Matt Bacon

I'd buy it like a shot -- I've already got the colour matched paint from Zero, after all... bestest, M.

A great article in last month's Octane promoted this to the top of the build pile! It'll join the XJ220 and soon-to-be-built NSX in an "early 90s supercar" corner of the garage... The Revell kit is very nicely detailed, generally, but the mould is suffering, and this is NOT a car that likes to be packed in a flimsy box and sat on a shelf for years. Airfix/Heller do the whole cabin as a transparent piece that sits on top of the body, whereas Revell has gone for a roof and the flimsiest A-pillars ever committed to plastic. The body shell is also flimsy, and warped on my example, so I've assembled various "working" bits into one, much more solid, shell. The opening bonnet shows you little except the battery, but fixed in place it beefs up the front end nicely. And while it would be nice to have an opening engine cover, both it and the roof were warped. Fixing it shut lets me use the window between the cabin and engine bay as a solid "bulkhead" which pushes the roof and engine cover nicely back into shape... not quite figured out how the "wing" works yet. Heat shields covered with cigarette foil. They'll need a bit of fettling, but the texture is perfect... Wheels stripped of chrome. Lots of flash in the holes, so these are the "best of eight" -- I had a spare set from a donor kit I bough just for the tyres for £5, but the originals demonstrate how tired the mould is. It seems bizarre that they would chrome them in the state some of them were in, but there's obviously no intermediate quality check... The engine is nicely detailed, if a bit over complex -- I don't see a need to have the cylinder head in three stacked parts, especially when they don't fit very precisely, which can end up with your cam covers not aligned and not parallel, if you're not careful. If I was building another one, I'd set up (unglued) the base/sump part of the engine on the bearers in the big chassis part, and then glue on the block/head parts to the base, fine tuning their fore and aft alignment in the chassis, until I was sure that they run directly front to back, and then add the induction manifold and check that for alignment, all while the glue is soft. The blue detailing is prototypical, but there's a bit more to do to the throttle actuator rods yet... bestest, M.

I don't know who mark Taylor is either, but I agree with him. Make sure your plastic and primer coat have no imperfections, and then repeated light coats of Tamiya acrylics will do the job. Leave the paint for at least 24 hours in an airing cupboard or dehydrator, and it'll "shrink back" as it cures to leave no sign of surface texture. And if you want to, a polish with Novus "Fine Scratch Remover" polish will bring it to a lovely lustre: bestest, M.

Thanks, guys... don't worry, Gerry... I've decided what I'm going to do. This one will have to be built "closed up" There's a big window to see the engine detail through, but the opening engine cover is part of the problem -- there's not enough structure around the cabin to hold everything in place unless it's fixed. It'll look OK, I'm sure! bestest, M.

...has anyone built one of these or got a "known good" one in the stash that they could take a look at? I'm just starting one, and I'm a bit worried at the state of the main body parts. I assume that they should be kinda symmetrical, but the engine cover and the main cabin seem to be a bit "sideways". In particular, the spindly "A" pillars are very curved. Looking at my references, they probably should have some curvature, so they may be OK... I think, whatever, that I'll be gluing the engine cover in place to help "solidify" the body... there's a big clear window in there so you can see the engine properly, and the value of the "working" feature seems limited... If anyone can give me a solid read on what the body SHOULD look like, I'd be very grateful! bestest, M.

Hi, Shay... it's this stuff: http://www.hiroboy.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3534 It's a bit weird to spray, but as you can see, it does the job very well! bestest, M.

Thanks, gents! ...and here's Harry's: bestest, M.

