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Having completed the Stratos is pretty quick time (for me at least), it's time to move on to the next project. This time, it's the turn of the Lamborghini Countach, which I picked up a couple of years ago. I had a read around before buying this kit, and Aoshima's Countaches generally seemed to get the best reviews. Having bought the kit, I can see why - even sitting loose in the box it looks great. First reaction on opening the box though was that not only did it look good, but also a little bit daunting as there are a lot of sprues which suggests lots of parts. I think it's only a similar quantity to the Trabant, so maybe not that scary. Work on this actually started way back in June with spraying all the chassis and bits which need to have the same finish as it, alongside the body and all the body coloured items. No pics of the chassis work in progress (just Halfords grey primer then satin black), so I'll go straight onto the body. Not only is the body crisply moulded, but there are also minimal mould lines and I only found a couple of sink marks on the rear deck above and to the side of the tail lights. Needless to say, they have been filled prior to priming. And with the filler sanded down. Aoshima do seem to have been very conscious of those thin A- and B-pillars, so plenty of bracing to be cut out prior to construction, but much better that than snapped or bent pillars. Even better, a solid part is provided for where the windscreen belongs to help protect that delicate A-pillar prior to the glass going in. You remove the windscreen brace first, fit the solid windscreen to provide strength, then remove the rest of the bracing. This is where it ended up after the primer had gone on. After that, it was a case of adding the colour coat. The Countach isn't a car which needs a bright colour to stand out, but I remember a bright orange Matchbox Countach I had when I was about four, so that was the obvious colour. I fully appreciate that in that photo it looks like I've peeled an orange and glued it to the body, but after it got a clear coat it does look much better. Currently it's part polished, so is a bit of a work in progress. I taped the sills on from behind for spraying, they're sitting in a box now and will get properly fitted in due course. This weekend is really where I'm starting the build proper. Tomorrow I should be able to provide a small update

So alongside the predictable Draken build I'm doing, I'm also going to be building this in the GB... The 1991 Rally Sweden winner, as well as being the winning car, it had a Swedish crew - Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander. It's a fairly simple kit, with a limited part count, no engine, etc. It does come with some material to make seatbelts from, some rubbery plastic sheet to make the mudflaps, a metal rod for the antenna and a small PE fret. I've also bought some aftermarket PE set that also comes with some seat belt material too. The decals look pretty good, though that's to be hoped for as other than the decals the exterior of the car is mostly white, other than the blue rear corners/boot which has to be painted onto the body - hopefully the line of the decal covers it, I hope the blue/white crossover doesn't show through the decals! The instructions look clear (well there aren't many parts), the English information panel is full of translation mistakes and misprints (though I kind of enjoy that). The only niggles are the clear parts aren't great, the tyres have a seam and the bonnet has a 2 nasty imprints that will need sanding out - I imagine that's because they based the shell on the road car version/other versions which have 2 large air-intakes louvers there - hopefully that'll sand out nicely.

I'm now quite well into my build of the 1/24 Hellcat by Airfix, but I thought I'd share some pictures of where I've got to plus some brief thoughts on the build to date. The only after market additions I've used are (1) a pair of resin wing tanks produced by Nigel's Modelling Bench (in order to avoid seeing an empty space inside the wings) and (2) a set of fabric seat belts by HGW. I'll also be using the Eduard canopy mask set (I'm useless at masking canopies!) I've used Mr Color number 365 gloss sea blue for the outside and as you can see I've also started weathering by very gentle use of some ultra fine Flory polishing sanders. In summary, I highly recommend this kit. The fit of the parts so far has been excellent - I've only used tiny amounts of filler in a few small places along the top and bottom seams. There are a few areas of burring here and there (unlike the 1/24 Typhoon, which requires a serious amount of clean-up) but so far this has been very easily sorted with a sanding stick or blade. Two areas that could be improved - the kit seat belts are too thick for the scale - they can be used but the HGW belts are sublime. Secondly the machine gun barrels have very soft detail. I see that Master have subsequently released a set of brass barrels and I would certainly have purchased a set had I not sealed up the wings by now. Otherwise I can't really fault the kit. The engine and cockpit are mini-kits in themselves and the detail is superb. I added ignition leads by using copper wire to my engine. This was extremely fiddly and time consuming but definitely worth it in my opinion. The kit instructions are a great help in showing where the wires should go. On the subject of the instructions, they are generally excellent but I have noticed just a couple of incorrect part number call-outs and some missing colour instructions on a handful of parts. So far I haven't used many decals other than those supplied for the instruments and placards, but they have been fine so far. I'll post up a few more photos as the kit nears completion. If you've been wondering whether to buy this kit then I would say definitely don't hesitate - its too good to miss!

