Alan R

Been a busy bee today... No assembly, but some preparation. I have started on the interior a bit... The floor is the correct colour according to the instructions... We all know what a mine-field that can be. However, I am happy with the look, so that'll do. Just need to apply the carpet stuff... Other parts, primed and nearly ready to go. The front seats need a bit of TLC where the back joins the front. Some Mr White putty is needed I think. I have primed them pink (Matt white and Matt Hull Red XF9 in equal measure) because they are finally going to be red, and it seemed like a good idea... All the best, Alan.

Changed !

Just looking at the box art, it seems that Tamiya got it right (more or less). It is a Jaguar Mark II... Alan.

I stand corrected! I never knew that. I always assumed that this model was the S-Type. As for 'Morse-ing' it, I believe that the Morse Jag was the 2.4 litre not the 3.4 and had a single exhaust pipe rather than the twin pipe. Also, the Morse Jag was a solid Maroon, rather than the metallic colour I have painted it. How accurate any of that is I don't know. I didn't know until yesterday that the older XF was developed from the 'retro' S-Type. What a different car! I rather fancy one of those. Especially the supercharged 5 litre V8 By the way, does anyone remember the 1/32nd Airfix Mk 10 (or was that the 340)? Cheers, Alan.

Another one that has sat on the shelf of doom for far too long. This really needs to be completed, along with... The Merc The 308 The Diablo The FIAT 500 and the Payhauler. They have not been completely forgotten. Anyway, having got that off my chest, here goes. The box top: It's a British classic. The body was primed using Halfords' red-oxide primer, then top coated with a mix of Tamiya gloss colours mixed as per the instructions. It gives a really good metallic maroon/red finish. I mixed up my own 'pink' primer for the interior as I have run out of the Halfords' primer a long time ago... The floor-pan. This kit has been a real pleasure to put together so far, more progress soon. All the best, Alan.

I discovered that there aren't many Diablo builds here, especially the Italeri version, so I though that even though the damn thing is nearly finished after 10 or more years on the shelf of doom. I recently got my mojo back after another hiatus of nearly a whole year. So here it is: First the box: A bit tatty, but it's been in the loft for a long while, so can be excused perhaps. This is I think, the original boxing. I think that Italeri have re-released this this year. It's gone together reasonably well, so far. But Italeri kits have a bit of a reputation as being a bit of a bugger in the fit department... The current state: The engine bay is really just the top and not complete. But after a bit of careful painting, I think that it looks quite good. I think that the plenum chambers (if that's what they are) need a bit of prettifying. The Lamborghini raised parts need to be another colour. I doubt that the real engine has this, but frankly I don't care! It's my Lambo, and that's what I would want! Body: Wheels and tyres: This is to be honest, is the weakest part of the kit. The tyres are that crappy vinyl stuff, that leaks an oily goo that eventually melts polystyrene. Fortunately all the wheels are fully painted, especially where the tyres touch the plastic, so this should protect it. Hope you like it. All the best, Alan.

More Merc Werke! The passenger cabin is coming along. More to do yet, but here we are: The seats are a fetching shade of satin black (My own concoction mixed up from GW Abaddon Black and Humbrol Gloss black, 5 - 1 ratio). The tub still needs a bit of work, as can be seen... The dashboard: I like the way the instrument panel came out, shame it will be almost invisible when installed in the body... There is still some touching up to be done on the centre console, don't look too carefully, but the air vents and stereo are a bit over-painted. I need to deal with that! The seats: The seatbelts are picked out in Matt Black (Can't really see it, but it shows on the actual seats) and the buckles are high-lighted using my trusty silver gel pen. More to come. Best regards, Alan.

Cute!

I really want this van, along with the Italeri Transit and the Tamiya Toyota HiAce van (Sadly out of production ... again!). Your Citroen looks superb, a real battle, but definitely worth it! All the best, Alan.

I recently saw one of these outside Bristol Temple Meads Railway station masquerading as a baguette and beer shop. Wish I had taken a picture, but was in a hurry to catch a train. I didn't realise just how big they actually are! Bigger than a Transit. Over the years I have seen quite a few of these on British roads, but never close up...

Thanks Alberto. As I said in my previous post, the lacquer coat looked like a dog's breakfast (i.e. Very Messy) It was full of pits and didn't look too good. I suspect that the lacquer had aged in the can and was drying as I was spraying it on and not allowing the lacquer to self-level. However, after much elbow grease and time (about 2-3 hours of vigorous sanding), starting with 600 grit wet-n-dry, followed by the absolutely amazing Tamiya lapping film, I got the paint work to look quite reasonable. It wouldn't win any prizes in an exhibition, but I am happy with it. So, here it is: The pictures do seem to make the finish look quite matte, but I suspect that is the lighting, as the finish is quite shiny. Well, that's the exterior, apart from the fiddly details done. On to the interior. More updates soon, Alan.

