rs2man

I just received a similar e-mail with a closing date of 5pm on 13th October

Looks to me as if it has a rollcage , or at least the back half , fitted . Just behind the passenger side door pillar there is what looks like a main roll hoop and a brace back to the rear inner arch .

They still fit them , it's just the drivers haven't got the brains to work them

Wrong is far too mild a comment for that monstrosity . I am rendered speechless since the only words I can find to adequately describe it aren't allowed on this site .

Airfix plastic is fine - I've stripped their stuff before . Revell stripper must be pretty aggressive though , since it will easily strip Halfords aerosol paints . No blame can be laid at any door other than mine though- I simply left it in the stripper too long . All is not lost though as I have a cunning plan . A trawl of my memory caused me to recall an article in the August 1972 issue of Airfix Magazine converting the Airfix Beetle to a Baja Bug . At that time it involved finding or scratchbuilding an engine and buying a Ford 3 litre GT just for the wheels , but since I have all the bits from the Beach Buggy I only need a cheap Beetle .

Sadly , I think it's beyond practical redemption since the stripper has badly crazed the plastic , most severely in all the bits you can't get at to sand such as round the headlamps .

Last week I started building the newly reissued Airfix beach buggy and it was going really well , but then on Friday I decided I wasn't happy with the paint on the body. No problem , I thought , chucking the body into a pot of Revell's excellent paint remover . Then life got in the way and I spent the weekend working on the missus's Volvo to get it through the MoT , so didn't get back into the shed till last night , by which time the paint remover had attacked the plastic . Hopefully I'll be able to pick up another kit at the Stoke model show on Sunday.

I recently did a deal with Paul H of this forum and yesterday the parcel arrived , so I'm now the proud owner of a Revell 32 Ford 5-window coupe and highboy roadster, an AMT 32 Ford Phaeton and a Revell 29 Ford rat rod .

OK , here's a pic of the kit As you can see , all I've done is flued the body panels together . Everything else , though largely off the sprues , is untouched . If this is acceptable , please add me to the list of entrants .

You're welcome mate

It's 1/2 inch to the foot , or 1/24 scale .

I have a Matchbox boxing of the old Revell 1/25 Austin Healey 100-6 . Would that be eligible ? If so , it's also a bit started - I glued the body together about 20 years ago - would that be a problem ?

You're welcome . in case you're interested , here's a pic of mine

Hi Andy Ok , the main problem with this kit is the wheels and tyres , which are absurdly over-wide even for a racing Cobra . The rear tyres are marked 12.5 x 15 but they're way wider than that , something like 17 or 18 inches wide . The front tyres are around 12.5 x 15 but have no size marked . When I built mine back in the 1980s , I narrowed the rear wheels to fit the front tyres then cut a sidewall off each rear tyre , cut off a little over half the width of the tyre , superglued the sidewall back on then narrowed the front wheels to suit . Because of the huge tyres , the rear suspension is rather too narrow and also missing the upper wishbone , but it doesn't really show when it's built . The kit is intended to be built with sidepipes so if you want tail exhausts you'll need to fill the big holes in the sides . Everything else is just a general lack of detail for a 1/16 kit - nothing a little work won't fix . It certainly looks good when finished - I'm still very happy with mine . If you want to know anything else , drop me a PM . John Green Nantwich , Cheshire

Is that the one Stuart Graham used to drive ?