Paul H

The original A07007A release is currently available again for more sensible money (£34:95 inc p&p) here. And yes, I have just bought one, which will be built in the box art livery!

I've never taken part in one of these before, but this one feels an appropriate place to start, as I've been meaning to build a model in memory of my great uncle (on this topic, I also need to build a very early Avro 504 & at least one Cold War RN ship...). I don't have any info on the Spitfire(s) he flew during the Battle of Britain aside from the squadron, but I do know the serial number & squadron for the one in which he took his final flight a year later, aged 20. I'll be using either a Revell MkIIa, or possibly an Eduard later version modified back to MkIIa appearance, in 1:72 scale.

Brian, it does have a petrol engine - the 2.6 litre six cylinder variant which like the 2 1/4 four cylinder, was originally from the Rover P4. Just been doing some research (to make sure I remembered correctly!), and it appears that this was only fitted to the 109, rather than the 88, and further to my previous post, it turns out that the late Series III 109 could be ordered with the Rover V8.

Not really into adding figures to go with models (only previously done two which already came with a 1:72 plane kit & a 1:35 armour kits), but this is definately on my to-buy list, to go with the ICM Model T speedster. Oh, and the passenger makes me think of Terry-Thomas as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage in the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, and who was the inspiration for Dick Dastardly!

The spare position shouldn't be difficult to rectify. I must admit that bonnet (or possibly rear door) mounting the spare will be my preference, however I'm not familiar with interior bulkhead mounted spare on enclosed passenger models such as this one - I'm far from an L-R expert but thought that location was only used for pickup or van variants (whether swb or lwb)? Does that sound right to you? Engine wise, I'm pretty sure that the old Rover V8 was Defender only, but that would be another great engine option for a future variant. Useful for fitting to the Italeri or Aoshima Range Rovers or Aoshima MGBs too, but not holding my breath. If I can be bothered, I'll make use of the 3D printers at work to make my own, as I wasn't terribly impressed with the resin one I bought a while back. As for variants, I guess that an 88 would be a bit too much of a new tool rather than simply a variant of this one, and tbh I guess that starting with the old ESCI / Italeri kit might be a better basis for converting to that due to how the body is moulded. I have several of those & the plan was that one will end up as an open 88 with a folded screen, one a Series IIA station wagon and the final one a Bell Aurens. However it would be so much easier to convert the new Revell one to the Series II / IIA as all that will need doing is moving the headlights to the grille, and as it already has the rear doors scribed & separately moulded interior parts, it would also make a much easier conversion to a Bell Aurens too Guess I'll be needing to buy several of the new Revell one then, and as it includes the correct bumpers, the military Italeri one can now be hacked into an 88 air portable like the demobbed one my father had in the mid '80s when I was a child. The project list grows yet again!

Agreed & great to see - wondering about that was partly why I was hunting for info on it, and discovered that the manual was already online (surprisingly early too). Having looked through it again, I might even be tempted to pre-order one. It's not as if I don't already have far too many unbuilt kits already... There are a few oddities though - I've noticed that Revell Germany seems to have a strange habit of creating features on models which are totally incorrect, such as their recent Beetle kits have full inner arches under the wings when in reality, the only thing above the wheel is the outer wing itself. and they have done the same with additional front inner arches on the Land Rover, which seems unnecessary just for ease of assembly or part alignment reasons. I hope it was purely that the reference vehicles used had aftermarket wheelarch liners which has lead to this, as it striked me as very odd to introduce such prototypically incorrect features, but it does strongly suggest to me that their kit designers look only at one vehicle for reference & then don't do much further research to confirm what features are factory correct & what is an owner modification. These days with the internet, the data is very easy to find, especially as in many cases original factory parts books & workshop manuals are now online. It's not just kits either - their 1:18 diecast Frogeye Sprite, MGA & Volvo Amazon all suffer from this too in various ways, but at least the plastic kits it can be remedied relatively easily during build. Also, looking closely at the sprue layouts, I wonder if there are other variants planned - e.g. amongst other things, the way the six cylinder engine is on a separate one begs the question whether one possible future option might be an alternative engine, e.g. a 2 1/4 litre four cylinder version to be released at some point?

If anyone is interested, the instructions are now available on Revell's website, and will probably answer many queries about the kit: https://stage.revell.de/fileadmin/import/images/bau/07047_%23BAU_LAND_ROVER.PDF

Will be following this with great interest!

Not that I know of & I've been keeping an eye out as I would like one too. However one of the part works companies did a decent diecast one in 1:24 which I bought a while back, with the intention of (eventually...) repainting and detailing. If of any use, I can see if it says the maker on it. Also, I have already been building up a lot of reference pics for this which I'd be happy to share, if that would be of interest?

Always liked those Sunbeam Talbots!

Air Trax of Finland did a resin transkit, with the Tamiya Lotus 7 as the donor for the engine, wheels etc. I have bought several of their kits & been happy with the quality (one is half built & the others waiting their turn) but worth noting that these are low volume resin kits, rather than injection moulded so there will be plenty of fine tuning to do. http://www.rocketfin.com/airtrax-resin-model-cars.cfm

Agreed - fan position & what is visible of the front suspension looks very 2CV. On the way home from work, the highlight of the Revival traffic was a Jensen FF Mk1. However seeing all the classic cars out on the road only serves to make me feel guilty about the two I have which are not on the road, one since 2005, the other since 2016...

