Spiny

Driving along the A41 through Hendon today, I noticed a gorgeous Ferrari 275 GTB in the Hendon Way Motors showroom window as I passed. I think that one is slightly out of my price range though, even if checking the website later did show it as POA I don't need to ask to know I'd need a spare couple of million to buy that one. Possibly yesterdays rarity is a bit closer to my budget - I got parked next to an unmolested (at least visually) mid-90's manual Toyota Supra which has so far apparently escaped the attention of the drifters,

It's always progress if you get one step nearer where you want to be, even if you have to retrace a lot of steps to get there.

Thanks for the tip, much appreciated. I think I will use that next time I get on the bench as the hinge pins are only scraped down to the primer (I think) as I was wary of breaking them or going too far - fingers crossed this may be the key to getting the engine cover to sit a bit flatter. Don't worry, there's still plenty of time and opportunity for me to make a right pig's ear of it

Wow! I must admit I can't even begin to comprehend the difficulties of riveting at such a small size, let alone with parts which want to be a different size to what they should be.

One of the those satisfying weekends where previous work comes together and you feel like you've achieved something. In this case, that means I've got the interior finished. Of course, I didn't help myself in getting it finished. Those seats have been looking at me all week, and while I don't think the back of the seats will be easily visible, I'm not certain they won't be seen reasonably easily. Only one thing for it, fabricate a fill for the top of the seat backs with a bit of plastic card - no need to go any further down as I know most will be (indeed, is now) hidden by the back of the cabin. While the paint on those bits were drying, I set about getting the dashboard done. Only needed the red lights on the dash painting plus decals adding, or so I thought before noticing that the rims of the dials also needed painting. So that was another bit of time spent, but the dash came together in the end. It's difficult to show, but Aoshima have done the decal for the dash so the glue is on the front and sits behind the acrylic dials - the end result is very good and another point in this kit's favour. Alongside all of this, I'd been fitting the small bits and bobs to the lower part of the cockpit, before adding the seats and finally the dashboard. I'm quite pleased with how the interior has come out which no doubt means it will be virtually invisible once I finish the model... So is that all I've done this weekend? Not quite - I have moved onto the engine although that is very early days with parts cut out and only one bit of paint added so not worth any pics of that. I also had a go at the engine cover. Test fitting this onto the body revealed that although it could sit straight when held down, the natural tendancy was for the back of the engine cover to sit with about a 1mm gap to the body. A bit of detective work later, and I decided that the fault lay in the way the hinges on the cover fitted into the body, or more accurately the way that paint on the body and hinge-'pins' had messed up the tolerances. So, I took out the scriber and rescribed the reveals back to white plastic (not the easiest thing to get photographed, but the scribed bits are arrowed). It still wasn't quite sitting straight, so I got out the #11 scalpel and carefully scraped the paint off the hinge pins too. It's not quite perfect, but I think once installed it should settle a bit more and it's far better than it was. And that's pretty much where I am. Micromeshing of the body and body parts is finished, just need to give it a going over with the polishing compound and paint some details before I get onto doing the body bits, but before that I have an engine bay to do.

Unlike many of you, I think this one is my favourite Porsche, and this build has certainly done it justice. Looks like a very nice job, and judging by the quality of this build I suspect putting it next to your first build will be a good indication of the progress you've made since you started. Just wondering why you felt the need to put Pledge over the windows - were they scuffed up or something? If so and you're struggling with the Pledge as you say (doesn't look bad to me), I'd suggest trying polishing with Tamiya Fine (or Finish if you can find any at a non-extortionate price) polishing compound when you do your next car and see if that suits you any better.

I'd have to fourth that this is looking great already, and that colour really suits it. I was going to ask if that black was maybe a bit too glossy, but having consulted Mr. Google first it seems I would have been wrong as I found cars with both gloss and satin black roofs in addition to body colour - came very close to making myself look a numpty there

The plastic bag tip is definitely one I'll bear in mind if I ever have to move my models. As for the Princess, it looks like a fantastic result. Been keeping an eye on this as it's progressed (even if I didn't really comment much on it), and it's great to see it come to fruition and end up looking so good. I bet you're a) relieved, and b) proud now it's done.

