Paul H

Thank you - that means a lot given how good all your builds look! I'd love to see some pics of your Lincoln, if you have any?

Following this with great interest! I really like these old Monogram kits

Thank you!

Looking good! A thought for the floorpan - I think the internal detail was molded primarily for the touring car version. As your's is a road car, it might be worth adding some insulation pads to the floor (e.g. with masking tape?), to help make it look more like how an interior looks when the carpet is pulled up.

Beautiful work - it's difficult to believe how small it really is!

Really enjoyed reading your build on this & thank you for taking the time to write it up in such detail - the rigging tips are especially appreciated!

This is Aoshima's curbside 1:24 MG B, as reboxed in the past by Airfix which is the one I had. I think Revell have also offered this kit, and Aoshima have recently re-issued it again. I started this sometime in 2009, but it wasn't completed until the summer of 2010, due to the ongoing problem of too many projects at once, and my work desk being an utter tip at that time. This one was built entirely out of the box, except for BMF being used for the chrome trims along the flanks and for the windscreen frame (the screen, quarterlights and frame was a one piece clear molding). I think I may have used an aluminium effect BMF so that the screen frame wasn't too bright, as the real thing is polished alloy, rather than chrome. It comes with options for hood up, hood down, half tonneau or rear tonneau only. My kit came with the parts for the rubber bumper version too. However, Aoshima's recent releases are boxed as different chrome bumper & rubber bumper ones - whilst the rubber bumper release includes the chrome bumper parts, the chrome bumper one doesn't include the rubber bumpers or the half tonneau which are all on the same mini sprue. Aside from box art, the decals are also slightly different to reflect the model year (think it's basically the numberplates), and also the rubber bumper version now includes a small sprue with a set of Rostyle steel wheels, which are more appropriate for the rubber bumper cars than the wires. However, what the Airfix or Aoshima instructions don't tell you is that the ride height between the two is different as the rubber bumper cars were jacked up for compliance with US Federal regs (to do with headlamp and / or bumper heights). However, the ride height on the model can be adjusted for either without any modifications to the parts - details below: Floorpan / chassis in the rubber bumper ride height position, slotted in as per the instructions. Chrome bumper ride height position - note that the floorpan / chassis has been slotted in higher up inside the body and is now resting above the tabs that it is supposed to clip into. There didn't seem to be any affect on the fit of the interior tub, but the ride height difference was noticable.

Great - thank you for the info! I've never built a truck model, but this really appeals, and I'd make space in the display cabinet if only I could find one at the right price. However having just looked online & seen how expensive they are...

I think that Monogram's 'Museum Pieces' (as they marketed them at one point) pre-WW2 car kits have aged really well - this M-B 540K currently in the WiP section is a Revell AG re-release from that series, and the 1930 Packard in one of my other threads is also originally from the same series. I really like those two I have done so far and have the 1941 Lincoln Continental waiting to be built, whilst also keeping an eye out for more if they pop up at the right price. Other ones I know of are a tourer / phaeton version of the Packard; a Duesenburg SJ available in three different body styles; a coupe version of the Mercedes; a 1931 Rolls-Royce (so probably a Phantom 2, but possibly a Phantom 1 as the Springfield factory continued building that until '31) in two body styles; a Cadillac V16 and also a Bugatti T35B. Anyhow, if you like cars of this era, don't let the age of the tooling put you off - as you managed that Pyro / Lindberg kit, these ones will be a pleasure to build as I reckon that Monogram did an excellent job of the design & tooling.

Very cool model! Was the kit of a racing version, or did you convert it into one?

Thank you - this one is Monograms own tooling & went together pretty well. The only flaw in the kit that I remember was the bonnet side trim alignment, but easily solved by trail fitting & tweaking prior to paint. Just looked it up on Scalemates & some of the info is wrong though - there is a Revell 1:25 Cord listed as a 1989 new tool (which may have been the one issue I had, but could have sworn it was a Monogram boxing) but it's clearly the old Monogram 1:24 one, which it turns out dates from 1966. I guess the confusion is due to the scale misprint on the box. There is a Lindberg (ex-Pyro, 1955 tooling) one listed though, with a multipiece body, which sounds like the one you describe.

I really like how you are updating and improving this!

Thanks all! Had I built it all unpainted, I reckon it would have appeared very strange, especially with if the interior & hood cover were left in a plated finish. Looking at the pics now, the only thing I regret is not adding spark plug wires, but at that stage, I had never modified a kit to add them.

