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Hello, The Corvette GTP will be the main project next, but this will run in parallel: Jacques Villeneuve's '97 driver's championship car. I wrote a very short review in the kit review section. This kit does not lend itself to superdetailing. That's fine, because I want a simple build. It will be an "Exercise in the basics" The way this kit is designed you have to put the interior tub before getting the body halves together. This leaves unacceptable gaps. So after some thought, I opened the back of the tub and the seat can slide forward now. The body can be glued and painted. Let the filler loose.... Thanks,

OK, I know this kit has been out for years but it is rather unknown. Gilles Villeneuve was a Canadian racer who was a Ferrari F1 driver in the late 70's and was killed in a racing accident in 1982. Jacques Villeneuve, his son, is a talented and popular race driver on his own right. He won the Indy 500 in 1995 and then moved to Formula 1. In 1997 he won the world's drivers championship in a Williams Renault FW19. This kit celebrates that championship. Despite been released in a Revell-Monogram box, this is evidently a Revell Germany F1 kit. Rumor has it this kit was supposed to be a Canadian exclusive product, but you'll have no problem finding it out of Canada. The kit was supposed to be a one time only run of 75,000 units, and it includes a "certificate of authenticity" Mine says it is #49791 of 75000. All part are molded in dark blue. Even the wheels. The only non-blue parts are the tiny little windshield and the stop light thing they use in bad weather. The simplified kit has low parts count and seems to assemble rather easily. I mocked up mine in just a few seconds. The proportions look good. The upper body is all one piece, so don't waste any effort on the engine as it will not be seen, unless you plan to make major surgery and separate the engine cover from the body. The way the kit is designed, you need to put the interior tub in place before gluing the top and bottom together, resulting in obvious seam lines. I did a workaround this problem by cutting the back of the tub, so the seat can be inserted from the back. (More on this later in the workbench sesion). The decals are gorgeous and I hope they perform as good as they look. All the white in the car is in the decals sheet so you only need to paint the car in blue. The rest of the colors are decals. Since the primary sponsor of the car is a tobacco product the model represents the correct livery used in tobacco banned events, replacing the tobacco logo with question marks. The decals are probably the biggest challenge of the build. The molded panel lines can use some deepening. This looks like a fun kit that should go together easily. It does not lend itself to heavy superdetailing, but that is actually a good thing. You can build this as an exercise in the basics and end up with a nice looking Formula 1 model. Special thanks to Ken Krawiec for getting me the model... Thanks,

AARRGGHH!!!! Just after I pre-ordered mine, HLJ stopped taking pre-orders and have a little note explaining. Somehow, I fear my pre-order will not be filled...... If there was any doubt this was going to be a blockbuster hit....... Come on Hasegawa, step up!

Nice job! That looks great!

It's finally finished! Thanks everybody for following along. It is now posted in the Under Glass section. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9504 Thanks,

Hello, It's finally done! What a fun project this was! I figured that if I was ever going to build a '68 Ford, this was it! 1968 Dan Gurney's Indy 500 car: Weslake powered Olsonite Eagle. He finished 2nd in that race, one of his Eagles won the race. Make sure you check the complete page I did with many more pictures, details and a cool surprise! Click here for more details, sights and sounds I'll be the first one to admit the model may not 100% accurate, mainly because of lack of reference material. I believe this is the configuration he used for qualifying. MPC Eagle kit, 1/25. Reissued in the '90s Cobra Colors paint Kit's decals with whites from Cady decals Here is a list of modifications: - reworked body for better fit on the sides and top - machined ignition module - ignition wiring - fuel plumbing - machined cap for the quick change transaxle - home made aluminum velocity stacks - plumbed oil filter - brass half shafts - 3 piece machined shifter - brass rear sway bar - aluminum sheet gas tanks tops - 6 parts each independent coilovers in brass steel wire and aluminum - brake lines - steel wire front sway bar links - aluminum rear sway bar brackets - aluminum upper rear coilovers pins - steel rear sway bar links connected to lower arm - solder headers - machined aluminum tailpipes - scratchbuilt seatbelts and hardware (I know the real ones are black, but I did them in dark red to add some color and contrast to the dark cockpit) - brass roll bar - machined dry sump oil tank cap - aluminum gas tank caps - aluminum rear wing with steel wire bracing -.. and many others I don't remember now Your comments are appreciated. Thanks!