A nicely detailed, straightforward curbside kit that really captures the look and stance of the pugnacious original. Zero Paints colour matched Giallo Ginestra and 2K Clear Coat. Why not red? Because I nearly bought one of these in my mid-20s, until I discovered how much it would cost to insure (that and the fact that the "seller" didn't have ANY of the paperwork for the car, which worried me even more than the insurance). Still, it's one of the few models I've built of a car that there's any possibility of me owning, ever... Those of you who followed the build will know all about the paint; if you didn't, the clear coat solvent managed to leach the red dye from the bodyshell plastic right through the primer and the yellow base coat, and turned orange. This has been stripped, sealed with oxide paint sealer, and then primed and painted a second time. The only other tricky bit was getting the chassis inside the body shell, which is a "once and for all" deal, with some extreme flexing of the body required... bestest, M.

Thanks, chaps... I'm calling this done now. Better pictures to follow when I can break out the "studio" (and find a feather to clean the inside of the windscreen!) What a great little kit, even if I could have done without the red plastic bodyshell! bestest, M.

So, that was one of the more nerve-wracking episodes of putting the body on the chassis. Talk about "tight fit"... Now all I have to do is figure out how to dislodge the small flakes of yellow paint that have pinged off the body or chassis and static-electricity-ed themselves to the windscreen and side windows. I need a feather! bestest, M

Thanks, chaps... slow but steady progress... A couple of hours masking, ten minutes spraying, and 30 minutes clean up! And what's this interloper on the bench? One I'm saving for later... bestest, M.

Thanks, all... This has taken a while, but now I'm back where I started! Stripped, sanded, coated with sealer (the greeny-yellow stuff), primed again in white, shut lines washed in black with Citadel wash, and finally repainted in the Zero yellow base coat. It is rougher than it would have been if I'd got it right first time, here and there, but it's a balancing act between getting it completely smooth and sanding away the surface detail you want in some places... ...and just in case anyone was wondering why I like the Zero 2K system, despite the fact that it's poisonous and a real faff to clean up after, this is it. I've done no polishing at all on the roof or bonnet here. Not even had to take out the odd dust mark... Bearing in mind that there's satin black trim to go all over the place, but especially around the windows, I'm pretty happy how this has turned out straight out of the spray booth. There's no red bleed anywhere, except for one small and inexplicable circular spot on the rear bumper... bestest, M.

I know what it is, too... .... it is truly, spectacularly, irredeemably AWFUL. Now I just need to give it a name. bestest, M.

The i8 and 918 "Weissach" look fantastic. They took the easy way out with the i8 colour scheme... I'll be building mine more like this: ...but the 918's easy. Just swap the black for gloss white, and I'm done... bestest, M.

In what way? I don't have a real one, either, but I do have a 1/24 scale four-view drawing of a 300SL, and the Heller one matches the plan very accurately... bestest, M.

... I see Revell Germany is listing this beastie in 1/25, origin "Monogram", for release in August this year. Is it out in the US yet? Has anyone seen one? bestest, M.

This was a lucky one for me. I'd literally just seen a picture of one in a book I picked up in a charity shop a couple of weekends ago: "Great Cars: Veteran and Vintage." I was sure I'd seen that radiator before, and it took me about 5 minutes to find. The weird ?shocks/light supports? are also pretty distinctive -- if you've seen them before... ;-P bestest, M.

OK, I guess anyone who's interested has heard that those nice chaps at Aston Martin have agreed to create a dedicated supercar for Her Majesty's world famous "secret" agent, in the DB10: What I didn't know until the latest Evo hit the doormat, is that those equally nice folks at Jaguar have done a wee bit of engineering themselves to make sure that the bad guy is not totally outclassed, and dropped the 542BHP V8 from the top of the range F-Type into one of these: Now, if the C-X75 had kept its two little gas turbines, it would have been a FANTASTIC evil super-villain car, but even with "only" the V8, I think I'd still rather have the Jag than the Aston... Does that make me a megalomaniac with world domination on his mind? Seriously, I think Jaguar has made a very shrewd marketing move there, probably worth what it costs to get the V8 quart into the C-X75 pint pot. How many people are going to be knocking on their door asking for one, now they've proved that it can be done? It's like developing the XJ220, except someone else is paying for it! bestest, M.

