Spiny

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I guess I shouldn't admit to this and just accept the plaudits, but to be honest the foiling for the pillars and frames has proved to be very easy - the kit has well defined edges to the trim in most places so it's been quite easy to just let the knife follow the contours when trimming the foil back. The bits at the back of the rear pillars Andy has identified demanded a little more care to get the sharp curve cut at the far rear edge as you're trying to cut a curve over a ridge, but still not too tricky. In fact the only bits which put up a bit of a fight (so far, unless you count the chrome on the interior which was reluctant to stick_ were the wipers where the foil wanted to split in the recesses. Not a disaster though as that will eventually be painted matt black. As for the shine, it's a good morale boost that it's noticed given it took a while to do, but dark colours usually respond better to polishing than light ones.

No, I think you're probably right, Leyland was my initial thought too if it hadn't been for that bonnet. I still suspect that the bonnet isn't original. I even tried a reverse image search in Google just now, but no joy.

They've started circling here int he last year or so, fortunately no mice or weasels in the garage, but no heating either. I've pretty much given up on good weather lasting for any longer than a day with the way this year is going though. And I'm meant to be living in one of the drier parts of the country!

I'd have to agree about the masking being impressive. I don't know of any tricks you're missing with it, masking is just a tedious exercise. The only thing I can suggest is the step I ALWAYS forget - give it a coat of clear to help seal the edges of the tape before you spray that blue which should help reduce the amount of blue paint creeping under the masking tape.

This is the stuff. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microscale-Liquid-Decal-Film-1fl-oz/dp/B0006O9K5G/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2FEKOUZCR6TPR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.f_CGITsV_SIzpNnURE4iszLi8YQ8xhWfS_0Hvm034SaQioWaJg46NGAEJsUnYYuOAipaPVkoYYo9vaQncNg5rYyT4ghZm9YNHJH3HVAk3rgA2M5A_6dCux0_v4bg0lHfMyQ7Qa-3oWuII_gc9xIJ_hKJovl_qVbHrd0O9cJa3DpKdcykU2Dsb8VhuTuv3dk_uj9YBnmiVTULa9vfYen5m_yLAbIuaYk2y7Z_nvqmocoQdj9U4-gMw2nf3RqoFtxyLoX1jbe_ezNEEFg93XXoTwmOvFgemDLCEe-IeNJhKvI.tm6oo6Jo3yoHU-RoL9GK_iDwf_YhyfbC49mHC-_UVRo&dib_tag=se&keywords=decal+film&qid=1712519038&sprefix=decal+film%2Caps%2C275&sr=8-2 I've only used it the once (on the Porsche 956 Indycal decals since it was suggested to use it). Best advice I can give is not to apply it too thickly as it can go white and craze - I managed to sort that out by applying some more then rubbing it off but much better not to have overdone it in the first place. Be warned that it does dry quite quickly and so you need to be quick applying it - it's not the easiest stuff to use but it should help hold things together. You may well need to score around the decal though to avoid having a large clear surround, but that will be up to you.

Didn't get that much time on the bench this weekend, as I had to reassemble the work area before I could start then take it down at the end. There is a lot of foiling on this car, and I've still got a good chunk of it to do, it would be nice to think I could get it done next weekend but don't hold your breath! This weekend it was the turn of the left hand side plus front and rear windows and a bit of trim. A dark colour like this blue is very unforgiving of rough foil work so I'm having to be extra careful - there's a few flaws in there but overall I think I'm adding to the look of the car rather than subtracting from it. At the very least you get a feel that it's starting to come together a bit now. You can see in the first photo that I'm also foiling the inside of the quarterlight since a bit of research has suggested that's chrome on the real thing. I suspect it will all get hidden by the 'glass' when the windows go in anyway, but I'd kick myself if it was on show. But the interior chrome is not good to install - because the interior paint finish is quite rough the foil doesn't want to stick initially and you have to hold it in place while burnishing down quite hard with a cocktail stick. A bit tricky, but I got there in the end. The rest of the chrome parts were not too bad to do as there are quite defined edges around the windows which helps application. I did at least get a little bit of painting done, chiefly the bits which will need fitting to the body. However progress was fairly slow and all I have finished are the firewall and washer bottle. Installation of these will need to wait until I've finished foiling the body though so these may end up sitting around for a couple of weeks. And that's all I got done this weekend. Thanks for looking.

Hmm, I always thought Super Six's were Fords, which almost fits with the colour, but they were nothing like that style as far as I'm aware. I wonder if the bonnet from one was repurposed for a smaller tractor That would explain why it's taking some working out what it is, and why the bonnet looks too big for the rest of it!

Well done, it's always nice to be able to restore a car you built when you were young. Although I have to say judging by the photos your car looked much less in need of restoration than mine do/did. It's an even better looking end result though, especially when parked next to the '96.

Such a shame the decals have imploded like that. Obviously too late for this one, but have you considered Decal Film or similar for in future? No guarantees, but it should add a bit more strength to the decals at least.

Completely up to you what you do with it, but having built this kit I can say that the engine brace looks much better when it's in paint. (Often the case isn't it?) While the tired look isn't something I build myself, I'd say that you're making it work well on this one. As you say, the windscreen works very well - did you splatter bugs on the front of the car too?

Given how close you are with the shots, that grain size looks about as good as we're going to get in 1/24 scale to me. It also looks pretty close to what I'm after when the time comes. As for your paint, that's an excellent finish at clear coat stage, barely needs polishing.