Hi Guys Here is a bumper set of new releases all in one go, available for ordering and shipping right now (well over the next few days) Basically a few stand alone decal sheets, to be used in conjunction with the kit decals, early F6F-5 fuselage windows, and a few F6F-5N conversion sets with decals. Before you all ask, yes I am working on the F6F-3 conversion, this will also be done with a few decal sheet options. Release date for the -3 ???????? next few months. Best to visit here to get all the information. https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/category/1-24th A few pictures for colour (or color for US friends)

There was no WIP for this as I was building it for my brothers christmas present. I have however chronicled the majority of the build photos in the Google album here. The kit was a simple kit, with the only engine detail being moulded as part of the Chassis. The interior is fairly simple but it is also simple on the 1:1. Both myself and my brother owned various MR2's through our younger years and continue a shared interest inJapanesecars. I asked him how he would have his ideal MR2 earlier in the year (Much earlier) and have built this OOB but to his specifications: i.e Flocked dash and colour choices. The registration is the registration on his last owned MR2 and the TB Developments logo is taken from the club we used to be members of. Its also a company logo ( i do not own the copyright but do know the owner and am attending his wedding next year....so don't see he will have an issue in its use) I am pleased with the ease of this build and the end result ispleasing for a kit that only cost me £20. Here are the photos before it was closed up and the end result. Feel free to comment and criticise, I feel the front ride height is a touch high but not worh dying in a ditch over. Thanks for looking and there are more photos in the shared album linked in the first line of this post. Coops

Hi all, well considering how basic this kit was when I first looked it over, I think it has turned out looking pretty spiffy. The kit really was going to have to be super detailed to make it look convincing; I used a basecoat colour that I had mixed for a motorcycle tank I was respraying for a client. It was Suzuki Maui blue; it seemed to match the full size car's colour perfectly. Not one of Hasegawa's finest, there was some nasty fit issues, around the front fender, the lower valance did not want to fit, as well as the rear wheel covers. I had to replace the front windscreen and quarter side windows with some clear acrylic sheet as the kit one was starting to split and was too poor quality to really use anyway. Overall I am pleased I took the decision to convert the car into a convertible and save the kit from returning to the stash and probably never being built.

Hi chaps. Been away from my bench for too long, one thing and another has prevented me. Found this kit going cheap on hannants website, and I felt a spark, so duely purchased it. I can feel the interest coming back, and thought I'd have a crack at it. Caught my eye, as it's a rather odd looking car, and rather rare in real life. Hope to post some progress in the next day or two. Matt

I know what you've all been thinking. All this sci-fi stuff is all well and good, but when are we going to see some Scandi Noir? Well I'll oblige! I recently binge-watched the Danish/Swedish noir drama Bron/Broen, aka The Bridge. The Swedish protagonist Saga Noren drives a rather lovely 1970s Porsche 911S in an unusual olive green-mustardy colour. I can't find a photo that I can be sure I can post, but here's a youtube video showing the star of the show auctioning the car a year or two ago: I love this car - whilst cars aren't my usual thing (I probably last made a model car about 35 years ago) I had to build this one. Somehow I didn't feel the same pull to the battered people carrier driven by her Danish counterpart Martin Rohde! The car in question is a 911S from the late 70s. Fujimi does a 1/24 1969 911S which is the right body shape but some of the details aren't right for this particular car - mainly the bumpers, but a few other things like the wing mirrors are differently. However they also do a 1/24 1980s Carrera which is the wrong body shape (the flared wheel arches stand out as the main difference) but has all the other details needed. So a bit of kit bashing is in order. Here's the box shot of the 911S kit: And here are the bodies of the two kits side by side - the 911S is on the left: In the top photo you can see that the front wheel arch extends a bit further down on the 911S than the Carrera - this is due to the bulkier bumper on the Carrera - and I need to trim it back to match the profile of the Carrera so the bumper will fit. Similarly the bonnet needs to have the Carrera's profile and the simplest thing to do here seems to be to cut out the two bonnets and stick the Carrera's bonnet on the 911S. Then the bulkier sills on the sides of the Carrera need to be transplanted onto the 911S. So here's where I'm up to - I've transplanted the bonnet, removed the excess plastic from the wheel arch, and removed the sills ready to graft on the parts from the Carrera: cheers Julian

