MR2Don

Come on, own up, that's not a model, that's the real thing! Excellent; I'm not into bikes - yet, but, looking at that, you never know. Not much else to do for the foreseeable, although I have got 4 car kits to attack.

Jeez! You can get kits of just about anything! Looks very impressive and nice and mucky, just like a working tractor should be.

The 1/12 Lola T70 that I've nearly finished now is the same. There were two different types of plating. Some parts, for example the outer wheel rims, were in a satin chrome all over; the shiny bits are as rs2man has found, bright one side, satin on the back. I pretty much stripped them all (don't like over-shiny chrome) and found that the shiny side had a sort of transparent sub-coating on the sprue which was quite gloss in itself, needed a gentle scrape to get a good surface for cementing. I've got the Porsche 934RSR to do at some time, will see if that's the same.

Although, to be nearer realistic, the back end should be solid, filthy brown, that's where all the crap goes!

Many, many years ago my section leader at work had a 1.8TC. It was in a colour that we lovingly referred to as "pig poo yellow" (and that's the polite version) - you know the one I mean!

It happens. I lost the top triangular section of my SU-27 front undercarriage leg. I'd taken it off the sprue to check how it fitted in the fuselage, then put it to one side until required. When that time came - absolutely vanished; turned the whole room upside down, no sign. Had to scratch one from plasticard, using the sprue image in the instructions to get the dimensions, successfully. Of course, once the plane was fully finished and painted, it decided to show up!

Chelmsford today: black E type coupe driving in opposite direction; only time to notice what looked like widened polished alloys, I think trade plates and a significant roar. Looked very smart.

Very interesting to see the different levels of representation between two manufacturers.

If I'm reading it right, that registration (T50 GT), as per MoT History, doesn't exist, so that's no help, but... if you read it as TSO GT, then we've got it, it's a Marcos TSO. In fact, if you Google Marcos TSO, there's that photo courtesy of pinterest.

There used to be, but I can't find it anymore, a brilliant Youtube of Blomquist doing early testing of the Quattro, up in the mountains., with the thing sitting there, "idling" away at something like 3000 revs.

Yes, good old night stages. Quiet, sweet smell of pine and then high pitched roars, on and off the throttle, flash of lights and quiet again. The other, of course, was Scottish Rally day stages; run early June when it always seemed to be warm and dry, the result of which was so much dust that, after the first half dozen, you couldn't read the entrant list in your Motoring News. Ah, memories!

Very good. First time I saw one of those for real was in Clipstone Forest, way back when they had just appeared on the rally scene. There was this almighty howling noise, then this "thing" in Alitalia colours appeared going flat out and vanished just as quick. What the "F" was that! The world soon found out!

I had the same basic problem with my 1/12 910. Luckily the "chassis" moulding was quite thick, so I managed to scrape away enough material to get inner and outer to match. So, how thick is the moulding of your inner arches? Would that work, or Dremmel it as Cooper645 suggests.

Today in Chelmsford a very tidy looking Rover P6 went by. Brown, "L" reg, I was walking so no time to spot model reference but, judging by the rumble as it went by, I'm pitching for a 3500!

Hmm, very tempting, but could require a row with the wife as I'm already under review for having Tamiya's Porsche 910 (built), Lola T70 (wip) and Porsche 934 (goods in) and living in a relatively small terraced house with an amateur artist, i.e. not much room for display.

OK, own up. Is that a model, or the real thing?

Very good. I like the chequer on the seats, although on the real car it was well over the top! It's almost like Porsche were embarrassed by the car and decided to divert people's focus onto something really hideous!

Amazing thing on rallies; doesn't matter how filthy it had got on the way round, always clean on the finish ramp - sponsor pleasing?

Bee-euatiful! Putting it in a case would be a very good idea. Glass is heavy; I've got a large "Bounty" - 30" long x 24" high x 13" wide in a case using 3mm acrylic sheet, what used to be called Perspex. Much lighter, easier to handle while constructing and after.

Brilliant...but can it still carry a basket of eggs to market without breaking any!

From Wiki: "The body was handmade by tapping metal sheets on a template" Youza! That's model making for you!

The number of people I come across who either say "I knew somebody who had one of those" or "I always fancied one of those". Note the past tense - still a few of us out there, but getting rarer. In Chelmsford, with a population approaching 100k, there are, I think, four MK2s that I know of, two or three MK3s and no MK1s - unless anybody else knows different.

Interesting point! I'm battling through a T70 at the moment and can see very little of it staying "chrome"; there's even two version in the kit, shiny and matt. Outer wheel rims can, I think, can stay, but everything else, mainly because of flash lines and sprue gates, need to be stripped and painted. I've also noted that the "shiny" parts still have a glossy finish left after the plating is off (using dilute bleach) which is not keen on liquid poly and needs a gentle scrape.

I've just acquired a 934RSR; if I can get it looking anything like that quality, I'll be over the moon. Do have a bigger problem, though, as I've got to get it orange!! I'd be very proud of that build, excellent.

There's always a bit of "build practicality". My 1/12 Lola T70 has rotating disks, but the fronts only have half a caliper, almost certainly because it would be difficult to get both halves built with the disk between. Haven't got to the back yet, but the instructions seem to show both halves of the caliper with the disk in between, and, of course, on the Lola they're inboard, so more obvious.