Nacho Z

You are doing some very nice work here. I admire you guys who do this much modification and kit bashing. Bonus points for doing it well!!

She’s a beauty, Tom!

Fantastic! Such a clean build!

Very nice, Andrew!

I've seen the most innocent of questions start the proverbial firestorm. There is no rhyme or reason to it. ?. I think you asked a legitimate question and are getting some good responses. As far as the Matra, yes, she'll be finished. There are several reasons it was put on hold, burnout on the project itself being the biggest issue. I have built several kits in the meantime and have enjoyed doing so.

It is funny, to me, that is topic came up. Again, as the guy who can't stand not finishing something, I have a build thread for a Matra MS11 Formula 1 model that is over a year old now. I put the model to the side and haven't touched it in almost 6 months....and it bothers me ?. Interesting topic, I'm glad you brought it up!

I’m that “checklist” guy. At work and at home I will make a list of things that I need to get done or want to accomplish and I will just about kill myself to get that list completed. When I was a kid my father called me, (among other things), One Track as once I got something in my head I wouldn’t stop thinking about it, asking for it, etc. Honestly, I’m still that way today. So when I start a model I almost always finish it. There have been a few exceptions but not many. If I run into major issues with a model I will admit that I lost the battle but not the war and keep moving forward. I have a few models that I have not shared on the internet nor put out for display but I finished them. I know from my years of doing this that not every one of my models is going to be contest quality, either due to my abilities or the kits shortcomings. I try to remember that it is just a hobby. No one’s lives depend on me building a contest killer or even finishing a model.

Several of us in WV got #220 in the mail yesterday.

She is really looking good, James!

Great looking Wildcat! I love these old, single prop WW2 birds. You did a really nice job on her.

Time for a Monday night update! I just saw over on HLJ that Heller is re-releasing a ton of kits including the Gordini. I was able to work on the chassis and drivetrain, such as it is. It is very simplified. On to the pictures. Here are two pictures of the real thing. I am keenly aware of the dreaded "spider legs" spark plug wires, but this car really does have them...lol. Red plug wires seem to be the thing so that is what I did. As I said, everything is fairly simplified. I have to keep telling myself that this is a '60s Heller kit. Parts fit is not the greatest and there is a lot of vague locating points. The other thing that I have to keep telling myself is that this is just a shelf model built for a friend. I share updates with him and he seems happy with it. Here are a few in progress pics. Don't mind the As always guys, all comments are welcome!

This is the first time that I have checked in on this thread. Wow!, I’m glad I did. I agree about the uniqueness of this car. For me it is one of those, the more I see it, the more I like it. I can’t wait to see the next update on this one.

Oh, wow!!! How cool is that?!?! By all means, feel free to share any photos and absolutely more stories about your car! Honestly, this isn't my genre but I do love just about any race car. My normal SOP is to be much further along on a build than what I post. My model is on all 4 wheels, engine is done and interior is about half way complete. What that means is that many times I get some great information or advice but it is too late to incorporate it. I still appreciate hearing from everyone and I appreciate all of your comments!

This is such a fantastic looking model, Damian!! You really did the big girl justice! Now to find a place to display her...lol.

Michael, I really appreciate all of your input and advice on this build! I take everyone's comments in and process them to see if it is something I could/should do, is it too late to do it, etc. I especially appreciate the paint comment. I have a 1:12 Matra MS11 F1 build currently going on, (there is a build thread here on MCM), and therefore have a good amount of Tamiya TS-10 French Blue on hand. The guy that I am building this for indicated his friend's car was "French Blue". My plan was to use some of my stash of TS-10 on the Gordini. After reading your post I did this quick comparison. I will stick with the original plan. I should note that I will be spraying this over Tamiya white primer which is how I painted the Matra.

Pierre, the water was not boiling but I have to assume it was too hot. As I said in my post, it was probably an unfortunate combination of the water being too hot, me holding the body in too long and possibly some funky Heller plastic. Whatever the case, my heart dropped into my stomach. It happened so fast. Like you said, I have another kit and I learned a valuable lesson. I have only had this happen to me one time before, many years ago. It is a terrible feeling when it happens! You are probably on to something, Les. This is my first Heller kit and probably the last, mostly because their subject matter is not my thing. Their reputation does not help. I looked over on Scale Mates and saw some of the aftermarket goodies. I always check out Scale Mates before starting any model, just to see what is available for it.