This is something that my 19 year old daughter wants in real life, but as I can't afford anything more, I came up with this: It's a pretty good representation of the car, with a few simplifications. The door handles are moulded on and not separate. I don't think it'll look too bad when finished. I might cheat and make them the body colour. So, progress. After some initial prep, like careful sanding with very fine went-n-dry, I primed the body and chassis with Zero Paints light grey primer using my trusty Badger 200 air-brush. This was the first time that I had used the Zero paints. I was really impressed with the finish of the primer. Really flat and smooth. My daughter wanted a mint-green car. Fortunately, Hiro-Boy had the right colour already in it's range (Fiat Smooth Mint). I am really impressed with these paints. I will definitely use them again. Next stage the lacquer coat. Hopefully in the next day or two. I hope you like it. All the best, Alan.

More progress! Finally I have the front and rear suspension installed: You can see the brakes here, not particularly well, I admit... This, I think is a bit clearer. You can't see it but all the springs are painted in semi-gloss black, then I high-lighted the spring coils with a silver high-ligher gel pen. This is the front-end: This is the back end: You can just see the coil springs below the swing-arms. I always like to drill out the ends of the exhast so that it looks a bit more realistic. I simply drill into the end (very carefully), then ream it out using a No. 26 scalpel blade. A touch of matt black finishes the job. May not be very noticable, but I know that it's there... I started on the glossing of the body, but at the moment it lokks a right dog's breakfast! Hopefully, a bit of elbow grease and various grades of abrasive, I can make it look as good as the bonnet (hood). When it looks better, I'll post pictures. Until then, all the best, Alan.

I have this in my stash, part started. Wish I had known about the Extra Tech photo-etch when I bought it....

Some progress! Not much though. The engine is in place: The exhaust is painted and ready to install: The rear end is being primed ready for painting (No pictures yet) More to come... All the best, Alan.

I recently took delivery of the Aoshima Sesto Elemento. Huge box for a 1/24 scale car. Absolutely crammed with sprues. Two body shells, one clear, one 'normal' if you can call a Lambo 'normal'... I'm lusting after the Tamiya NSX as well. When I get that, I'm going to build it alongside the older Tamiya NSX. I really, really want the Aventador now as well.... All the best, and keep up the amazing work. Alan.

Hi Alberto, The Merc is 'stalled' at present as I need to get some gloss lacquer for it from Halfords (Our UK automotive supplies store), and due to family commitments, I haven't had the time to get there. Also, I promised to make my daughter a FIAT 500 model (She's mad keen about them and wants a real one...), so that has taken precedence at the moment. Never fear though, the Merc will progress.... All the best, Alan.

I agree with Ashley, Preparation s the key word here. I always do the following with body-work (Car or plane) Remove any seam lines with a relatively coarse wet 'n' dry (240 grit should be ok, anything coarser and you get deep grooves that will need filling) Follow up with finer grades (I use 600 & 1200). That should 'polish' out any scratches from the first step. Wash the body in warm soapy water, rinse and drain-dry. Apply the primer coat until the body is completely covered. Leave the primer coat to dry for at least 24 hours (48 is better) Rub back with a fine-ish grade (600 grit should do). This ​will​ remove some of the primer. Don't worry. Repeat steps 5 & 6. This will leave the body smooth for the top coat. Once the paint is hard, probably after 24/48 hours, you can then spray the top coat. In my experience it nearly always goes 'orange-peely'. It's probably my crap air-brush skills Spray the top coat in two or more light 'dusting' coats. We are trying to get coverage, not a complete finish. Depending on the paint, you may have to wait between 10 minutes (for acrylics or cellulose) and 40 minutes (for enamels). Spray over this with a heavier 'wet' coat. Just try to avoid the paint running... Rub-back again, and apply more top coat where you may have rubbed through if necessary (!) Then apply a clear lacquer, using similar techniques to above. I use Halford's clear auto-lacquer here in the UK. There should be similar products in all countries. I usually finish with a rub with an automotive rubbing compound. Not all aircraft will need the gloss coat, I would cover it (after applying any decals) with a satin lacquer. ​I know that seems a lot of effort, but base prep takes time, but the results are usually worth it, and if they fail, the model disappears into a dark place in the man-cave.... Hope that helps, Alan.

Hi Alberto, By 'orange-peely', I mean that the finish is not perfectly level, but rather resembles the skin of an orange. It's where the paint hasn't levelled properly. Hence the need for lots of careful sanding. lapping and polishing afterwards. Cheers, Alan.

