Peter Lombardo

I love that color on this car.....it looks great. Very nice build of one of my favorite AMT kits...I have 4 of them that I will build one of these days...if some of the other kits don't get in the way first.

Whether the engine is correct or not is of little difference to me, it is still a fine effort on your part. Generally, I don't care for "rat rod" cars in real life or models, but how can I find fault with a "surf rod"? Looks like the car spent a lot of time on the beach in the salty air. P.S., I am willing to bet that the next "flat head" engine that you do will be "spot on"...that how we grow and learn.

Great job, you sure hit a home run with this one. Very impressive.

Be careful….Do you have a place to keep the cars, out of the elements until such time as you are ready to restore one or both? Perhaps you can restore one and either sell or “part out†the other to help with the costs involved. And yes the costs will kill you. Only restore a car if you plan on keeping it because like others have said, you will never get your investment out of it. You could lose as much as $15,000 to $20,000 grand if you do a crazy top to bottom restoration and then look to sell it, so be sure you want to keep it. I am in the home stretch of completing a complete restoration of my 1977 MGB. I purchased the car in 1992 for $3,000. It ran well enough that I could drive it around on nice days but always wanted it to be “customized†into the car that I wanted it to be. 5 years ago, I took it off the street and “gutted†her. Now, an additional $17,500 dollars later I have the car I wanted. One of the great things about it was that much of the work (not the slight body work or paint) was completed by my son and me. It has been a great “father and son†project, and once I am done with it and gone, he will get the car along with its mate, a restored 1960 MGA that we have. So you see, I have $20,000 into this car and I could never sell her for anything even close to that. Sure, it is beautiful with a custom burgundy pearl paint with chrome bumpers (all MGB’s should have chrome bumpers) and tan leather interior and a completely rebuilt “up rated stage II†engine, but before you jump into a restoration, be sure you know the pit falls and costs associated with it. I am about ready to begin a model of this car, painted with the same paint that is on the real car. The kit is a right hand drive car (British version) and I have to convert it to a US spec. car, this should be fun.

Guys, thanks for the nice comments, I really do appreciate the kind words. Everyone, I hope you have a great Memorial Day...I plan on a 6:40 Tee Time with my regular foresome, lunch, a few hour working on the electrical system of my MGB that is in the final stages of completion and then a Bar-Be-Que with the family......tell me, does it get any better than that???? Everyone, enjoy the day!!! And remember, thank a vet every chance you get.

1956 Chevrolet Real Mad Nomad Custom Wagon Back around 2000 or 2001 Chip Foose designed and Steve’s Auto Restorations from Oregon build this beautiful 1956 Chevrolet Nomad wagon which was called “Realmadâ€. I saw it featured in a hot rod magazine and thought it was a great looking custom. I liked it so much that I thought I would build a model of it. I made a few modifications from the real car, some because I liked the changes and some because I had no picture to go by. I am enclosing some shots of the real car (please note, the size of the pictures is different) along with my model, and please note, the red paint on the model is actually lighter on the car than it shows in the pictures….it is closer to the actual color than it looks here and the actual car is a little darker than these pictures show. To start the build I picked up a 1956 Revell Nomad wagon. I chopped the top down about 6 or 8 scale inches to replicate the real car, then I grafted on the front clip from a 1955 Revell Chevy Convertible. The front fenders and windshield came from a Testers Chezoom quick builder kit. The headlights came from a Tamiya Porsche GT3 kit and the taillights were donated by the 1955 Chevy. The engine (different from the real car) is an LS1 from a C5 Vette. The chassis is the Corvette’s just stretched to fit the wheel base. The interior is from the Corvette, also stretched to fit and I two toned it in black and red which is a little different from the real car. The wheels and tires also came from the Corvette. I scratch built the body moldings and the traditional Nomad chrome stripes on the roof and rear tail gate which are covered with Bare Metal Foil. The car is painted in Mopar gloss black and a custom mix of House of Kolor Persimmon red and medium red pearl. This was one of my early customs and if I did it now, I would have opened the doors and tailgate and most likely changed up the wheels, but all and all, I am happy with it. At the time it was quite a challenge for me and I learned a lot from the process, and that is what I try and do with each new custom build.....break new ground for myself.

What do you know, there is life after a '32 Ford, and it is a Chevy!!! Lyle, that is a very "period correct" drag car. I get a little tired of seeing the "big dollar" team drag cars all the time. It is nice to see a model of the everyman's weekend warrior drag car....the meat and potato's of the Friday night drags. Nice job and a very good use of the Black widow kit. I like the realistic class numbers on the windshield like they were written in shoe polish...nice touch....and the whitewall slicks are perfect on this. Nice build.

