Tommy124

It was 1 parts paint on 2 parts thinner for the basecoat (which is more or less the instruction Tamiya gives) but it was significantly more for the glossy clearcoat (LP-9), 1:3 ratio at the least. I needed a lot of thinner to get the paint working and a lot of that thinned paint to cover the body to the desired degree. But what I really like about the clearcoat, it's pretty resistant but yet not too hard after it has dried, so it can be nicely sanded and polished. But as I said, make sure to have enough of those small paint jars and thinner around...

I use BMF for those "old school chrome parts" on the body. I mostly strip the kits' chrome parts such as bumpers or engine parts off their "paint" and generously hand-brush them with Molotov Liquid Chrome (MLQ). In the next step and in order to seal/ protect the MLQ layer I apply a thin layer of Alclad Liquid Gloss or AK Interactive "Gauzy Shine Enhancer". I'm not too big a fan of Alclad Chrome for several reasons, but I have seen some good results on a German forum from a guy who masks off chrome (body) parts such as window trims and then applies black base and Alclad Chrome cautiously...

Tamiya have confirmed at an early stage that the LP (bottled Lacquer Paint) stuff is chemically identical to the TS canned stuff. Which has been wonderful news as we all know how good the TS paint is. I have used LP paints last year and found them to be great to work with. The only thing that has confused me a little that they require A LOT of thinning (using their dedicated Lacquer Paints Thinner). So it's vital to always have enough of the thinner around...

Cool models all with their special history. I like your style, Snake.

What a lovely result!

IIRC it was the same with my AMT '95 Camaro Convertible kit, but the windshield fit in quite well and after all it wasn't really a problem. The Corvette kit looks got to me, looking forward to your progress!

Wow, that interior is looking very clean, Dann. All your modifications are taking it to the next level! Remember, to a real modeller, scale is just someone else's opinion. Did I get that right?

Very clean builds!

I voted for the "winner" too! One of the best race weatherings I have seen so far. Mostly they are either over the top or simply not realistic enough. That's different with yours, that's just outstanding work! Despite that, I like all the other Vettes too and would suggest you add the "I like all of the above" option to your poll!

Great builds, I love the Foose Caddy!

Same here. Great work there, Tom!

Wow, a great variety of top-built models! I love the '63 Vette the best...

Great models all of them, but I love the McLaren and the Charger!

My opinion exactly.

It LOOKS great too! This will become one fine Nova...

Hi Will, this is looking real good. I must admit I'm not a fan of the "modern" DTM era (years 2000 and on - featuring simplified suspension and aero technology compared to the expensive 90's "hi-tech monsters", yet having 4-liter V8 engines that practically had nothing to do with the road cars - which is but one of the basic ideas of the DTM!). But I have this kit too as the livery says "Danke Tom" (thanks Tom) in German, as a farewell gesture to Audi's long term driver Tom Kristensen (the world's most successful Le Mans driver so far). My son's name is Tom too, so I'd like to build this kit for him one day... Anyway, looking forward to see you finish this one! They (ROG) actually did quite a lot of these kits when they had the licence back then. They did Audis, BMW's, Mercs, and Opels in a lot of liveries. Check it out here: https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=All&q=revell+dtm*#

Another beautiful result, Ludwig!

Thanks Ismael. Fingers crossed on finding a Boomerang kit at a reasonable price! Thanks Gary. Well I guess, a "fair lady" never disappoints...

Thanks folks, for all your kind words. They are much appreciated and give me motivation to "MODEL ON"! Thanks Tom. My thinking exactly about the looking back on a year's achievements. I live more in the North, not too far away from Hannover. Pirmasens - US army forces? Thanks David. I fully agree, it's not just the looking back on your own results, but also on what other people have achieved. A lot of inspiration comes to me from what I see of other people, especially the gifted folks here! Thanks to you too David. The Corvette was a benchmark in my own modeling "career", as I look at it as my first good build of an American car. I built a '95 Camaro Convertible first thing when I got into modelling in 2016. But that did not turn out quite so nicely, and let's face it - it's not that iconic a car like an old Corvette! Anyway, this is also the first model that I successfully used larger amounts of BMF on. Thanks Kurt. The 928 is the Fujimi curbside kit. I think they first released the S4 and GT and released the regular "S" later on. This shows in very poor fitting, especially as regards fitting the front and rear body parts to the main body. This kit does not come with an engine, unlike the Revell kits (which are but "only" the regular, non-S Porsche 928). Thanks Peter. That's true. Both are great examples of cars being looked at as iconic nowadays, but widely ignored or under-estimated in their day.

Hi folks, I think it's a nice tradition in this forum for the modelers to make a little retrospective for the past year. So I'd like to show my finished builds aswell. I was a bit shocked when I found I actually finished only 4 kits, 1 of them being a relatively simple curbside kit restotation. I'm not a quick builder and I rarely spend more than 1 or 1 1/2 hours per day on building. But it's also that I have started building 3 other kits (Porsche 956 LM, Porsche 911 RS 3.8 and '69 Camaro) in the course of this year which have consumed quite some time, without being finished so far. So here are the 2018 "results"... Revell Corvette Roadster '62: Fujimi Fairlady 240Z: Fujimi Porsche 928S: Heller Maserati Boomerang (restoration):

Always good to see that there is an additional set of wheels in a kit. There may be a lot of 3D printing companies in the US doing real great wheels on demand, but it's awfully expensive to have them shipped to Germany, so the preferred way to gather some spare sets of US car wheels is by using those left from the kits in the first place.

I handle my "final-stage" or completed builds using those white cotton gloves. They come very cheap and allow for good control of handling the model. The Corvette looks great by the way, Bill!

Four great builds! Not too bad a result, even for a year.

Great looking GTO’s - love ‘em!

Just found this thread by coicidence... And ordered the book!