Spottedlaurel

Looks fantastic! Love the contrast between the rusty bodywork and purposeful chassis and running gear. Probably the last WIP update from me. Probably not going to finish it in daylight hours today, and to be honest it is rather grey out there so it's not worth rushing. Hopefully I can do a lunchtime photoshoot during the week. Apart from decals this is it. The exhaust parts are from a Fujimi accessory set, once it's assembled I need to work out some longer tailpipes as the Accord has a longer rear overhang than the NSX. Roof rails and sunroof dropped into place, not yet fitted. Cage worked out OK and I fitted a fire extinguisher that came with the same Corolla kit. Engine cover is in progress. Brakes are fitted, wheel installation 95% sorted - I'll leave final fitment until the body and chassis are together so I can make sure they're in the right place relative to the arches. Panel lines need a bit more work - unfortunately the polish residue is rather stubborn....

Looks like it's been a busy day for some of us. I didn't spend quite as much time on mine as I'd hoped, but I should be good to finish it tomorrow - I'd like to get some photos in daylight. Full cage from Toyota Corolla rally car mocked-up. And after some surgery. Windows trims etc all painted, which was the job I was dreading. Just the engine bay cover to fabricate, then hopefully final assembly.

More progress on the Honda, I'm managing to do something every day: Largely complete on the interior. Bride decals came with the Hobby Design aftermarket seats, belt decalsfrom a Belkits Manta rally car. Real material and PE fittings would have been the ideal, but not something I have time to do at present. Need to fabricate some form of engine cover. Rear loadbay painted-up, made use of the space to add the NOS bottle. Might be necessary when that little bit of extra go would be useful? Not quite there yet on the wheel fitment, and I need to get the brakes in place. Inner portions of the wheels have been trimmed and lights/indicators have since been fitted as I had some PVA out. Have made a start on the external window trim painting, that's to be finished when I have some daylight at the weekend. Not seen is the mocked-up rollcage (hence the PVA). That was quite a fiddle, but I need it to be complete to see how well it will fit and what needs to be removed. It's from a Corolla rally car and it seems like it might might just work (or at least part of it anyway).

Nice one, that looks pretty tough doesn't it?

Good to seesome more making it to the line. Managed to move mine on a bit with some work in the evenings: NSX's interior tub fitted into place on raised pieces so the dashboard height ties in with the Accord's door panels (which are glued to the body). I found that the rear portion of the Accord loadbay would fit, when suitably trimmed. Seats need decals and then belts to liven it up a little bit. Rollcage to fathom out, engine cover to fabricate. With all of that in place and the glass taped into the bodyshell it was time for a mock-up: Given that it's a merger of two different kits it's actually fitting together better than some cars that came from one source. Ignore the loosely placed sunroof being wonky and the rear wheel not yet in the right place, they will be addressed. Window trims still to be painted and the panel lines need a wash. Found some staggered tyres in an accessory set, they match the width and overall diameter of the NSX's originals very well. Now to do some trimming of the Fujimi wheels they're fitted to. Centres had a second coat of gold paint, they still need detailing (and maybe a wash?) plus the big disc brakes fitting.

It's certainly got me thinking!

Arrival earlier this week: Was cheap as the wheel/tyres and some of the accessory parts were missing. The seller had put an alternative set in, wide BBS wheels with slick tyres which shouldn't work, but.... Now I'm thinking perhaps it might?!

Aarghh! With this in mind I have vowed to do a little bit each day, made reasonable progress in that way and my entry is coming together. I think I'll make it.... Well done to those of you who have recently finished, certainly some great builds here.