Monday night update. Thanks for all of the comments, guys! Sorry for not responding to all of them. I really appreciate the information that you are sharing. Who knew that such an odd little car would get so much love?!?! As I mentioned last time, disaster struck. The last picture in that post showed a badly bowed dutchaman's panel. The problem with that is that the hinge pieces for the trunk (boot) lid attach to that panel. I wanted to try to straighten it. I have used the hot water method before but only a few times. To make a long story short, I believe that I held the body in the water too long and maybe had the water too hot. Trust me when I say the story is much longer but, in the end, I screwed up. The rear of the body literally shrank. Yup, just like those Shrinky Dinks from when we were kids. I had a buddy argue with me that it didn't shrink and that I could straighten it out, blah blah blah. (my blahs, not the forum software...lol) I had to order another kit. I found one at a reasonable price and bought it. Here is a side shot of the body after the my failed attempt. Here is how much it shrunk. Pictures in my prior post showed a perfect fit. All is good now. The new kit has arrived and it is nice. I think I will make another post just to show the differences between the original kit and the re-pop. While I was waiting for the new kit to arrive, I built the Tamiya 911 GT2 kit that I shared here recently. I am back to working on the Gordini.

Good Lord, Jason, that is an absolutely stunning model! I really don’t know how to sum it up any better. Fandamntastic!!

She is a beauty! I built this kit a good while back. I had trouble getting the rear cowl to fit. I do love this livery. It is gorgeous IMHO! You did a very nice job!

Thanks, Phil! I hope to do it justice.

Hi Michael, thanks for the heads-up! Unfortunately, I destroyed the blue body. There is no recovery. I will update that next time. The guy that I'm building this for said the car came from Europe. A doctor bought it and brought it back stateside. I'm not sure how my friend's friend ended up with the car. I'm also not sure of its heritage. Was it a racer or just an everyday street car? I will have to check with him. He did say that it hugged the road like a go cart and had plenty of power. I can't imagine that it weighed very much.

As Monty Python would say, "And now for something completely different". Over the last several years of attending model contests in my neck of the woods, I struck up a friendship with a very accomplished figure builder. During our conversations it came up that he and a college buddy used to cruise around in a Renault Gordini. I'd never heard of such a thing...lol. After several conversations about it he asked me if I would build a model of it. At first I was just going to paint, decal and polish out the body. It evolved into me building the entire model for him. He brought me an original Heller kit from 1968, (maybe 1969?). Now, this is a car and a model that I would never give a second look at. I still don't like it...lol. It is a Heller kit of a French car. Nope. But, he is a friend and I couldn't say no. I thought I would share my WIP with everyone, not because it is going to be anything special, but because it is a unique car and model. Today's post is mostly an introductory post. Here is what I started with. The instructions are one big sheet and are in French. They included the written instructions in English on another large sheet. You have to jump back and forth between the two sheets to build the car. The decals were waaaaay beyond saving. I was going to paint the two white stripes that run down the length of the car. More on that later. I started work on the body. The vents are molded open but there was a lot of flash. I used a PE saw blade from Scale Motorsports to clean out the flash between the ribs. I wanted a squared off appearance between the ribs and the PE blade was just about perfect for this. You can see the difference between the cleaned up area vs. the untouched area. Job complete. Keep in mind that this photo is magnified a good bit. To the naked eye these ribs look pretty darn good. 1968 molding technology. Although these will not be very visible I just could not leave them there. Not perfect, but an improvement. OK, check out this photo. This is the rear of the car. This is where the engine sits. It has a working hinge and my buddy wanted it to work. Notice the large bow on the dutchman's panel?, (at least I am pretty sure that is the proper name for it. I would be more than happy to have someone correct me if I'm wrong). Anyhow, disaster, and I do mean disaster, struck because of this darn thing. That will be covered in the next update.

Another great looking model from your bench!

Models like this take me back to my high school days. This is what you would see in the school parking lot or dragging Main on Friday night. I'm not sure anyone had quite as nice of a paint job...lol. Great looking model, you nailed it!

Frank, I've only used BMF so I can't answer for the Hasegawa stuff, but I bet it would be fine too.