Rich Chernosky Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 I finally retired and sold my business and this is the first project completed since then. Hope to have many more. This kit was imported by Entex but was originally produced by Bandai. 1/20 scale with steering wheels and opening front and rear decks. Biggest hurdle on this kit were the ancient decals. There was no way all those Alitalia graphics were going to lay down perfect so painting the red and green was the best option. I have done this livery before so I had some experience. The sponser decals did come off the sheet but only with several coats of clear varnish and lots of soak time. Even with all that that had to be very carefully pryed away from the backing by sliding a #11 knife under them. Thankfully they stuck and laid down well. The rest of the details are in the captions under the pictures. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. Seatbelts were my idea and didn't come with the kit. Material is silk thread and hardware from KA Models Finished graphics and interior Even without the body work on the car looks fast. Front veiw, all the lines and extras wired and plumbed. Engine had lots of extra lines and wires to attach. It fit pretty snug too. Completed car on its wheels. Note the jewelers screws holding the front and rear panels in place. These were absolutely necessary as they would not have lined up properly. Took some engineering to achieve this. Rear veiw, The exhaust was very tricky and some modifications were required to get this right. Stance of the car is very aggressive. Overall I liked the way this turned out and Bandai, considering the age of the kit, did a fair job representing the car, Now I just have to finish the 1/12 Otaki version of this car that I own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 merry retirement one of my favorite sports cars consider doing the 12th scale as a non racer - although you mite have to source different tires ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venom Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Great job Rich! ... I’ve always loved the Stratos too.... I can only imagine how much more I’d be able to focus if I were retired. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 24, 2021 Author Share Posted September 24, 2021 2 hours ago, absmiami said: merry retirement one of my favorite sports cars consider doing the 12th scale as a non racer - although you mite have to source different tires ??? Thanks for the incentive Andy but I already have plans for the 1/12 as it will be the same as this one. When completed I will have 5 cars in the same livery but all in different scales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 24, 2021 Author Share Posted September 24, 2021 1 hour ago, Venom said: Great job Rich! ... I’ve always loved the Stratos too.... I can only imagine how much more I’d be able to focus if I were retired. Enjoy! Josh I have actually worked physically harder since I retired. I asked the people who bought my business if they had a job opening so I could come back and rest. But seriously, it took 8yrs of trying to sell that and it was a dream come true. Now if I can only extricate myself from it completely. But keep dreaming like I did. And one day you, when you do retire, you will wake up and ask yourself what will I do today. Build models....of course...what else is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramps46 Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 Congratulations Rich on your retirement and the Stratos. The seat belt hardware and the jewelers screws really caught my eye. You really put a lot into this model and it shows especially considering its age. Thanks for sharing it with us and your commentary is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 26, 2021 Author Share Posted September 26, 2021 2 hours ago, PappyD340 said: Very nice! Thank you Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 26, 2021 Author Share Posted September 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Gramps46 said: Congratulations Rich on your retirement and the Stratos. The seat belt hardware and the jewelers screws really caught my eye. You really put a lot into this model and it shows especially considering its age. Thanks for sharing it with us and your commentary is appreciated. It was my pleasure Gary. I fully plan on enjoying my retirement. I am sure you will see a lot more here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 Nice build of this old kit, Rich - enjoy your retirement and keep on building (hope to see more race cars from you) ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 26, 2021 Author Share Posted September 26, 2021 You sure will Helmut....you may even get tired of seeing my posts. Sports racing, F-1, exotic cars is all I do so you should be delighted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveracer Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 On 9/24/2021 at 2:22 PM, Rich Chernosky said: Thanks for the incentive Andy but I already have plans for the 1/12 as it will be the same as this one. When completed I will have 5 cars in the same livery but all in different scales. excellent! Do you have the 1/10 scale kit to build? this is my favorite car of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatW Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Superb! One of the best we saw on the stages as Marshals in the day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 8 hours ago, steveracer said: excellent! Do you have the 1/10 scale kit to build? this is my favorite car of all time. Sorry Steve but no. I build a lot of different scales, but stay away from 1/10, 1/8 and 1/43. A man has his limits...ya know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 5 hours ago, PatW said: Superb! One of the best we saw on the stages as Marshals in the day! Thanks Pat, I have seen one in person too and they are awesome looking. 3 hours ago, ChrisR said: Looks great! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 18 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said: You sure will Helmut....you may even get tired of seeing my posts. Sports racing, F-1, exotic cars is all I do so you should be delighted. This is exactly my cup of tea, as you might say - the US classics I'm posting here from time to time are from long ago, my interest is mainly on classic sports cars, sports racing and rally cars. I will never ever get tired of stuff like that ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans1971 Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I think you should have retired much earlier.😏 Enjoy, looks as if your time is well spend👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 36 minutes ago, Hans1971 said: I think you should have retired much earlier.😏 Enjoy, looks as if your time is well spend👍 Thank you Hans, retirement just gives me stress free building time. I have actually been building models continously since 1964. The Stratos was my 827th completion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyK Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 Your skills and patience are noticed and appreciated. Thanks for sharing pictures of your model and the captions. Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveracer Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 What 5 scales are you building the Stratos in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 16 minutes ago, steveracer said: What 5 scales are you building the Stratos in? 1/12 (unbuilt), 1/16 (built) 1/20 (built) 1/24 (built) 1/25 (Unbuilt) plus I have a couple of 1/64 diecast didn't know there was a 1/10 one who makes it. The 1/12 is Nitto but I believe Otaki also has the molds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveracer Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Rich. Here is the 1/10 scale kit by Nichimo. Nd you say over 800 builds! Hory Mory that is huge! Congratulations on that number. I have over 200 instruction sheets stored in a box to keep track of my tally….. got some catching up to do. I also have a few Stratos models built. 1/43, 1/24, 1/20 so far….. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 13 hours ago, steveracer said: Rich. Here is the 1/10 scale kit by Nichimo. Nd you say over 800 builds! Hory Mory that is huge! Congratulations on that number. I have over 200 instruction sheets stored in a box to keep track of my tally….. got some catching up to do. I also have a few Stratos models built. 1/43, 1/24, 1/20 so far….. Thanks for the info Steve. I have been building continuously since 1964. That might account for my total. That and I always have had a dedicated work area. Interesting story. About 20+yrs ago I was talking to a fellow modeler in a hobby shop. I asked him how many kits he had completed. He said somewhere between 4-500. I figured I had about 300 done at that time. Since all of mine are on display I went back and counted them. To my dismay I only had 298 done. That weekend I finished two Mercedes 300SL kits. I keep all the box tops. I dated them, added all the pertinent information and started numbering them. I have done so ever since. The Stratos was 827. I have friends who have done more than 1000. So I have some catching up to do as well. 200 is a good number. I know of others who will never do that many in a lifetime. So keep it up. I will be interested to see you start that 1/12 Stratos. Mine is painted and the body somewhat fitted. Thanks again...Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brudda Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Great job!!! WOW! and a beautiful subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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