Here is the situation with the number of domestic dealers, Cal. Back in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, in the US, the Detroit Iron ruled the road. With the exception of a few VW dealers, we (American cars) were the only game in town. In the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, the import manufacturers began taking an increasingly larger share of the pie. Think of it like a pizza pie. In the past there were 8 nice big slices, Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, Chrysler, Dodge, etc….today there are 36 slices of varying size, the Toyota and Honda slices are big, Mercedes and BMW, pretty big and the domestics slices are getting smaller all the time. The imports, for the largest part have been smarter. As they grew in market share, they resisted the urge to open more and more dealerships. They saw that if they kept the number of dealerships low, each dealer would sell more cars at a higher profit thereby insuring that the value of the product remained high and that the individual dealer made more money so he would plow it back into the store keeping the facility at a higher level, better paid and therefore happier employee’s and the desire to keep the manufacturer happy so they would do as he dictated. All and all, this is a much better business model. The US car builders have taken the opposite tack. As early as a year ago, Chrysler was selfishly adding dealers into an already crowded marketplace with the ridicules idea that they (Chrysler) would sell more cars if they has more dealers in a market area. Completely wrong!!!! More dealers in a crowded market forces the dealers to compete more and more for the sale…that translates into lower price and lower profit for the dealer but more importantly lower market value for the vehicle which translates into lower residual value of the vehicle and directly lead to the banks dropping leasing of American cars. You can lease a Mercedes or BMW SUV for less then a Jeep Grand Cherokee….who’s fault is that???? Certainly not the Germans. The actions of the domestic manufacturers have brought this down upon themselves and now WE, the American people will have to pay the price. The US manufacturing industry is going the way of Great Brittan’s industrial complex, which is, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent. Those who don’t study history are bound to repeat it, or something like that. As for the mechanics, it is true that some will find work in the surviving dealerships, but not that many. Take a Chevy store that currently has 10 technicians. They are most likely carrying at least one or one and a half more tech’s then they need right now mainly as insurance if they get busy and because they most likely did not want to lay off that many workers when the business began to slow. So now as a few local stores go out of business around them, they will absorb one or two of the displaced technicians from closed stores. But that can leave 6 or 7 others without a job. Make no mistake about it, the ripple through out the local communities will be hard felt. As these workers lose a paycheck, the luncheonette will lose the breakfast and lunch business from them, the uniform company will lose the business so they will cut back, the tool supplier company will scale back his business, and so on and so on right down the line. I do not mean to paint nothing but doom and gloom, but I will not keep my head in the sand on what is happening to our country right under our nose. We are being forced to watch the wholesale destruction of our life style, economic prosperity and our children’s future. Our country is falling prey to corporate greed, apathy, ignorance and a power hungry government that puts it’s own political dominance above the rights of the people. Wake up America, if you sit back and do nothing to stop this, you are just as guilty as those who plot to take away our way of life.

Well gentleman, we have arrived at a new place in our country’s history. As most of you know, Chrysler LLC has told just under 800 of their franchise dealers to start looking for a new line of work. Some on the “insideâ€, if there is such a thing as the “inside†anymore, say that there will be an additional round of terminations coming and I for one believe that to be true. GM sent out the first round of letters to the 1,100 bottom rung dealers that they will also need to find a new line of work. GM expects to declare bankruptcy on June 1st. Without bankruptcy, these terminations could not happen as the potential law suits would be disastrous. I have been watching this and talking with many dealers the past few weeks and I have to tell you there is a ton of dis-information out there. The bottomline appears to be that when the dust settles, Chrysler will lose around 1,250 dealers and GM around 2,800. And don’t think Ford is immune to this illness, they will lose some more stores too. From my dealership experience, the average dealership has around 50 to 60 employees, so for argument sake I will use 50 per. That translates to just over 200,000 people losing their jobs and that is just within the dealerships. Now add into that the factory people and suppliers and support people (advertising, paint chip repair, sublet installation and cleaning services, etc….) and the number of jobs lost will be around 325,000. More importantly, that means that around 1,000,000 people will be affected by this as the spouse and children will be effected too. A million American lives will be effected by the events of the past few months. Don’t misunderstand me, this problem did not appear overnight….it has be percolating all along under the surface since around 1975. For the past 35 years or so, the import manufacturers have been making great inroads into the American market. The domestic manufacturers have kept the collective heads in the sand by stubbornly insisting that their product was just as good, even though, until recently, the imports were better. I realize that many of you will take exception to that comment, but having spent 30 years in the retail side of auto dealerships, I have seen it from within….the imports were better, and yes, recently the gap has closed but it is too little….too late. The horror stories I heard over the years from customers of all three domestic manufacturers dwarf all of the import problems our customer experienced time and time again. This is such a sad time in our history…the very fabric of our business and automotive world is being torn apart and most of us feel like we are powerless to stop it. I feel like I am riding a bull in the rodeo, I can’t hold on but will not let myself fall off. These are scary times, my friends…just watch, the effects of this will be long lasting and wide spread.

