jaymcminn

Thanks, Ron. I had a blast restoring that thing... it's kind of appropriate to put some time and effort into a piece of furniture that showcases the models I've put so much time and effort into. And yes, that is the Big Deuce... it's really nice to get that monster under glass!

I just scored a great old display case at a local thrift shop. I've been looking for one for a while and was just about to give up and build one (which would have been pretty pricey) when I came across this one. My house is pure mid-century modern and I've restored most of the pieces in it myself, but the perfect display case (mirrored back, 12"deep,glass shelves, just the right size) eluded me for years until last week when I saw this one for $75. It was dusty, the finish was faded and the whole thing leaned backward at a fairly precarious angle, but I knew that it was a pretty good 'un underneath. I talked them down from $75 to $65 and brought it home. The lean was due to the case missing a set of self-leveling feet on the rear, and the wood responded beautifully to an application of teak oil. The only real carpentry that needed to be done was to replace the base piece of the display area- I cut a new piece of 1/4" ply and covered it with green felt. I added an LED light bar to really showcase everything. My future plans are to incorporate some acrylic risers for additional display space and to showcase models I'm particularly proud of!

Bill, looking at this rear view I can't help but think how cool this would look with the rear fenders bobbed to just behind the bodywork... I'm guessing that it's probably something you don't want to consider doing on this build but it might be something to think about for the next one!

Beautiful lines with the fenders removed. The idea of an MG TC hot rod is really cool too. Where did those wheels come from?

I do a little of everything to mock up my models. I'll pin parts, make brackets and mounting points for major subassemblies out of styrene, and use white glue to mock up suspensions for the perfect stance. I usually use Micro Kristal Klear for this... it's thicker and dries quicker than ordinary white glue and is still water soluble.

The "Jenson" button is the one that got me laughing....

I was just getting ready to post that up myself, Chuck. It's a pretty impressive model in the pics on the site... I'm guessing a four-figure price tag. Well done by Pocher, and hopefully they're back in the game for good!

Meh. I understand that if the tooling already exists it only makes sense to use it for the first "reborn" Pocher kit, but the F50 has pretty limited appeal. I'm not sure how wise it is to use the existing tooling anyway given the overall lack of detail of the last Pocher releases. I'm less excited about this than I was a few days ago. It's almost like Pocher's being set up to fail... but I could be wrong.

Absolutely amazing. This is one of the best models in both concept and execution I've seen recently. Great work!

This is actually a rebox of an old Palmer Plastics mold- it's a fairly terrible kit, as were all of Palmer's 1/25 cars. If you compare the box top photo with an actual '71 Mustang, they don't really look that much alike- the model looks more like a '70 with a lackadaisical attempt at a '71 front end grafted on. I'd pass.

The "Dragon Vette" (top picture) is a C6 Corvette whose owner has subjected it to a series of horrible mods over the last several years. The evolution of this monstrosity has been chronicled in blogs like Corvetteblogger.com and Jalopnik for a few years now- here's a link to one of the Jalopnik articles: http://jalopnik.com/5509630/worlds-worst-custom-corvette-supercharged-update I guess this photochop represents DragonVette 2.0!

Sooo nice- great decal work and overall detail. I'm just starting a build of the Testors/Fujimi '73 Carrera RS now. It's going to be built in the "outlaw" style... sort of a 911 hot rod. Are the louvered rear windows on your 911R kit items or aftermarket?

Awesome, Matt. Can't wait to see how this build goes... thanks for being the guinea pig!

Honestly, I just can't deal with the inane patter between the commentators, the five minutes of commercials every three cars, and the interminable charity auctions . Some of the cars are interesting, but how excited can anybody possibly get by the time the tenth '70 Chevelle 454 SS rolls across the stage? I would like to check out the auction in person some time, but it's been a long time since I had any real interest in watching B- J on TV.

Wow... that's really pretty. The proportions are spot- on and the roofline is gorgeous. Can' t wait to see what's next!

In this dystopian future, are the police mad because their bulletproof vests leave most of their chest exposed?

100%. Not bad for a child of the 80s.

