spotarama

we've got 3 at the moment but had a total of 8 over the last 15 years we've lived together including my partners childhood cat that she got at the age of 10 and she (the cat that is) made it to 21 and a third years old. mind you she was cranky, senile and mildly incontinent by then, it was still a sad day when she went. the two boys we've got now are great friends and spend a portion of every day playing cat grand prix round the house followed by a quick bout of wrestling with the winner getting to hold the other one down and forcibly cleaning his head....strange but thats cats for you

my pup (5 month old great dane called LeiLani) appears to finally trust me enough to come inside when i call her, she's a quite timid little thing and for the last 6 weeks i've had to go out to the back yard and sit on the ground before she'd come up to me and allow herself to be led into the house it was also great yesterday taking her to 'giant dog playdate' where , like the label says. only giant dogs hang out and feel free to go nuts, giant dogs are usually quite aware of their size and will behave quite differently around smaller dogs but visibly relax around other dogs of a normal size. she got to catch up with her litter mates and spent most of an hour wrestling with and chewing her brother Harley. its great to see her come out of her shell.

those models are better than than the stuff i build, i hate those kids (just joking) well done

great looking build, you've inspired me to have a quick ebay check on any capri models my vote for paint would be either stock lime green or orange with black vinyl roof, the orange one is the first car i fell in love with and i must have been all of 5 or 6 at the time and its stayed with me ever since but if you go wild, HOK stands for House Of Kolor which is auto custom paint and should be easily available in NZ, its easy enuf to get in OZ so i'm guessing you should be able to get it over there, in fact heres a link to the NZ importer http://www.smitsgroup.co.nz/ae37/House-of-Kolor

this model was released a while ago as a 2'in'1 the 'Hogans Heroes' jeep and beach resort vehicle the Hogans Heroes thing never made sense to me as Hogan and the boys only ever drove 'requisitioned' german vehicles from the prisoner run motor workshops. however i bought it and built it like this..... it got roll bars, extra armour plate, a 50 cal M/G, chains, stowage and a chewed up blown out spare tyre attached to the hood. the red light under the M/G is infra-red, obviously I'm no expert on what a real jeep came with but it seems well detailed with full engine, transfer cases , diffs etc

thanks for all those comments, looks like not much is going to happen this week as i've just started school tonight, 3 nights a week with lots of homework (not to mention a full time job) ah well, it'll give me something to do on the weekend i guess

started with an Aoshima Delica people mover bashed the body up, used the glass roof panels as fill-ins and gave it a stock paintjob, it may well get a very rough fluoro/hazard yellow top coat with a lot of the stock job showing through, built some mesh screens to replace the front and back glass, used checker plate and aluminium siding to block some of the windows, it'll have no glass at all (zombies always go for the windows), not sure what i'll do with the driver/passenger windows, possibly 'steel' bars or maybe different mesh it'll get a roof rack for carrying zombie fighting supplies, steel girder bumpers, lots more rust/dirt and 'ZOMBIE CONTROL UNIT' signwriting using dry-rub letters interior is stock if somewhat sparse,only using two seats, both well worn. an array of zombie destroying tools on hand - 50cal M/G, semi-auto rifles, axes, pistols, knives, there'll be more general junk in there,ropes, cables, molotov cocktails, you know the sort of thing that always comes in handy when dealing with the undead. chassis all stock, just old and dirty looking, the whole body and chassis will getvisually tied together with a good coating of various mud/dust/zombie-flesh tones at the end.