Nice and clean build...the color looks great on it. Very smooth.

That is one sweet looking car...color and details are just right.....it is such a unique subject...I love the old 60's Mopars...there just aren't enough of them kit'ed....that is too bad, we need more of them as the current Chrysler LLC is facing possible termination...we need to have more of their "hay day" cars to build.

Thanks, guys, and Kurt, you and I are thinking the same way. I have the same new 1/20 kits that you listed. I really love the job they did to the 312T2...I am looking forward to building that car. I am also looking to see if it is possible to retro fit the 312T2 back to a 312T, which is my favorite of all of the 312 series cars. Years ago I built the 1/12 scale 312T, didn't you just complete that car????...I think my memory is still good enough to recall that, any way, I have all of the 1/20 Tamiya cars, a few built and about 25 to be built, I now have the Fujimi and Hasagawa kits and I have the two Modelers 1/20 cars, a Ferrari and the Footwork car, both are just beautiful kits that rival the best Tamiya 1/20 F1 kits. I want to build them all. Years ago I built the 1/12 Tamiya Tyrrell BT44 which I thought was a great looking car, I would love to see that one also done in 1/20 by one of these companies. And while I am at it, I never did understand why Tamiya did not do the Williams FW14B a in 1/20 scale assembly kit. I know they offered that car in that scale years ago as a pre built very expensive display model, but never as a kit...always seemed strange to me, especially because it was offered in 1/12 scale and most all of the other 1/12 scale cars were produced in 1/20 scale too....Hasagawa did a nice model in 1/24th scale but I sure wanted it in 1/20th. I always thought that the Williams FW13 that was done in 1/20 scale was a strange choice...that car did not impress anyone back then. It wasn't until the FW14 and FW14B came along that Williams began to win again. Oh well, I guess I should just be thankful for what they did produce rather then complain about what they did not.

