gbondoni

I don't know if you can still get it in the US, but DOT 3 brake fluid will pull off most paints with zero scraping or effort, and without damage to the plastic. The paint just wrinkles up and floats off in the fluid. Not sure how I'd apply it on a kit that size, but the fluid can be used almost indefinitely, and I've found it much better than oven cleaner. I do recommend handling with care (gloves are a must).

OK, Managed to identify the FW-190. It's the Italeri 190 D from 1978 moldings. That's one mystery solved, but the restoration will be something for another thread. Aiming to improve on my new benchmark for aircraft which is the Heinkel above.

Wow, last post almost 4 years ago. A lot of modeling since, but mainly cars, and this one was locked away in a tupperware container in small pieces for quite a while. I completed it in Romanian colors with some aftermarket decals and show it here for your perusal. I did a lot of things on this one that I'd never done before, including applying a matt coat and fitting and tensing the antenna, not to mention an attempt at weathering. Perfect, it isn't, and the camera does bring out all the blemishes, but it looks great in person, especially beside the shiny cars it shares shelf space with. Experiments that didn't work on this one were my attempts to reposition the flaps, mainly because reference pics showed them in the original position, so no real need to carve them out- simple panel scribing would have looked much better! Also, the open canopy looks a bit thick, because I chickened out in the thinning of the old, brittle plastic. There are other things that aren't quite perfect, but that has more to do with my ham-fistedness (especially at this scale) than with anything new I tried to do! Next restoration (and hopefully a quicker build) will be a Focke Wulf which my brother gave me in small pieces, and which is so bad that I'll need to remove the paint before I can see if the shape is all right or not... Final verdict - I'm happy I did this one. It turned a piece of trash plastic into something that I'm actually quite proud of and, though it shouldn't win competitions, I'll enjoy having on my shelf! Anyhow, some of you were following and giving advice on this one, so it's only fair that you should see how it turned out. Can't see into the cockpit, but it's as detailed as my eyes could manage at 1/72... And that Focke Wulf, which apparently has the world's largest supercharger intake (hard to see here because of the crappy phone pic) - if anyone can identify the model / kit maker, it will be much appreciated...

Yeah, got lucky on ebay... makes up for all the times something I really wanted slipped away at the last moment! . I've subscribed, so whenever it resumes, I shall be here, popcorn in hand.

Just bought myself one of these (Testors boxing with some aftermarket decals that weren't mentioned on the inexpensive ebay listing but are much appreciated), so if it ever comes back to the front burner, I'll be watching with interest!

Utterly fantastic!

I've built a pair of these, and they are great kits. They definitely give you value for the money, even at $52. Decals take some work to get conformed, but once there, they look amazing. The only thing I don't like about them is that the tire rubber seems to be of that kind which will eat through decals and other plastic, so take care with them! Having built their Meeke Peugeot and their Skoda, I went ahead and bought the Escort (and will be buying the Manta when it finally releases).

Thank you for the journey, and what a result!!

Detail spray... what brand / product are you using?

Hooray! Sweaty palms during the process?

I actually have a model of the Cobra that Hel Keck drove to victory in the 1965 SCCA nationals sitting in my office (I'm at work right now). It's built from the Monogram kit and has a nice display case. The Cheetah, on the other hand, is in a box awaiting its display case!

You are correct. It is a huge effort, so here go a couple of my takeaways from this: 1. Your method of rethinking each piece a few times has led to a much better model than if you'd used my method (going forward until I get a reasonable result from the method I chose to begin with). I think that's probably the great strength of this build and the reason it's looking so good. 2. Your build as well as a couple of other large-scale builds here have actually inspired me to move away from 1/24 and 1/20. I recently received a 1/16 kit, but even worse, I have the drawing for a 1/8 scale 1906 Renault Grand Prix car's chassis rail sitting on my desk. I plan to build the thing from scratch, starting with the chassis rail. My wife's cousin recently took a replica of this car that he built to Goodwood sponsored by Renault (http://autoblog.com.ar/2016/06/27/renault-type-ak-una-artesania-argentina-en-goodwood/), so if I happen to get stuck, I have a great place to go for pictures and advice. But the fact that I'm embarking on that at all is your fault (well, yours and roymattblack's, on whose threads I also lurk).

Agree with the above. I look at every single post (often with awe), but other than offer encouragement, I have little to add. But it's valuable and I'm learning lots of things!

But if Peugeot was doing those roofs in the 1930s, surely Rolls royce was doing them in the 20s? Come on, Codger, you know you want to!

Beautiful!!

Amazing, glad this one is on the front burner!

I'd never get the name past the filters here, but let's just say there's a village located here : 48.067558, 12.862554 whose name has to be the utter worst placename on the pkanet.

Piddletrenthide a small village at the end of Piddle land with a pub called the Piddle Inn.

Thanks Roberto!!

Thank you! I'm so glad it turned out all right... It had me worried for a while there, but a nice glossy outer coat is a cure for many maladies!

Great group build and totally newbie-friendly. Thank you!

Thanks guys! I'm quite happy with it - not a contest winner, but I had to overcome a number of issues, and it looks good other than some small areas. Also, glad I managed to get it done in time!

Finished this one - and got in onto the gallery, barely in time! It's #46 on the Gallery thread. Despite my ham-fisted lack of skills, it builds into a great-looking model! Preview Photo here:

Thought I was going to fail to finish in time, and had some issues... but made it, barely! Here's the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 (build thread - what there is of it - here.

Just got that McLaren done - uploading photos as I type (some of the touch-up is still wet, but hopefully won't be obvious from the pics!)