AR918

Evening, Seeing as the sun reminded us of it's existence this Sunday past, it was a great excuse to get on the bike. Passed by Hannants London whilst visiting family and the owner of the shop had his beautiful and completely original Ford Sierra 2.3l V6 Ghia basking in the sun. Love the two-tone scheme, just when you thought they were all rust powder... On the way back home I took the ultra scenic route and saw this incredible Jaguar XJR-whatever, casually parked up on a high street in Harpenden. The owner said it never raced and was made up of factory spares. I felt quite sorry for the beautiful young lady that accompanied him, probably booked a chiropractor Monday morning. Because the weather was so good, I went right past home and did a small loop of Oxfordshire and caught this well worn Volvo Amazon was chilling out in a village next to Lower Heyford. I also passed a Ford Escort XR3i (with the block headlamps and rally lights), it was white and in excellent condition. It's a poor pic but shows some of the regeneration going on around the former RAF Upper Heyford airbase. Where the white van is in the middle, someone was drifting in a sports car, the 79th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-111's used to live in hangars with the open doors. Behind me is a brand new and rather luxury looking estate. AR

Hi all, 　 Caught this barge from Detroit docked by the roadside. It looks very much the beater but I have no idea what it is apart from being an old Chevrolet, the DVLA's website just mentions Chevrolet GMC. Anyone have any ideas? 　 All the best.

Go for it! The copper paint is a little more deeper in reality, my obsolete camera tends to wash out the colours... Maybe if you add a touch of clear orange/gold to the copper, you might get something like Nissan's Le Mans Sunset, which the 350Z came in. Would like to experience that sort of power one day. All I have at the moment is a 1999 Hornet 600 which goes backwards at the slightest headwind... 　 All the best.

Great paint job, the panel line wash makes a nice contrast. Excellent work with the seat harness and tail-lights. All the best.

Thanks everyone for the generous comments, it's really motivating. Keith, the colours used were all Mr Color lacquers: Copper, Super Silver and Super Clear III as the clear-coat. 　 Back in 1999 the Hayabusa's "big and blobby" but functional styling proved rather controversial. The copper/silver colour scheme apparently highlighted everything that was wrong with it and/or failed to make the right statement about the 190mph brute. It was a little bit like a brown Austin Allegro: Why? 20 years later the colour still divides opinion but in that time, this colour scheme has gone from almost universal hate to now one of the most sought after. The same can't be said of the aforementioned Austin... 　 All the best.

Hi all, 　 Fancied doing a big superbike and the legendary Hayabusa came to mind. The bodywork shows the 2001 year Eagle/Falcon design with the infamous 1999 year silver/copper colours. I only used the black/grey decals to complement the paint and keep a clean look. 　 The kit itself is typical Tamiya, it falls together but this build really tested my patience as almost everything that could go wrong with the body happened, x2 repaints because of a phantom dust shower and peeling paint, decals that shattered and some that bubbled under the clear coat hours after painting... It was all my fault though. Quite a few lessons were learnt with this one, which is always good. The amount of detail in this kit is excellent but a lot of it is hidden away under the bodywork, I took a couple of shots of the rolling frame whilst building it up. One aspect that was pleasing was the frame and swing-arm, this was masked and painted to simulate the dull cast and shiny extruded bits. Most of it can't be seen now but it looks like those pesky Mysterons managed to get a sneak peek. 　 All the best.

I got lucky this time Chrissy, usually I get majorly bumped up and pay too much. Those fiendish eBayers! The 300SL can only be described as a work of art, just have a look at the tubular frame in the box. Stunning. Anyhoo, picked up this lovely C10 Skyline kit whilst in London. It might be a bit pricy but what you get is well worth the money, turned metal carburettor funnels, a PE set and plastic upgrades to the car. Brilliant. Right, less buying and more building... 　 All the best.

Hi all, 　 Might not be that special to most but I thought this was worth a quick snap, only 'cos this is the first unmolested and genuine Type-R I've seen in years. Never knew Honda produced a Type-R out of this model Civic. Looks like it's about to transform into one of those Japanese anime robots... 　 All the best.

True... They are good looking wheels, just more used to seeing them on Minis an Triumphs. Pete, the Morris really stood out among all the edgy blandness in that carpark. That and yobs trying to drift in the far corner with tarted up Nissans. As for that hunk of junk, I'd say it's more a "Sub litre lifestyle accessory". All the best.

This is brilliant, great conversion, paint and one big 'ol turbo to boot. There's some guy that drives one of these around MK, it even has similar wide wheels with those stretched tyres on. The difference is that it has that painted on "beater look" a lot of younger VW enthusiasts go for. Great job so far. All the best.

Hi all, 　 Saw a red 7 reg (strange...) Jaguar E type convertible, driver nailed it coming off a roundabout along the A421 towards the M1/J13, must have been a V12 as it snarled like a beast. Very quick in a straight line and pretty decent around corners. Then this Morris 1000 at the local Asda/Walmart, personally, I think the wheels don't suit it but it's nice to see these old timers on the road. All the best.

Hi all, Saw this on eBay for £12, bid it up to just over £15. It was one of those bizarre auctions that end past midnight and to prove how crazed we can get over some plastic in a box, I set my alarm so I could wake up and bid at the last minute... Yes, I need help but it's an RD500LC (almost). All the best.

Nissan S Cargo,. Looks like a snail too... All the best.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. Marco, the base is just a "coaster" from the local glass merchants. They make these out of offcuts in all manner of colours (they just paint the underside) and sell them for £1.50, I just cut and glued clear acrylic rods to the top with 2-part epoxy. Cheap and simple! 　 In the flesh I really like the sharp clean look at the moment, even though it looks a bit toy-like in the photo's. I'll have a go at using washes some point soon though and I'll probably do another one of these displays, next time with a Suzuki Hayabusa I screwed up trying to convert it into a dragster... 　 All the best.

Hi all, This was a gift to friend and a bit of fun to clear the spares box. Once again it's the Tamiya CB750-F "Custom Tuned" kit which gives you the CB900-F decals and some tuned up parts, like the 4-1 megaphone exhaust. The engine was painted in various textures of black and shades of silver, it doesn't show that well because my camera is pretty ancient... The bodywork used to be my painting test piece, it's been draped in all sorts of colours and types of paint. The final colour was a custom semi-gloss gunmetal mix with a clear top-coat, it looks more like metal-flake than metallic mind! All the best and Happy New Year.