Kremer Vaillant Porsche 935 Turbo ‘76 I am willing to wager that most of you are not familiar with this kit. This is a 1/20 scale Tamiya kit number GC2008 from 1976. This is a kit that was, in my estimation, a fore-runner to Tamiya’s desire to enter into the radio controlled field. Back in 1976 Tamiya built a number of 1/24 and 1/20 scale kits that had small electric motors and room for two batteries so that these cars could be built and raced. The original version of even the Tyrrell 6 wheel F1 kit had a motor and room for the batteries under it. I find it hard to imagine one of us today building a vintage Tamiya race car kit, putting a motor in it and allowing it to be smashed and crashed. Anyway, this kit gave you the option of either adding a nicely detailed flat 6 cylinder turbo power plant or installing a “plate†in the rear that housed the motor and batteries along with an on/off switch that had the engine engraved on the lower side. It was a different time back then. Tamiya produced two variations of this kit. This kit could be built as the Vaillant (A German boiler manufacturer) sponsored car which had two versions of this car, one in a very unique and interesting green color with either number 4 or 51 or the white livery version. The other kit (kit number GC2005) with a slightly different body (mainly omitting the “ground effects†in the lower center of the car and smoother rear fenders) could be built as the Martini version in the beautiful white with blue and red stripes or in the stunning Orange paint scheme of the familiar Jagermeister livery ( I have this kit, but only have opened the doors and front hood so far ). This kit is basically a scaled down version of the famous 1/12 scale model of the Martini Porsche that is still available today. Obviously the 1/12 scale kit has plenty of detail with full detail under the front hood, opening doors and a highly detailed engine. There are photo etched super detail kits available for that kit if your wallet and temperament are up to it. Back in 1977 I built that kit (gave the finished model away to the kid next door when we moved out of our first house, I was such a jerk…..I gave away 5 built Tamiya 1/12 F1 kits too)long before we had even heard of photo etched detail parts. Ok, back to this kit. I built this kit about 15 or 16 years ago right after I transitioned back to model cars after a 10 year or so diversion to HO trains. When I started this kit I knew I would have to open the doors and hood, which I did, but that meant that I would have to scratch build all of the under hood details like the giant gas tank, the oil reservoir, battery, overflow tank, structural cross bracing and plumbing. Having built the 1/12 version of the Martini Porsche many years earlier, I always thought that the two best features of that kit were the details hidden under the two removable hoods. The beautifully detailed turbo 6 and the great gas tank and under front hood details were my favorite parts and I wanted that on this 1/20 scale version too. The 1/20 version comes complete with a driver figure and I wanted to make it easier to see him so I opened the doors and fashioned hinges from brass rods. Next, I opened up the front hood and built a new floor and side bulkheads. The tanks were all scratch built from sheet styrene based upon the box art cutaway pictures of, and my memory of the 1/12th scale kit I built years earlier. The bracing was built from aluminum rod and various wires were used for the plumbing. All of the bolts are from HO train detail parts. The kit was lacking just about all detail in the front end, especially in the wheel areas so I revamped the front suspension and built the brake disc’s and rotors from scratch. Each disc was hand drilled and air ducts to cool the brakes were also scratch built. I added the 5 bolts to hold the wheels on and drilled out the matching holes on the wheels. In hindsight, I should have added a miniature screw in the center and had a nut to hold it on. Actually, as I am writing this, I am thinking that I can still add that detail to the wheels with a little retro work and I think I will add that detail soon. Glad I thought of that. Anyway, I wired and plumbed the engine adding all of the coolant lines and the major details. It is a shame that most of the great topside engine detail is lost because the body hides it. Inside the car, I added the driver and built a complete roll cage from aluminum tubing. Back then the real cars were a whole lot simpler and did not have all of the computers and telemetry electronics so the inside is rather sparse but I included the fire suppressant system along with the major wiring. Because I built this model as I was transitioning away from model trains, I still had many of the supplies from that hobby lying around. One of the unique model railroad items I had was the paint. Because I airbrushed all of the paint schemes and decaled most all of the railroad cars I built, I used Floquil paint for that and still had many bottles hanging out. Floquil paint, if you are not aware, is the primary model railroader’s paint. It is what they call, “Micro paint†because the pigment in the paint is refined into a smaller diameter so that the paint is thinner and will not cover up the smaller details on 1/87 scale train cars. Also, the paint is flat, meaning that there is no gloss added to the paint, which also makes the paint thinner appearing on the model, and besides, freight train cars are “flat†so the gloss is not necessary….in fact, I used to paint the cars in Floquil flat colors, spray on Testers clear gloss, decal the car (decals need a smooth flat surface so that the decal adherers completely without the “white†glue ghost under the decal) and when dry, spray on Testers clear flat to return the car to the accurate flat finish. I also used to “weather†the car with rust and dirt before the final flat clear coat so as to seal in the dirt and dust. Anyway, I mixed up a custom batch of Vaillant Green that matched the box art from the leftover Floquil paints and sprayed it on the Porsche. I then followed with clear gloss Testers and applied the colorful decals. Once dry, it was again clear coated with clear gloss Testers and final assembly was completed once the clear was dry. This car sat in a display case that was not very air tight for the past 15 years. It was very dusty when I pulled it out the other day to have a look at it so I cleaned it up and added a coat of Future to bring back the shine. After looking at the car and how neat it looked with the shiny green paint with purple and orange decals I thought I should take a few digital pictures and post them as I think this is a rather unique build. I now have the desire to complete the Martini version with more under hood scratch built detail and have a mate for this one. I have not seen many 1/20 scale versions of these two cars and they have been out of production for so long now that I need to complete the other kit while the decals can still be used as the white sections are looking very yellow now. I realize that most of you guys don’t “get off†on race cars but I thought it would be nice to look back at a kit that is long out of production and not very often even seen. Lately I am getting the urge to build a few of my stash of older Tamiya 1/20 F1 cars too. Now that I just picked up 3 new productions of the Fujimi and Hasagawa 1/20 scale Ferraris’ just released, I am feeling the need to build some of these.

