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Matt Bacon

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  1. Vintage white metal kit that originated with Auto Kits 50+ years ago, and then joined the SE Finecast range where it can still be found. I was originally going to do this one with a Tazio Nuvolari driver figure, but my stocks of seated period drivers are depleted, and a replacement proved hard to find. Probably doesn't matter too much because there's not a lot of space between the driver's seat and wheel, and you'd pretty much have to build the car around the figure, if you wanted to use one. So I thought it was time just to get this finished in time for Scale Model World next month. Pretty much out of the box. The only exception is that I wired the spokes of the wheels slightly differently from the instructions. The instructions use thicker wire wound back and forth over the hub so that only one length of wire goes through each slot on the rim and you move round one pair of slots at a time. I thought that left the wheels looking a bit sparse, so I used thinner wire and moved round the rim one slot at a time but came back to the slot I started from before moving round, effectively giving me twice the number of thinner spokes on both sides of the wheel. I think it's more convincing. The K3 Magnette is a chunkier and more purposeful car than I thought having only built the 1/32 Airfix one, and I think the kit captures its lines perfectly. It's also quite a heavy little beastie with all that white metal... best, M.
  2. You can see what building the T70 is like here: If you want a 1/24 T70, it’s the only game in town… best, M.
  3. Like the Escort, this kit also came in a “Crystal” edition with clear bodywork, so it pretty much had to have interior details otherwise there wouldn’t be much to look at! best, M.
  4. On Spotmodel you can also already find some new decals and a set of resin detail up parts from Decalcas that correct and improve the original Esci parts. best, M.
  5. I think the Veyron is in a league of its own. Personally, I think, if anyone was saying “LOOKIT ME” it was Ferdinand Piech. A lot of the modern hypercars are design statements for rich kids in the Gulf states, Knightsbridge, Gangnam and Shenzhen. But the Veyron is actually an engineer’s car, simply the ultimate expression of what every discipline that goes into a four-wheeled internal combustion engine powered vehicle is. It’s literally a “Masterpiece” for VW. It’s a Teutonic McLaren F1. That’s why Mate Rimac is making a 16 cylinder petrol successor in the Tourbillon. They are meant to be the last word. Some people, for sure, will buy them as trophies; some will buy them as investments, but the POINT of them is the engineering, executed without compromise (or realism, Piech’s critics said). I saw one in London a few years ago. They’re not very big or dramatic in the flesh… think an Audi TT that’s spent a lot of time at the gym. Certainly very restrained compared to a gold-wrapped Aventador or a McLaren Senna. Yes, an oil change or a set of boots are expensive. Two things: first, they ARE investments, anyone who bought one is making plenty every year, and a “full service history” is a pretty key part of it; secondly, and more importantly, even if you never do, you have to be able to plug in your special key, put your foot down and drive it to 267 mph, where the tire tread is pulling the sidewalls apart at 400g. Not everyone is Andy Wallace, but for pride and public liability reasons, VW Group needs to assume they might be… best, M.
  6. That’s brilliant, @Cobra Ned. You are a very lucky man! I love it (the model is the only way I could fulfil my desire for one in my life 😜 best, M.
  7. I can’t see the pictures from the UK so I’m guessing Imgur-hosted. One thing I learned doing mine: find a decal sheet with some area of clear carrier film, and apply the metal stickers to that, then apply them like any normal decal. They are a pain to get off the sheet and into the right place on the car, and much easier to apply to a flat sheet on your workbench. I suspect the older these kits get, the more temperamental the glue on those metal stickers will become, too. best, M.
  8. There’s something weird about the bumper/“spoiler” on that one. “The styling was everything the TR7 should have been” is just not true with those awful impact bumpers, which can only have been for the US market. I wonder it there’s a thriving aftermarket in parts to make it look as Harris Mann intended… beat, M.
  9. I think they were all originally tooled up as “tuner parts” in specific boxings of JDM kits. There are some that are pretty extreme, and others that can be more easily adapted. I’m glad I have them as a starting point, but whenever I’ve gone to think about using them, it’s felt like it would be a lot of work for the mods I have in mind… beat, M.
  10. Inspired by another recent build, I remembered I'd got one of these in the stash. Revell's older Alpina Roadster kit is based on the BMW Z8 that has recently been re-issued in James Bond form, but it comes with the bespoke Alpina wheels and a hard top rather than the raised hood in the base kit. When I searched online for Alpina Roadsters, I found one in a very distinctive BMW "Hellrot" that had been sold by Sotheby's from a Dubai collection that got me thinking.... (If you want one, there are also plenty on "Bring a Trailer" for s lot less than the half million dollars the Dubai car sold for...) For a kit that's a couple of decades old, Revell's offering is pretty impressive. There's very little engine detail, but that's no bad thing given that the Alpina engine is completely different from the original Z8 version, optimised for a relaxed GT rather than a sports car. The visible changes for a curbside are in the kit (roof, steering wheel, wheels) and the fit is excellent. It's a bit nerve-wracking getting the inside into the body, which wraps around and tucks under it. I'd highly recommend fitting the cockpit tub into the body first and letting it set in place, and then adding the chassis underside separately. Leave off the exhaust and rear suspension until you've got the chassis in place, and add the rear valance with exhausts last. This is the look I was going for: I'm pretty impressed by how well Revell nailed it... best, M.