i recently bought the Burago diecast kit with every intention of building it and when i saw your build i thought 'time to get that out and have a look inside'.....a bit of a disappointment it must be said not quite sure if the body on the 1:1 car split half way along the roof, the kit featured as the star of this thread certainly doesn't appear to. i would have thought access to the engine would have been through the rear hatch. interestingly there do appear to be representations of catches moulded near the bottom of the split section so maybe they're right. the above two pics pretty much show the detail parts for the interior and engine, somewhat sparse to sat the least wheels....not what you'd call overdetailed are they. decals appear to be pretty good, nicely printed and seems thick enough to not show the black paint underneath. i can think of a couple of other WIP's that could use the screen visor and the weber decals though having seen the level of detail in the thread subject and compared it to what came in this one, it might be staying in the box for a while yet...... anyone got any ideas on the hinge in the middle body though? EDIT: just google image searched Lancia Delta S4 and whaddya know, it was hinged in the middle......heres a pic of a real one

hi Don, here are some pics of the jag kit, having ripped a fair bit of stuff out of it (the wheels went for another project), if it ever gets built it'll probably be with a monster V8 and a ford rear end, or maybe V8 mercedes power.... i originally got it from a swapmeet so i've no idea how old it is. sorry i can't tell you more

had these two bodies left over after robbing their cahssis for another project (see ZZTop Corvette thread) they were base coated with cheap grey primer then the red one was flat blacked, the bluish one was done in skyblue (again both with cheap rattlecans) then they were both airbrushed with Tamiya red mettalic, used one whole bottle (suitably thinned) between the two bodies

this kitbash is the amalgamation of a Corvette Indy dreamcar chassis and the ZZ Top 34 Ford Eliminator body. it will have the hood and cut down grill from the ZZ car. i need to work out where the exhaust pipes are going to come out as i'd like them to exit symetrically. the wheels are going to come from a street machine pick up which look kind of flame cut out billet with lowish profile tyres i've included a pic of the original corvette bodies ( i had 2 of these kits) which i did a bit of paint finish experimentation on, the red one is airbrushed Tamiya red metallic over flat black and the other is the same tamiya paint over $2 skyblue rattlecan

but quite closely related..... the chassis and body are the A La Kart kit, but without all the extra bodywork (fenders, pick-up bed etc) the wheels are (i think) the also from the kit. the engine was one i bought at a swapmeet as a complete built item (there was a range of different engines which i should have bought and haven't seen since) the radiator will be mounted behind the bodycab with the fan facing out with suitable plumbing, the nose cone will still go on the front with the drilled filler plate the roof i'm not sure about, can't decide whether to use it or not. we shall see.

this started off as the revell "Hot Rod" magazine issue of the '50 Austin Gasser kit, but a i don't like gassers so dump it in the weeds bacame the plan. it scored the full IRS (to which i added copper wire coil springs) from the Airfix E-type racer kit as well as its engine. wheels are original austin kit ones the seat is the original kit one with slots cut out of it and shoulder/neck bracing added the triple webers came from another kit whose name shall be forever forgotten (by me anyway), i made the straight out headers myself as well as the engine mounts the steering linkages, transmission tunnel and rollcage bits in white were also scratch built engine will be wired and maybe some basic plumbing, doors will be openable as per orig kit and the bit hole in the hood will be filled

not sure if this is in the right topic area but as its designed for hauling bigrig trailers i'm guessing it might be, if not i'm sure someone in a position of authority can conign it to where it does beolong this thing (the snowtow) has been through a lot of different incarnations and started with a small chev towtruck (midnight cowboy from revell) and slowly morphed into this...... its got a 1/35th scale tank chassis with a cab, motor and 5th wheel from a long since forgotten 1/25th scale truck model (diamond reo ? - guessing from the badges i attached to the motor and chassis) the rest of the truck got sold long ago so i can't check. i'm not sure whether to finish it in all hi-viz orange to suit its role as an emergency rescue vehicle or turn it into an army vehicle (drab olive etc) as you can see the motor has been partly plumbed and wired as will the batteries, front winch and lights which will be on the body as well as the front bullbar. it will also have a flashing light bar on the roof interior will feature roof mounted computer monitor as well as a console featuring radio phone and CB radio. the seat is the original from the truck kit with added adjustment levers

trumpeter provide a very complicated PE (to a non PE user like me)set of prototypically correect hood hinges in some of their kits (the 62 bonneville if memory serves is one of them) they're made of at least 4 pieces per side and require some folding and pins inserting through appropriate holes which become the pivot points. i imagine they'd look most effective when complete but just looking at them scared the hell out of me

i bought the re-issue of this kit years ago, it said on the box that it was 1/25th scale, imagine my surprise when i opened it and found the engine was about the same size as a small Fiat in 1/25th......

