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Hello chaps, Waiting my dental scanner to work again soon and help me so to get convincing wipers that will add the final touch to my Ford Mustang Indy 500 Convertible at 1/16 scale... ... I begin here a new thread dedicated to my next build, the Porsche 934 Vaillant Tamiya at 1/12, a big scale! For this build, I decided to buy the expensive Scale Lab detail set, hoping this set will allow me to get a very nice result, even if I am sure you can get a fine one just with the Tamiya kit. Will this set worth it? I will give you my opinion independently. This set was bought on Spotmodel, it is about 300€, much more expensive than the Tamiya kit itself so (about 140€). Below are some pics of both boxes and their contents: The first impression with the Tamiya kit is very good despite its quite old age, 1976, it has been reissued more recently with a PE detail set and a Cartograf decal sheet (both very nice!). The Scale Lab detail set is impressive with 9 PE plates, resin parts and a sheet of masks for the windows frame painting job. It will require a careful study before use because the instructions sheet above seems to me somewhat succinct... Well, I hope I'm wrong on that point, we shall see. A word about the choice of the Porsche 934 Vaillant: as usual, the choice for a model is for me first aesthetic. From this point of view, I could have chosen the Jägermeister version, orange (I love this color) but I ever have the huge 1/8 Pocher Lamborghini Aventador in nearly the same color. This Light Cobalt Green (lighter than what the Tamiya box-art suggests imho) is though also quite to my taste, in addition to be more original. It is also very possible that the name "Vaillant", even if it is here just a sponsor (Vaillant was and is still today a heating systems manufacturer), resonated in me and more or less consciously recalled the adventures of Michel Vaillant, famous racing driver in the comic books albums of Jean Graton (the French and Belgian members of this forum will understand me very well). Looking in the Net, I found a pic of this Vaillant version showed at Autoworld Brussels. Pity, when visiting this nice car museum last year, the car was missing... The documentation will be consequently quite poor, a priori... For the paint, I decided to use mainly Gravity products, but most likely Tamiya and Vallejo ones too. Well, let's go to the bench now, hoping this build will arouse interest from the Brit community. Cheers, O

Meanwhile so many beautiful Senna's 99T models are build I'll try to tackle more rare and less successful Piquet's -88 car... I recon it will take plenty of time to finish this kit. If I can do it under a year I will be amazed. I'll try to enjoy the build and not rush it of course. Kit has resin and white metal parts that are not numbered or labeled any way and there are lot of parts... White metal parts are packed in ziplock bags and it takes time to find right parts. Parts look very good finish so looks like not much filing and sanding are needed, but tons of holes need to be drilled and everything needs to be cleaned well before paint. I started cleaning some of the parts in Magnetic Tumbler. First part is to make the engine. It is the same engine as in MFH McLaren MP4/4 with moving pistons and really nice details. - Matti

When I saw this was a 'new tool' recently available I was intrigued and excited to see another 'car' brand venturing into 1/12 scale bikes. The kit is very detailed and pretty easy to build, although.......the sprue attachments are enormous even on small parts, and certainly not up to modern moulding standards, which makes me wonder if it is indeed a new tool and not a reisuue of someone elses kit? The only other minor issue is that the plastic is very soft, making th esprue issue just that little bit more fiddly when trimming 'nubs' off. Having said that, with careful trimming everything went on without major aggro. decals are top quality and very thin, although seem to take an age to adhere. Decals are supplied for Schwantz and Barros, plus alternatives for the Dutch TT 1993 (used here) Painted using Tamiya spray can laquer on the bodywork and AK Xtreme Metal laquer airbrushed for the frame. Exhausts werre sprayed Tamiya silver leaf, then masked using 1mm tape and airbrushed with various shades of blue/smoke/purple. A great source of reference pictures found here https://www.mcnews.com.au/kevin-schwantz-1993-rgv500-xr79 Overall I would definitely recommend this kit and look forward to seeing if they release any more bike models.