  11. OK, this is pretty much it for the workbench thread. Beauty shots in Under Glass over the weekend, I reckon... best, M
  12. I think this compares pretty well to the Sotheby's real life shot above. I need to settle the front suspension a little, but overall, not bad, Revell. The hardtop and windscreen are only clipped in place, but I'm pretty impressed by how well they fit, and meet, even like this. Getting the interior and chassis in position was nerve=wracking, but actually worked well doing the tub first, settling it in, and then doing the chassis then fitting the rear suspension and exhaust. I think leaving the rear valance off at this stage helped a lot as well. Only one real "gotcha" here, and that's the brakes. The rear wheels are fine, and the cut-outs on the axles set the callipers in the right place, at the 3 o'clock position. You can get it wrong by 180 degrees, but if you know they go at the back there's no problem. The fronts are a different story. For some reason, Revell has got the callipers 90 degrees rotated from the cutouts, which means that OOB the callipers can only fit at the top or bottom of the disk. I drilled out the interior tab, leaving a circular hole, which meant I could orient them as I pleased when gluing them in place. If you're planning one of these, then check the fit of all the brake disks before you assemble the wheels and drill out the hole whilst you can get a firm grip on the disk. It'll be a lot easier. (I wondered if I'd confused the disk parts, but the rears are different from the fronts, with a deeper hub to allow for the extra width of the rear wheels. So I could only have mixed up the the front L and R, which wouldn't solve the 90 degree offset.) Now it's quite mucky, but in more or less one piece. I've left it atop the marble cakestand while the wheels all set solid with all four corners on the floor. best, M.
  13. That's most of the body details done. Things like the mirrors and lights will come at the end: there's some wrestling to do to get the interior and chassis inside the very "tucked-under" body work, and I want as little to break off as possible!! Everything is painted, but the exhaust and rear suspension are only dry fitted. I'll remove them while I fit the chassis into the body to keep them safe from some wiggling and firm pressing, which I'm sure will be necessary. Cabin fully assembled. If I was doing another one, I'd leave the seats out and the roll hoops off until after I'd fitted the cabin inside the body, because it would be easier to slide it up and in at a shallower angle. They'll go in perfectly well from above once the tub is in place. Revell's instructions would have you build the entire rolling chassis with suspension and wheels in place and the cabin attached, and then stretch the body over the whole thing to to enclose it. I think I'm going to take a leaf out of an online reviewer's build and change the sequence. My plan is to fix the cabin into the body, then add the chassis trapping the front suspension and steering rack and closing the bottom of the body, and finally add the rear suspension and exhaust and then the wheels. I'm just waiting for the glue on the lights to cure for 24 hours before final assembly can begin -- I don't want the headlight clusters coming loose and falling irretrievably into the body when I start flexing everything to get it together. Wish me luck! best, M.
  14. I must admit, before this, I'd only ever heard of the Hornet. But my research took me to a 1952 Hudson brochure, and I was amazed by how many different cars were in the model line up. I can see that the economics of having that many different products to manage must have been pretty challenging. From the consumer point of view it must have been pretty confusing, especially since as I'm sure we all proved attempting this quiz, they don't really look that different! best, M.
  15. I thought this one would progress reasonably quickly... Nice detail parts. The decals for the dash had to be trimmed of carrier film to get them to settle into the dials, and a coat of Citadel 'ardcoat provided a glass effect as well has pulling them down snugly. I had to print a few Alpina badges since the decals were really crude, but they look OK on the wheels and steering boss. The BMW roundels on the fender grilles are from a brilliantly printed metal "emblem set" which I have had for donkey's years. They are supposed to be self adhesive, but after a couple of failed attempts to peel them off the backing, I just soaked them like decals, except for longer, until they came free, and glued them in place with a dab of Formula 560 transparent white glue. The grilles were all stripped of chrome, painted black, and then rechromed with an AK pen. A couple more BMW badges looking very sharp. I've used Citadel dark red wash in the panel lines to emphasise them without too stark a contrast. Windshield painted and the underside making progress. The "heat shielding" is textured foil paper from a cigarette packet, which has been waiting to "come in handy" for a long time. But this is the perfect application. The seat logo decals were the wrong colour, and fell apart, so I've had to hand paint the little red "checks", but they add a little more interest to the black backpads. Cabin ready for final assembly. And this is the state of play. Not shown... some suspension parts and the windscreen wipers which are painted black and drying, and the wing mirrors and lights, which are waiting to be attached. best, M.
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