Richard, First of all, thanks for the interest and the help! The tires were indeed warped. What I did was machine a cylinder a tad bigger than the wheels so I could force stretch the tires in. Still mounted on the lathe, I spun it slowly and sanded the thread so the bumps and some of the warping could be smoothed out. Then I did a very thin sleeve with aluminum sheet around the wheel. There is still some minor warping/distortion but they were carefully mounted so that area goes towards inside and down. Hopefully it won't be seen once everything is in place. As for the radiator, I left it "box stock" since I never found any reference picture of this or any other Eagle of the era. Thanks for the information on the dry sump tank. I was wondering what it was. Following your advise I painted it aluminum and machined a cap. I have no idea if it's the right location, size or shape but again, absolutely no luck getting reference pictures of the front of the car. Because of that I think it will most likely show the car with the back bodywork off but the nose on. Thanks everybody for the nice comments and following along. I hope to have the model finished within the next few days. Stay tuned..... Thanks,

That was quick! Great job as usual! I can hear the pop-off valve going off Thanks,

Very cool! Any idea on pricing range?

WOW! What a cool build! That LT-5 looks right at home! I second the vote: Raul "the Corvette truck guy" Perez...

Wait a minute: Are you spying on me or is it just a coincidence we like similar subjects? I'll follow up this one closely. Looking great so far but that's not a surprise. Great tips so far! I'll be on the lookout if I need to use them. Thanks Clay for me as well I started the '89 Unser Jr. ride but not much has been done yet. But a bit more than the pic shows Thanks,

Hello again, I hope this to be one of the last updates on this project before going under glass... Took the liberty of doing the harness in dark red for contrast. I know it should be black but the belts would be lost in the dark cockpit. Kit's tires required a lot of work to make them decent. Roll bar is brass with primer already. Will be painted chrome silver. Thanks,

I can't wait to get mine, claim I got one of the first ones, open the box, take some parts out of the sprue, and then put it aside to eventually work on it years from now

Hello, Adding to what others have said, the tail pipes on the '54 were longer, as opposed to be flush with the body in '53. This was actually Zora's first contribution to the car, to prevent staining of the bodywork close to the pipe. If you have the Revell '53, which is a reissue of the Monogram one, you may also have the later '54 air cleaners. These are 2 round air cleaners as opposed to the 3 bullet style units of '53. That's how I did mine: as a rare black '54 Thanks,

Nice and clean! Too bad the body covers a lot of the work.

Needless to say I'm very interested on this build. That SMS kit looks great, but pricey. I wish they sell the wheels alone. What exactly is included? Is the body updated? If you need reference material, I have plenty of pics in my fotki albums of the cars as they raced in Atlanta at the Petit LeMans in 2006 and 2007. my fotki albums Looking forward to see it done! Thanks,

Tax credit for model purchases? State law requiring citizens to build at least 1 model per fiscal year? State law to declare glue bombs an act of terrorism? State subsidy to distribute the mag to the masses? State approval for running model pictures in the mag of alcohol and tobacco sponsored race cars? TELL US!

Hello, I just created the fotki albums of my pictures from the 2005 Indy 500. Yes. it was almost 3 years ago but my fotki account is recent my 2005 Indy 500 fotki album Thanks,

Sorry but Duplicolor and Plastikote ARE NOT the same. Plastikote is lacquer primer while Duplicolor sandable primer is enamel based (I think it is acrylic enamel but I'm not sure). Duplicolor is now offering a lacquer primer which may be similar. Plastikote is safe in the recent Revell soft plastic while Duplicolor can attack it. You can check Plastikote.com and search for dealers in your area. Yes, Plastikote is my favorite primer and I went to extremes to get it. I had to order 6 cases as a "distributor" to get it here. My experience with Duplicolor has not been very good. Thanks,

Hello, Churning along. The more I do the more needs to be done in this. I hope to finish it by the end of Jan. The list of remaining tasks looks like a grocery list Thanks,

Nice! My all time non-Corvette favorite car in my favorite color! That same car was my first Tamiya kit. Thanks,

very Very VERY nice! I'm now slowly getting into open wheel model frenzy and you are not helping to stop it Beautiful photography as well! Thanks,

Len, The dry sump tank connects 2 lines to the oil pan keeping the oil pickup tube fed under constant pressure. Is this what you need? Thanks,

Since you brought the topic, here is a picture taken January 7th in the morning in my backyard..... Sorry

Hello, Long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....many years ago I mastered, casted and sold a Borg-Warner T-56 with the differential to fit Revell's C5 Corvette, so a proper 1999 FRC (Fixed Roof Coupe) could be built. The FRC eventually evolved into the Z06 in 2001. With the release of the C6 Corvette in 2005 Revell now includes the Tremec transaxle. Surgery would be required to adapt it to a "standard" application. Bellhousing and tail would be needed, but it can be a start. Not sure if this helps but I hope so Thanks,