Justin Porter

An engine has finally been chosen for the project! In keeping with my preference for building believable machines, I sourced the LS1 from a Revell 2002 Camaro SS 35th Anniversary kit and focused on some mild paint detailing. I'll likely add an AK Red Ink wash to the intake just to do a little more highlighting but I'm genuinely happy with the results especially when it came to picking out all the ancillaries and brackets molded to the front engine plate.

Meng is saying to expect it to ship this July!

The small card with the CAD images seems to indicate that the "bullet proof" rear shield and the extending spinners will be part of the new tool DB5. Hopefully it will be done with optional parts along the lines of the Aoshima Knight Rider kits rather than as ugly as sin "functioning" parts that compromise any semblance of realism.

The broad tires on the 49b really are something that's always stood out the most to me. As if that's the biggest sign of the changing times, more so than the strut wings or even the DFV tucked behind the roll bar. Really nice finished build from the Ebbro kit!

This particular build represents a little bit of a victory for me. I bought the kit 20 odd years ago from my local Hobbytown USA and tore into building it, at which point I made a major error in masking the nose that I didn't discover until after most of the original decal sheet was applied! Disgusted, it got shelved and I've carted it around partially finished ever since. In my effort to empty my basement of a certain amount of plastic ballast, I've been revisiting these old projects to prod them along to completion. In this case, a trip into the brake fluid, an order to Indycals, and some creative repainting of already assembled parts meant that this otherwise box stock build is now on my shelf. Just for a little bit of difference, I chose the Indycals sheet for the #21 car from Le Mans driven by Danny Sullivan, Price Cobb, and Davy Jones. I figured it would be a nice change of pace from the more routine #2 race winner.

Made a bunch of progress on my Tamiya 1/24th Jaguar XJR-9. This is one of the more complex decal exercises I've tackled and, frankly, there's spots where I've made an absolute hash of it. lol No fault at all on the Indycals decals which have been excellent as ever. The Tamiya TS13 clear coat helps mask most of a litany of sins. There's still the sponsorship logos to go and some final detail pieces but soon this will be done after sitting undone on my shelf for nearly 20 years.

There's a reason I typically recommend a Tamiya kit for first-time builders. They're straightforward, well-engineered, and generally the older tooled kits like this one or the first-generation Miata are quite inexpensive. Very happy to see you're having a good time building yours. I'm interested to see the gloss you get with the Mecha Color as I've used Vallejo Model Color under their Gloss Varnish before and it turned out okay but not thrilling.

https://tx3dcustoms.com/products/ford-427-fe If you want a 427 with a quad Weber setup, then Texas 3D Customs is a good bet. As to the hood scoop, I was under the impression both the Fujimi and Revell 427S/C kits HAD that scoop on their hoods. Am I not catching something in the profile?

Very nice clean build of one of the best Little British Car kits on the market.

Credit where it's due, the engine bay actually looks pretty good at this stage for the '60 Ford Pickup.

There's nothing particularly WRONG with them as generic cars but if you want to represent a specific car they can be anywhere from nearly there to completely off the mark. Most famously, one of the 36 Ford Coupe modified boxings included the decals for one of modified racing's most storied drivers, Richie Evans. Problem is that depending on the year and event Evans's coupe was a beam axle front suspension car as opposed to the IFS setup in these kits. As with most things in building race cars, research and the builder's tolerance in representation is the key. http://www.edflemke.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/12244394_10201195366042746_6419232453782755484_o.jpeg

The Meng has much better fit than the Fujimi despite having a higher parts count. The Fujimi's fit issues are fairly minor, though, and mostly stem from the fact that Fujimi has had the kit in near constant production since the late 80's.

That being the case, I'd probably recommend getting in touch with Lightspeed Global USA. They're a very effective distributor for imported kits and merchandise. Stevens International is one of the biggest guns in the hobby for distribution. You almost practically can't operate without them. lol I've also had great standing operations with Hobbtyme, Emery Distributors, and Heartland Hobby Wholesale. Having a broad pool of distributors can help a ton especially when trying to plug stock gaps and for ensuring you can bring product to your shelf most reasonably. Biggest suggestion too, get familiar with distributors' free shipping thresholds. If you can plump an order up to cross that threshold, you don't burn your admittedly thin margin paying to get the product to your door.

I stand corrected. I just recall how it was a repeated refrain in the Strictly Stock reviews that it was a major flaw with those tires in the AMT kits of that period. Revell was often equally criticized for reusing their Michelin TRX tooling frequently on 1/25th scale muscle cars.

How long were AMT kits during the Ertl days shipped with Firestone Wide Ovals with their markings molded upside down? I, for one, am happier for blank sidewalls than for incorrect ones.