Just finished this superb kit. Don't normally post WIP but on this occasion I decided to , so it is here: In typical Tamiya fashion everything fitted perfectly and decals are by Cartograph so what could go wrong........... Well actually this time nothing at all and I am very very happy with the result. Definitely highly recommend this kit to anyone who fancies building bikes. Painted using Tamiya acrylics and AK acrylic pens, then Tamiya TS22 rattle can for the bodywork. I've had to start a new '1/12 shelf' for these as the other shelves are full of Protar 1/9 kits. The bike in the picture is the last 'full size' race bike I built back in 2006 Buell XB12 racer ridden b y Phil Read Jnr in Bemsee Thunderbikes series.

After a strict diet of 1/9 scale Protar/italeri motorcycle kits for a few months, I have decided to move on to some more modern issues of 1/12 bikes from Tamiya/Hasegawa etc. Prices of ancient Protar kits have gone through the roof on Ebay and are getting harder to find decent ones at decent prices. First up in the new scale is this Repsol Honda RCV213V from 2014 as ridden by Marc Marquez. IN typical Tamiya fashion everything fits together exactly as it should, and the only problems arose when using the included painting masks and putting the decals on (my failings not theirs!). Also the pale orange paint (not Tamiya) peeled off in places so was touched up with a brush unfortunately. Looks OK from a distance though. Big bonus was that I bought this 'pre-owned' but un-started' on Ebay for a decent price for the bare model, and it came packaged with 24 unused bottles of Tamiya paint and 4 cans of Tamiya rattle can paint in the correct colours for this kit + a set of brushes! Ebay sometimes does deliver a bargain Biggest surprise is just how much smaller 1/12 scale is compared with 1/9 when completed!

I originally built this kit (badly) over 40 years ago as a 10 year old. I eventually got round to buting it again and had another go. This is the original release of the kit, not the rerelease, so no fancy PE for me. Also, the decals were in terrible shape so I ended up purchasing a replacement set from fleabay. I got the seat belts from Hiroboy

I intended to build this kit box stock, as an antidote to having to scratch build everything. Here are the bits that aren't OOB.... I always try to make something out of the correct material, because there's no better way of getting the right colour and texture. for example aluminium. I hate painting leather, so this is the first change to the stock build... I found some thin, stretchy black leather Deepened the grooves in the seat and covered it with two pieces, glued incrementally into each crease with CA. I tested the CA on the leather first, as I have had it bleed through and ruin it. Here's the back side which will be hidden (thankfully) (Edit) And then I found this photo, with a different seat cushion. Ho hum. Next to fall victim were the brake drums. As they're round, I can turn them on a lathe AND use the right material (aluminium) Spot the new one! The exhaust tube walls are too thick, so I used brass tubing, first to make a collar to locate the new tube and then the end itself. Normally I'd replace the whole thing, but then this kit is being built box stock.... That'll do for now....

The Madness prevailed! Here it is finished. Materials: a few bits of an Airfix Bentley, styrene sheet and strip, aluminum sheet, scaffolding tube, brass sheet, tube and bar, 3d print (the dampers), fishing line, bass wood, clear acrylic rod and stuff I can't remember. Overall winner Manawatu/ Wellington IPMS Model expo 2024. With the low sun, it got difficult to get good angles, so I waited for the clouds...

Here we go - another 1/12 on the go! Engine first obviously...for my F1 engine 'group-shot' plan. So a bit of 'un-boxing', as I have shown with my other kits. Its nice to show the parts and detail in these MFH kits, and maybe encourage others to give one a go. Usual folder of instructions, decals, foils and PE parts. This instruction manual seems to be quite a few pages more than some others I have... Templates for carbon, foil and ali sheet... Very nice PE parts, including radiator mesh, clips, paint masks, wing endplates, pins etc etc Pack of other detail parts - seat belt ribbon, clear parts, rods, pins, tie-wraps etc... Wheels and tyres always look cool - turned ali hubs, molded tyres including the 'Michelin' logo, and lots of other tyre info molded into the rubber - also there seems to be a very nice mildly-buffed feel to the tyres - won't need to scrub them in much or remove any mold lines (on the contact surface anyway) On to the metal components - usual plastic-ziploc-bags-in-bubble-wrap packaging......grrrrr Lots and lots of bits! lovely details.... The legend... Nice seat belt buckle... ...and a LOT of rivets! This kit seems slightly cheaper than other recent 1/12 kits - I think it is because it is such a simple, pure shape, there is less 'bodywork' than other kits! Resin parts very crisp... And here is where most of those rivets will end up! As before, I'll start with the engine...