Hi All, I must be a sucker for punishment. Yet another model that I have decided to finish along with all the others. This one has for no reason that I can work out, been sitting on the back-shelf for an enormously long time. I had built the engine, transmission & exhaust and had sprayed all the body parts in their final colour, then I put it away and forgot about it. This is the Revell 'Premium' range of 1/24th kits. There weren't many models in this series, This, a BMW 850 a Mercedes 560 C, coupe and cabriolet. I has many more parts than your usual Revell kit, and has a reputation for being difficult to build, almost to the point of being un-buildable! That currently, has not been my experience. The engine and transmission (No piccies unfortunately. I had assembled the engine and transmission into the floor-pan before I realised I had no pictures) went together well, as did the exhaust system. A bit over-the-top in the parts count department, but engineered well enough. I decided that mine would be black, so I sprayed it with Halfords' grey primer followed by a Halfords' Black (Not sure which one - there is more than one shade!) So, this is where we are now: The somewhat crumpled box. Looks impressive. The body: There are some minor imperfections that will polish out. I use Halfords' polishing compound. It's a old can, and appears to be quite different from the newer Halfords polishing compound. Sorry about the blurry rear-end, but I was using shutter priority on the camera in order to use flash, and it must have selected a very wide aperture, hence the shallow depth of field. The wheels: Now, this is one area where Revell could improve upon. The tyres are that Vinyl stuff. It has a few failings: It appears to be 'oily' to the touch It doesn't look very much like rubber (too shiny) It can melt polystyrene, so you have to ensure the wheel is painted where the tyre touches it. It seems to age badly and become brittle. All but one of the tyres has split right across the tyre. I resolved it by using CA glue in the gap to hold the tyre together. I then filled the remains of the gap with High-tack PVA glue. That has the advantage that it dries clear, so appears to part of the tyre, and it also dries quite flexible, similar to the original vinyl (event when brittle). It is quite difficult to see the splits now, so the repair appears to have worked. This is where the new stuff starts: The rear suspension went in first. There are over twenty parts to make up the rear suspension, even more when you add the brakes and springs! Seems a bit like overkill. Still for all that, it assembled well and it all fitted. I highlighted all the pipe-work by dry-brushing aluminium on to the raised pipes. It needed a bit of clean-up later but nothing serious. The exhaust system is also another example of a complicated break-down of parts. There are nine parts here. Fortunately it all went together well, like this: It all fitted well. No major gaps, just a smear of filler before the back-box on one of he pipes. The headers event connected to the manifolds. I was impressed. Another view of the rear suspension with the axles attached: Again, quite complex, but it all fitted well. This is one of the from suspension parts. Again the fit was well engineered, and it fitted well. This biggest difficulty was ensuring no glue got onto the revolving axle part. That's the bit in the bottom right corner. So, this is where we are at present: All suspension parts added, including anti-roll bars etc. The exhaust looked a bit too shiny, so I used a mix of Humbrol matt black and gloss brown, highly diluted in white spirit to "grubby" it up a bit. The white spirit doesn't attack the acrylic already there. It has stalled here due to a major cock-up on my part. The right suspension part at the front didn't want to stay in place. I thought perhaps that the strut needed to be pressed harder into the wish-bone, so I pushed a bit harder. Not a good idea. I managed to snap off the wish-bone and nearly lost it to the laminate monster (The carpet monster's close cousin). I was not impressed (understatement of the decade). After locating the broken part, I used epoxy glue to fix it back in place. The end result is a bit more flexible than I would like, but it doesn't appear to be going anywhere. The problem still remains that the strut keeps falling out. No better (or worse) than before. I think that the only solution will be to glue the strut in place and lose the ability to have functional steering. Having said that, apart from posing it off centre, I never do anything else with it, so it's not a huge loss. I'll just set it slightly off centre anyway. More soon, I hope. Thanks for looking, Alan.

