Richard Bartrop

The Continental was basically a modified Zephyr, so the chassis from the Monogram Continental should do the job, and it's closer to 1/25 than the Lindberg kit.

I could certainly go for a stock version of that Peugeot. Maybe if enough people ask the good folks at Heller?

Starting in 1951, you could order a Kaiser with a vinyl top in a pattern they called "dinosaur" It might not actually be vinyl, but in 1928, ford would sell you this Model A Special Coupe, which was certainly the same idea. If you wanted something fancier, there's this Bugatti Type 46 Faux Cabriolet. Because everything is classier in French, even "fake convertibles" And speaking of retractable hardtops, in 1934, you could get this snazzy Peugeot 601 Eclipse.

No worries. Fake convertibles have long been a part of the automotive scene. That's basically what a hardtop is,

And I in turn expressed mine. Sounds like everything is working just the way it should.

Gotta love love how people rush in to let us all know how bored they are. The one thing that leapt out at me is the Johnny Lightning Cobra Coupe. Now, people have said that the problem with getting a reasonably priced i.e. under three figures Cobra Coupe kit, has been licensing issues, and I've accepted that, but here's Round 2 running off a bunch of little diecast coupes, and I'm guessing they figure they can turn a profit. So we have companies like Model Factory Hiro selling their gold plated multimedia kits, and Round 2 selling their cheap little diecasts, and you tell me that nobody can turn a profit selling a kit that falls in between these two extremes? Call me just a wee bit skeptical.

Fake headlights that retract to reveal the real headlights.

And I'd love to have a reasonably priced Cobra Coupe model too, but it has been brought up before that the problem has been the license fees, so until that changes, I'm not holding my breath.

If you have a scanner, you can stick the boxes on those as well. If you scan them at a high resolution, you can get them printed out for wall art.

That is one of the up sides to the not so pretty photo boxes. I can chuck those without regret.

You can cast RTV rubber from a RTV rubber mould if you apply a coat of mould release. It's how I made white rubber tires for my Pyro Mercer build.

I would say that even if you don't know what it is, it still has that "WOW!" factor going for it.

Okay, I was wrong. That fender kept bugging me, and it actually looks like it might be a 1926-28 Willys-Overland Whippet

I have the '53, and I totally agree.

That is pretty amazing. The new Koenigsegg Jesko is supposed to be good for 300, but we'll see what it actually does once it is finished.

Even the ones who aren't favourites still manage to come up with some winners. I know Lindberg has acquired a certain *ahem* reputation, but even they have managed to come up with a few nice kits, especially their later years.

If the trend is to classic, well proportioned design, even if it might not be breathtakingly original, it's a trend I welcome with open arms.

That over the top look is precisely what makes it appealing, the same way it works for drag racers. It's also a very no nonsense look, just the bare minimum of sheet metal stretched over the chassis. It's a car built for winning races, not beauty contests.

The guy from South Africa going "I almost bought one!" was a pretty big clue right there. I will say that living in the Commonwealth, or close to it, probably gave you a bit of an advantage. When I was a kid, and devouring every car book I could get my hands on, most of the car books seemed to be from England, so got fairly familiar with the carmakers of that green and pleasant land. I didn't know immediately what it was, but that roofline was naggingly familiar, but it looked like some sort of British Leyland product from the '70s, and probably a restyled version of an older model. Wikipedia's list of BL products from that era led me to believe its was based on what was called the ADO16, and sold under various names. Running through the list for versions I hadn't heard of, and sold in South Africa lead to the Austin Apache. The Wikipedia page on the Apache mentioned a version with fancy wheels called the TC, and in Googling the Austin Apache TC to try and nail down the year led to a blog where the writer mentioned disapointment at not getting the white roofed Type 35. Googling Austin Apache 35 revealled it was built in one year, 1976, and only 300 were made.

A Cheetah? I'd buy one.

Round wheels? Everyone uses those.

Don't care, it's beautiful. And of course when someone does do something unique, everyone reacts like a five year old to broccoli, "Ewwwww, it's strange, I hate it!"

I'd have to say, my favourite Trek series is The Orville. Yes, sometimes it borders on the downright purile, but they seem to have a better handle on what Trek is about than the writers of Discovery. I'm of two minds about Discovery. On the up side, it certainly looks pretty, and I love that they're tried to make aliens actually look alien. It doesn't look like Old Trek, but of the many virtues of that show, production design wasn't one of them. Even Roddenberry leapt at the chance to change things up when he had a movie budget to play with. My biggest irritation is the writing, which is a dog's breakfast of nostalgia bombs and lame attempts at drama, with storylines apparently laid out with the aid of an ouija board. Then again, The Next Generation's first couple of seasons were pretty rough too, so I'll willing to cut them a little slack for now. I don't have to pay extra up here to watch it, which may colour my decision to be a little more forgiving. However, The Expanse still blows both series away, and someone should look into releasing some model kits based on it. I can't be the only one who would like the Rocinante sitting on my model shelf. And yes, maybe not every choice is what you want, but that doesn't mean it's a waste of plastic. I know I've been skeptical of some of Round2's choices, but someone, somewhere is fulfilling their childhood dream of a 1979 Pinto model, and that's okay. I just get grumpy when they charge Tamiya prices for old AMT kits, and they don't even bother to clean up the moulds a bit.

There was a fun short story in Road & Track many years ago, where someone sent an order to an old magazine ad, and got a reply from the 1920s

I know, and it's original purpose was for a 1978 Star Trek TV series that eventually got turned into the movie. I've always liked the McQuarryprise, and it's why I like the DIscovery.