Paul H

Recently, I've regularly seen a white pre-facelift* BMW 2002 Touring coming the other way on my drive to work over the South Downs. Looked in very good order too. My father had a 2002 Tii back in the day, so I'm tempted to get the Hasegawa kit if I can find one for sensible money. (*not sure I've seen a facelift Touring - did BMW continue that bodystyle after they ditched the round tail lights?) Also ended up stuck behind an early '70s (IIRC, on an L suffix) Lotus Elan convertible the other evening on my way home that was being driven incredibly slowly for the road conditions - even a Morris Minor would have been held up by it!

That won't be a 1932, as the Sprite wasn't launched until '35, although the design has its origins in the earlier MPH & Imp. Just checked on the DVLA site & this one is listed as a 1938. Other details on there suggest that it could well be a genuine Sprite. As with the MPH, there are a lot of identical replicas built using parts from Riley's saloon models, so without looking up in the relevant Riley books to check the plate & chassis details, it isn't always easy to tell the genuine from the recreations. (apologies for being a pedant!). My father had a four seater Lynx Sprite (same high state of tune engine, but in the four seater tourer body) from 1985 to 1995. It was still a relatively quick car even then, so I imagine that the lighter two seaters like this would have gone very well.

Quite a list of excellent films there. Some I have already seen, some that are on my list of ones that I want to watch. Angels One Five was probably the first of these films that I recall watching when it was often on TV (BBC2?) during Christmas and New Year, and is a firm favourite of mine along side Ice Cold in Alex. My late grandmother was particularly fond of Angels One Five, and I would often watch it with when I was as a child. She remembered quite a few of the incidents that inspired some of the scenes from her own childhood, as her father wrote the book it was based on, and was also technical advisor to the film. The cocker spaniel that appears in some scenes on the airbase was her own dog. Cyril Raymond and Dulcie Gray's characters were essentially semi-autobiographical representations of her parents, including references in their names, and the part with their house at the end of the runway was also based on reality.

The 'rabbit' on the radiator of that Alvis will be a hare. Alvis fitted these to quite a few of their pre war models. Always liked the original Mamba wheels (not to be confused with the crude modern repro ones). If I ever had a Mini, I'd want it with a set of these! (Already have a set of the pukka 13" ones on a '61 AH Sprite Mk2).

Ah - that's the one. Couldn't remember the name until you reminded me. As you say, the window display was never inspiring (!!), but there was loads of stuff inside, and the owner was always very helpful.

Not sure about elsewhere in the world, but in the UK, we had the 205 CTi, which was essentially a cabrio GTi, and had the GTi bodykit.

I live not far from Chichester & yesterday evening whilst on the A27 saw a convoy of Belgian registered cars that were clearly heading to the Goodwood Members Meeting (1980s Saab 900 Turbo, Porsche 912 & an Alvis saloon, which I think was a 1940s TA14 or possibly a late '30s ancestor).

Mrs H & I recently showed Lost Ark & Last Crusade to our 10 yr old twin daughters, who loved both films. We haven't shown them Temple of Doom yet, as that is much darker so it can wait until they are older. We also showed them the original three Star Wars films too - one commented about the second Death Star, asking why they didn't just order one from Magrathea 😎😂 Now if only I could find the original theatrical releases on DVD, rather than the late '90s CGI editions... I thought that the fourth film opened well, with the chase through the huge warehouse first seen at the end of Lost Ark - that was a great scene and reference to the earlier films, but it then immediately lost its way. The scene with the fridge was just absurd, and it and the rest of the plot made everything in the first three films look highly plausible and sensible. The script writers etc just didn't know when to stop, and it also had none of the chemistry, charm & humour that made Lost Ark & Last Crusade so brilliant. The double act of Ford & Connery in particular was wonderful & I will happily watch those two films again often. Temple of Doom is good, but not as fun, and hasn't aged as well as the other two either. I'd happily watch it but not as often as the other two, but I have no great desire to see the fourth one again - in the same way, I love the original Blues Brothers film & will happily watch it often, but don't wish to rewatch the dire sequel. Thinking about it more, perhaps what made Lost Ark & Last Crusade so good was how the plots of both delved into exisiting scripture (& the resulting legends) so that audiences already had their own background knowledge about what Indy was searching for. It also tapped into a very different era, that of the early Hollywood adventure films with its 1930s setting, which suited it as family entertainment in a way that the 1950s sci-fi theme of number 4 doesn't work as well. I reckon it could have been much better if they had lost all the sci-fi stuff, and instead perhaps based it around South American treasure legends (such as Eldorado), echoing the theme started by the ruined temple & golden idol in the opening scene of Lost Ark. I hope that the Dial of Destiny is a return to form, but don't hold out hope based on the last one, and also the various Star Wars reboots etc which lack the charm & story telling of the originals.