Another build from over a decade ago - whilst I had built a few Tamiya kits in my youth (with only one survivor...), this was the first one I attempted since I took up the hobby again. I don't usually build models of modern cars (this variant of the 911 was current at the time), however I had been a passenger in a GT3 whilst a friend 'exercised' it (for want of a better description) & the acceleration even when he wasn't trying was truly memorable ! As the saying goes though, pride comes before a fall, and I was a bit too pleased with myself over how well I thought that the Monogram Cord had turned out. Whilst the paint was decent, and the black trim on the body & screen print on the glass was ok (hand painted, which took time and a very steady hand), over confidence meant that I didn't take the time to work out how best to treat the head & tail lights, and these didn't look right, which really lets it down. In hindsight, amongst other things, I should have used a black sharpie on the edges of the lenses - on models I have built much more recently, this technique has worked really well and created a very realistic effect. I may try to fix this one, or instead just do a decent job of the regular Carrera version of this kit that I now have in the loft.

That is truly stunning, and thank you again for taking the time to document how you have modified and improved this kit. Really inspirational work, and I have looked forward to reading each update - I will be following your thread very closely when I get around to building the one I have!

Following on from the 1930 Packard, & whilst still fed up with that 1:16 Bugatti, I started another classic Monogram kit as I had really caught the modelling bug. However I also had quite a few half built models that I was working on at the same time so it wasn't completed until a couple of years (and one house move) later, in 2009. There were a few fit issues with the bonnet side trim, which needed sorting before painting, to ensure that the top and bottom halves aligned properly around the exhausts, and the rear valance which was supposed to be glued in place after the body was fitted to the chassis was cemented in place before the body was painted in order to avoid an unsightly seam where there shouldn't be one. As the rear bumper irons are sandwiched between the valance & the body, the irons were cut to enable the chassis to fit, and then the remaining sections glued in place when the rear bumper was installed. This mod worked really well: This was the first paint work that I was really pleased with (the Edsel in the background doesn't count as it was one of AMT's prepainted kits, which I bought to practise using BMF). & after polishing My only regret is that I didn't make the bonnet fully removable (instead, it is hinged as per the kit design) as it is difficult to see the engine detail once assembled There is also a hood, which fits well but I only have a rear view photo from when the model was half built & this poor indoor pic I thought that this one turned out quite nicely, as it was definately far better quality paintwork than anything I had built before but I still had a lot more to learn...

Yet another from the archives, this time a slightly unusual one. I chose this as the body didn't need painting (I have to spray outside & this was during winter) and I wanted a quick & easy build to make up for the 1:16 Bugatti which was driving me mad at the time (& is visible lurking part-built in the back of some of the pics). It is one of Monogram's Metal Master series, which I think was a '80s release, but the original kit is from their excellent 1920s & 30s car series which I think dates from the late 1960s. What should be bare plastic is silver / satin chrome plated, and what should be chrome is instead gold plated... I think they were intended to be built as exactly that, with no painting based on the info on the box and in the instructions but I don't think I've ever seen one built. However, I decided to treat it as though it was simply an over-restored motorshow / museum display car, and thus appropriate details were washed (e.g. the engine & grille) and painted as per the appropriate material (e.g. badging, tail lights, engine hoses & instruments), and which is also why the spare wheel covers and interior are a natural leather colour. Looking back, the latter could do with some more texture / depth, especially to the flooring. Anyhow, whilst the glitzy, Liberace style finish not to all tastes, it was a good mojo booster at the time. I was pretty impressed with the kit itself and as a result I soon ended up building another from this series although it was a normal version this time!

Some more from the archives... The Mercer was completed at the start of 2006, and the Bugatti that summer. Both were built straight from the box and I still have them although a few repairs are needed due to their size and several house moves... The Mercer went together very easily, but painting all those black stripes took a lot of care and patience. The Bugatti however was an utter pain, as the floorpan / wings wouldn't sit in the right place on the chassis, and also the bodyshell was badly warped which caused issues with both the fit of the doors and also of the body to the floor / wings. At one point, just when the body and doors were all fitting correctly, the model took a plunge and rolled off my workdesk. The impact then snapped the already much straightened and thus very delicate B pillar as well as one of the C posts around the wheel arch. I managed to repair them, but the joins are quite visible. I nearly gave up on this body, which is the Binder Coupe de Ville (a poor copy of the Coupe Napoleon) in favour of turning it into the Esders roadster... The Mercer is not a small model - however it is dwarfed by the Royale! Compared to1:24 models... And completed. In addtion to all the doors opening (hence the body rigidity problems) even the trays on the division are hinged... In this pic, the door hides the mangled B post - once cemented in place, the division was holding that area together. Unlike the Mercer, which was a pleasure to build (& thus why I bought the Bugatti kit from the same series) I think the Royale was one of the few models I was really glad to finish & just have out of the way. It turned out ok in the end, and certainly looks good as shelf model in the display cabinet but I'm not sure I would want to build another.

