Jhedir6

Just received from MSHOBBIES I did a kit review in the Kit Review section with more photos and details. David

This is a kit review for the new BMW Z4 GTE transkit from MSHOBBIES for use with Fujimi's BMW Z4 GT3 kit. The kit is mastered and produced by Joe Vondracek of Quickskins in conjunction with Mark Palacz of MSHOBBIES. You can purchase the kit from http://www.mshobbies.com/ for $50.00 US plus shipping. What's in the box. This is a seven piece TK, with a new GTE body, front and rear diffusers and 2 front and 2 rear rims(wheels). The kit DOES NOT include decals but you can get various sets from http://members.optusnet.com.au/pattosplace/home.html , just look under "B" for BMW and scroll down to the BMW Z4 decals and pick from the large number he has available. Studio 27 and Racing43 also carry decals for various different liveries for the BMW Z4, most are for GT3 models, but would likely fit this TK without issues. The resin is smooth and well detailed. There is minimal flash and virtually no imperfections, I found one small pinhole on the bottom of mine that can easily be fixed. The details are crisp and the kit will require no more clean up or prep than a mass produced injection molded kit. The resin is thin (only slightly thicker than the Fujimi BMW), and flexible yet strong. The front and rear diffusers are thin and flexible and have great detail as well. The rims are perfect looking with some flash in the spokes to clean up, but its thin and easily removed. Top: Inside: Front: Sides: Rear: Included with the kit, some simplified direction sheets Typed directions: Reference photos for replacing the stock diffusers with the GTE diffusers. Reference photo for separating the one piece stock windows into separate pieces for the TK. Without having yet started this kit I very impressed with the overall quality and accuracy thus far. There are only two minor things I'd would of like to of seen done differently. First, on the instruction photo for removing the diffusers I would of like to of seen measurements added to the photo's to show how much material to cut out in mm. Just to make things a bit easier on the builder. Secondly, on the Fujimi kit, the rear brake duct cooling vents just infront of the rear wheels are open, but on the TK they are closed off. You can see the them on the outer surface of the resin and they can be opened up if the builder choses, but I would of preferred to of seen them casted opened. Neither of these things takes away at all from the over all quality and value of this trans kit. I am extremely satisfied with my purchase and look forward to getting some time to start building this kit. David

Go to Shapeways.com TDR has their items printed from there. I've purchased a set of wheels from a different designer, not TRD, but their stuff looks good. The wheels were abit rough, not bad, like a lot of resin that's out there. The material is easy to sand out and the wheels looked pretty good. They are however fragile, like HD resin wheels. You cant push on the centers at all like you can with injection molded plastic, you just have to use caution. Hope this little bit of info was somewhat helpful. David

Personally I like this, a lot. I'd like to see the P1 too, but as stated above, its production run is over, McLaren would want a new kit out there and if it sells well, maybe they'll license the P1......here's hoping. I think the tires look like Revell's general fair....poor, too tall of a profile and too skinny. Hard to say for sure but I'm betting I'm right. I agree, with 105 parts, most likely an engine or most of it, but I bet like the 918 they do a 1 or 2 piece body with no opening hatch, which is a failure imo. Hopefully Plamoz with do corrected scale wheel set for this like they did for the i8 and 918, or someone else out there. I'm actually sort of surprised that no aftermarket company, like HD or Plamoz is doing current tires for aftermarket upgrades for some of these new kits. I'm sure they'd sell well. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have to pick up atleast 2 of these kits so I can have a road version then do a conversion to a GT racer on the other, cause McLaren's look great in race trim. David

I've never used brake fluid myself but for years I've used SuperClean with great results. Sometimes it takes hours sometimes days, depends on the paint. Recently I tried isopropyl alcohol with really good results. You need 91% or so, gotten mine at Target and Sam's in the States when across the border shopping. IPA works fast, especially on paint, I find on certain primers it doesn't work as well as SuperClean. So I'll put a body in IPA to remove the paint, usually less than an hour, then rinse it off and drop it in SC to remove the primer in a couple more hours and its clean enough to work with. Make sure you keep the containers closed as the vapours aren't very nice. I strip the parts in my hobby room and leave the fan to my spraybooth on to evacuate the fumes. I've had no adverse effects on plastic or on resin parts with SC but I don't recommend using IPA on resin, I stripped a HRM body with IPA and it softened the resin some. I was lucky as I was watching the process but had I left it over night it would of probably eaten the body completely. Hope this info helps some. David

Ok, I've decided I'm gonna play next weekend too. I signed up on FB and will post there once I can figure it out. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Miles/Ruby win I'll be doing David.

I got a 2010 Camaro I'm working on that I have a similar blue for, hope mine works out as nice as your. David

LOVE IT TOM!!!!!! Looks amazing, that colour really pops. Didn't think it would look that good in blue, I was wrong. Looking forward to your next build. David

Contact Jeff at http://www.firebirddesigns.net/customdecals.htm he's got some 1/24 68 GT decals he might be able to scale them up for you to 1/18. David

Short update Got some primer on the body to check for imperfections and correct them. Still abit more fine tuning to go. Interior is mocked in to check fitment and so far looks good. The hood still sits abit high for my liking I need to sand out the front cowl where the hood sits to lower it some more. Looked much worse before I took the above photo, it really stood out. I de-chromed the rear bumper and had to actually cut it in the middle then re-glue it because the copy is just a hair narrower than the master and there was about .5mm overhang on either side of the rear quarters. The firewall and inner fenders are now glued to the body. I'll fab some filer plates on the sides of the engine bay to be added in the final assembly. That's it for tonight.....trailed off this week on building while I'm fighting the flu. Comments and criticisms welcome and appreciated. David

