cmatthewbacon

And here they are in place on our display at Scale Model World: best, M.

I guess I’m used to my subscription copy coming the last Saturday of the previous month (ie I got my November cover copy on Saturday 28th Sep) which works most of the time… but not this month, clearly… best, M.

They seem fairly well on with it… does anyone know if there’s a distributor or agent who might have 3D prints, test shots or sprues at SMW? Is the Glow2B tie-up still on and might they be on the Revell stand? Or was that just a sales deal as a retailer? best, M.

If it is a POW/QE2, if it’s meant to launch tomorrow then it’ll be a few weeks late and only contain the hull parts, just when you think you’ve finished building it you’ll have to give it back to Airfix for a couple of months for them to replace some key parts, and you won’t get the aircraft sprues until some time in 2026… 😜 best, M.

Me, too. It seems a bit odd: it IS a week later than usual, as if it had been delayed to align with an SMW reveal, but there’s nothing in there that’s not been announced weeks ago. I wonder if they had to plan their print schedules for the year, and factored in a slot “just in case”, but Airfix timing didn’t align in the end… best, M.

One of Chris Bangle’s early ones before he went to BMW. I love ‘em! 20V engine and quite a turn of speed… Not so easy to buy a good one these days: though on the plus side, if it’s still around today and not rusted out, it’s probably been well looked after… beat, M.

Jadlam has just let the cat out of the bag; pre-order now for a £50 discount on a forthcoming 1/8 Pagani Utopia. I think this one is NOT available from anyone else, and Horacio has famously high standards, so I expect accuracy, detail and top-quality execution... Still it IS £880, though that's cheaper than most of the partworks and definitely a prebuilt Agora or Amalgam model. I guess it depends on whether the subject floats your boat... (I wonder whether the negotiations for the Airfix Huayra paved the way for this one, or the other way round.... ;-P) best, M.

I predict that by 10:03 on Friday, there will be 43 posts, a quarter of which are complaining it about being in the wrong scale, another quarter saying "I don't know why they've bothered when you can already get one from..."; a further 25% saying "darn it, Airfix releasing one will stop .... doing a proper one; Airfix's new tool kits are rubbish"; and the rest saying "that just means the Jaguar will be announced in January/be a surprise release in 2025..." best, M.

I’m not normally much of a Nanny-stater but I really do think there should be a curfew, and limited days per year. It is pretty selfish and antisocial to be setting off heavyweight fireworks and MLRS salvoes at 10.20pm even on November 5th… best, M.

The surprise Telford announcement is a new-tool 1/72 Hercules!!! 😜 best, M.

The fourth in a series of displays to pay tribute to illustrator and Airfix box art legend Roy Cross. This is the Merit kit from the late 1950s, and it's still a better shape than the much later Protar offering... The body is painted with Tamiya Gloss Aluminium spray, the supercharger intake is built up in Milliput, and the rims are 3D printed Mercedes 300SL wheels from Ukrainian Scale Car Production. The Fangio figure is an Immense Miniatures generic body with "Late career" Fangio head, now available from RS Slot Racing in the UK. Anyone who wants a closer look will find this one with its companion pieces on the Classic British Kits SIG table at Scale Model World next weekend. best, M.

Jaguar XK8, probably a coupe. Fifteen years ago I was hanging my nose over a GT6, but good ones have got steadily more expensive, and a while back I realised I could get a concours XK8 coupe for less than half what a decent GT6 would cost. And I’d be getting a comfortable, powerful, fast GT car with modern features and systems (eg ABS and air con) instead of a petite 70s antique. A good, well sorted one with 70K miles, rust free and full Jaguar service history is about £8k, and there are more than a few about… best, M.

Back from holiday now, and moving forward (the Scale Model World countdown clock is ticking loudly!): I was a bit worried about getting these home-brew decals to settle down around the curves and over the detail, but they've worked out OK, I reckon. I've got a "recipe" for doing these bases now, so it's pretty much rinse and repeat -- helped by the fact that Roy uses a small handful of different points of view over the whole series, so once you've figured out the front to back slope, the side to side slope, and how low or high the front panel needs to be, they are all variations on a theme... Until I've glued the wheels, it'll roll off, so this is the closest I'll get to the cover pic before Ready for Inspection! ...and a couple of off-axis angles to give a clearer picture of how the base works... Nearly there, now! Best, M.

Is it paved with good intentions? M.

Is that my beautiful wife? Is that my beautiful house? best, M.