Nacho Z

Nice! The trim works looks to be very well done. Not easy to do on those long side pieces.

Thank you, Carl!

Seriously, one of the coolest liveries around! Great job on the model. I would have been sweating bullets dunking that first decal in the water…lol.

Jimmy, IMHO, in our hobby, those are not bad numbers at all. Roughly one kit a month. My wife and I both work and we both agree that we don’t work just to pay our bills. There has to be some enjoyment and a little fun money. You should tell your wife about some of our stashes…lol. I’m lucky, I have way, way more kits than I can build in umpteen lifetimes, but I have local friends that have more than me! ?

I’m one of the lucky ones, I guess. My wife of 40 years has never said a word about how much time and money I spend on this hobby. She has been nothing but supportive. Like Dan said earlier in this thread, I am not ridiculous when it comes to the amount of time and money that I spend. I don’t have model kits cluttering up every corner of the house, I keep my stash on shelves in the basement and the little hobby room that I built. The house and yard are well maintained, nothing has been neglected so that I could buy model kits. I have given up model shows to do things she wants to do. I guess for us it comes down to moderation and give and take.

Man, Lewis, that thing is gorgeous! It just looks “right”!

Thanks, guys, I appreciate your comments!

Thanks, Jim, and I know what you mean...lol. Oddly enough, this really wasn't too bad of a kit. Typical, sometimes vague instructions. The kit parts themselves were surprisingly not too bad as far as flash goes. Definitely had seam lines and ejector pin marks. For a 24 hour build, I typically do not deal with them. If they are going to be visible I will. I'll scrape seams but seldom fill ejector pin marks. I was also pleasantly surprised with the fit of everything. All-in-all, it was a much better kit than I thought it would be.

Making a bit of progress on this. Had a busy week and weekend. I did the Annual 24 Hour Model Build this weekend. I build at my friend's house along with four others, for a total of 6 guys. To prepare for this, I have to start packing up tools and supplies a few days ahead of time. Anyhow, here is where the360 Modena is sitting as of this moment.

I thought I would share my 2024, 24 Annual Model Build entry with you. The build took place this weekend on Saturday the 27th at noon until Sunday the 28th at noon. This was the 18th year for this event. I have done all 18 years as I am one of the founding members of this event. It wasn't an event 18 years ago, it was 5 friends getting together to build a new, untouched model in 24 hours and watching the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and various car movies. We had such a blast that we decided to do it again the next year, and as they say, the rest is history. This model is the Model King issue of what I believe is an MPC kit. My box says AMT, but Scale Mates says MPC was the original version of this kit. All I did this model prior to the 24 hour build was wash the parts. I was able to finish in about 22 hours. Color is Tamiya Maroon straight from the can. The pictures of the finished model were taken immediately after it was finished. I may tweak a few things and I may add a few sponsorship decals. I may just leave it as it is and put it in a display case. Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think and let me know if you have any questions about the Annual 24 Hour Build.

Andrew, this is always a nerve wracking proposition. I have, one time in the past, polished out my paint and then cleared it. My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but I think it was Gravity polishing compound. I had used Micro-Mesh on the color coat and then, without thinking, used polishing compound. I do know for certain that I gave that body a good bath in warm, soapy water. I know it would have been Dawn dish washing soap. I had no issues with my clear coat. Maybe do this first. Shoot a couple of spoons with your color, polish them out with your Tamiya compound, wash them and then shoot clear. Good luck, and if you do go through with this, please share your results with us.

Excellent model, Randy! She is one good looking racer!

That is fandamntastic!! Every now and then I will run across a model that takes me back to my high school days and the cars of my youth. This is one of them! Although none of us had one in this nice of a condition, we had the stance, the wheels and the tires! Great model and thanks for the blast from the past!

Good looking model of a good looking car!

Much like Bruce, just a few posts earlier, you are too kind! I do thank you for checking out the Matra. I tend to share more on FB, (not much more), because I have a lot of friends that just don’t understand what goes into making a model. I guess I tend to explain things a little more over on FB. Sorry to see that you are having some bad days at the bench. Hopefully you will get in a few “leaps and bounds” in between those “two steps back”! ? Regarding the banjo fittings, I’ve made 3 or 4 attempts so far, with each attempt getting a little better than the last. I am doing “eyeball engineering” on them, I just want them to be close to the real thing. The banjo fittings that I have are too small for my needs. I have delayed this project again, hopefully for just a short time. I have started on a Tamiya Ferrari 360 Modena. There is a WIP thread here on MCM. I will get back on the Matra soon.

Good Lord, that is fantastic! Wowzers!

Wow, Bruce, you are far too kind, but I thank you for the comment.

Thanks, Nick! This is a nice kit, for sure. I would love to get just about every Alpha Model kit that they have produced! They appear to be fantastic models. The only thing that has stopped me is me being honest with myself...lol. I'm fortunate enough that I can afford them and I believe that I have the skills to build them. I just don't have the time. I have sooooo many kits already, most of them bought with a plan in mind. I just can't see spending that kind of money on a model(s) that have a pretty good chance of never being built. But Good Lord, they have so many awesome subjects!

I am at the stage of the build process where a lot of time is spent in the preparation of parts. A good deal of time is spent with not much to show for it. Personally, (and it really is personal preference), I prime 99.99% of everything that I paint. That step in the process definitely adds to the overall build time. Here is where I am at now. I will caption the photos as I always do. Here is the engine as of today. There are still more things to add. I debated about adding wiring and such, but in the end I decided that this one will be a box stock build. The interior is complete. On one hand I am happy with it and on the other hand I am disappointed with it. 360s usually have aluminum accent panels in the interior. I have seen them different colors. I wanted mine to be body color so that is what I did. That turned out nice. I didn't want a plain old black interior so I went with a dark gray, Tamiya German Gray to be precise. What I didn't count on was how flat it ended up. It is a little too flat for my liking. Please note that the actual interior is a little darker than what the pictures show and the camera really washed out the gray. Finally tonight, a lot of parts under primer. Actually, they are all under paint now, I just don't have pictures yet.

What an amazing model!

Oh my, now that is one sweet Nova!

This is absolutely beautiful!!! Good Lord! This very well be my favorite of your work. Just stunning.

Doesn’t get much better than this!

I really can’t add much more than what has already been said. The perfect panel lines and the perfect trim are the kinds of details that most modelers don’t get right. You have done a spectacular job on this.

That is a great looking NASCAR race car! You don’t see that one built very often. You have done a very nice job on it!