jaymcminn

Tres cool. The perfect car for French Batman. I've never seen one of these kits before, and your build is excellent!

I love my Iwata Revolution gravity feed. Great control when I need it and volume when I have to cover a large area. It's (relatively) easy to clean and isn't an "air hog" like my Paasche VL was.

How about something like the Iso Grifo hood bulge?

RMCoM doesn't produce the 250 motor anymore, which is a shame because I've heard it was fantastic. I missed the opportunity to score one at a swap meet a few years back and have been kicking myself since. I've heard the HRM Testa Rossa engine kit is really nice too... one of those will probably make its way into my 250 SWB project. One of these days...

I agree about the front fender shape... the lower line of the front fender makes the rear fender kink look a little out of proportion. Not a deal breaker for me, but it is there. I'd love to see Fujimi (or Hasegawa, for that matter) take a crack at some of the other 250 variants, such as the Lusso. I have the Italeri SWB Berlinetta waiting patiently for a future build... that one might get an HRM Testa Rossa engine swap. Thanks for your comments!

So I might not be posting as much lately, but that doesn't mean I'm not building... This is the ex- Italeri Ferrari California Spyder kit in its current release as the mysterious "European Classic Car" by Academy. Other than ditching the Ferrari scripts from the decal sheet and the valve covers, the kit is completely unchanged from the Testors/Italeri release. This kit definitely has its share of problems... rampant parts sharing between the three variants of 250 Italeri produced (SWB, California, GTO) means some major inaccuracies that need to be addressed. The interior is completely wrong, with Spartan racing seats substituted for the Cali's tuck n' roll buckets, and the wheels and tires are clunky and toy- like. The interior took the most work... the dash was accurate, if in need of removal of a nasty seam, but the seats and door cards were really bad. I scrounged a set of parts-box seats (originally from the Aurora/Monogram Aston Martin DB4) and re-scribed the seams and added piping from fine wire. After priming and painting they looked fantastic. The door panels had a gigantic map pocket covering the cutout in the door panel shared with the GTO kit. I trimmed down the map pocket and filled the hole in the door panel with sheet styrene. Styrene strip trim and some parts-box door hardware made a big difference. I scratchbuilt a radio box for the center console (saw one online that I liked) and replaced the clunky shift boot and shifter stalk with a scratchbuilt piece made from Bondo and wire. Here are some progress shots of the interior... ,,,and the finished product, flocked and painted in Tamiya deck tan with a slightly darker wash to add some subtle color variation to the "leather". I painted the tops of the door panels body color, which was more accurate for the earlier LWB Californias but looks cooler in my opinion. The wheels are the photoetched/plastic Hasegawa parts for the 250 Testa Rossa.shod with Tamiya Dunlop tires. The width is more prototypically correct for the California and makes a world of difference to the finished model. The same Tamiya Jaguar donor kit gave up its door handles, windshield wipers, and rear view mirror to replace the clunky kit parts. Fine mesh was installed in the side vents. Scripts and the Cavallino on the rear license plate are from a Hobby Design metal transfer set and the badge on the nose is an E.Jan piece. Paint is Tamiya Maroon under Testors Wet Look Clear. The bumpers were stripped, some nasty mold lines and sink marks sanded out, and painted with Alclad chrome. Most of the engine detail is hidden under the large intake box, which might come off if I can find some better carbs. The kit valve covers had the Ferrari logo blanked out... these came from an Italeri GTO. I probably made 30 of these little mesh screens to get six really good ones. As always, any questions or comments are welcome!

Nice to see one of these built, and yours is an amazingly clean build. I've been kicking around ideas for mine for a while now and hope it turns out even remotely this nice.

Congratulations, Bill! You're losing the weight the RIGHT way. I dropped from 309 to about 215 over the course of two years through diet and exercise. I've kept the weight off (with minor fluctuations) for about a decade now. I can't even imagine myself at that weight again. Gym time is "me" time these days, and I'm proud to be able to bench press pretty close to my peak weight (285 lbs, 3 sets). The fact that you're conscious of what your trigger foods are and know how to manage your diet indicates that you're going to do just fine. Putting in the hours at the gym can be arduous at times, but the rewards speak for themselves. Keep it up!

Yeah... that's the old Revell USA kit in a nice new box. Just awful. I'd probably just use the decals, which do seem nice, on the Fujimi '74 Carrera. Good luck on this one.