This week's arrivals: I'm quite fond of this Monogram series. Mercifully it looks as if this one can be built without that snowplough of a spoiler. 2009 release. Already have a couple of Joker issues of it, and the Force 440 coupe, but couldn't resist when it came up on a 1:1 car forum. Enjoyed building one in the '90s, would like to try one or two different ways of redoing it. Very pleased to get this one. An early Fujimi kit, pretty basic as expected but the basic body shape and look aren't too bad and it looks about right for 1/24. Fujimi did a few versions of the Violet/Stanza/Auster range (A.K.A. 160J here, 510 in North America) and to the best of my knowledge haven't ever reissued them. The appeal to me is that I had a similar coupe (badged SSS) at 1:1 back in the '90s, it was one of my favourite Datsuns. Not identical, but this looks to be as close as I'll ever get to it. Also, I think it may be the first kit I have that's moulded in lavender!

Looks great, good luck with getting it to the finish line. Same for everyone taking part, not long now.... Dabbled with my CBR project yesterday, will try and do a little bit more today. Main job left is detailing the body, with lots of panel line washing and trim painting which aren't my favourite jobs. Interior largely done, need to think about a rollcage.

Not exactly today, but acquisitions over the last few weeks: These came as a lot, won at a remarkably decent price. I have a kit which has the 12-spoke wheels and I broke one of them. I was always hoping to get a spare someday, seems like I over-compensated.... This has been started and will take a bit of work. Bought fairly cheap, primarily for its engine, running gear etc. The tyres might be of use on a current project. I picked up the C1 transkit a while back, 'made sense' to get this to fit what it was designed for (tried it on the Aoshima kit I have and it was close, but not quite right). Another cheapie, started and paint will need stripping. I was mostly interested in the 13" wheels - Watanabes and the original Dunlops will be useful on smaller 1970s Japanese cars/trucks. The twin-cam engine could be useful on a Seven or maybe even an Escort, and then maybe something else can be fitted into the Europa? As much as anything, the 1:1s were made under 20 miles from where I live it seems right to have one in the stash.

Spurred on by what I managed yesterday I got a reasonable bit more done today: Brake calipers and wheel centres given a coat of gold (may do a second coat on the latter), matt and semi-gloss black daubed on various parts of the interior, and painted the headling and inside of the bodyshell. Had a Revell Shelby Series 1 come the other day, it has staggered tyres which might suit the mid-engined layout here. Got a bit of leave later this week, will try and find time to move it on a little bit between the outside jobs on the house/garden I'm meant to be doing.

Good see to see the updates. Haven't had a lot of time to anything on mine recently, but I polished it a while back. Wasn't entirely happy with that, so I gave it a T-Cut and second resin polish today. Also made some modest progress with interior: Cut out and glued in some pieces of wet-and-dray paper for the carpeted areas. Aftermarket resin seats are primed along with everything else, so I can start getting some colour down (well, shades of black and grey).

Good recovery, at least it was just the lower part that needed a partial respray.

Great to see one of the Heller kits being built, you're making very good progress so far. I've done two, the Austin Princess and Alpine A310. Both simple but good-looking with a nice level of detail. I was hoping to find one of the K70s when I visited France this summer, but sadly didn't see any kits anywhere. But I did see a 1:1 example in an old garage: Me too, managed to find one earlier this with some other Majorettes:

You've captured the look of it very nicely Matt, the colours look spot-on.

Nice! Got a great period look to it.

Thanks, and sorry! It's not too dissimilar to the dark green I had on a '93 Camry estate a few years ago. Almost black in low light, but then became brighter with a slight purple flip in sunlight. Nice work!

Going away on holiday and dealing with busy family life either side of it meant that I hadn't done anything to my Accord/NSX mash-up for some time. With a run of good weather I finally got on with cleaning up the odd seams which were still apparent after the first coats of primer, then it got given more primer, a few coats of BMW Boston Green and clearcoat: Generic automotive primer, with the colour and clear from Halfords aerosols straight out of the can. These photos were after an hour or two, it's now hanging in the boiler cupboard and is drying out to a good smooth finish, looks like only minimal polishing will be required. In sunlight the colour really comes to life. Looks like it was at 1:1 on mid-late '90s models, which suits the era of this Accord nicely and I can visualise there being a similar colour in the range back then. Should go well with bronze or gold wheel centres, looking smart but subtle, with just the ex-Monogram Citation vents giving any clue about something a little different...