This is my most challenging build to date. The kit itself is easily Matchbox's greatest achievement in terms of detail and finesse, and from when the masters where probably carved in wood. It suffers though from the the near non-existent or vague attachment points everywhere. A more modern kit would solve these issues but even then the subject is just very demanding as a build due to it's complexity. There just isn't a easy way to handle the model while its being built and it was tempting to stick wings on it just so I could hold it. Finally the extensive chrome work was very challenging - I used Alcad as that's what I had but the finish is just too delicate, clear coating helps but you lose that sheen. I will explore newer alternatives such s the Molotow pen refills and Green Stuff World Chrome but I don't want to got near another metal finish for a quite a while! I re-spoked the wheels with florist's wire and insulation stripped from fine wire. The kit's seat position was lowered to the correct height. Like my other Matchbox builds this year it will be on show at SMW on the Classic British Kits SIG table.

Seeing as lately I've been on a bit of a Tyrrell roll with the Yamaha 023 and the Honda 020, I thought I'd continue the theme with the last one in my stash, the 003 driven by Jackie Stewart from 1971. I've had the kit for years and it will be pretty much oob as I've got other 1/12 kits with all the bells and whistle detail up sets, plus the fact I probably will have 2 kits on the bench with the Heller GB running at the same time and it would be hard even for me to mix up the bits of a 1/12 F1 car and a 1/24 Le Man's Bentley 😅 Ian 😀

Here then is a WIP for Mrs W's Doll's House project. She's long been thinking of making a doll's house and was offered a second hand one at a very good price at a show. It does lend itself to all the estate agent jokes about being in need of renovation etc. I need to choose my words carefully, because doll's house afficandos are very serious and yet not serious in the way that modelling on Britmodeller is usual taken. So the work is usually stylised, to the extent of being idealised. Weathering etc. is very rare. Scale etc. though is very serious; the normal scale being 1/12 (hence my Tamiya Mini project) with some using 1/24 and very occasionally I've seen a bit of 1/15 (which seems just odd). Within those 'rules' (maybe not the best word but I hope you understand), this is VERY crude, both in finish and scale. The back is removable... When you have the builders in, just gut everything which is where Mary started! The ground floor is going to be plausible but upstairs is always going to take a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Bricks removed (this was easier than in real life) Then let the real work begin... Replacement scale doors and windows, these bring out how compromised the original build was- even allowing for an old cottage and people being shorter in those days etc. The finish on the replacement parts is awesome though; as I say this is serious hobby. Everything works and is beautifully finished. Brickwork replaced with a more plausible render as well... Opening resized along the way...as they might say on Star Trek, 'It modelling Jim, but not as we know it'! To be continued... (She'll probably be finished before me!) PS she might be taking a leaf out of @bootneck's book; on the roof the 'previous owner' merely folded the crude rooking paper over the ridge so the pantiles are upside down on the rear and she's toying with individual tiles (that'll slow her down

With the Christmas season upon us (thanks to the forum software for suggesting the intro statement ), I have taken up an eBay project, a BIG SCALE 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427. Why did I want an oversized model kit when I already have a backlog of 3 WIP kits and countless other unstarted kits? Because money (supposedly) buys happiness, even if it's temporary... The kit was already started by the previous owner before the seller. But I'd say that this kit is currently on its fourth owner, as the kit does not come with windows or decals, and the seller stated that the previous owner chopped off the roof to make it a "convertible", although it looked more like an open top Grand Sport project. So, my guess is: kit made in late 80's/early 90's, sold to first owner, started but lost interest and lost/broke a few parts, sold to 2nd owner, chopped roof off, sold to selling "dealer", and then to me. The model was never painted. I am going to paint it Silver Pearl with a black stinger (using masking techniques due to lack of decals) with a Teal Blue interior. Reference vehicle on Mecum: https://www.mecum.com/lots/282962/1967-chevrolet-corvette-coupe/ The rear suspension and the engine were already started, but I noticed some parts were glued insufficiently. I say "glued" instead of "cemented" because the engine came apart completely using muscle and a blade. I'm not going to touch the rear suspension YET. At least I don't have to deal with removing actual cemented parts.