LOADS of old stuff on my way to work just now, but then my commute does take me just north of Chichester, and the Revival started this morning... There was the usual swarm of MGs, Jaguars etc, but highlights included a very patinated early Porsche 356 coupe, and my favourite being a Riley MPH (possibly a recreation given that there are more 'MPHs' built up with the correct parts from Riley saloons of the same era than there are genuine ones).

The Aoshima re-release also includes some PE badging which wasn't in the Airfix re-boxing from a while back. That Airfix release includes both bumper options, & all tonneau / hood parts but just the wire wheels. The 1:1 rubber bumper version had a higher ride height due to US Federal regs, but the kit doesn't differentiate on this. However from memory the standard chassis into body fitment is more remeniscient of the higher ride height, but with care the chassis can be installed slightly higher up in the body (due to how it clips in), and so also better represent the earlier, lower ride height too, but I don't recall there being any mention of this in the instructions. TBH, I'm tempted to build mine with the rubber bumpers, Rostyles and add a front chin spoiler as fitted to many in period (might have been a pukka BL optional part given how many I have seen like that but I'm not an MGB expert) as a contrast to the my earlier one. If it's of interest, there's more info on the difference between the Aoshima in this review video that I found online prior to buying the kit:

What type of paint is the black? Just to clarify, is that what it also looked like after the first coat of black, and what you then rubbed down to prepare for the second coat? If so, it appears that you are getting a reaction between the primer and the top coat. Probably the easiest way to avoid that is to use primer and topcoat from the same source, e.g. I usually use Halfords primer, & either topcoat (if non metallic) or base coat & lacquer (if metallic) for car models, and have good results.

A Wolseley 6/110 (big Farina) in what looked like pretty smart condition, going the other way this morning. Yesterday afternoon, a 1956 Chevy Bel Air hardtop. No pics though, as I was driving.

That looks very smart! In reality, is the print as free from 'grain' from the layers as it looks in the photos?

Too many I suspect... Most recent purchases are an old Revell Triumph TR8 coupe, which will become a drophead and the recently re-released Aoshima MGB. I opted for the rubber bumper one, as it still includes all the parts for the chrome bumper version, plus the half tonneau cover which the chrome bumper doesn't have, as well as the newly tooled Rostyle steel wheels and rubber bumpers. Haven't decided on which version to do (I have already built a chrome bumper one quite a while back in light blue) but this way I can still choose which options. Others this year have been a Heller Renault 4, Revell Porsche 356 cabrio, ICM Ford Model T speedster, Hasegawa Lancia Delta Integrale, Italeri Alfa Romeo Giulietta spider and a resin road car interior for the Aoshima / Beemax Volvo 242 race car kit that I already have. In the case of the latter, I am still deciding what to do about the wheels though as the resin Volvo Virgo wheels that are available seem a tad pricey for something I can 3D print myself at work, and if done myself, I can ensure that they fit whichever tyres I choose to use. Of course, actually building some of them would probably be a good idea, and even better if I managed to complete the several half built car models that have been on the bench for ages. Then there's the growing stack of plane & ship kits in the to-build pile (although massively outnumbered by the unstarted car models), and a couple of armour kits that I have just ordered. Now just waiting for Revell's newly announced Land-Rover Series III 109 to become available...

The only ones I have seen in the UK are always rather expensive. The roadster one seems to be much more easily available in comparison, and I managed to find one of those for sensible money a while back. This 1:16 series seems pretty impressive even now, and must have been amazing when originally created! Btw, the roadster one I have came with a mag article from when the kit was launched about building it - if of interest, I can scan & email to you?

Fantastic - that is really helpful, thank you! I had no idea about the colour change & I have two eras for HMS Dreadnought (1:350 is the 1907 one, & the 1:700 is the 1918 version as didn't fancy trying to make 1:700 torpedo nets) so very useful info. Just off now to look up those colours!

I've built a few ship models already, but these have been Meng's precoloured snap fit 1:700 scale ones as quick mojo fixers (the first two when recuperating from pneumonia last year), and Revell's recent 1:600 RMS Titanic (which I put together for my daughters as they were studing that topic at school) and which only needed detail painting. Having now caught the bug for ships, I have since bought several other kits, which will be much more involved projects and they will also be my first attempts at painting this type of model. I don't have an airbrush & so am intending to paint them using spray cans instead for the bulk of the colour application. Whilst I've had plenty of success with this for car model kits, and also a Tamiya 1:35 Tiger tank that I am currently working on, selecting the right colours for those was easy. Can anyone recommend which Tamiya* spray can colour(s) would be suitable for the following ships, or alternatively any other brands in a similar price range? I've had a look at the online colour charts, but from past experience, have found that these are often not the best match to the actual finished paint... *Especially keen on Tamiya, as they also do brush paints that match their spray cans, and this has worked really well with the Tiger. HMS Dreadnought (both 1:350 & 1:700) Type 45 destroyer (1:700 HMS Daring kit, but to be built as HMS Diamond) Many thanks in advance!

Great work - really enjoying following your progress with this build and reading about the tweaks and details that you are adding. I don't see many threads for models from this classic Heller series, which is a pity as the two I have built so far (M-B 500K & Bugatti T50) were nice kits. Bookmarking this for reference when I build my one!

I've been keeping an eye out for one of these kits for a while now. However this is the first build thread I have seen for one, so following with great interest!

Truly inspriational! Thank you for taking the time to document and explain how you did everything.

This looks like an amazing kit, and watching your inspirational build of it is making it more and more difficult for me to resist buying one!