jaymcminn

I used HLJ a few months back for an order- I was very impressed with the speed of FedEx delivery and the perfect condition my order arrived in. I've had domestic vendors take MUCH longer.

That's a nice pair- I especially like how the truck sits!

Matt, I actually thought about leaving the paint unpolished- It took about four hours to polish everything out, and I don't think a Stratos ever left the factory that had four hours invested in the paintwork. And your Miura is the reason why I went with the TS-22- it's a fantastic color for an outrageous car like the Lambo or the Stratos. (or the 599 Aperta!)

Tim, it's a very different build experience doing a Fujimi EM kit. Parts breakdown is very different - a case in point is the kit's Dino V6 engine that Matt was talking about. On a Revell small-block Chevy engine, assembly's pretty straightforward- assemble the block halves, then the heads, then the intake manifold and valve covers. Add the rest of the engine bits, and a Revell engine might have fifteen pieces. It's a great representation of its subject matter, don't get me wrong, but it's not (usually) complicated. Now here's a scan of the Fujimi's instructions... That engine builds up from more than 40 pieces. Parts count on some of the Enthusiast kits, like the Ferrari Daytonas, can top 260 pieces, not all of which fit as well as you'd like. It's complicated, in some cases needlessly so, but the challenge is part of what makes it fun. In terms of domestic kits, the closest matches I can think of are the Accurate Miniatures kits. You can't do a weekend build on one of these guys. You actually learn to take your time and pace yourself- it's a different style of model building that will make you a better builder whatever your choice of subject matter!

So, I got paint on this a few days ago, and I just got it polished out and took some pics. The color is Tamiya Light Green TS-22. It's not a perfect match for the Verde Bertone that was available on the Stratos, but it gets the point across. Here's a Verde Bertone car... And here's what I've got so far. The color is actually closer in person to the color of the 1:1, which should hopefully show up in the outdoor pictures of the finished model. Next up will be the engine/transaxle and the suspension!

Man, I love this! great weathering and a fantastic subject matter!

Matt, it's going to be a nice, tasteful beige with brown interior. I'm thinking a current Toyota Camry color. Just kidding- here's a little preview!

My current build is the rarer-than-hens-teeth Fujimi EM Lancia Stratos. I found one of these on Ebay a few months back and paid waaay too much for it. Despite the rally decals, the kit builds a Stradale out of the box. This is what I'm starting with... What you get in the box is two trees of Stratos- specific parts, three trees of mechanical parts lifted directly from the 246 Dino kit, some really nice wheels and tires, a small photoetched fret, some mesh, and the rally decals. The Dino trees are included because the Stratos' engine was the same 2.4 liter V6 as the Dino's. You also get a bunch of goodies on those trees for your parts box! The Stratos-specific parts, however, are a bit of a letdown. You'll see what I mean as the build progresses, but the simple fact is that there is a big dropoff in quality between the Dino bits and the newer Stratos bits. But hey, the shape is perfect, the fit is pretty good (so far) and it sure looks like a Stratos. The first thing I did with the kit was to clean up the body and test-fit the rear clamshell to the main body. I added some tabs to the body sides to facilitate the fit. I also glued the engine cage together on the frame, after making sure with a spare Dino engine that the engine would be able to be mounted with the cage assembled first. The Stratos is unusual in that the entire car- frame, inside of the body, etc. is painted the body color, so I wanted as much assembly done as possible before paint application. This is the mockup... And with the engine cover in place... More to follow- as always, any questions and comments are welcome!

Jeez, how have I not been following this thread? Excellent work on a really tough kit, Mark!

Great decal and detail work- nice job!

Bingo- the Fujimi Enthusiast kit. I'm getting ready to post up a WIP thread on this one!

VERY pretty. It definitely has that coachbuilt look!

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm really pleased with how this simple build turned out- it's not perfect, but it does photograph well. I'm well under way on my next project- I'm going to start a WIP thread on it soon, as it's a bit of a rare kit. All I'm going to say now is that it's very weird, and very green...

No problem, Geoff. I reinforced the joint with brass strip underneath to add some stability.

And a few more... Overall, I was really pleased with how this one turned out. A word of advice, though- the wheels are beautiful, but the mounts on the backs need to be trimmed back by about 1/8 inch, or the wheels will really protrude from the sides. Overall, this was a great trip down memory lane!

The body received several coats of Model Master Italian Red lacquer followed by clear. After polishing, I masked the black trim off with foil and fired up the airbrush. After the masking was removed... And finally, some shots of the finished product...

I've been thinking about building a Ferrari 288 GTO for a while now, and decided to try the old Testors/Italeri kit. I scored a really good deal on a sealed original issue on Ebay ($20- I was the only bidder!) and felt like a kid in a candy store as I cracked open the 25-year-old cellophane. For those who are unfamiliar, here's the box. I built this when it came out and remember being pretty proud of it- it had a decent rattle-can red paint job and looked pretty good for being built by a 16-year-old in 1986. The GTO was pretty ambitious for Fujimi in the '80's- the engraving was pretty good and the level of molded-in detail is reminiscent of period Tamiya, if not as sharp. The only drawback to the kit is the enormous number of ejector pin marks which required a serious amount of cleanup- certainly that was the number-one chore while prepping this kit. One of the weird things about this kit is that the engine cover is molded in place- to display the engine the cover needs to be cut away and the edges cleaned up. This leaves huge gaps on either side of the cover. In order to fix this, I installed some thin sheet styrene, as well as braces for the engine cover to rest on. Next, I cut the front section of the rear deck away from the interior tub and attached it to the body assembly... Next, I brush-painted the red-and-black "Daytona" pattern on the seats. The engine was finished in several different metallics and received basic ignition wiring, which wound up being basically invisible on the finished model. Oh, well...

Great color, and nice detail. I like your background, too!

Excellent work, Matt. The glowing ceramic brake discs are a great idea!

Thanks, Don! I'd rate it probably about a 7.5/10. I love the look, and it's pretty quick. The exhaust note is really nice, and the build quality is surprisingly good overall. The reliability has been excellent, too- the only real drawback is the sub-20mpg fuel economy, which isn't helped by my lead-footed driving style!

Had it about six years- 2005 PT Touring with the 2.4 turbo motor. Since these pics were taken, I've shaved the side and trunk badges.

So, I just got this.... and am trying to figure out exactly what to do with it. I'm not especially crazy about the Monte Shell livery, so I'm down to two options. One is to build the car as a "body in white" car ready to be turned over to a privateer team- this appeals to me because I love the lines of the F-40, and without the decals you can really see how beautiful the car is. The other is to create a phantom racer- I was thinking of going in an unusual direction (for Ferrari, that is...) I want to do the F40 up in Gulf livery, but something similar to this McLaren, with black below the beltline and the orange stripe over the top. I need to kick the idea around a while- in the meantime, what do you guys think? No livery or phantom Gulf livery? Or any other ideas?

I'll swap off between the two. If I'm doing a solid color on the body, I'll tend to use a spray can. I'll also use the Testors Wet Look Clear straight from the can. For graphics and for detail work, I almost always use the airbrush.

I'm pretty sure the Anglia and the Thames panel van were in the Hot Rod series as well.

Very nice. The Tamiya kit builds into a really nice model without all the drama of the Fujimi version. The BBS wheels are great, and that white interior is fantastic. Can't wait to see this one done!