Coming from the Mr. Sedanca, that is quite a compliment, thank you. Have no fear on the brake and footrest, they're all painted up and just waiting to be fitted next time I get onto the bench It always amazes me how much different parts can look once they get a lick of paint.

Very nice, that green paint finish is absolutely exquisite.

I'd have to agree with you about that - the main reason I try not to use enamels is because it's much easier just to run the brush under a tap (or wash in IPA if necessary) than washing out in white spirit then running under the brush, also a lot less of a worry about spilling water in the house than white spirit. The whole cleaning up thing is also why I only use the airbrush in extremis too - just a lot easier to use the rattle cans for a bodyshell even if the overall cost is higher. It also seems to take less time as well, and I usually get a better finish to the paint out of a can too. Speaking of paint, that's about all I've been doing this weekend. Between the interior tub and the dashboard, both with many colours, I've spent most of the weekend waiting for paint to dry (fortunately I had plenty of other stuff to do so at least I wasn't literally watching paint dry ). At the moment, this is where I sit with them: Both are pretty much complete, just need a second layer on the footrest in the tub and paint the lights red on the dashboard, so next weekend I should get around to fitting all the bits and pieces (which are also painted not) together. Sometimes, it's the details which take the time... and I've also noticed that the back of the seats may be visible through the back window. However, given that the rear window of a Countach is renowned for its uselessness, I'm hoping I can get away without filling the backs as it only seems to be a small part which will be visible once complete.

Thanks, glad you like the 'leather'. I always felt that there is something about tan leather which just suits Italian supercars, so that colour was a must for me. I hadn't thought of mixing gloss clear with matt colour instead trying it the other way around first time out (Humbrol enamel, gloss tan plus clear matt which I think has gone a bit manky), so having stripped that went for the wood brown satin from Revell as I know what that looks like (originally bought for the seat backs on the Trabi), it was near enough to the colour I wanted to be acceptable I felt.

Somehow I've missed this one up to now, but it's shaping up very nicely in no time at all. No wonder you got 7 kits done in 2019!

Looks like this is coming together very well. And, as an added bonus, I think this is the first time I've seen someone properly using the grid on their cutting mat

I'm afraid I have to report that Christmas was not a success on the modelling front, even allowing for spending time with family detracting from the time available to sit at the modelling table. The main cause of all these problems was me not paying attention when I ordered the paint for the interior, completely failing to notice that I'd ordered enamel rather thanacrylic paints. The leather needed gloss paint mixing with clear matt, and I just didn't get the mixing process right, with the end result being that the finish was first too glossy, then too blotchy and finally too wrinkled. So both the interior tub and the seats ended up having an IPA bath and the process started again, only this time I made sure I was using satin acrylic paint for the seats to avoid a repeat of the previous paint issues.I didn't think to take any photos with hte messed up paint, but after going back to the beginning (and painting the outside of the tub again), this was my effective starting point. The speakers in particular were a pain as they paint in each of the holes just didn't want to loosed with the IPA - in the end I got the pin vice out and used that to drill the paint out of each of the holes. Happily, the acrylic has gone on much better and the seats are done now, with the leather parts of the tub just needing one more brown coat. It's a part which has quite a few colours on, and this is the bit which is holding me up at the moment. Happily, I have got quite a few of the auxilliary parts done for the interior (in the clear box) while this was all going on so once the tub is painted I should move on reasonably well. I wanted the seats to be tan but ended up using Wood Brown - at the moment I'm happy with the way it's turned out, just hoping I still will be when I have the carpets painted. While all that fun was going on, I also got the body micromeshed. I burned through in a few places (the Countach is a horrible shape to polish at this scale), but was able to touch up those edges and now I can't find where they are (apart from one new place I've burned though). It still wants a going over with the Tamiya Fine polish and the badge will be painted pre-decal, but the polishing hasn't gone as badly as expected, and even better I haven't snapped any of those delicate parts (yet!).