I love the Model Master Acryl line. I think the flat colors and gloss solids might even be better in some respects than the Tamiya acrylics, although the clear colors and metallics in the Tamiya line are superior. Definitely worth trying.

Can't wait for that GTI. It's a new tool, too. Kind of gives me hope that a BMW 2002 might be in the offing some day...

I'm not convinced that the chrome pieces are supposed to be shiny. The center console and wheels should be satin anyway. Often Revell will dullcoat the chrome pieces to approximate satin chrome... could that be the case here? Also, the Azzuro California is the business on a 360 Spyder- here's my Tamiya kit in Tamiya pearl light blue (pretty close to the Azurro) with Crema over Blu Scuro interior. Good luck on your build... you're off to a great start so far!

Don't forget this...

I love it. It's modern and elegant with just enough classic Mustang styling cues so there's no doubt what it is. I particularly like how the vertical LED elements in the headlights recall the louvers inboard of the headlights of the first-gen car. The taillight treatment looks great, and the overall proportions are perfect. As much as I like the current car, I can't wait to see this one up close.

I'll tend to get burned out on building a type of car and will move on to something different for a while. I've gone from classics to muscle cars to hot rods to customs and am now in my exotics phase. The nice thing about having a big collection is that there's always something in the stash to choose from when I'm in the mood for something different.

I'm not so sure about the "safe" part. Love that little MG, though. These cars beat any of those cheesy modern "rats" hands down!

The Italeri 250 California Spyder lives on as the Academy "European Classic Car" kit. Academy (a Korean model company) is leasing the Italeri tools to produce the kit, but has apparently never received approval from Ferrari, so they can't put the name on the box. I scored mine, shipped, for around $25.00 on Ebay. If you don't mind having to source Ferrari scripts and Cavallinos, it's a fantastic deal. I keep checking Ebay to see if Academy has gotten the 250 SWB tool since Revell doesn't seem to want it.

It's pretty annoying dealing with Strada sometimes. That being said, they do offer a lot of stuff under one virtual roof that can be difficult to track down otherwise. I've ordered from Kevin maybe 4 or 5 times and played the whole game with the backordered/ out of stock items repeatedly. I've also gotten some pretty cool items I wasn't able to find elsewhere. Generally, I've learned to order from Strada if A: I can't find the item elsewhere and B: I don't really need the item right away. Which might be kind of a lousy way to do business with an online vendor, but so be it.

The Tamiya Ferrari 360's are fantastic kits that build up right out of the box as potential contest winners. Excellent detail and amazing parts fit and engineering. The Carrera and Enzo are in the pile waiting for me to get around to ordering SMS carbon fiber sets for them. As an aside, I still don't get why domestic manufacturers haven't caught on to the metal transfer scripts that the Japanese manufacturers include in many of their kits now...it can't be that expensive to throw a set of them in, and they really are an easy and effective way to add an extra level of detail to a kit!

Saw this at the LHS the other day. I'll have to go back and pick some up now.

Hmmm, it would probably be easier to design a V6 based off of the current California/458 V8 architecture. But yes, that is an interesting idea and one Fiat/Alfa/Ferrari should look into. They really don't have anything in that market segment, and another Dino would be a big hit if it was as pretty as the original.

I'm re-watching from the beginning now (thanks, Netflix!) and am about halfway through the second season. This show definitely requires repeat viewings to get all the nuances and subtleties in plot and dialog.

Walt was well aware that Skyler wasn't alone and that the cops were listening in. By sounding like an abusive psychopath, he's trying to shift blame away from Skyler and make her sound more like a victim than an accomplice... note that he says NOTHING about the car wash and her money-laundering activities. I was hoping desperately that there was some way out for Hank, who has grown into one of my favorite TV characters of all time, but they gave him a fantastic end. "He made up his mind ten minutes ago"... I got goosebumps. This last episode was heartbreaking in so many ways- it's all the stuff you knew had to happen (Walt Jr. finding out about Walt's business, Hank's untimely end, Walt going on the run, etc) but the way it was delivered was like a big gut punch. Walt turning Jesse over to the Nazis was chilling as well. The last two episodes are going to be insane. I don't even want to speculate on how things are going to go down, because whatever's in my head won't be nearly as twisted and brilliant as Vince Gilligan can dream up. I can't wait.

Here we go...