I think Pontiac died in the early 1970's....after that, they were just one of the GM "glitter twins" where Pontiac, Buick, Chevy and Olds all had a common vehicle in size and content with a different name and price point. When Pontiac lost it’s individuality it was over for them. Shortly after that was the beginning of the end for Oldsmobile....Right after the Cutlass went from the "Penthouse" to the "Outhouse" when they could not find the winning formula after the RWD Cutlass moved on to FWD. What a shame, if it were not for the Chinese love affair with Buick, I am sure they would be going down hand-in-hand with Pontiac. The only way Buick can survive here is with GMC joined at the hip with Buick the way Chevy Trucks are to Chevy. Cadillac is only living on because GM needs a "Luxury" brand for their own well being...certainly not because of their sales record.

These are very strange times that we are living in. Saturn has about a 50/50 chance of survival and that is only if some other car maker picks up the brand, otherwise as each model run is done, it is ended. Around 2012, if nothing changes, it is nothing but a collector’s item. Buick only lives on because the Chinese love them…they are the number one selling import in China, in fact the number one selling car is the Buick Lucerne in black with black leather interior…go figure. Saab is basically done for GM…it all depends on the Swedish government stepping in to bail them out. Hummer sleeps with the fishes and Pontiac, I have heard, may hand Chevy the G8 as the Impala replacement (I heard it from a rep. but can’t be sure). Over Obama’s objection, it looks like GMC trucks stay on and Cadillac is holding on by the ducks teeth on their crest. Their sales were down over 45% last month and that can not be allowed to happen very long. Bankruptcy for GM is coming for sure and that will have a huge impact on whether some brands survive or not. I was at one of the dealerships I represent yesterday and got to see their first new Camaro up close and personal. It was an ordered car and was yellow with black interior SS coupe getting a ground effects package installed at the dealership prior to delivery. The car is beautiful. Bigger than I thought, reasonably comfortable inside but with lots, and I do mean LOTS of blind spots…that should be interesting. What a shame GM took so long bringing this car out….at least one year too late. I comes into a market that is so uncertain with a hefty price tag. This was a very well equipped stick 6 speed SS, no sunroof (owner is too tall) but most every other toy and the price is a cool $39,000. Maybe it is me, but at this price level it is going to be a tough sell once the “I gotta’ have it†crowd get theirs. I know a V6 moderately equipped car will be less, but come on, if you are getting a pony car, it needs enough ponies to make it worthwhile. Also, with the way the current administration is going, these “late model muscle cars†will be outlawed by Al Gore and his posse sooner or later anyway. Chrysler is a total ###### shoot at this point. Fiat is looking to do the deal mainly because they are looking for an outlet in the US for their little cars and they can provide an outlet in Europe for primarily Jeep but most importantly, Fiat is not bringing the one thing Chrysler needs to their little party….and that is cash. Fiat has no cash to help sure up Chrysler with. Bankruptcy is certainly just ahead. For both of their sakes, I hope Americans have a short memory because most people I know remind me all the time that Fiats were just ######. I never owned one so I can not speak of their product other then I always liked the 131 Brava sedan and the roadsters were pretty good looking. All I can say is that if I were a Chrysler product dealer I would be very nervous right now….I might be looking to get a “Subway†franchise or maybe a “Dunkin†Donutsâ€â€¦if you know what I mean. Ford is the only bright spot in the US auto landscape. They still own their finance arm, Ford Motor Credit, 100%, and have a solid European business going. They took all of the “hits†in the past few years so that they are in the best position now that the crunch has come. Ford stock price has doubled in the past few weeks (great, I brought some months ago) as the investors ( I think ) see them as the main survivors here in the US. The only real hurtle for them is if GM and Chrysler take huge body blows, the suppliers will be affected and therefore so will Ford, so we will have to see how that plays out. Either way, the US automobile landscape will most likely look completely different in a few years from now….what an outright sin. We (Americans) should all be ashamed of ourselves for what we have allowed to happen to this once great juggernaut of the industrial world. Corporate greed and the inability to match the import vehicles on style, quality and price….much of that brought about by unions’ unreasonable demands and the car makers’ lack of courage to stand up the demands and the inability of Detroit car makers to render the unions useless by treating the workers fairly from the get go. (Understand, I do not blame the Unions for this mess, it is just the cost of the American labor per car, with the benefit packages figured in, is too great to compete with the import brands) Unions are unnecessary in the import factories because the workers are treated like family. The auto corporations need to look within for the real villain here. The manufacturers have, in my opinion, been arrogant and unwilling to listen to the critics who have been telling them for over 30 years now to change their ways or suffer the consequences. I got into the automobile business in 1979 and I have seen the steady assault of the imports. The US manufacturers have ignored, for the most part, the obvious signs of the disaster that has now reached its tipping point. Far too many innocent American workers will now pay the price for the companies’ arrogance and ignorance. I fear this is the beginning of the end. We are just beginning the long slide down the slope.