Well, that's the running gear all done. Not so many parts, but I think it does the job -- it certainly looks like the pictures of the "ordinary" Integrales I've found, if not the "550BHP Sprint car" which has been more than a bit "fettled..." I think this is about as far as this goes until the body is fully cooked, sealed, primed, base coated and clear coated... again ;-P bestest, M.

Thanks, guys. If the IPA doesn't take the primer off, I shall leave it as it is. I think the issue is that both the primer and the base coat are slightly porous, and allow the solvent in the clear coat to reach through to the red plastic and "suck" the dye out of it, bringing it to the surface and into the clear coat as the solvent evaporates. If that's the problem, it really shouldn't matter whether the oxide sealant goes directly on to the plastic or over the primer layer, as long as it blocks the porosity in the primer. Actually, since it's (as far as I can see) a regular Zero Paint, I probably wouldn't want to spray it onto bare plastic anyway, since I'd then worry about the solvent in the SEALER etching the plastic! bestest, M.

A bit more progress... Finishing touch for the cabin: seat belts. The belts themselves are etched brass, and nicely textured, though you can't see it. The idea is that they are "sprung" slightly outwards, and will slide up the inside B pillar and look as if they are attached as the body goes on over the chassis. That's the plan, anyway... ...and I think we can safely conclude that IPA does indeed strip Zero 2K clear and base coat! It's tenaciously hanging on in the seams where the coloured clearcoat gathered and is thicker, but I hope that if this is where we are after 24 hours, by Thursday evening when I'm back home it will have even stripped those last corners. It doesn't seem to be having any effect on the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, mind, so my sealer may have to go on top of that! bestest, M.

Thanks, guys. It's been in the IPA since this morning, and the clear coat is starting to wrinkle in various places. I'm away for a couple of days, so by the time I get back... I've got some Zero "Yellow Oxide Isolator/Sealer" to go on to the red plastic under the primer if I manage to get it stripped back that far... bestest, M.

...this was supposed to be a quicky! Very nice Hasegawa curbside kit of a car I nearly bought back when I was 25. The complete lack of service history, registration document and cracked windscreen put me off.... I don't know why ;-P. But I wish I had (it was only £2500 in 1990...) if it was throwaway money! Interior is simple, and easy... Primer, German Grey, then drybrushed with Citadel Shadow Gray and Necronomicon Grey. Neat dashboard with a bit of detail painting: Nice, a bit simplified, chassis goes together well with basic painting... now this to deal with: The clear coat has leached the red dye out of the plastic, through the primer and yellow base coat,. So I have to see whether isopropyl alcohol will fetch the clear-coat and base yellow coat off. I'm reliably assured that it will, so we'll see what happens next week while I soak the plastic in IPA for several days... Annoyingly, I think this would have been finished in a weekend if it hadn't been for the body screw-up! Anyway, good to have a "quicky" there or thereabouts... bestest, M.

I've never had this happen before, but somehow the Zero 2K Clear coat on my Delta Integrale has managed to "pull" the red colour from the plastic body through a coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer AND the yellow base coat, so there are uneven areas of orange-ish tint where the clear coat is dyed slightly red. It's NOT burned through to the base plastic, it's actually pigment in the clear. This means I need to strip the body, and start again, this time with a "sealer" under the primer (I didn't know this stuff existed until this happened!). Does anyone know of a method that definitely works to strip Zero 2K Clear? I've read lots of "generic" suggestions, like "Try IPA" or "Try Oven Cleaner", but ideally I'd like to hear from someone who has actually used a specific product themselves to remove this specific 2K clear coat. And preferably a product I can get hold of in the UK, unlike, say "Purple Power", whatever that is... Many thanks for any suggestions! All the best, M.

Has anyone used this stuff? How black is it? Does it have a metallic sheen, or is it appropriate for the black anodised/painted trim on '80s/90s cars? bestest, M.