Johnny Mac

Revell’s 1/8 motorcycle kits are old now, I understand the kit dates back to the early sixties. With some detailing these are still impressive kits today. I used piano wire & brass tube ferrules to replace the heavy kit spokes, the seat was reworked, all nuts & bolts were shaved & replaced with aftermarket items. Becc Uk number plate , Tamiya wire & cable & real springs completed the build. Paint is 2k aerosol with Gundam pen to tarnish the pipes. Thanks for looking, happy modelling.

Considering this is a 30 year old kit, with care it builds into a lovely representation of an early MGB roadster. The stance needs lowering & the wire wheels look a little “toy” until panel washed & Matt lacquered, otherwise it’s fine. I added flocked carpet, photo etched wipers, bare metal foil, Beccs UK number plates & applied Iris blue paint. Pictured with Tamiya’s 1/24 Fiat 500, also a fine kit over 25 yrs old. Supplied with hood up or down.

That's superb Geoff, the seats look incredible. Revell stuff is almost up there with Tamiya now I feel. Funny, I consider the Golf to be a "modern" car, yet they over forty years old now. It makes me feel old.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words, in answer to Mike, the paint applied is car repair aerosols buffed to a high sheen. Take care everyone.

Built completely stock, with the detailed additions of bare metal foil, open quarter lights, tyre valves & underbonnet wiring. Revell have done a great job, I feel the kit is really high quality with relatively few issues. Take care everyone & thanks for looking.

Built straight from the box and painted in a suitable fifties period grey. Only added details were tyre valves and British number plates. The corporate livery was made using inkjet decal sheet, lacquered. A nice curb side kit by Hasegawa, possibly not quite to Tamiya standard but a straightforward build nonetheless.

Thanks to everyone for the compliments and encouraging words. I am amazed at Chuck's knowledge and accuracy re the 1957 details, I had never even noticed the wiper motor panels were a later addition. Happy modelling to all. Johnny

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I was modelling, but a welcome return has been this AMT Ford C 900. The truck is actually a Round 2 reissue which is beautifully moulded and packaged, really impressive. The only difficulty I found was getting the cab to sit correctly (it fouls the air filter) and the bumper has to be raised. The trailer is the earlier Matchbox / AMT mould. The 1957 Ford commercial catalogue shows this was the first year of production for the C900, so the mirrors, which were simpler on the early model had to be scratch built. The cars are AMT 1957 Fairlane's. Some weathering was applied as it seemed appropriate for a working vehicle. Thanks for looking.

It is indeed Helmut, you obviously know your motoring history. Thank you for your kind words.

Wow, I am humbled by the response, I really appreciate it, especially coming from people who take time to pursue modelling & crafts as a hobby. In answer to the questions, I use Derwent 2h-8b pencils (often using matt acrylic lacquer if the shine from the lead is really evident on dark tones-Humbrol Acrylic Matt lacquer eradicates it). The Guild of Motoring Artists are a British Guild with world wide membership, which, is by invitation only following an appraisal of your work. Many are professional or semi pro, some of the worlds top motoring artists are in the guild & make my work look staid. Here are a couple more, an SL Mercedes I did for a Mercedes owners club member, portrayed in a typical Bavarian setting at Lake Konigsee along with an old tram trundling through my home town 100 years ago. Though the Saab was drawn for an owners club event, I never sold it & display it in my studio. Once again thanks for the kind words.

Thanks ever so much Monty, the reference pictures are fantastic. It will be interesting if anyone can confirm the underside was black from factory. Take care.

Hi everyone, a departure from modelling, drawn some years ago as a submission entry into The Guild of Motoring Artists.