Hi All, I seem to have got a bit of enthuisam back for modelling again! This has been on and off my bench for a considerable while. I'm not sure how long I have had this beast. Several years at the least... Cover picure: I think that this muscular beast will look good with my Mazda Mx-5. Two totally different cars, both with the idea that driving can be fun... Anyway the obligatory sprue shot: As you can see, there are a number of bits removed from the sprues, that's because I started on this model a fair while ago, then for lack of enthusiasm, I packed it all up, and more-or-less forgot about it. By the way, the clear parts were missed out in the photo, but I still have them... I re-discovered it while waiting for some paint (or cement, I can't remember to be honest) to set on the Revell Ferrari 308. I thought that I would get it out and have a look. The main body parts were all primed ready for a top coat, So I sanded the primer coat with some recently bought Tamiya 'Lapping Film'. This is a very fine abrasive that can be used to smooth paint or plastic surfaces prior to painting. It's pretty amazing stuff. The finish I got was pretty good, so I decided to have a go at painting it. I sprayed it with Humbrol Gunmetal acrylic using my trusty Badger air-brush (Must be nearly 30 years old, and still going strong). I thinned it using a 50:50 mix of Johnson's Klear and distilled water, So the final mix was about 35% paint to 65% thinner. I then hooked up my new Tamiya air-flow regulator to the compressor and set the flow rate to quite low. The regulator has no pressure gauge, so it's a bit of guess-work to establish the correct air-flow, but with a bit of practice, you get a really fine flow, but you do have to thin the paint quite a lot, or it won't crawl out of the bottle The Tamiya regulator is a really nifty piece of kit and not terribly expensive, about 8 quid from HLJ. This is where the various parts are now: Finally the bonnet (Hood): Once the paint was dry on the various body parts, it was a lovely matte shade (I think Humbrol gun-metal is matte anyway). It needed some 'shiney-ness'. I had some Halford's clear lacquer left over from other jobs, and tried it on the bonnet. After a few mist-coats followed by a couple of heavier wet-coats, it was glossy but a little orange-peely. So, after some elbow-grease with 2000 grit wet 'n' dry, the Tamiya lapping film and finally, Halford's rubbing compound, I got a pretty good high shine on the bonnet. The next stage is to get some more Halfords clear laquer, and finish the job on the body and fenders. Once that is done, I can get on with the interior, and final assembly. It's still a long way from being finished, but I feel that I have made some good progress. More to come. Cheers, Alan.

Finally after nearly a year! I can't beleive that I haven't touched this thing (or any other of my models for that matter...) for nearly 12 months... Anyway, enouh rambling, I have made some "improvements" to this kit: If you remember the chassis was a bit 'clunky' as in there was a lot of 'filled in' bits at the rear, like this: I decided that the chassis would look much better with them bits removed, thus: Basically, I drilled around the areas to be removed with a small drill in my pin-vice, then VERY carefully using a Stanley Knife, I cut through the holes. Once the waste plastic was removed, I then filed and sanded the rough edges smooth, giving the above result. Of course, after all that drastic surgery, I needed to repaint the floor-pan. Hence the grey bits. I also didn't like the steering 'rack', which was some kind of 'ratchet' mechanism so that the wheels would stay put. This is probably some kind of 'play' thing, I don't know. Anyway, I improved that as well. I removed the pin on the chassis that acted as the ratchet, and fabricated a new rack, thus: Not perfect, but much better than the 'toy' thing that Revell expected me to use. This fits neatly on the king-pins of the front suspension. I know, I checked.... I have also messed around with the drive-shaft and have come up with this: It's a bit long at the moment as I'm not sure how much to trim off until I fit the rear suspension. I have since re-sprayed the chassis, and have assembled the seats: the seats have also been painted a rather fetching shade of black, but are a bit 'matt'. They need to be made a bit more satin... That's all for the moment, more later, I hope... All the best, Alan.

Nearly 40 years ago, I worked at Rolls-Royce in Bristol as a software engineer. One of the true joys was seeing the griffon engined spit that was hangered there then doing aerobatics. The sight and sound was glorious. All spitfires are gorgeous in my opinion. My first kit over 50 years ago was the old Airfix 72 Spitfire, bought from Woolies when we were on holiday in Cornwall. I am too young to remember the war (50's child!), but my dad remembers as a boy in Kent watching the Spitfires and Me109s dog-fighting during the BoB. He told me that at the time he didn't see the brave men (both Brits and Germans) fighting for their lives, just the beautiful aerobatic ballet in the sky. I may be biased, but there are really only three planes that give me goose-bumps when I see them. The Spitfire, the Harrier (Another frequent visitor to Rolls-Royce Bristol in my day) and Concorde. At least I see Concorde most weekends as I pass the sadly non-operational, Filton airfield on my way to the Mall.

She's a lovely car. Well done! I hope that I can do justice to mine. It was your build that inspired me to get mine off the shelf of doom! Cheers, Alan.

I seem to keep finding these half-built kits... So, here we go again. That's all I have managed to do so far. The body was painted in the Tamiya TS colours, they do seem to cover very well. I was a bit worried about the state of the decals, as some of them have 'crinkled' for want of a better word. However, so far they have come off the backing paper well, and haven't broken up into teeny-weeny pieces yet! I saw someone else's build on here, and he had drilled out the bolt holes and hub on the spare wheel, so I have done the same. It does make the spare look a bit more realistic. Over the next few days, I hope to get the rest of the decals applied to the body-shell. There are some horribly complex curves to follow. Hopefully, microsol will help... All the best, Alan.

Love it. I want one!