Rob, the RoG issue you have is the ex- Protar tool. The opening doors and boot lid are the giveaway here. The old Monogram tool is an Aurora hand- me- down, from the same series of kits as the Maserati 3500 and Aston DB4. It's not a very good representation of a GTO... the body proportions are completely wrong. The Italeri GTO is an excellent kit, and was indeed reboxed by Testors in the 80s. How do you like the Fujimi kit?

We have a winner... Thanks for all the kind comments, everybody. I wasn't sure about the somewhat unconventional color scheme until I saw it starting to come together... I'm glad it seems to be a hit! It's always fun to come up with something unusual that you probably wouldn't try on a real million dollar car. For my next project, I'm going to be replicating a very specific and well documented car, which is a pretty different experience.

Yeeessss... but not exactly what I was looking for. Can you be more specific?

A few more... And a quiz for all you car guys out there: What do these three cars all have in common? Overall, I was very pleased with the Hasegawa Miura kit. I just don't get why they went through the trouble of tooling up 3/4 of an engine and then making a curbside kit. Whatever their reasons, you can't argue with the results... every build I've seen of this kit has been fantastic. The completed model sits just right and everything about this kit goes together beautifully. I'm a little ambivalent about the bass-boat flake on the Testors paint, but I think it works for the nature of this build and the groovy period colors. I'm definitely going to build the Jota variant of this kit, and might do one of the rare Miura Spyders as well. Anyway, thanks for looking!

...And did a fair amount of detail painting on the kit suspension. The result looks pretty good. Next, the wheels and rockers were airbrushed in Tamiya Gold Leaf and coated in Testors semi-gloss clear acrylic. Here's the body after polishing and foil... And here we are after everything's all buttoned up!

I've had this one in my stash for a while... it's the Hasegawa Miura P400SV kit. I really wanted a period-correct look for the colors, but I wanted to avoid the usual colors you see these cars in. Eventually, I decided on a nice, rich, metallic... brown. It's actually Testors One-Coat Root Beer, and I think it fits the spirit of this car perfectly, especially with the gold rockers and wheels. At least two Miuras were produced in brown, although I don't think the Root Beer Brown is prototypically accurate at all. First was to prep the body, which on this kit involves molding in the rocker scoops. I had to replace the leading edge of one of these fragile parts. The body was primed with Duplicolor primer then sealed with primer-sealer to keep the dreaded swirl marks at bay. The One-Coat brown was followed up with the One-Coat clear. The results were pretty dramatic... While the body cured, I started the rest of the build. For the interior, I went back and forth a lot- the interior is very visible in the Miura due to the large windows and exceptionally clear glass Hasegawa uses. I eventually decided to take inspiration from the custom interior on Frank Sinatra's Miura, which was cream boarskin with orange shag carpet. I toned down the carpet to a nice burnt orange mixed from three shades of Fuzzi-Fur and custom-mixed a light cream color to match. The carpet was applied by masking and spraying a matching base color, followed by spray adhesive and flocking applied through a sieve. The kit's metal transfers are a dream to use- better than Tamiya's! I really wanted to add seat belts, but I wanted this one to be box-stock. I'll probably do a Miura Spyder conversion at some point to even better show off the impressive interior. The only drawback of this kit is that it's a curbside... that being said, it comes with very good engine and suspension detail. I detailed the components of the engine top plate with the kit decals...

Great work, Matt. The Italeri actually does have some advantages over the Fujimi- the seats, for example, are much better-molded in the Italeri, with the perforations visible in the black stripes. I'm going to use a set of them when I build my Fujimi Daytona Spyder. Never did care for Italeri's Dunlop tires, though... Fujimi wins on that count. Great tips on building this one!

Shannon, parts 1 and 2 are the vents for the C-pillars. If you cut the back wall off of the left and right roof scoops (parts 80 and 82), this mesh insert replaces it. As far as the rest of the Hobby Design PE goes, it all fits really well. Take your time bending the pieces for the mesh panels under the taillights- it's a pretty tricky complex curve. The metal Hobby Design uses is really soft, so handle with care. You need to paint the black parts, too- chemical blackeners won't work on the metal (aluminum?) HD uses. Good luck!