dougwintz

Although I like to build rally cars with a lot of decals and interesting livery, I think the hardest thing for me to do is build a box stock model, because everything shows. I keep learning new things, the latest of which is to make sure the surface of the trim is smooth so when you apply foil it gives you a smooth finish. Still trying to do better on that. Attached is the 1966 Mercury Parklane, which had a lot of fitment problems, and the 1961 Pontiac Ventura.

Hi Rich and thanks. I do my modeling in a virtual cave. So no worries about sunlight!

Elaborate design for this one. The decals need to be laid down in a specific order. First pass, pink splotches. Then the "snakes". Then the hieroglyphics, or whatever those Egyptian like symbols are. Some nice engine bay detail comes with the kit. And seatbelts with anchored harness. Does anyone know the artist that came up with the design for this car?

Hi. Yes that's right, it is the Revell Germany kit.

Hi. Fun build, more work than i thought. Put a ton of carbon fiber into the interior, then realized it's all hidden from view. Anyway, nice addition to the shelf

Mario...you WIN! It is from the Revell Germany Trabant kit. Reminds me that, if I ever buy another used car, make sure to look under the hood. You never know what might be lurking there.

Fun Tamiya kit. A decal challenge, for sure.

I wanted to build something simple. This Hasegawa kit looked like a candidate. But what appeared to be an engine in the kit was just 1/2 of an engine block. I couldn't leave well enough alone so I looked around for a donor kit. Can you guess what the kit was? Beyond that, I was reminded how relatively easy it is to build a F1 or GT model with a lot of decals, versus a plain white car. Nowhere to hide!!!

Hi Alex. What I didn't show before was that several body panels are white, and those were represented with decals. Which crumbled. But I ended up painting them and it all worked out ok.

This build was a journey. A lot of carbon fiber work cut and fit into the interior. I got the whole body painted the way I wanted it. Applied the decals which represented white body parts, but they crumbled and cracked!! So, I had to mask the body, and paint most of the white accents. Fortunately, it turned out ok.

Well, this Aoshima kit was coming along so well. And then, decal disaster. They cracked, flaked and refused to conform to the surfaces. Looks like I'll have to paint the markings which will take a lot of masking and time. I tried to find a decal supplier, but no luck so far. Anyone know if there's a set out there for this EMI sponsored #40? https://www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/47942989946

No problem. By the way, model roundup, megahobby.com, hiroboy.com and spotmodel.com all have great customer service. Hiroboy is in UK, Spotmodel is in Spain. I have not used UpscaleHobbies yet.

Some of them show up on on modelroundup.com. I see the Nissan R390 there today. upcalehobbies.com and megahobby.com has the Sauber Mercedes. Those are US. Otherwise, you have to look overseas at hiroboy.com or spotmodel.com. But the shipping charges are really really high.

Thanks for the positive comments, guys. I have built a few of them too. ....see pics.

These Tamiya kits are always fun and challenging to put together. I usually try and get spare set of decals since the originals start to show their age. Here are the Mazda 787b and the Toyota 88C-V

Thanks for the positive comments, everyone.

Thanks. I can't say that was my reason - but I'll go with it!

Decided to take a break from GT and Rally cars with this 1949 Mercury. Some aftermarket parts like the dice, upholstery and wheels. The paint is Testors (RIP) Icey Blue which went on easily and didn't require any sanding/buffing. If I had to do it again, I'd spend more time on the engine but I was "done" and ready to move on.

Speaking of BEER, see the TsingTao Mercedes! (This also reminds me I had a few Delirium Tremens and Duvals in Brussels a few years ago)

Hi Helmut. The wheels come the Pit Wall trans kit. I bought it at SpotModel.com, but it's not listed there now. I see it at Hiroboy.com, but also looks like it's out of stock. https://www.hiroboy.com/124_Mercedes_300SL_Carrera_Panamericana_2004_Transkit--product--12861.html Good luck with it. If I had to do it again, I'd buy an extra set of decals. They are thin, and don't cover 100% of the fender flares the way I would like them to.

Thanks for the comments, guys. Nice way to end the year. Have a great 2022

Ok. Here's the last build of 2021. Fun project using the Tamiya model, and Pitwall decals, photoetch and resin. Hope everyone has a great new year.

Yes, that's right. The entire body was painted Park Green, Tamiya. Everything else (even the gold) was decal - SK Decals. They primarily make decals for GT, Le Mans, Rally cars. Best decals I've ever used. Slides off the paper easily. I use them sometimes if I get an older Tamiya kit and the decals are yellowed. SK makes some replicas. I used some decal solution, but not a lot. I also used some scrap carbon fiber decal I had in the parts bin. SK decals has a Facebook page. Only problem is that they are located in Hong Kong. You can see a bunch of their stuff here https://www.spotmodel.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=1288&page=2 Thanks for the comments, everybody.

Beautiful!

Looks great!