Hello Fine folk, I present to you my Italeri 1/12 scale Fiat Mefistofele. This was built using Zero Paints pink primer followed by Zero paints Pre 60's Rosso Red (As I had a plentiful supply of this red!!) It was given a coat of Proscale Paints 2K lacquer system, which worked beautifully, and went on nice and thin unlike my ususal go to 2K. The wooden areas were given a veneer and then varnished as I would never be able to get an effective wood by painting and the kit looks all the better for that decision (Thanks to Jamie Beet for that idea!!) I used some putty to upholster the seat back and add missing buttons to match the seat as my internet reference pics had the back buttoned!! No additional wiring was added and the rest of the kit was built out of the box. Various metallics used on the busy, 23 litre aero engine, followed by some gentle weathering which was a bit of AK grime and fuel stuff with some soot effects. Its a long ol' model at about 17" and looks impressive once assembled. No issues during the build at all. I highly recommend this kit to anyone considering tackling it. You get a lot of model for the money. Thanks for looking.

I have built some 1/12 F1 cars from Tamiya and Italeri, but now want to tackle a 1/8 vehicle. I really can't decide between the Pocher or Agora Porsche 917K's or, as an alternative, the Agora Mercedes W196R. My wife is quite keen on me purchasing the Mercedes (and I would quite masochistically enjoy building the spoked wheels) but there is a large difference in the prices between Pocher and Agora. As it will be quite a large investment, both in time and cash, I'm looking for any recommendations from anyone with experience of both brands. Any alternative manufacturers? I also see that it seems that Pocher are due to release a new model toward the end of this month (January) - I wonder if it's worth waiting to see what that may be. Anyone any guesses/knowledge?

About a year ago I posted a trio of Lancias, and had promised myself that I’d add an Integrale to round out my favourite Italian rally cars. Started with the engine and ancillaries. I'm guessing it will be a tight squeeze to fit this lump in the engine bay. Then onto the chassis with a few extra cables and wires for interest Hmm, maybe the 037 was smaller than I thought… Perhaps the bodywork will shrink it down

My build of the Airfix 1/12 Black Prince (02502-7): A straightforward OOB build that I enjoyed making very much. Dave

A weekend build, very nice quick build of the figure rise kit from Banai, snapped together with some panel lining, a bit of black oil wash here and there and the stickers from the kit. I might paint it one day. It was nice just to build it in the garden when the sun out.

Hello my friends, Here it is! My 2nd Honda Repsol bike, with cowls in place this time, is now ready for inspection. Even if it is a bit less detailed (mainly regarding cables running under the dashboard), I admit I love it and probably even prefer it to the first one, maybe because it is the last build, but above all because the cowls in place give the best perception in term of design and aerodynamics of this beautiful G.P bike. The decision to build a new model is for me, as for most of you I suppose, the result of an aesthetic crush, and the first time I saw the Tamiya box-art of this 2014 Honda Repsol, I thought I would build it some day. I finally build it 2 times! For this 2nd build, I sometimes used alternative approaches for some details (no use of the provided decals for the Black stripes on the seat cowl and the tank cover, or yet use of the Kevlar Fiber pattern SK decals inside the upper cowl instead of the painting option), but most of the time, I was faithful to my first build. So, the Top Studio Chain set was patiently assembled and set in place another time to represent faithfully the chain, and, to give another example (I could give many), the rims were dug using the same technique than for the first build. Here are below the pics: I have now to try to represent Marc Marquez on this bike (from a Valentino Rossi figure I recall), what will be another challenge. I just began the work: Thanks for watching Cheers, Olivier P.S: for those of you interested, here are the links to the first build WIP and RFI:

This one didn't seem to take very long. The Build thread is here, https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235136055-droid-speeder-bike/ This is a meld of a large Droid from the Stap set, some scrap model bits and bits box lurkers. Start with an idea. In '50's Britain Motor bikes were a big thing. There emerged clubs and gangs of riders. One thing to do was to race against the clock between 'tea stops' on modified bikes. These became known as Cafe' Racers. The Cafe Racer thing is just the basis of the idea for the pose. I see this as a fast scout bike. I added a larger Comms pack to his back. I took a 1/48th Skyraider Fuselage. Turned it upside down and back to front and joined it to a 1/32nd Puma tail Boom. Lots of filler and rubbing down until smooth followed. Please assume that this has the usual Star Wars Anti Gravity drive. Comin' right at ya! The hadlebars are from the Stap. The 'headlights were a bike instrument cluster. Guns, Front forks The prone position apes the '50's riders who would shorten and lower the handlebars to aid slipstreaming. The base is the Stap base with some old model railway scatter material glued on. The pale blue is a mix. The droid is lying on mostly plastic card supports. The feet are on ex Stap footplates. I wanted to weather the boring overall brown of the Droid. The blue bit shows his section, or maybe rank? Here we are sans Droid so you can seen his supports. The guns are clear here and the bit on the side is ex Stap too. Underneath I sprayed with semi matt clear and sprinkled some ground stuff on. This Guy flies low! Witness the bit of bush on the footplate too. I couldn't resist also putting some Bike engine bits on. The tailfin has spoilers which actually swivel in and out, Again, a blue patch for the section. At the base this side of the footplate are ex Jet Provost intakes. Now thrusters. Just to prove that the two sides are the same! I enjoyed the weathering. This thing has seen some action. Here's a pre-paint side view. Just to make it clear how it all looks. It's close to 12 inches long. I hope you like what you've seen. Either way please feel free to leave a comment and don't forget your party bag from the bar. Thanks for dropping by. I'm in the middle of having a clearout and general tidy up of the manshed at the moment. So when the next build will appear I'm not too sure. The subject is also unknown at this moment in time! Cheers, Pete

Hello to all, Even if my endless Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 Convertible at 1/16 scale is not over: I begin a new build and thread dedicated to the 2014 Honda Repsol 213V Tamiya at 1/12. Even if this awesome GP motorbike will require a lot of care, it should be more simple than the Mustang, for which a lot of scratch was and still is necessary considering the quite poor AMT kit and the fact that I made a conversion from a Coupe to a Convertible. As my Mustang project is the priority, this Honda build will go on very slowly first (that is why I hesitated to open a new thread now). Here are below the first pics I made, engine build: N.B: I painted the clutch but in fact, I should not use the Tamiya part, that is not very realistic. I ordered a Top Studio detail set in which a more convincing PE/ resin clutch is provided. But I should not get this set before several weeks... Talking about detail sets, I will certainly order also the Tamiya detail set (front fork ref. 12667), waiting the latter to be in stock again on Passion 132. Cheers, O

This was a quick build meant as a gift for a close friend. Also, it was my first venture into figure modeling, so way out of my comfort zone! The Bandai kit is press/snap together, fully articulated, and molded in various colors of plastic. I chose to paint my build using various shades of acrylics, weathered with pastels and enamel washes. Paint chipping from battle damage done with the 'hairspray' technique. My only real complaint about the kit (other than the lame 'fabric' provided) is that stickers are used for the markings, instead of waterslide decals. Please excuse my poor photography!

So as a result of my first failed attempts at printing off my imperial Daleks I have quite a few recognisable bits left over so rather than throw them out or let them molder in the spares box i thought I’d do some asylum themed Dalek rust and wreckage. The asylum is a Dalek prison/scrapyard that featured in the episode of the same name and features almost every Dalek that ever appeared in Dr Who. More to follow…

I'm asking for trouble starting a third build, but what hell, how often do sci fi GBs come around? Besides, I think we need some representation from the Red Dwarf universe. On my first visit to Telford last weekend I came across the wonderful Cozmic Scale Models stand (check them out here: https://www.cozmicscalemodels.com/ ) and couldn't resist this: They are 1/12 scale, resin and very few parts. Shouldn't take too long... Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

Just a place marker until I decide on the final victim. I've narrowed it down to a choice from 3, the Brabham, the Tyrrell or the Renault as the Bentley has gone and the other 2 wouldn't be completed in the GB timescale as I have the full detail sets for both. My current feeling is for the Renault RE20 as it was a car I remember well from it's day, either winning or blowing up Plus it is nice and colourful I need to make the choice next couple of days so I can get the paint ordered, then I'll change title Looking forward to this one hugely Ian