Thanks Mike...I enjoyed it a lot too. It was great to meet new friends and see some of the guys I met before. I had a wonderful time watching the expressions of guys when the sunroof was opening and closing and they could not understand how it was happening. Have a great summer.

Well, for what it is worth, 95% of my builds have opening doors, Lambo, Suicide, Swing Arm and Conventional. For conventional doors I use the same tried and true bent brass rod inserted into aluminum tubes. It looks pretty close to prototypical when painted and allows the doors to be removed if necessary during construction….but best of all, one hinge design allows you to open the door in the early style (door opens out) and the late model style (door opens in). To make the door open in, just reverse the direction of the hinge. The older style has the “bent†end forward or attached to the inner fender and the “rod†ends are attached to the inside of the door. To replicate the late model newer style just attach the “bent†end to the front part of the inside of the door and the two “rods†to the inner fender. As I said, these are just reversed but this will allow you to make the door open whichever way you want. Try it, you'll see it works fine. It does not need to be any more complicated than this…..unless you need more pain in your life then you already have.

Dave, you are very observant. Actually, I finally added an Avatar for the first time. I was getting a few things ready for the NNL East tomorrow and I needed to attach a picture of the Cybele to a little “standup†sign to go alongside the car and it occurred to me to use it for my avatar picture. So I finally got around to it…I also added a picture of me, and my wife, and a brief statement to my personal page/data. Sometimes I am just a little slow. I am looking forward to the NNL East tomorrow, although part of me will be missing my Saturday morning round of golf on the FIRST really nice Saturday of this spring golf season. I hope the weather holds out for Sunday morning or I will be a very grumpy camper. I am bringing 11 cars to the NNL East tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing the response I get to my remote control sunroof in my 1958 Chevy Impala. I painted the remote to match the car right down to the pearl white scallops. It should be fun to open or close the roof from a distance when someone is looking at the car and not aware of the motorization. We’ll see….my luck the motor will seize up or something tomorrow. I have plenty of new batteries so we’ll see how it goes.

Jon, very nice....I have that kit and have not even tried to work on it yet. I know it needs a lot of work and you did a great job on yours. If I got mine looking half that nice I would be happy. I guess I will see it up close tomorrow at NNL East....I will be looking for it.

OK John.......Good Luck! I am sure it will look great, that Fujimi kit is so well engineered that it will not cause many problems.

That is pretty cool, I really like the fat fenders. The proportions were not screwed up in the widening . That could have easily messed up the look, but you got it right……nice. Oh, and welcome aboard…It looks to me that we are attraction more and more modelers from around the world….this is definitely a global marketplace. Keep them coming.

Curt, you really did a nice job on that kit. I built that car back in 1976 and unfortunately, was one of the original issue Tamiya 1/12 scale cars I gave away to the kid next door when we moved out of our first house (I had just gotten into HO trains at that time)….one of the few things about this hobby that I regret to this day. This is my all time favorite of all of the Tamiya early 1/12 F1 cars and you did a beautiful job on it. I had a chance to pick one up a few years ago and for whatever reason I didn’t…jerk that I can be sometimes. I see that the back lower corner of the induction cowling still does not fit right. That gap gave me fits. I remember that the shape of the high induction scoop was a little off and had to modify mine a little. I don’t recall the exact shape now; did you modify this one at all? If I remember correctly it was the rear edge at the back of the scoop area that was slightly off. Anyway, you did a beautiful job on this model and the P/E parts really improved the overall look of it a ton…maybe one of these days I will get another one.

Dave, this is coming along very nicely...I really like the interior door panels...very nice, they will look great once painted.....Mono Tone???? Two Tone??? Tri Tone???? Either way, this looks great and the individual seats look sharp too. I don't recall if you mentioned it before, but I assume the body is going to be two toned...yes? As for the hinge design, very nice...I have used the "double hinge" design before where it pivots from both ends like this...pretty sharp. Keep it up.

Great looking build up....seeing a MFH kit up close and personal like this goes a long way to help justify the higher cost. Nicely done so far.

Very unique....have the Bavarians’ sent you any warnings to "cease and desist' modifing their road cars? I like the creativeness of the build.....very different.