It's cool and all that the speculation is of older racers.....but how about the newer 458 GT2/3? I know there's a couple TK's and slot cars available but a full kit would be nice. Or, even better, the new 488 GT which is replacing the 458. I'd like to see some modern GT love myself. It seems lately no ones making any current GT cars. Fujimi did the BMW GT3 and the McLaren MP412C, but no one did the Viper SRT, Corvette C7R, Porsche 991 RSR ( slot companies, yes I know, I have some of them). Also Tamiya hasn't done a Japanese Super GT car in awhile either, so personally I'm hoping for something abit more current. But I'm usually wrong. David

Nice JC, I like how you darkened the red up with the dark primer and smoke, I'll have to keep that in mind. Looking forward to more. David

Nice JC. I love your Cobra's. Looking forward to a lot more. David

Small update for my Raptor, Working on the rollcage and interior, needs more attention. Started on the chassis mods...still deciding how detailed to go. Hood removed for the engine. More parts to come this week in the mail I hope. David

I know exactly where that tip is, and as soon as you finish this build....... I'll tell you. Looking good so far. Waiting for more. David

ummm wow. I love it. I just build my own too recently, but yours is fantastic. Thanks for sharing with us. David

I have both of the Revell Germany kits. If you're interested in them, order yourself the aftermarket wheels from http://plamoz.com/ They've corrected the size of the rims and use the kit tires to make them work. Well worth the $13.00 US for them. David.

Couple more shots before I crash. Passenger side rear fender on. Still some work to do to blend it in, but happy with the results so far. I didn't take any shots from the rear, still lots of work to do there. I started on the driver side rear fender but it'll have to wait till tomorrow to get finished. Thanks for looking. David

Been doing some work on this little beast too. First I removed the roof from the BMW. I took the A pillars back and now I wish I had of just graphed the roof on from the windshield frame back. The Miata windshield doesn't fit now. I haven't tried the BMW windshield yet, I'm hoping to get lucky, but I'm not holding my breath. Otherwise I think it looks not too bad. I still haven't added any putty yet. This is just glued into place. There may be some more tweaking to come. I want to be able to adjust the roof if need be after I get the fenders installed to get an overall feel. Then I removed the rear fenders and lower rocker panels off both cars. Backing strips were added to the Miata for support for the incoming body graphs. A shot from the front. Still looks like a Miata so far. I'm going to try and not remove or replace any of the frontal openings to retain the Mazda design. Hoping to get the fender graphs attached tonight. Then start on the blending of them into the Miata body. Thanks for looking. Comments and Criticisms always welcome. David

I wont comment on whether it right or wrong. Everyone will have an opinion and no ones likely to change theirs after hearing what someone from the other side thinks. Read this thread, details there on where you can contact Greg and he can quote you a price on the kit and shipping. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/44540-67-eleanor-transkit-available/ That's a photo of SP's Eleanor body kit for the 2005/6 Mustang. Not the Gone in 60 Seconds version. SP is doing a reissue of theirs later this month. Info is up on their FB page. Small update from me. Wheels sanded out and flash from the spokes cleaned up. I damaged one spoke out of forty. It'll need some CA and putty to fix. Not a big deal, but still a PITA. I haven't sanded out the backsides of the wheels yet as I am not sure which tires I'll use. I removed the inner fender/shock towers and will add them to the chassis after the engine is installed and plumbed. There is also a small imperfection in the lower grill surround to fix. Nothing difficult. I have more body work to do tonight and hope to get a coat of primer on it in the morning to help see what other body work is required before paint. Paint will be from Scale Finishes, their Eleanor Gray/Black combo. Thanks for looking. Comment and Criticisms always welcome. David

Very nice, I actually like it in silver. David

Hey Bruce, yep I know. Its about the exact same distance from where I am to either that one or the one in Stoney Creek just off the linc. I usually go to Hamilton one cause its only 5 mins down the linc to hit the one in Ancaster too if needed. As well I go to Dundas Valley hobbies to get paints. He carries a huge range, much more than the store in St Kitts has now. David

I have a question to ask. I was wondering if there has been in the past any talk of having a logo for each year? Like the Cannonball Run logo: Or something like: Originally I was going to try to do up a mock one to show, but I suck at graphic art and probably wouldn't of had one to show ready before Christmas. Anyways, idea was have a main logo for the hood like the Peking to Paris one, with 2016 at the top then Cannonball just below then Darwin to Adelaide at the bottom. You could then have 2 more decals (one for each door, something like the first pic I posted, that has a corporate sponsor (something Auzzieish) at the top. The entrants number ( each entrant would have to pick their own number to put in the middle) and then 2016 Cannonball Run at the bottom. Sorry, I wish I could do a design to show everyone, I have the idea, just suck at being able to make what I see in my head. Once designed we'd either 1- have to find someone who could create a decal sheet to sell to entrants if they so chose, 2- print them off ourselves, Testors has a homemade decal system. I've got the paper and the decal spray I just haven't tried it yet to see how good it is with a normal printer. Anyways, just an idea. David

I envision an empty trailer being towed along to pick up all the dead and rotting entrants that fall along the wayside so they can all cross the finish line, right behind you. Should be cool. I think I have an idea of what you really mean.

You're right, I didn't check the print preview, its Saturday, not Friday. Thanks for pointing that out. Here, too, but for Christmas the 2 in Hamilton had stocked up, so hoping they have some decent items left, and the 50% off brings them down abit lower than most of the local shops here. Normally I don't make the drive just for this kind of stuff, I have other places to go too, so I lumped them all into 1 trip. Just nice to save 50% off a kit whenever possible. Thanks again for the heads up on the start date....I'll check them more carefully in the future. David