Justin Porter

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1:35_scale Just as with my earlier explanation regarding 1/20th scale F1 cars, the explanation is simple: Tamiya had to accommodate batteries in the 60's and 70's and Tamiya is FAR bigger globally than any other hobby company. In history arguably only Airfix and Mattel-era Monogram have had equivalent influence to Tamiya.

1/20th scale in F1 kits has the same roots as 1/35th scale in military building. Tamiya had to fit a battery box into an early kit (in F1's case, their Tyrrell P-34) and 1/20th scale was the scale that cleared the battery box. Because internationally speaking there is no model kit company that matches the influence of Tamiya, their choice of convenience in the 70's became the international standard. If you lookat the older boxing of the P-34 you can see the small Mabuchi motor that was even built into the Cosworth DFV which is why the early tooled Cosworth in the Tamiya kits is actually slightly overscale. Compare it to the DFV in the Hasegawa Lotus 78 as a good example.

I'm honestly of the same mind too. 1/20th would be MUCH better than 1/24th for these kits. Internationally, 1/20th is considered the standard scale for open wheel race cars and non-1/20th scale releases (like Revell's 1/24th scale Bennetons and Jordans or Hasegawa's Honda RA272) have always struggled to the point that all modern open wheel releases (Fujimi, Hasegawa, Ebbro, NuNu) have been 1/20th.

I'm quite excited for this myself as I'm an Indy fan.

The interior is continuing right along for the Dino 246GTS. A combination of Mr Color Flat Black, Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow, and XF-57 Buff coupled with Ken's Fuzzi Fur black flocking for the carpets finished off what's already inherently a very nicely detailed kit interior. Next up will be the trickiest part of the kit; installing the driveline and assembling the rear framework and suspension.

The only other kit I've seen with injection molded springs like this is the Ebbro 1/20 Brabham BT-18 F2 car. It stands to reason that Ebbro and Tamiya are the two companies on the cutting edge.

Genuinely love seeing how this turned out. The build is very tidy with thoughtful detailing. The pair together at the end definitely make for an enviable garage fantasy.

Which kit are you using for the base? I'm really curious to see your "Homebrew ZG" take shape.

The Fujimi Boxers are always fun to see built. You've definitely nailed a fix for the wonky kit wheels. It's nice to see your prints in comparison to the Daytona wheels which admittedly were my thought for the fix as well.

Genuinely happy to see that one back in the range. It's such a striking car and a really well tooled kit.

This is so fun to follow because the 356's have such a reputation for their detail and their intricacy.

What a delightful little BMW! This really looks so fantastic and I'm glad you wrapped up this build.

That chassis WOULD work however it's important to not that because of the compromises made for the "working" steering, a lot of kitbashing or scratchbuilding needs to take place in order to get the front suspension anywhere close to accurate.

Quite fun to see a nice build of a 70's concept car like this. The clean build highlights that the kit can be salvaged from its unambitious design.

Super excited because my tracking info tells me that my shipment of these Mustangs arrives at my shop tomorrow. I've already had several folks stopping in that I've never seen as customers before checking "Do you guys have the new Revell Mustang?"

This is such a genuinely fun project. I'm really enjoying the neat little touches added here and there to make the build make functional sense.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes together for you. The engine is already looking fantastic.

Thank you! It's not so much a trick as in my experience older decals need hot water in order to safely and fully release off the backing paper, otherwise you get the cracking and tearing. Usually when I'm doing decals, I get a fresh tupperware container of hot water from my Keurig and only handle the decals with tweezers in order to prevent scalded fingers. The kit does indeed come with the headlight covers though I doubt I will use them because my reference pictures show the car not wearing the covers.

The gauge decals came with the kit and I was SUPER lucky that they responded well to hot water. I've had bad experiences in the past with old Fujimi/Testors decal sheets hitting the water and the decals just flat dissolving.

Really nice build of a kit that continues to hold up well.

Tackling the dashboard was really one of the steps I was most looking forward to. In particular, the Studio 27 fret with its separate bezels and toggle switches looked like it was really going to set the dash off. Naturally, given that this is a Spyder, the interior is going to have to look great. So first came the chisel, then a few tiny drilled holes, a few coats of Mr Color Flat Black, and then some careful work with tweezers and slow curing Bob Smith's CA and next thing I knew I had this ready and waiting to go into the Dino's interior.

That really sets the bar quite high for finishing off one of the best Jag kits on the market.

That's seriously has turned out so sharply. The interior really leaps out and the Fujimi Borranis really do suit the build very nicely.

Loving each step of improvement.

Hasegawa, Tamiya, and other such manufacturers have long included self-adhesive metal transfers in their kits for small scripts. That builders of American car kits haven't demanded similar levels of convenience from domestic manufacturers has always baffled me to a degree.