Farmer Wilding

NOW I get the hang of this! Here are the rest.

Um - I tried to do multiple pics, but only one appeared?

Here's the first model I've shown here. Normally I build factory stock, but I wanted to do something different. It's AMT's old '69 Corvair, painted Tamiya Candy Lime Green over gold, and built with the full race engine and aluminium mufflers on the headers.

I'd agree the AMT Avanti is a tricky one. I love Studes too. I've been building for 40 years, and I find I have to distinguish between "tricky" and "well-nigh impossible" The old AMT kits with opening doors and such can be tricky, but the problems with the doors can usually be solved by careful fitting and trimming before painting and asemby - says he who hardly ever does this!! I love the old '56 Ford kit - I've built about eight - though now that I think about it the doors usually don't fit properly, but as I never show my models that's never bothered me. My unicorns would have to be kits which have taken 20+ years to build. No, not Pochers (never tried one!); kits that I've got stuck on, and put away in disgust, to revisit them years later. So what fits into that category, you ask? Well, there was the Otaki 1/20 scale Datsun 240Z (Fairlady Z432) from the seventies. I started it before I was married - we celebrated out 24th anniversary last month. It's still not finished, but only needs some BMF now. This one was a unicorn for several reasons. Firstly, the electrics. It's motorised for forward and reverse, as well as working headlights. Trying to feed those wires front to back where they wouldn't show was no fun. I think everything will work, but I have no intention of putting batteries in it to drive the fruit of my not-inconsiderable labour. Then there were the seats. Working reclining seats sound great, but there's no friction in the mechanism, so they instantly fallback to the fully-reclined position. I stuffed up the paint - but that's not the kit's fault. And then, when I got it all together, I find you can see the ground through the side windows - despite the opening doors, there are half-inch gaps between the firewall and the centre console, and between the battery box under the hatch and the side of the body. UNICORN! Then there was the old 1/24 Pyro VW Beetle. It sorta,kinda went together OK, but despite the opening trunk with luggage, there were no trunk side panels so you could see the wheels as soon as you opened the trunk. Same in back with the engine. My biggest unicorn at the moment is more like a rhinoceros. Well, mentally, anyway. It's the Heller 1/16 scale Citroen DS. Has anyone else tried this? It has a lot of things right, until you go to install the body on the chassis - and find the rear seat and parcel shelf doesn't want to tuck up into that tight tapered tail. Unicorn? Yep - 30 years and counting.....

I wish they could've got it right on the box. That Lindberg kit is a tudor sedan, not a coupe! check the long rear side windows, and the short deck compared to a coupe. Also it looks from the parts photo as though the front end is too flat. The real '49 Fords had a nicely curved front edge to the hood. Check the photo against the box art. I date back to the days of the Pyro original (!), and I noticed it way back then.

Thanks Bill. Good to catch up with you again!

I've got the Lee '58 Caddy convert. I mean, where else can you get a '58 Caddy? Now, I'm not as "obsessive" as Bill, and being an Aussie country boy I've never seen a '58 Caddy in the metal, but to my eyes the body's not too bad. Sure, the hardtop roofline's out to lunch, but that's not a factor with the convert. Note I said "the body's not too bad". That leaves an awful lot of kit.... The interior seems OK. OK but simple. Don't expect decaled instruments, chrome trim or the like. Engraving is pretty good, though I can't vouch for the accuracy of the upholstery pattern. I'll check it if you want. The chassis is abominable. Sink marks, flow lines, massive sprue attachment points, you name it. They've had a go at replicating a proper-appearing chassis, but the execution lets it down big-time. Also it seems to have been designed to take batteries and an electric motor in the trunk, which tells you all you need to know about the accuracy of the rear suspension. The front end however is tolerable, with poseable steering (pretty much a given in a motorised kit), and you do get a detailed Caddy-looking V8 under the hood. Just watch out for mistakes in the instruction, IIRC the exhaust manifolds don't fit right and require some surgery. But it's WAY better than the Trumpeter Monte Carlo "engine"... The other thing to watch out for is the colors. Be sure to have your sunglasses on when you open the kit. Mine had a gold body, bright orange interior, black chassis plus the usual clear and (excellent) chrome. (Guys, this is my first serious post here, so I hope I haven'y been unduly critical or anything to get into trouble.)

IIRC I removed about 3mm from the back edge of the pan, test-fitting it and the bumper against the body until it looked right. Farmer Wilding

Let's try that again - This is my first post here, and I think I goofed up big time! With a bit of luck I'll have my name down the bottom without the original post this time!