nice work didn't airfix make a 1/32th scale MKI escort? i also had an Esci 1/24th MKII escort RS with a clear body, i never built it as i found out its value, sold it and bought a shedload more kits with the money

i suffer from this syndrome too, as i never build a kit stock (tried a couple of times, needed more challenge) i tend to jump right in and start modifiying then realise i've got no idea how to take it to the next stage, so back in the box it goes until i've learned a new skill (hopefully the appropriate one) and then it can see the light of day. many years ago i decided to combine a rear engined 'dream machine corvette' concept car kit with the ZZTop 34 ford eliminator. it took a few goes before i could work out how the 'vette interior was going into the 34, but one day it just worked, onto the chassi, same thing, i eventually worked out i needed to cut the 'vette chassis and extend it 'just so' and woohoo, it worked, front end, same deal. then engine.....thats where we stalled the last time. gotta work out how to make my own set of exhausts with some serious bends in the before we can move forward. but one day it'll happen. until then there's at least another dozen waiting in the wings for the next stage. don't get me started on the process so far with the 'SnoTow'......thats a tank chassis and tracked, mid engined turbo diesel powered, prime mover trailer hauling 'thing'. it certainly didn't start out to be that and it may not end up that way when i'm done but it's taught me a whole load on the journey.

for replicating that rough texture area (which is a kind of rubbery/flexible paint) maybe the rubber masking agent from (i think) gunze, thinned with whatever thins that stuff, might work? brush/stipple onto the masked off areas, demask while still wet to avoid pulling up any edges then primer/topcoat over the whole area to seal it down. or a couple of coats of the faux fabric paint? flocking mixed with paint or superglue? the paint would dampen down the fuzzy effect , the superglue will dry and leave a slightly more 'spiky/ripply' effect. hope this helps, awesome work all round for the last 21 pages, and especially the trailer which looks like every trailer in an aussie backyard

the building is the fujimi garage kit clad in 'tongue depressers' bought in bulk from a pharmacy then stained with a grey/black wash, the ground is grey tinted pourable plaster in a frame, the whole thing was originally fenced in with balsa and tongue depresser built fences but most of them were broken off while it was on display at a show. the garage is floored with black and white 1" square glass mosaic tiles and has a folding lift up door (balsa and clear plastic sheet)i'll get it back out of its cupboard and whack some shots up in 'dioramas'

oops, like i said at the top, i wasn't sure what year it was and i also assumed it was a pontiac cos it came with the pontiac dealership decals that are on the roof. hope no offence was caused to devotees of the respective supporters

i can see what you mean, i should have shaved all the trim (should have dusted it before the pix too......)

the wheels and tyres are from a kit called 'midnite cowboy - custom chevy wrecker' the basis ofwhich was the chev equivalent of and F250 with big truck styling and a towtruck rear end. it has a 'duallie' rear end so i just used all 4 wheels for this build. i actuallyended up with 2 of these kits and used the other set of wheels on the AMC rambler i posted pics of y'day (at least i think thats what i used, it was years ago....) one day i'll build something using the towtruck parts

another glue bomb, it started as a 55 Chev gasser missing its passenger door so i made a coverup panel along with hood and trunk panels from anti-perspirant can aluminium (thick enough to hold it shape but soft enough to form easily) theres also an upgraded roll cage, wiring/fuse box, wheels and nudge bar from a chev tow truck kit, extra screen brace, mesh stone guard parts box decals amd rattlecan blue paint, loads of appropriate weathering

built box stock, sorry can't remember what year it is. its a few years since i built it and i don't keep boxes ot instruction sheets ( i did for years but they were starting to take up more room than my unbuilt kits) paint is rattlecan white and blue, nothing too trick but no weathering as i wanted this to look like it had just rolled out of the workshop for its first race