beeRS

Cool idea! Reminds me of the lifted 959. Paris to Dakar style.

Wow. This is a car I have never heard of. Never knew of the kit either. It turned out beautiful in orange. Thanks for sharing.

Lovely 55! I haven’t seen a pro street build for a while, and forgot how good this treatment suits this body shape.

Looking good so far. The 3 window is my favourite 32.

Love the 3D printed parts, love the flames, and always love a Duece! I’m guessing the idea behind the multiple clear coats is to lose the paint edge ‘step’ of the flames?

Funny, that idea did cross my mind. Maybe next time. This probably won't be my last 57 Chevy build.

Very nice indeed. It’s interesting to see the modern SLS displayed side by side with the classic SL. I believe there’s a Fujimi or Aoshima kit of the SLS, but without the opening gullwings. For a model of this car, I think you have to have the opening doors.

Wow. This is something very special. If you continue building 1/8 models, you’ll need a 1:1 garage to keep them in.

That is stunning! It’s beautiful in Red. I have one of these on the work bench right now.

Very nice indeed. Looks super sharp in black. Nicely detailed engine.

Very nice Charger.

Wow - I never got to do anything as cool as that when I was a student.

For me, the 1957 Chevy is the iconic American classic. Maybe a '59 Cadillac comes a close second. As a kid growing up in 1970s England, you don't get to see many American cars, but a 57 Chevy still hit my radar. A friend at school swapped me a Matchbox diecast with a flip front and that image of an American Classic was firmly cemented in my head. I don't have that Matchbox toy anymore, but here's a pic I found on the internet. I have built the Monogram 1/24 '57 many years ago and I also have the old 1/25 AMT in my stash. However, I feel that the new AMT kit is far better. I believe this kit is the same as AMT's ProShop one? This one comes with a PE set and some BMF. First off, I'll share some pics of the kit, for anyone who's not familiar with it. There'll be no keeping you in suspense about the colour choice. I'll tell you now that it's going to be Sierra Gold with white (cream) roof. I'm not fixated about getting the exact same factory paint. When it comes to modelling, I feel that the change in indoor-vs-outdoor lighting can make the same colour look different anyway. If its a close enough match to my eye, it will do. So to save a few pennies, I'm mixing GT40 Honey Gold and Ford GT Liquid Red from Zero paints in a 60:40 ratio. I think it looks about right. Thanks for watching and I'll post some progress soon.

Luckily, I bought this kit back in 2011. Have you seen the price of them now! They seem almost too valuable to build. It's a shame that Tamiya never re-released this one. It's a beautiful kit - as you would expect from Tamiya, and probably the nicest detailed of any Aston in 1/24. There are very few Aston Martins that have been kitted over the years and this seems strange as they have made some amazing cars. Even in 2011 I remember thinking the kit was expensive, so I waited till it had been out for a while, and found this one listed as 'used' on ebay. What I received was this box with minor scuffing on it, and a few parts that had been cut off the sprue. That was fine by me. The Tamiya kit does include a few PE parts, but I also got the Acu Stion set to compliment it. At this point the story goes a little astray. The body (and majority of parts) are moulded in black. This is an unusual choice from Tamiya. I think most manufacturers go with white nowadays, and it makes life a lot easier us. To avoid battling with possible bleed through, I opted for a metallic gun metal grey. I sprayed it using automotive rattle can and it did not look too bad, but the fleck in the paint was just off scale. It looked like a 70s glitter custom paint when you looked up close. I got a bit disheartened and so put it in the box for another day. I did.t even bother taking any pics. Fast forward to a decade, and Its out of the box. I had forgotten what a lovely kit it was, and despite the paint job, it'll still make a great display model. first job was to strip off the paint. I used brake fluid. It was the first time I tried this and it did make a real mess. 10 years of paint hardening seemed to take for ever to come off. Even then, I had to sand the last bits off. Second time around and I have sprayed the body with Mr Hobby surfacer primer. I've mounted all the interior parts on cocktail sticks and this is a custom mix of Humbrol enamels to create a tan leather. This time I have gone with black. It's Zero gloss black and Zero Diamond 2K clear. Why is black so hart to photograph! Next job is to flat & polish the clear coat and prey I don't go too far. Thanks for looking.

Thanks Rex. Yes, it seems strange no body ever made a full detail kit of this. I dream one day Tamiya will offer one. That's wishing! Thanks Dennis, Good luck with your project. I wonder if the trasaxle from the new Meng 1/24 GT40 kit would do the job? Maybe a lot of the suspension from that kit would work well for your Pantera. Thanks Tom. Good guess. Looking at it, it does look very much like a late model mustang. It's actually an Aston Martin. I'll create a separate WIP thread for that soon.