This is definitely not definitive, but just in case the search for a magazine doesn't work out the colour in that photo looks very close to Ford Blazer Blue to me (which was the non-metallic blue used for the base versions about 10 years ago).

My view is if it runs it counts.

Ah yes, but a 911 wouldn't have the ability to choose which old folks' home you end up in...

I can't see a lot wrong with that model, it looks great to me. I'm another person who can attest to the durability of Molotow Chrome once built - I have a '53 Corvette in the cabinet next to me which was completed in 2017 (I believe) and had Molotow Chrome on the windscreen surround. It was the first time I used the stuff, but it's still got its shine getting on for 7 years later.

I think based on this one you need to build more civilian vehicles Great work throughout, both on the van and on the fruit. Not sure I could have stood driving that though, all that fruit, including cut fruit, sitting on the roof makes me think there must have been a cloud of wasps following very close behind!

Never seen cracking like that, hope it's salvageable. Such a shame that the paint didn't polish up very well either. Like you, I often get orange peel when spraying and have to resort to polishing to get a half-decent shine (with the emphasis far too often on the half than the decent), but I always make sure I wait at least two weeks or until I can't smell the paint any more before taking micromesh or polishing compounds to it. With that second picture, I almost wonder if the paint hadn't cured properly before polishing. Despite the body though, I have to say excellent work with that interior, it looks really nice and as an added plus with the MX5 being a convertible you'll actually be able to see it when finished

I'll have to bear that Tibetan Bronze in mind as it looks very similar to a colour I have planned for one of my future builds. I take it that's metallic? If so they look very fine grains which will be a definite plus in my book. Like Keith I've never been a fan of the Liberty Walk cars (my generally feeling being that they used one incorrect letter in the second part of their name), but I'm sure you'll end up with a good model nonetheless. Just a thought on that front badge, looking at the box art it does look to sit pretty flush with the rest of the body -there isn't a separate shield part hiding on the sprue is there which someone forgot to put in the instructions?

Is it wrong that I find myself drawn to that Toyota Carina?

A bank holiday of missed opportunities for me. Probably the 'big one' would be a yellow current model Ford GT with blue stripes coming the other way along the A64 between York and Malton - I had the dashcam fitted but it must not have been seated correctly as didn't record that journey But it looked pretty much identical to this one: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/livin-the-lux-life-on-instagram-love-this-ford-gt-color-spec-fordgt-fordperformance-thesupercarsquad-f-in-2023--765963849104000805/ Also completely missed by the dashcam, a red F-reg Golf (not a GTi), faded N-prefix Escort, very tidy L-reg 106 and most impressively a gold Triumph Acclaim. The only one I got a shot of which made me think "Where have they all gone to?" was this near immaculate Saxo which came past as I was about to pull into Grantham service station. Although to be honest I do know where they all went to and the majority were either crashed or Max Powered to death. Seeing this one reminded me that when they weren't overdone these were actually well-proportioned and quite pretty cars, especially from this angle.

I think as modellers we tend towards being perfectionists, particularly with our own work, and the flaws which stand out to us are completely missed by other people, even other modellers. To my eyes this one looks fine, definitely worth having in the display cabinet.

Teensy-weensy update on this one. With decent weather at the weekend I was able to get some clear on the front part of the body. Two mist coats of Halfords Clear, followed by two wet coats and it seems to have gone ok. There's one corner of a decal which doesn't seem to have stuck down quite properly and it still sticking up in the air a tad (we're talking <0.5mm not sticking here, so very minor), but as it's just carrier film I'm hoping that will sand smooth. Other than maybe a bit more depth to the colour it doesn't really look much different to before, but it's good to have got this stage out of the way without any reactions between paints and/or decals. Thanks for looking.

Did you leave much time between the white and the clear coats? And did you check the humidity when spraying as well. I'm just asking because I have noticed that once you get above about 75% humidity you can get some undesireable effects in paint, including rougher or cloudier finishes; for that reason I usually try to stick to spraying when humidity is below 70% RH. As for the time question, I think Halfords can take longer than many spray paints to cure - if you look on the can they recommend spraying in above 10 degrees C and leaving 14 days between coats. That's why I always leave at least two weeks between primer and colour and colour and clear. I'd also second the suggestion for using a couple of mist coats for the first couple of coats over decals, while Halfords paints in my experience have been much more gentle than Tamiya and Mr. Color sprays, there's still that risk with a heavy layer straight on colour. Also looking forward to seeing how this comes together, the original Focus has aged very well and still looks quite fresh considering it's 26 years since it was launched. Not bad for a design that is half the age of a Dolomite.

I shouldn't worry too much about not doing an update for a month, you've still done more in that month despite everything going on that I usually manage so no problem with build speed at all. You also seem to be producing a high quality build - I'm particularly impressed with the detailing on that seatbelt buckle.

I did indeed micromesh it first. Unfortunately the original clear coat had quite bad orange peel so I had to have a good polish to get it looking something like ok, but this is the result of 6000, then 8000, then 12,000 Micromesh, then Novus 2 then 1. What doesn't help is that this particular car has an awful lot of raised seams and edges so I had to be extra careful about burning through the paint in those areas (I actually did in a few places, but was able to touch them up). I probably could have got a bit deeper, but with a few burn throughs happening I was a bit scared to go further, particularly given how rubbish the weather has been the past few months which means if I had a major burn through I could be stuck for a while. Got to admit I like foiling, at least once the foil is in place and you can start rubbing it down. I sort of know what you mean about losing enthusiasm at the end, nothing worse than a model which looks nearly done then needs another four weeks of detailing to get finished which can really make things drag.