speed of the Ampera (Volt) is, but I was doing 70 and I would guess it was doing between 80 & 90. Difficult to tell when it's accelerating away from you... Cheers, Alan.

Today on the way home from work... A Vauxhall Ampera. I think that it's the European version of the Chevrolet Volt. Left me for dead at the traffic lights. These electric cars can accelerate! Alan.

Just taken delivery of these from Hiroboy... Two rather different Japanese sports cars. The latter one means that I have all but one of the Nissan GTRs. Alan.

Does this count? My first '17 plater... A Mazda MX-5...

That is a really pretty little car. I have been eyeing this one up on Hiroboy for some months. However, I think that if I buy any more kits, the wife will kill me... I will just have to enjoy this one vicariously. Pulling up a seat to watch. Cheers, Alan.