... or Happiness is Vectored Thrust! Firstly, I am a fan of the Harrier but mostly the early variants before the airframe was “afflicted” by the lumps and bumps associated with the development of an aircraft. As you may have guessed by my screen name, I’m particularly fond of the prototype aircraft, the P.1127 and P.1127/2, otherwise known as (the/a) Kestrel. To my eye, these are the definitive forms of this aircraft concept/configuration, with their aluminium finish and long pitot tubes sticking out the front, ready for the jousting tournament. I’ve recently returned to the hobby after 20 years or so: the aircraft I always fancied building all those years ago was an Airfix 1/24 scale Harrier but it was never to be. I’ve now decided that I’m going to give converting the Harrier into a P.1127 a go and I thought I’d try posting a WiP to try and keep myself out of metaphorical doldrums. The question was which P.1127 configuration to model? As you may or may not know (or care) there were many configuration states of P.1127 although predominantly they can be split into two groups. The first six aircraft had registration numbers starting with XP (831, 836, 972, 976 980 & 984). The second group with the designation P.1127/2, also given the name Kestrel by the Hawker marketing department had registration numbers starting with XS (688 - 696). This is based on my limited research into the subject, anyway. The reason for being so picky with the registration numbers is because there was evidently quite a bit of variation between each aircraft, especially in the first group of six but also extending into the second group. Relevant differences include (but are not limited to): the wing ¼ chord sweep (the trailing edge was unswept for the first five aircraft but was swept back on the sixth) wing leading edge extensions (saw-tooth extensions were added during development to refine handing) fairing of wing tip into landing gear fairing fuselage length (the Kestrel was extended by 9 inches compared to the P.1127) tailplane area, span & dihedral sweep angle of air intakes (reduced from 35 degrees on the first aircraft to a more moderate 20 degrees on later aircraft… less so on the Harrier upon EIS) various intake lip profiles etc. Of course all the aircraft above are significantly different to the Harrier (GR1) that is the subject of Airfix’s 1/24 scale kit. The aircraft that I’ve decided to model (try to model) is XP984, a special aircraft for me. XP 984 was the last of the original P.1127 aircraft but was designated as the prototype for the forthcoming Kestrels (P.1127/2). This means that the aircraft originally had the Kestrel wing with the swept trailing edge, the 20 degree sweep on the air intakes and an intermediate tailplane configuration. To my eyes the aircraft in its original configuration looks “the most right” out of all the P.1127 configurations: a nice swept trailing edge with no leading edge extensions to spoil things, a nice sweep on the intakes with no bulbous “elephant ears” ruining the lines but maintaining the aforementioned pitot tube at the nose. (The aircraft, now at Brooklands, has been retro-fitted with a Harrier wing and tailplane so looks less good, IMHO. I’m grateful it’s now inside however). The reason XP984 is special to me is because I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Ralph Hooper (conceptual design and Chief Engineer of the P.1127 programme) at Brooklands and discussing the aircraft with him for an hour or so. I’d like to build this aircraft to help remember such a wonderful experience. As for model itself (an eBay “bargain”), progress has been made but is intermittent due to family and work commitments. The progress so far includes: Fin: removing air intake from root. I’m unsure whether a reduction in height is required… research is ongoing Tailplane: modified to the correct profile but I only have one of them L a shortcoming of the eBay “bargain”. Airfix themselves couldn’t help… any other ideas? Making one will be simple enough but I’d rather modify! Wing: leading edge extensions removed and tips re-profiled. The model will be displayed in the hover so the flaps need cutting out and lowering but this I’m saving for another day Fuselage: the biggest job was re-profiling the air intakes the kit’s Harrier intakes are wrong for the P.1127 so they were cut out and new ones built up from plastic-card and car body filler (I love that stuff) at the required 20 degree sweep for XP984. This also required making the fairings for the cold nozzles: these have intakes in their leading edges but I haven’t got there yet. I’ve also boxed out the landing gear bays to attempt some detailing in there… we shall see how successful that is. My biggest unknown with the fuselage is the length. The Kestrel fuselage is 9 inches longer that the P.1127 but is the same as the Harrier, I think. I’m modelling the Kestrel prototype so I don’t know if XP984 had a P.1127 or Kestrel/Harrier length fuselage. Any ideas? There’s clearly a lot of work left to do, especially on the fuselage (and especially if it wants shortening by 9 scale inches!). The other big thing is the fairing over the wing but I need to wait for the fuselage to be joined first, I think. As I said, progress will be intermittent but I’m hoping the pressure of the forum will eventually get me over the line. The finished model will not be worthy of any special mention like so many of the fantastic efforts displayed on this forum: I shall be ecstatic if it is recognisable as a Kestrel (prototype). I’ve tried to add some pictures below… fingers crossed. Anyway, thanks for looking, P. (Sorry for the quality of the photos, clearly they were taken on my phone!) The bits so far... Fuselage showing modified intakes and cold nozzle fairings The air intake structure aft of the cockpit is a key omission of the kit, perhaps not surprising given its age. Plasticard has been used to rough-in some of the structure but more work is required to tidy it up and fair it in. I shall invest in some Milliput, which I have never used but am led to understand that it might be useful here than my beloved Isopon. Yours truly and the Chief Engineer himself, in front of the aircraft in question.

