The Creative Explorer

Thank you guys for the kind words! @Anglia105E; you're right, it has to be fun. But sometimes it can be frustrating and we all know our failures in practicing our hobby, keeping us a little bit from the best kits we have. Saving them for later, because one doesn't want to screw them up. I am not going full-idiocracy on this build, just keeping it fun and it has to be good, but I will accept imperfections. I have to. @da_ashman; don't worry, Both the cycle wing and the JPE will pop-up again. I knew that Tamiya would sooner or later re-release the Caterham again, they have the molds and Tamiya is known for repopping their big scales every know and then. @Roncla; Even though I am still doubting on getting one of those too, the price is bothering me, it is just soo much money. And I already have it, but paid like halve for it, which I think was reasonable. I've been hunting one for a long time, since I discovered them just a little bit too late on their initial release, when I wanted one, they were like one month discontinued. Now I have the BDR and JPE, I think I paid 125 for the JPE. The steps that are being made, are small and timeconsuming, but I guess also part of the fun. Normally, I would've had the body in the paintbooth by now and started painting, but I am taking some extra steps and being a bit more cautious I guess. Because I also don't like the 5 spoke wheels that comes with the JPE, I designed and printed a Watanabe-like wheel, rather than a Minilite. I am not completely satisfied with the design, so I have to make some adjustments and print a master for casting. The wheel will be a 2-piece; easier for printing/casting, but also for painting. But most of the time went to prepping the body parts, even though the Tamiya paintjob is not bad at all, there are some mishaps to be dealing with, like seam lines on the plastic parts. And some paint boo-boo's on some other parts Today I started working on finalising the prepwork and started to laydown the masking for the paint-design, I also noticed another little plastic defect that I took care off And this will be the final design for the paintjob, I had different idea's yesterday, but came up with this tonight and I like it. Hopefully I will be able to start laying down some paint tomorrow.

Everybody has those kits in their stash 'for later on, when I can do justice to that kit'. I have a couple of them and kept saving them for later. But very recently I lost a modelling friend to that awful 'C'-disease, he basically kept modelling till the last and he could enjoy it a little bit. But passing around 50 isn't what we all want or expect. But it does make you realise how unexpected life can be and how vulnerable it is. So, I decided to put projects aside and grab one of the kits that I've been saving for later, since later could already be now. It is in my opinion one of the best kits ever made and the guys at Tamiya went crazy on it. It has a full alluminium body and lots and lots of details. Even straight out of the box, it will make a very handsome model. My plans are to stick close to the manual, the car in itself is almost as good as it gets and so does the kit. But there is also room for improvement and detailling, which I will be doing. Albeit, I won't go crazy on it; it has to be a fun build as well. I am taking small steps and where I usually sand every part of the kit, I take this in sections, to give more attention to detail and make it less to be a assembly-line feel to it. Here I am taking on the frame, most of the ejector pin marks will be hidden after assembly, but some will be visible and some might, and therefore have to be gone. I initially planned to make a new driveshaft, but after cleaning it up, I think it will look pretty good with just some details. The fueltank was awful though, it needed a lot of sanding and filler I painted the frame in a gun-metal color, I think it will look nice when it comes together. Hard to see, but I clearcoated it also. The front coilovers where sprayed in chromesilver, then I masked them and painted the screws/rings with molotow chrome markers, When it is fully cured, I will ad a color to make it look anodised. The first parts installed! This is the steering box (duh) And the rear spring holders Together with some more aluminium detail: This is the result so far, even though with so few parts, it is already starting to look like something. Very early in the assembly process, some of the body panels have to be assembled. They are factory painted and look pretty good, it might lack a little in luster, but it can be used straight out of the box. But... So much neon yellow hurts my eye, so I have to respray the body panels, but I want it still to be a JPE, therefore I will keep a couple of those neon yellow details.

I used to us Radioshack's wrapping wire, it is 30 gauge and perfect for the job, the outside diameter is 0,5mm. But since Radioshack only had/have 3 colors, I went looking online and found on ebay 30 gauge wrapping wire. I ended up with a lot of colors, 1000ft! for 7 dollars, including shipping! One roll is pretty much a life long supply

I don't like how the headlights look. It looks like the put a perspex cover over USA-spec headlights, rather than the Euro ones. +

I've been using it for probably 10-15 years now and it is in it's simplicity just the best.

Thanks guys for helping out! I got what I wanted.

That might be the first Beemax I really would like to have/buy.

Not really, Either will work.

I am trying to match my Daytona transporter to my '69 Camaro, but need a RS grille for the plan, is somebody willing to part with it?

Robert, It might not be the best excuse, but English is my third language; it is still a learning process. I think panelgaps might be a better description. Sorry about that. On the other hand though; there are no (visible) panellines on a XK-E anyway. And where that tutorial lacked pictures ( I made it 11 years ago!); eventually I will work on a new tutorial with some descriptive pictures. I do want to advice to follow the tutorial, as that is a fragile piece of the body and you don't want it to crack after the build is finished. Good luck!

I'm affraid you mean Bestbalsakits?

One day, hopefully not too far into the distant future, I'll come up with a better tutorial for the seam lines: http://www.scalemotorcars.com/forum/building-tutorials/6549-cracking-code-getting-rid-xke-panellines.html

I have this kit at home, and I can tell you; it is not worth the extra bucks on the electronics. Over here in Europe, the latest issue of the 1/16 beetle was about 40 euro's, this issue is about 150 euro's. Which indicates about 100 euro's for the electronics. Which isn't much really; it has some nice indicating wiring harnesses, a 'motherboard' and a batteryholder and a couple of small LED's, (no fiberoptics though). But no, not worth that much money.

no problem at all.

Than it was time to deal with the back side With a fresh coat of white paint, it looks a whole lot better. The windscreen was also a bit of a hassle, since it was somewhat warped. Working on assembling the interior parts The grille didn't coorperate either Some light in the end of the tunnel! The cab got on the chassis and now I have to start working on the trailer, getting it ready for paint and putting it on the chassis, finishing this project. I only got till march 16th...