Brendan

Very nicely built. The paint and decal work look great.

Nice build on a tough kit to do. I built the red version of it. I know exactly what you're talking about regarding parts that are not molded well. Always liked the Silhouette cars. One question for you. What color did you use for the silver on the interior? And by the way, the interior looks awesome.

Very nicely done Tamiya kit. Now you need to get the new Revell of Germany Audi and Mercedes DTM to go along side of it.

Beautiful as always. Outstanding engine bay detail. I wish all my quick builds would come out like that.

The Revell kits are good but have you considered looking at some of the older Tamiya kits? You can find quite a few of them for under $20. That's what I started on when I was a kid. Better overall fit and I think the instructions are easier to understand than a lot of the U.S. made kits.

Good to see you back. I, too, have been gone for a while. Sometimes you just need to take a break. Can't wait to see some of your new builds. It always amazes me about what you can do with plastic.

Another one of your builds that is going to turn some peoples' heads. Love your detail on the engine bay. Can't wait to see this one finished.

Excellent work on the Ferrari. Decal work is fantastic. I know some of those decals are not the easiest to get to lay down.

Thanks for everyone's comments. This is one of my dad's favorite cars and since I couldn't find a larger scale version as a kit, I decided to build this one for him. I know there's been a couple of 1/24 resin kits available but they're no longer in production. I would love to see a kit manufacturer make a larger scale version of the Birdcage though it would be rather hard to make an injection of the frame. There was a reason it was called the Birdcage.

It's been almost a year since my last post. Finally bought a new computer. I'm now connected with the world again. Thought I'd start off with a model I finished. It's a Midlantic Models of Billy Krause Maserati Birdcage... Kit # MID 66. The scale is 1/43 and the paints used were Tamiya's TS-26 airbrushed and TS-49 to touch up the red decal along with Tamiya's Acrylics for the interior. The exhaust was painted with different shades of Alclad. Decals were cleared with Floquil's Crystal Cote. I've not built very many 1/43 kits as I have a hard time trying to do the detail on them. I would recommend this kit if anyone were interested in doing it since it comes in different versions. Decals were excellent as well as the photoetch. The rims are the best thing about this kit as the wire rims are very intricate. I did have one piece missing which was the roll hoop. I made a replacement out of aluminum tubing. The base is Tulip Poplar stained with several coats of clear automotive lacquer. I mounted it on the base because I was afraid I might lose the car in my collection. Feel free to comment.

Looking good. How long did it take to clean out the rims? When I did mine, it took 3+ hours to do all four. But once they're cleaned up and have paint on them, they look good. I'm trying to talk BHP into making a Corvette Trans Am. Either that or the Mangousta (sp) .

A couple of questions... Is it a water base acrylic or is it a lacquer based? If it's water based, you can use alcohol or citrus based cleaners and it will strip it off. If it is lacquer based, you can use a product called Scale Coat II.

Kind of sucked for me as Speed mislabeled what was on the TV schedule. I ended up seeing part of the Super V-8's. They had it listed as a Lucas Oil Race or something. In regard to sports cars growing in popularity, it's partially due to the manufacturers wanting to develop new cars and be able to make them fuel efficient. Since the rules allow them to do so unlike NASCAR. NASCAR hasn't had any major development for the cars driven on the road whereas as the sports cars directly relate to the cars driven on the road. So it's a way for the manufacturers to do R/D for the road cars. In regard to US F1, they're running into a major hurdle not being able to get their cars passed through safety inspections. They failed the side impact test, but passed the front impact test. Because of the failure, they redesigned part of the car. And now they have to get everything retested again which will take easily 4 to 5 months. There probably won't be a US team in 2010 or at least not until mid-season.

You can remove epoxy with rubbing alcohol...60% or higher. You can also use denatured alcohol. I would just let the brush soak in it overnight and it should just flake off.

Outstanding job on the Porsche. One of my favorite paint schemes. I'm going to be doing that same paint scheme on a Porsche 961 Tamiya kit.

Thanks for the comments and glad I could help.

Thanks for the comment. And yes, it is the same car. TOCA and BTCC are the same thing. If I remember correctly, they only made six of these cars. Two were destroyed but salvaged by privateers. And the other four, I believe Audi has.

Hey Jameston, I thought I sent you the pictures; guess I didn't. I'll get them to you sometime today. Thanks again for the paint.

Looking really good. With the rims, take your time on cleaning them up. As there is a lot of flash on them. Took me about a day and a half to clean mine. Let us know when you start getting on the decals. And if you have any problems with the decals, I have a second sheet if you need them.

Curt, This is what happens when I get excited. I build things. Hopefully I'll have a couple more kits to bring down to the NNL West. It's always good to see you.

If you like Testor's Enamel Paints, a clear I also use is from Floquil. It's called Crystal-Cote #F110004. The only downside to this product that I see is that it takes a long time to cure. One thing you have to watch out for when you're getting this product is that they sometimes mix up the labels with their high gloss clear. The way you can tell the difference is that the Crystal-Cote will be clear and the high gloss will have a yellow gold tinge to it. I mainly use this clear for when I'm clearing over decals that are very sensitive. I've never had a bad reaction when using it over decals. I thin it out to 3 parts to 7 parts thinner to paint for airbrushing with lacquer thinner. The product has never yellowed on me. Hope this helps.

Very cool idea. Where I used to live, there was a guy who lived down the street from where I worked and took his mini and made it into a pickup. That's what I thought you were kind of doing at first until I saw the rear cover being put on. I have a very slow computer so it took me a while to see all the pictures. Looking forward to seeing this build.

Very nicely done bike. The metallic green really looks good on it.

If you're using Tamiya's X-22, it has a tendency to yellow quite a bit. I would suggest not using it. Get yourself some Future Floor Polish, which is already thin enough to air brush. Another thing you might want to try is Tamiya's TS-13 Lacquer Clear Coat. I use it quite a bit.

Very nice job on the Corvette. I can't tell from the picture on my computer is it's a pearl white or just white. But looks good either way. A trick I've done for warped plastic is to put it in warm water and then bend it back into shape. And then immediately dunk it in cold water.