With the Charger finished, it's time for me to jump straight into the next project. This one is going to be a much longer project and I expect it will take most of the summer to complete. As usual for me, the kit is going to be pretty much straight out of the box, and is Tamiya's custom Nissan Syline GT-R from 1970. First impressions of the kit are very good, and appear to justify the excellent things I've heard about it. However, as this is going to be my first attempt at using photoetch parts, there is plenty of opportunity for this one to go all pear-shaped. In truth, work on this started back in the autumn when I set about trying to get the body ready. Fortunately, there were no noticeable sink marks on it, and only small, well-placed mould-lines which took only a little removal. This is the body straight out of the box: Needless to say, after a little clean-up, it got a coat of white primer (obvious choice of primer colour since I'm doing this as the white version): After that, it got a coat of Halfords Nissan Arctic White. Not really sure why I bothered though, as the colour is near enough identical to the primer. To think white is usually a nightmare to match, and then I go and pick something which is a perfect colour match to the undercoat But, for completeness here's the body as it was before the winter weather stopped progress: As of today, it has had the decals added (all two of them) to the main body and just wants its clear coat now. Can't say I'm looking forward to polishing it though with those creases - they look like prime territory for burning through the paint. The other sprayed parts have had similar treatment, with the bonnet and spoilers having received their clear coats last weekend. The chassis is body coloured on this one, and it has been bugging me all winter that it just looked too bright in this white finish. So today I've had a go at going over it with a dark grey wash, then rubbing off the wash with an old cloth before it dried (I presume this is the correct way of doing it?) For a first attempt, I'm reasonably satisfied with the outcome, and at the very least it's dulled it down a bit: With all that done, it was time to make a start on the instructions. Not major progress, just the engine block/gearbox assembled and some paint on that, the sump and the engine cover. But at least it's a start... That's where I am at the moment, but that engine cover still needs a bit of detailing prior to fitting onto the engine.

Hi all, Here's the kit I'm going to build to represent the year of my birth... The Stratos was first introduced in 1974 but 1975 was the first full year it competed in. The car I'm building is the "Red Chardonnet" one on the box art, that won the Tour de Corse Rallye (Corsia Rally) in 1975. Chardonnet was the name of the privateer team and the car was driven by Bernard Darniche with co-driver Alain Mahé. I believe Chardonnet also had a second, blue car that year as well. Hopefully it won't be a difficult build in terms of large decals / complicated colour schemes.

