Spiny

Funnily enough, the only time I've heard the term 'false friend' used in relation to language was by my old French teacher, in that case for words such as 'journee' which sound as though they should mean something totally different in English to what they do. Anyway, I know "Je voudrais un grande biere s'il vous plait" - is anything else necessary?

I'd say that the engine looks pretty well convincing now, even without the grime in. Although what I really want to see now you've shown it is an armoured squirrel somewhere on the model As for colour, just remember the saying that most men see about 8 different colours (9 if you count grey) while women see the full 16-bit colour palette. And seeing as probably 90+% of the people here are men I doubt an exact match is required

Good pictures, and I've always thought the Trackrod was a good event. Unfortunately, last time I went to visit my dad, there was a letter in the local paper from someone who wanted to put a stop to the Trackrod (and I suspect all forest rallying in Dalby etc.) - fingers crossed they're unsuccessful and it's just the ecoloony fringe agitating for that.

They're probably even worse than sunlight as fluorescent tubes work by creating UV light from the mercury vapour inside, then using the phosphor coating inside the tube to create visible light. Needless to say that's not a complete conversion process, especially as they age, and so quite a bit of UV can leak out.

Can't argue about the bumpers, they do make a big change to the look, althoguh I keep swapping between preferring it with and without them on. I still stick by my 'wide-mouthed frog' comments from earlier in the thread though

To be honest I would quite like that Berlinette if it wasn't for the out-of-proportionally high windscreen. I know I said how little I liked the 3-wiper setup the Aoshima MGB comes with, but if that windscreen was what they had to do to get 2 wipers on I'd have settled for the three myself. I definietly like the front though - sort of a cross between an MGB and Ferrari 275 which works to my eyes.

Have to say that those wheels certainly give this build a look of having some attitude - I'd definitely agree that it's looking excellent.

Creeping towards the finish line, I reckon one more day on the bench should do the trick. In fact, if I hadn't had to work yesterday (making up time from watching the Queen's funeral) I'd probably have got this finished today. First job was an easy one - fitting the rear bumper. No dramas, just redrill the holes due to paint build-up and glue it in. That's the last thing at the back so the rear is finished now: Both today's photos really seem to be emphasising the orange peel in those areas I struggled to get to - you'll just have to trust me when I say the paint isn't that bad really and you can only notice it if a light is focussed on the orange peel areas. Just the front to go, I don't think I mentioned last weekend that after gluing the front bumper back together I gave it a quick layer of lacquer to give me something to polish into. Well I did the polishing today and got that fitted too. The repair isn't perfect, but once I get the front number plate fitted it shouldn't really be visible unless you go hunting for it. All the remaining parts have had paint on, just need either decalling or one more coat of paint. So hopefully next weekend I can call this done. Thanks for watching.

If ever anyone needed evidence of how fat and bloated modern cars have become...

I'm not sure which I respect more, your hinge making and 3D design/printing skills or your patience. Either way, the build is shaping up to be another stunner.

Very nice build, and the back end doesn't really give witness to the fights you had with it.

Oh I will (stick with the promo tool story), don't worry about that When finished, my models are in a display cabinet under lights (or beside lights to be exact - I fitted an LED strip up each side of the cabinet at the front) so shiny is definitely more in keeping with how they're displayed than weathered.

Again I can't comment on bikes, but the best advice I can give if your chosen subject is made by both Aoshima and Tamiya is to do some research and see which appears to have the best reception. While I would say Tamiya are usually of pretty consistently high standard, the best kit I've built to date is from Aoshima (their Countach in case you're wondering). So I don't think there is a cut and dried answer to "Which is better, Tamiya or Aoshima?".

That is very good indeed. It's obvious just from looking at the pictures how much hard work has gone into creating what is a work of art.

Not had the fogging issue since I got back into the hobby, but I think that's because I jumped straight to Clearfix on my first model. Trouble with that is that the bond isn't very strong, hence me moving to the UV resin instead. I'm hoping I can get it looking a bit better than it does at the moment. I touched up with Revell orange last night which doesn't seem to be too good a match, but for the tiny little bit which will be left visible it's passable. Then tonight after the funeral was over I gave the part another coat of clear ready for another go at the polishing process. Fingers crossed I can get it looking ok, but anything which doesn't will be hidden behind the number plate (I hope!). This is the first build I've done just using polishing compounds (Tamiya Coarse > Tamiya Fine > Novus 1) without using Micromesh beforehand. I think a bit of Micromesh wouldn't have gone amiss at first just to get rid of the last of the orange peel, butoverall this is one of my shinier finishes. Glad you like it There is a school of thought that commercials shouldn't be too shiny but my argument is that this is a promotional classic van from now rather than a working van in the 60s. Incidentally, before clearcoating I did a dry fit of the front bumper. Still need to take some twist out (tomorrow it will be squashed under a weight for the rest of the week), but if anything deserves the description "Wide-mouthed Frog" it will be this one when built...