Hello everyone, moved by the kind words on the "Under glass" forum, I have been inspired to rekindle the 72 Mustang. The background: When I was eleven, in 1975, an older boy in our street gave me a 1/12 Mustang he had built. I was thrilled, it was so much better than my efforts & I adored it. As an inquisitive child, I pulled it apart, re painted it & generally destroyed it. I fondly recall singing David Soul's "Silver lady" with my Mum spraying it for the tenth time. Sadly the older boy died in his early twenties shortly after, I recall the lads parents staying in the street for years after, he was their only son. My Mum succumbed to the same illness a year later, cancer took her very young. Fast forward to the late nineties, before we got the internet, I hankered for the kit again & my girlfriend managed (through a local model shop) to locate one in Istanbul of all places, still sealed. The price was £74.99 ($120), expensive for a kit, but not by todays standards as all Otaki/Doyusha 1/12 kits are very expensive. They are also rare, in fact I have only ever seen a couple of finished built examples. Though the kit is huge & wonderfully packaged with metal springs, wires & brass nuts, what quickly became apparent, on studying the kit, is it was designed to be motorised & is in that strange area of toy/authentic replica. I was a little disappointed as it was clearly going to be a mammoth task turning this into a presentable model. On the plus side, its proportions were good, despite the wheels being a little flat for Magnum 500's it looked like with a lot of scratchbuilding & research it could be done. After all the sentimental value alone was surely worth the effort. Then we got married, moved house & had two lovely daughters. Fifteen years the kit languished in the loft with only the odd token attempt at building it. Last week I joined the forum & was thrilled by the kind words of other modellers. The kids are older, so out of the loft it comes. Lets see how much I can get done....lets see if I can finish it! The body needed a little filling, I didnt want the hood pins (which are too big & toy like ) bolt heads were added to the inner wings & the door cards needed reworking look more authentic. Although the hinges are still nothing like the real thing, I realise some compromises have to be made so they were reduced in size. The floorpan is where the motorised toy is most evident, the petrol tank held the AA batteries & has a switch sticking out of it. I made a flange to replicate the two halves of a petrol tank & added tank straps. I realise the floorpan & inner wings are not paricularly authentic either, there are lots of very sharp angles that needed rounding off & the propshaft tunnel needs work too. The wiper suttle vents were milled open. The carpeted floor, even when flocked was far too angular & needed smoothing out. We are on our way, apologies for the story, but I can imagine most of us can equate to it, a kit that disappoints & life getting in the way. Somehow we always return to our hobby. One question to our American friends who will be far more acquainted with Mustangs than us in England, from new, was the floorpan satin black or grey dipped primer. Research shows satin black or shiny paint in body colour almost certaily as a result of restoration, I can find no pics from the assembly line. Thanks for your interest. Johnny.

Lovely, old American "estates" as we Brits call them are wonderful , you have captured this perfectly with superb work. Great job.

Really nice, colour choice is spot on. Well done.

That's fantastic, great photos, the ribbed carpet & seat trim look incredible. Well done.

This is fantastic work, I thought I had put some effort into the Esci Merc 190, but this is incredible. Esci covered some great European vehicles that no one else moulded, but turning them into a presentable model takes real effort. Can't wait to see the finished article.

Thanks so much for the kind words, it is a rare kit & I have taken the liberty of adding two more pics in slightly higher res. The latter pic shows what a challenge this kit is, however with a little effort it can be made into a faithful reproduction. I am fortunate enough to own the real thing so research was not a big issue, as the kit is LHD I opted for Italian plates. The 190 badge is a decal in the kit, the star moulded into the boot. I used the donor foil transfers from the Tamiya S500 kit, it included the lovely star on the boot, it looks better & I have seen 190's with just 2.0 on the boot (mines a 2.6 anyway) so I used a bit of licence there. Here she is with my German scoot.

Thanks ever so much everyone for the kind words, as requested Monty, I have added a couple more pics along with a big thankyou in the edited text. I am humbled.

Thanks Dave, considering the age of some AMT kit moulds, they build up into lovely models. The bumper mould seam is the only real giveaway to the era of the moulds. Did you build yours standard (stock for our American cousins) ?

An old build from 1993. I love AMT stuff. Completely stock, added opening quarter lights, under bonnet detailing & tyre valves. Being a newbie I had uploaded images in very low res, I have taken the liberty of re adding the pics in a slightly higher resolution along with a couple more. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind words, I am humbled as I tend to work in complete isolation without any real idea of what my peers would think. Thanks to everyone for commenting Johnny

Wonderful build, lovely colour combo. Johan were great kits, really hard to get hold of now in the UK. I would love one of these.

Lovely, the chrome on the bumpers & grille looks incredible.

Thanks Al, I will try that method on a 1/12 Doyusha Mach 1 Mustang I am toiling with. Thanks for the PM.

Thanks Wayne, Esci panel lines are way too heavy compared to Fujimi or Hasegawa, but there is not a lot of options there. In fairness it's a 30 year old mould, on some levels the kit is really poor (no plated parts whatsoever) yet has odd lovely separately moulded handles. I've seen hardly any completed 190 kits. Possibly for the above reasons.