After all the time spent on the Skyline, I feel it's time for a shorter project. To that end, I figured it was time to restore another model from my youth. In truth, I don't feel I did too bad first time around on this given I was about 12 or 13, didn't paint it, and had nothing to do the decals with other than fingers, water and a duster. However, 30 years have taken their toll on it with the decals having suffered a little over not to mention that it has got covered in dust and shows the effect of 10 years on a shelf next to a field - it got a fresh coat of dust every harvest time! This is what it looked like a couple of months ago. So it's time to bring it back to life, courtesy of some Shunko decals and three sets of instructions - one in Japanese downloaded from 1999.co in Japan, one average quality scan from one I found on sale on eBay and a scan of a set of instructions for the Airfix model of this car courtesy of @theplasticsurgeon from this very site. Between those three, I'm reasonably confident I can get the painting about right too. First job was to take it to pieces and get those decals off. Oddly, it was much easier to get the car to pieces (probably because it was stuck together using UHU rather than solvent cement) than it was to get all the decals off. But I got there in the end, and while I always suspected that the plastic had yellowed, removing the decals confirmed it. What did surprise me though was that the coloured decals appear to have stopped the plastic yellowing while the white areas hadn't. Over the past few weeks, I've been getting the paint on this. First up was the primer, which at least returned it to plain white and covered the yellowing. Next up was the paint. Not all that smooth, but as it's a racing car I'm not going for a perfect finish on this one. Starting on it properly today, the first job was to add a wash to the panel lines and the bonnet grille. Generally not too much of a problem apart from that the wash started creeping both ways along the join between the door and the side skirt. I ended up scribing the bottom of the doors and trying to stop the wash going backwards with a blue-tack dam - not 100% successful and the wash is a bit heavy at the bottom of the doors but it was shaping up to be far worse so I'll settle for it. The chassis is also in the shot - very simple as this is one of Tamiya's earliest 1/24 models (serial number suggests the third one they did) and it's also motorised which eliminates space for an engine. There'll be a bit of painting around the windows, but I'm aiming to get that decalling done early so as to get it clearcoated before temperatures drop for winter.

Time to unveil my second car build since coming back to the hobby which was completed last August. It was actually the first car I bought, but the Mustang looked easier so I started with that one. When you open up the box and look at the kit, you can see it's date-stamped 1982 and unfortunately it is showing it's age a bit. The first thing to jump out was that whereas the modern sprues tend to have some sort of struture to them, on this one the part numbers just jumped apparently at random between sprues (ok, I know that's still the case on some of the newer Revell kits, but not to this extent) and the runners often had a habit of just sort of petering out; at first I thought some of them had broken in two before realising this was just how it was meant to be. I also feel that the model is maybe a bit too wide for the length, but that is a lot less noticeable now it's built and it could just be my imagination. So, starting at the beginning of the build, here's the engine bay. Not a great start to the build as the two halves of the engine block don't quite align properly - I did sand down and fill the underside which is visible, but probably not by enough. I chickened out of mixing the colour for the engine block, and instead used some Prussian Blue from a reconnaisance Spitfire covered in clearcoat. I like the finish (quite 50's mechanical there), but the colour isn't blue enough now I've looked into things deeper and it does bug me a little bit. Not nearly as much as the fact that I didn't put the Blue Flame decal in the right place - what was I thinking?! On this project, I also stripped chrome for the first time to allow better painting of the carbs and float chambers. IMG_6170 on Flickr Moving inside, and this is the part of the build I'm most happy with and really pleased with how it turned out in here. The Molotow pen definitely earned it's stripes in here The photo doesn't really show it, but the matt and silk reds complement each other quite nicely. IMG_6163 on Flickr Onto the outside, coming up are the four quarter views. IMG_6178 on Flickr Both front angles show the issues with the windscreen, but the one below probably shows it best. It's the last piece you fit on the car, and a real sting in the tail. Just when you think you've wrestled the car into shape, you're presented with a clear piece of plastic with only a vague resemblance to the shape of the chromed plastic it's meant to sit in. Clearfix didn't hold it, but it did leave fingerprints on the screen. Fortunately, I managed to get them removed, but still had to fit the glass in the frame. Even superglue struggled to hold it in place, and in the end I superglued all the way around the frame, pushed in the screen and hoped it would stay. It did, and having messed up the chrome in the process I went over the whole lot with the magic chrome pen and covered up the glue where it showed. But the windscreen isn't as clear as it could be - good job it's a convertible! IMG_6177 on Flickr When I first opened the box, the back of the body had all sorts of sink marks that shouldn't have been there - it almost looked as though it had been rear-ended at some stage. So I got the putty out and got it something like the right shape. There were also quite a few mould lines on the body, but fortunately they were mostly in easy to remove places. IMG_6175 on Flickr Almost round it, and the problem with this corner is entirely my own doing in that I managed to snap the rear bumper, but fortunately it's pretty close to being back in the right place. None of the bumpers on this have any positive placement, but they do have a place where they feel right when you fit them. Just got to be very careful you don't get glue everywhere trying to find that place. IMG_6173 on Flickr The front view is just because I like the 'face' of the original Corvette. I did consider painting on the headlight wiring, but decided to go with the kit decals and they don't look too bad. Almost got them lined up properly too... Just a shame that the headlights don't sit as snugly into their holes as I would like. IMG_6179 on Flickr Home straight now, and here it is with the roof up, just sitting loose and not glued on. If it was to be glued on, it would sit slightly further back, but as it's loose I needed to use the windscreen frame to hold it up. IMG_6181 on Flickr And finally a gratuitous sunny pic IMG_6365 on Flickr Hope this isn't too long, apologies if it is. I'm definitely glad that I didn't so this kit first on returning as I did need to put into practice quite a few of the lessons I learned with the Mustang. The kit does show it's age, but it's not terrible (windscreen excepted) and does build up into a nice-looking model. I don't know if it's the white colour, or the chrome, or just the shape, but it alwasy catches my eye when I look at it. It might have been hard work at times, but it gives a sense of achievement when you finish it. Worth a build if you like this version of the Corvette, just needs a bit more work than the newer kits.