Really enjoying reading your progress on this! I've built 1:16 kits where those sort of under chassis linkages were delicate enough, and what Miniart have done would be an insane amount of detail for 1:24, let alone 1:35... Can't wait for the next update!

Agreed - I do like a lot of these old Monogram kits, and have several more that I have enjoyed building. The parts count is not high, but there is still a lot of molded in detail, and the end results are usually turn out well and are good representations of the real cars. The bodyshell was all one piece - even the engine bay was molded as part of the main shell. I know AMT have sometimes done a separate roof so that both hardtop and convertible could be built from the same kit (e.g. their '70 Challenger) & I think they did a '64 and '65 GTO so might your one have been an AMT kit?

Another one of my novice builds from 2005 - this time a 1964 Pontiac GTO. Looking back, it's quite a basic kit with a tub interior (rather than seperate side panels) and exhaust molded with the back axle but I do remember it all fitted together well. The only problem I recall was that there were no positive location points or pins for the bumpers, so those needed very careful cementing to avoid damaging the paint on the body. Again, built completely box stock with just a rattle can for the body and brushed enamels for the rest, with sections of window frames cut out as per the instructions to turn it into the hardtop version. I chose this car as my grandfather had imported a new '64 GTO convertible and I'd seen pics of it in one of my father's photo albums, but I wasn't feeling brave enough to remove the roof! I still managed to mess up the headlights as I had yet to discover Clearfix at this point but for this one I had worked out how to wash the grille & wheels to make them look more realistic. If I had known about BMF or Molotow Chrome pens at the time, I would have used them instead of silver paint for the window trims & badging. This one has survived without damage aside from a couple of lost wheel spinners but needs a lot of careful cleaning as it is very dusty. A while back I picked up another one very cheaply to use as spares to replace the spinners and to redo the fogged headlights, but I may instead use it to make a replica of my grandfather's convertible, and leave this one as it is. Anyhow, my later work (& also photography...) does get better...

Having been on here for a while now, I thought that I should actually post up some of my models. I had built a few kits as a child and some as a student (only two survived intact, but several have found useful homes in my spares box). However, these two date from 2005, when I got back into the hobby as I recovering from surgery for a series of operations for skin cancer and needed something to occupy my time. Whilst I have listed them as Heller, both were Airfix reboxes. Both built straight out of the box, bodyshells spray painted with Halfords rattle cans (although the blue on the Bugatti's body was actually the bare plastic...) and Humbrol enamels used for the rest. No BMF used - all that chrome trim on the Mercedes body was included in the kit. I don't have any better or more recent pics, as both are a bit damaged now, following several house moves and so are awaiting repairs. At the time, I had not found any scale modelling forums or magazines, so a lot of novice mistakes were made with both (e.g. fogged headlights, which will also be fixed at the same time). Heller kits often seem to get a lot of flack, however I really enjoyed building both of these, and the experience did not put me off building more models, or from buying pretty much the rest of Heller's classic / vintage car range! Anyhow, I hope you like them, and I'll try to dig out some more pics of my other builds.

Unfortunately I think that the only Vauxhall kit in 1:24 or 1:25 is a 1920s OE 30/98 tourer by Wills Finecast, however that is a whitemetal kit. I think that Airtrax may have done some resin 50s or 60s Opels in that scale, but not aware of them having done any Vauxhalls. The only GM Europe injected plastic kits in this scale that I have seen are the '68 to '73 Opel GT (AMT), Opel Manta B 400 rally car (Bellkits) and the 1930s Opel Admiral (ICM, but also reboxed by Revell). For a PA Cresta PA, as bentwaters81tfw said, there is the Vanguards 1:43 diecast. Oxford Diecast also do a Friary estate version. If you really want 1:24, I suspect you would have to make your own, but I am struggling to think of any existing car that is similar enough in shape that it could work as a starting point for a conversion.

Just read through your build thread & wow, that's impressive work!

I was just thinking that when I saw the tread title... AMT did some 1:16 US cars (including some first generation Thunderbirds, and a few Tri Chevies), but the only big scale Tri Chevy I have seen from Revell was in 1:12 scale https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-07489-57-chevy-coupe--155685.