Oh I am 300% with you on how often you run across predatory import kit pricing in LHS regardless of MSRP. Even using Stevens as a guideline, we can look at Tamiya's evergreen full detail Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R (#24090). MSRP on that kit is $24. I have seen, when out-of-town and visiting other shops for my own building as well as scouting for ideas for what I might not be doing in my own shop, I've seen it marked as high as $40 "because it's Tamiya." I often wonder if it's a byproduct of a certain amount of laziness on the part of these shop owners because then they can continue to trundle along, blindly ordering cases of Revell and AMT and turning them without having to learn or cross-shop additional product lines.

There are certain distributors who set an MSRP for Japanese market kits that have no USA representation for themselves (think in terms of Tamiya USA) at a mark-up above their Japanese market MSRP. Meaning that what shops purchase the kits for is retail price. I fortunately have a distributor that sells Fujimi, Aoshima, Hasegawa, and NuNu to me at closer to the Japanese wholesale rate meaning that most of my kits in that range are on my shelf between $25 to $40. The gouging James is referring to happens through those certain distributors who give LHS no other choice than to price uncompetitively when compared to overseas sites like Plaza Japan or HLJ. I admit that I'm no genius. I happened to luck out with this distributor because a manufacturer of highly detailed 1/72nd scale aircraft kits I particularly like told me that they were the exclusive US distributor for their product.

Yes they did. They also boxed the Aurora MkI GT40 kit with Revell labeling during the SSP program of the late 90's-early 00's.

Your local dealer is buying from the wrong distributor if that's the case. I've found that all three are actually highly competitive in shelf price with the current Round 2, Revell, and Moebius pricing. In some cases actually quite a bit lower like with the recent reissue of the Chevy Astro Van by Fujimi.

At the moment, if I were to want anything as my "Most of All" part it would be for GP Modeling to take that same level of expertise they've lavished over the Hasegawa Lancia O37 and Stratos and create an MGB engine and engine bay for the Aoshima kit.

If you want to build a customer MkII (excepting the Alan Mann Racing "lightweight" MkII) or a MkII prior to Sebring 1966, the Fujimi kit. If you want to build a factory MkII post-Sebring 1966, the Meng kit. If you don't intend to be that specific on small body variations, the Meng kit is full detail where the Fujimi is curbside. The Meng kit was tooled up within the past three years while the Fujimi kit dates to the mid-80's. The Fujimi is more often than not available for cheaper than the Meng kit and arguably does have nicer wheels & tires. There are also excellent resin and 3D printed transkits on the market to make the Fujimi full detail.

This phrasing coupled with staying inside the framework of what Atlantis has offered to this point keeps me thinking in terms of 60's Revell with some relation to the Parts Packs, but still very genre specific and somewhat obscure. My mind goes to LSR cars and the Mickey Thompson Attempt I.

Having built this kit myself I know it truly is one of the best of that run of classics by Tamiya and DEFINITELY in need of a reissue. Very happy seeing you not only building the Giulia but even going the extra mile to suffer through that transkit.

A little hop on Scalemates shows that the last time this kit was available was in a Round 2 "The Lindberg Line" box released in 2016. So that's seven years since the last time it was available. Yes, a knowledgeable builder who's particularly active in the community could feasibly go to a local show or troll through eBay and pick up this kit for between $15-$25 in one of the prior boxings. However, the casual Hobby Lobby or even LHS shopping builder quite likely isn't aware this kit was produced or is available in those channels. Personally, I can confirm that quite a large number particularly of my younger builders aren't even aware of model shows and swap meets until they see flyers on my counter. As to the MSRP, well, I have mixed at best feelings at the new normal of American domestic kit pricing. At the moment, I have portions of Tamiya, Hasegawa, and Fujimi's catalog that genuinely undercut Round 2. I have no doubt that a good part of why I'm burning through my shipment of Fujimi Chevy Astros is that I'm able to sticker it on my shelf for $28. However, I also understand that Tamiya has more gross sales potential for their venerable VW Beetle than Round 2 has for a 60's Oldsmobile and that as US classic cars become increasingly niche subject matter that will also result in higher prices.

So, I implemented a solution to not only lower the front suspension, but also to make the finished model a little bit more interesting on the shelf. I marked out the control arms and separated the spindles from the molded assembly with my razor saw. then drilled the "ball joints" and spindles to maintain camber and castor. I trimmed about 2mm off the top of the spindle pieces and pinned the spindles in place with the staples. A little bit of sanding to make sure that they sat true against the upper control arms, and then a bit of Extra Thin cement to glue the spindles to the upper control arms, followed by a generous helping of gap filling CA to surround the staple. Finally, the ends of the staples were snipped off once everything was dry and I was able to enjoy a nice scale dropped spindle for my Fleetside.