Hey everyone Well you might think that I'm jumping on the 1/24 Airfix Hurricane band wagon what with @The Spadgent making a rather good start on his (you'd be right by the way ) but in my defence I do have some time to kill whilst I'm waiting for some bits to dry on my Hawker Typhoon and I think a large scale Hurricane will complement it nicely. So without further a do rather lovely box art.. The proposed scheme, Hurricane P3675 UF*S, 601 Sqn RAF Tangmere September 1940 (I built the 1/48 Scale version recently).. ..using the Montex masking set.. ..and here is where I'm at at the moment. My fuselage halves are both quite warped so for the worst offender I am going to straighten it out by gluing on the side panels... ..I drilled out the panel location tabs ...and cut the starboard panel in two.. ...it still fits ok.. Cheers all Iain.

Hi guys, here is another car project and I really do have my work cut out with this one, it’s been in my stash for about 5 years, dug it out last week and took a peek at it, good points are that it has a very nice accurate looking body and all the fenders and details on the outside of the car look good, however inside was very poor, no engine bay, and worst of all very inaccurate seats and dash. Not surprising really as the 66 T-Bird had very elaborate seat and dash detailing, so what to do? Well, looking at YouTube videos I found that the convertible versions looked much better, so I decided to bite the bullet and cut the roof off! Now this committed me to scratch building and modifying the kit interior details, the main objective was to give a fairly good representation of a top down 66 T-Bird that was ready to cruise or had just been fully restored to show winning condition. Here are some photos of a restored 66 T-Bird that I am trying to copy in model form. I decided the body would be painted in blue metallic with white leather and blue interior, with lashings of chrome details. So I hope to update you with progress soon, now where’s that hacksaw?

The box arrived at 16:00. First impressions.... 1. A big box packed with a lot of plastic...600 parts they say. 2. VERY fine detailing, moulding flawless, reasonable length runners, even on the smallest of parts. 3. I cannot see any short shot parts. The instructions have you start with the cockpit. I'm still thinking about the best way to do the instruments. Airfix provide separate instrument transfers to apply to the back of a clear panel and then fix the front over. Confusingly they offer 3 instrument panels, R3 and R4, but no where I can see do they link the choice to a model. On the transfer application page there is no mention of the choice, either. So I'm going to start on Page 39, step 150 and build the engine!! Photos to follow...