Heather, may I offer my deepest condolences. There was certainly something special about what Roger shared on here, and I'm sure that reflected what he was like in person.

I'm not that far south so I can't say what's down that way. I'm across in the lumpy bit that sticks out into the North Sea north-east of London. If you find yourself in East Anglia, there's a nice little shop called Model Junction in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Not a vast range of car kits (and the last AMT/MPC sealed reissue I attempted to buy there was warped!) but it's in a town that is well worth a visit in its own right. Further across on the coast, there's the Hannants wholesale warehouse. It's also open to the public, and you can wander around the aisles while they make up orders for shops and online customers. It's a little daunting, I tend to get some ideas of what they have on special offer before I go and try not to get tempted by the rest. If you're here for a while I'd take a look at what the online retailers like Hiroboy, Kent Models and Jadlam have - the former two are where I buy most of my kits. You're certainly not going to find them in supermarkets and even what toy shops there are don't have many/any.

This is the '67 Impala isn't it? I had similar issues: I don't think I truly discovered it until I tried it with the glass. I ended up shaving of lots of material as seen above. And trimming off some of the excess glass. Apart from more/earlier trial-fitting, in hindsight it would have been better to trim off the side glass and replace it with clear sheet. Even then I would still have struggled with the front edge of the dashboard, unless I had managed to misalign it that badly? After all of the above, and also some trimming of the firewall, it still felt like the front end wasn't sitting nicely on the chassis and it was more than glue would hold, so I put these wire links between the inner arches and chassis rails. Crude, but it worked. I got there in the end, still looks good in the display cabinet above me as I write.

Might be a bit more limited on here in the near future, due to an upcoming 1:1 car purchase. In the meantime: No immediate plans for this one, and there are far too many decals for me to do it as a box art replica. Maybe merge some of it with the road car, and use the leftovers for a Time Attack car? Realised this isn't much different to the AMT version I already have. I think it's attractive car and certainly has potential, will be interesting to try and realise that. In doing a search I was reminded of the very nice version that sadly departed MCM member Plowboy built: I can't immediately find the completed photos that Roger posted in the Under Glass section, but it looked excellent.

More progress on the Accord/NSX mash-up: With the floorpan and engine/suspension coming on nicely it was time to start thinking about the bodywork. With the mid-engine I need to get some air in the back, so I found these vents from an unlikely source. Any guesses?! On my recent Mazda RX-7 build I trimmed the bottom of the spoiler. I realised it was just right for adding a bit of depth to the Accord, so that got attached. Just need a bit of finessing. Suspension completely installed, along with the V6 and transmission. I cut off the stock airbox and added this resin intake. Have also started on the interior, although at the moment it's more cutting and trimming than assembling anything. The bulkhead was split from the interior tub and I removed the sides as I'll be fitting the Accord's door trims. The NSX tub is being raised so the dashboard is at the right height. A little more done here, including installation of the radiator. With some decent weather yesterday I got some initial coats of primer laid down. I can see a few things that need further attention, but nothing too bad. Trial-fitted the smoked rear glass here (it has duplicate sets of clear and tinted). Wheels are roughly in the right place. Widened the existing exhaust cut-out and formed a new one. Also added random bits of styrene to locate the rear of the floorpan. The view underneath. Was pleased with how much it's moved forwards, I can't see anything too complicated in the near future.

Something of a theme to my purchases from a couple of sellers this week: The "Tools 2" set contained some resin/3D printed chassis stands and the photo-etch toolbox, which itself retails at something like £13 online. Thinking that I'll assemble a pair of the garage bases for photographing/displaying larger cars then keep the antique one as more of a hobby scene for smaller vehicles. Already got some other tools which I need to get on with. The Mitsubishi is an odd thing, certainly not 1/25!