IJ001

All kinds of Awesome !! Ian.

Sprechenloss !! - museum quality modelling. Ian.

Only from eBay, David. There may be one or two outlets here in NZ, but TBH I've not found any in six years !! - I know Pegasus AM products and they are very good however Aoshima & Fujimi extras are quite easy to get here, there's a few guys importing and selling on-line at good/competitive prices (not as cheap as Europe or the US, but not trying to rip-off the modeller like some do !!). Ian.

Twenty year old Revell kit, and not a bad one too. Wanted a contemporary look without changing the 'structure' too much, so de-chromed throughout, faired-in and cut down bumpers front & rear, steering wheel from a Tamiya R34, the rest is just paint. Tamiya Gunmetal, polished & buffed, not clear coated, a dark red interior which I carried through to the outside accents and finall a little carbon-fibre decalling on the valence. Ta Daaaa !! Wheels & tyres are 18" SA-70s from Aoshima and just don't look right. I'll replace them with 16" when I can, also need to source some brake discs, there's a set in the R34 spares but I'll need to perform a fair bit of surgery to get them to fit the Revell axles. Hope you like it, AFN Ian.

One of my 'Grail Schemes' - would love to do this one... Great to see this in the flesh, John. Ian.

Nicely done, Matt. Always enjoy your builds. Still cannot decide what colour to do mine aswell... Black with a tan interior is looking very 'do-able' at the moment. Ian.

All kinds of 'Kool'... Great build & finish, really like this. Ian.

Great looking model, love that scheme, but then I'm British so I think it's compulsory !!. Never heard of TABU DECALS before now, Steve so off to see if I they'll post-out to Middle Earth. Ian.

Sorry I'm fashionably late to this gig... Very nice build, Michael, on my to-do pile for early this year aswell. Ian.

Museum quality finish. Simply outstanding. Ian.

Cheers, Pat (et al) - the swap only works one way, unfortunately, but that's fine as the other reason I did this was that I got my paws on an AM sheet for the GT2 !! - you'll see that one very soon. Ian.

...and done. Yep a 'What If' / Fantasy Scheme build. Sprayed & masked the red first using the Tamiya 911 GT2 as a 'guide', the rest was easy. Hope you take it in the spirit that it's meant... FUN !! More pics in 'Under Glass;. AFN Ian.

Second of my quick'n fun holiday builds. Take one (cheap) Tamiya 'Tom's Supra' kit; build it straight from the box; swap out the kit decals for the ones' that come with their 911 GT2 kit and, Ta daaaa.... Not everyones cup-of-tea, I know, but I had a shed-load of fun doing it over the last ten days or so, and isn't that really the point of the hobby ?. Feel free to ask any questions or post any outrage, it's all fine with me. Thanks for taking the time to look and/or comment. AFN Ian.

Two-and-a-half hour uninterrupted session this afternoon (it's Sunday here). All straight from the box including the (decal) seat harness, no 'detail-up' set here ! Next, decals !! Ian.

Great colour, that would look 'right' on GT-R... Hmmmm ! Ian.

No they aren't. They are airbrush ready, enamel lacquers. In my opinion far better/easier to work with than Alclad as you can spray them directly on to the plastic (like I have here) and get phenomenal results; also they don't lift-off or scuff like Alclads' do under handling. I've been using these for about 18 months now and they are easily the best NMF product I have found. Very durable, they take weathering powders & washes without lifting, etc, etc, etc. This is Phil Flory's review on You Tube - he's a very respected British modeller, and completely independent (not sponsored at all): Try them out, you'll be surprised (in a good way). Ian.

Very nice indeed. Love that scheme. Ian.

So a couple of days of airbrushing and hand-painting the smaller parts and a couple of sub-assemblies and I'm ready to do 'gluing together'. Next session (whenever that may be) and I should get almost all of the rolling chassis together. Stay tuned, folks. Ian.

Just superb, nothing else to say. Ian.

Minilite style from the Italeri Escort RS1800 may be the way to go, Paul, I think they'd look fine... your call. Ian.

So the second holiday project has hit the bench: Tamiya's 'Toms' Supra GT, definitely not going to be finished in the kit-supplied Castrol colours: Tamiya's TS-8 'Italian Red' with AK Xtreme Metals' Polished Aluminium' and some hand painted matt black (first coat only in these photos). The insides are all AK Xtreme Metals' 'Dark Aluminium' but obviously only just started, the cage is glued together but not to the chassis in these pics. Bodyshell is TS-94 'Metallic Grey'. Two light coats and nowhere near shiny enough, so I'll brush on a coat of Klear/Future before decalling, then another afterward. Going to keep the final 'look' a surprise as long as I can, but hopefully y'all will get a kick from it. Not too many 'What If' cars around so nice to do something that little bit outta 'left field', eh ? More soon. Ian.

Inspiration ?, nowhere other than my own twisted imagination, that, and I was determined to soften the angular lines of the (real) car with a 'curvy' paint job. TBH it could have gone a number of different ways, I just went with the easiest to mask/spray in the end !!. The 'Batmobile' is a late 1980's Airfix re-box of a motorised Arii kit I think, not the best fitting nor most accurate kit you'll ever build but scrubs-up-nice with the Studio 27 decals. Ian.

Thanks guys, glad y'all like what I did last year. Remember I also build aircraft and AFV's and there's just as many of them to show... if you're interested scroll to the bottom of page 1 on this thread over at my other 'home' on Modelers Alliance: http://www.modelersalliance.com/forum/modelers-lounge/153528-year-end-review-2017 Really in to my car builds just now, got two more queuing-up with more to come, and if anyone here has an unopened old Monogram Lotus Esprit they want to sell... PLEASE let me know !! AFN Ian.

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the comments. Have to say that other than the self made issue with the dust the first time it was painted, this (14 year old) kit went together fairly easily, the only minor struggle is assembling the rear suspension in the correct order. The kit supplied SA 'etch' is a joy and it sits so 'right' without any modification at all. Next will be something very different, please stay tuned. AFN Ian.

That Monogram Esprit is my 'Grail kit' !! Ian.