Hi all, here are the final pictures of the Mistress of the dark's cool ride. For such an old kit I was surprised how well it went together, once I had got the Leopard skin effect sorted out, I relaxed and really enjoyed getting this kit built. The purple flecks in the paintwork are not easy to photograph as it's very subtle, but really adds to the macabre theme I think. It's not a paint but a salt crystal sized powder that is added to the lacquer and sprayed over a black base, never seen the product for sale as I have to admit I have had the tub on my shelf for 30 years! As for the Leopard skin effect, well it was bought off eBay in small sheets; it’s decals for ladies finger nail art. I bought enough sheets to cut the shapes out and they bedded down nicely with some Tamiya X20A thinner, as they are a little thicker than normal decals, the random pattern helped conceal the joins, once all dry I gave the decals a flat coat of clear and a wash with some AK enamel engine grease to pick out some details in the seats. I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Hi all, this is going to be my Halloween season build for this year, should be a lot of fun. I don't intend on using the leopard skin decals they are way too naff for my liking, and I won't be painting them on, not sure what I will come up with yet, but I have an idea! As for the paint job, well I intended on painting the car in a metal flake black, with purple flecks in the lacquer. This is a 60's kit (re boxed in the 80's) and it sure does show its age, makes you appreciate how good modern kits are, but I guess it's all modelling at the end of the day; this kit was bought out as a replica of the actual convertible that Elvira drove in the movie. Among the creepy extras the front grille has a ghoulish spider web. Stay tuned for the next update.

Thought I'd share some pictures of my Krupp Titan build's status quo. Wiring and piping, decals and a few things more were scratched. The engine is a fast CA-glue-fit (later on I'll explain why) and will be completely refitted later. The chassis was extended twice, about 2 inch total. One example:

Hi, everyone. I have a question about the form and style of the ventral tanks used on the F6F Hellcat. On Sprue Q of the big 1/24 Scale Hellcat there are 2 ventral tanks. Only one is mentioned in the instructions, this uses parts Q14 and Q15 and has the joint seam top and bottom and an aerofoil section between tank and fuselage, as detailed in Step 292. The other is parts Q12, Q13: it has no such mounting section, just 6 legs and a fuel pipe: there is no mention of the second one in the instructions! Why are these parts included? could Airfix be planning a later, possibly night fighter version? Anyone have any ideas?

Has anyone had a go at this model and is it recommended for a good interesting build?

Hi, One of my friends asked me about how to paint 1/24 scale female figures such as those made by Master Box... http://www.mbltd.info/figures/1-24-scale/spaceport/24052.html She was curious about how to paint lace on chlotes, fishnet stockings etc in such small scale. As I never have built or painted such figures I didn't have any clues concerning painting lace etc. Is there any experiences or advise to get? I remember those Airfix figure kits of British Queens with fantastic dresses and lots of lace. Was it possible to paint those figures according to instructions/boxpictures? Cheers / André

As promised in the WIP-section, some pictures of the completed Diablo. A few build-pictures can be found there as well as a little more info. Wiper deliberately left off as it seemed massively overscaled and wouldn't fit correctly. Couldn't be bothered, to be honest. Maybe someday I'll do or find a better one. Probably not. First some shots from all sides, trying to catch the model as well as the aggressive pose. Next some Moneyshots for your preferenced car magazine I love that reflection from the flash on the badges edge I love those rims. Kit chrome stripped. Completely painted in Vallejo Model Air Aluminium, black wash all over, outer ring and Lugnuts Molotov chrome. Badge is Kit decal and fitted perfectly. I hope you like it. Not perfect, but fun and quick to build. Pictures were taken in its recent display place in our bookshelf. Quite a critical colour combination to take good pictures of.

Hi Folks, Quick question, I hope you may be able to help. I'm in the final stages of building the Airfix 1/24 typhoon. I opined the package that contains the canopy parts only to find that there is a crack on the front edge. Reading on a few forums I see that this can be a common fault. The kit is over a year old and I can't get any help from where it was purchased. I contacted Airfix but they informed me that part was not available. I also found a replacement after market part but I can't get a reply from the stockist. Any ideas??? Thanks for your help Simon