I guess that those parts may be a popular upgrade / back dating for Minis in Japan, as the instructions for the first release do include them as optional parts instead of the correct ones. Modfying the interior tub wouldn't be difficult though, but the sprue breakdown doesn't suggest that an earlier model is on the cards in the same way that the rest of the parts breakdown was clearly designed to also accomodate the Sports Pack version. The dilemma now is whether to get the first, 12" wheel release, or wait for the Sports Pack one... (or just buy both & also the ERA transkit...)

I used to live about 5 mins walk from there about twenty years ago. Lots of cool stuff in the window, but as you say, the prices... I think that I went in only once! There was also a much smaller one on Battersea Rise, just beyond the pub on the corner of Northcote Road. I spent quite a bit of money in there (mainly on 1:18 diecast cars, as that was where my interests were mainly at the time, but also on 1:24 cars & styrene stock etc) , but suspect that it is long gone now. That's good to know, as I'm now just the other side of Emsworth. Out of interest, what paint ranges did they have?

I think that Heller have only recently started doing this (possibly with the recent restructuring / ownership?) - whereas Airfix seem to have been doing it for a bit longer. Looking on Heller's website just now, which includes all the box art info for each model, it appears that they are only showing that info for models where they have refreshed / revised the molds as that date is given too, rather than for everything. I'm pretty sure that current Airfix packaging shows the tooling dates on all their models.

Heller do this too - both the original tooling date, and also the date when it was refreshed. It's a mark of honesty by both companies which I very much respect. In contrast, Revell AG have a habit of rereleasing old(er) tooling kits with big 'NEW' branding on the boxes, and no mention that it is actually just a re-release, which is not so commendable... For example: https://www.kitreviewsonline.de/vw-bus-t3-in-125-von-revell-07706/ & https://www.revell.de/produkte/modellbau/militaer-figuren/fahrzeuge-zweiter-weltkrieg/first-diorama-set-sd-kfz-124-wespe.html The VW was first tooled 40 years ago, and the diorama is an old Matchbox tooling of similar age! The decals for their newer releases are apparently very good though. Airfix now brand the really old stuff as 'Vintage Classics', and I think that Heller have a simular range too. Policies that I reckon are very sensible, especially for not alienating newcomers to model kits who aren't as willing or able to carry out the necessary fettling that an older (or worn) tooling kit might require compared to a modern, state of the art kit.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-21157-mini-cooper--1478136 😎 C1 Models' ERA Turbo transkit looks very tempting too: https://www.c1-models.com/resin/mini-era-turbo

Ah - apologies for the confusion. The sprue map on the box art didn't look like it had all the extra bits for the engine etc. In which case, that is an amazingly good price for it!

Just had a look at the one on Kent Model's site, and it's the diet version (curbside) - there was also a full fat, obscene detail release, initially branded as Fujumi Enthusiast. They did the same with their Countach & '80s Porsche 911 kits & possibly some other ones too. Many of those have since been released with other box art (e.g. manga related ones such as Circuit Wolf), sometimes full detail, some as the curbside ones. Were the mega money Dinos the curbside version, or were they the Fujimi Enthusiast ones?