Justin Porter

This is really a kit that's quite high on my own personal "want to build" list. It seems like every build shows it as being fun to put together. Looking forward to yours!

To say nothing of the confounded metallic blue that they molded the otherwise superb Alpine A110's in!

"Black window frame sections are integrated with a single, upper monocoque part, which eliminates the need for masking and painting of window parts." That's a heck of a nice feature given how complex that shape is.

Actually wasn't planning on going with hood sides because I like the look of the Hemi valve covers and the blower peeking out. Was still going to test fit them just to see if they would work out but wasn't planning for their use.

It's very hard as a diecast collector to see a 250GT Lusso and not immediately want to paint it light green with a white interior.

The firewall/valve cover clearance concerns turned out to be pretty well founded! Fortunately, what's a little more time with the razor saw and styrene, right? The engine itself built up nicely as expected using the same Incursion Orange as the frame, while the supercharger itself was painted with Mr Color C61 Burnt Iron and AK Xtreme Metal Pale Brass was used for the carbs. I have a Detail Master magneto that I plan to add for wiring the engine but I'm genuinely quite pleased with how it's sitting in the car.

This ought to be an utter delight to watch built!

One quick update after a nice productive night at the shop last night. Managed to get the frame and suspension in color. I used Army Painter's Incursion Orange as the primary color while details were picked out in a selection of Tamiya, Army Painter, and Vallejo paints.

While I wait on decals and paint for my Jaguar XJR9, I decided to tackle something essentially the polar opposite of the Group C Jag. I had picked up this '37 Ford Coupe kit some time ago and used its TPI Chevy 350 in a build of the Revell Willys. So in staring at the shelf to decide on the next project it occurred to me that I had a 392 Hemi with no home and a '37 Ford with no engine and we were off to the races. I'll be using the kit's very nice Cragar S/S's and big n little tire package. Haven't yet decided on color but I'm leaning towards either a bright red or a pearl orange. Either way, a 392 Hemi is much wider than a TPI 350 so a little bit of firewall modification had to be made. It was quick work with my PE saw, a little bit of sheet styrene, and a swipe of Vallejo Putty.

It's in general just a gorgeous build of one of the Octagons best brutes. So happy you got this one together.

I agree with Craig on the AMT/MPC '69 442 as a chassis donor and would suggest the Revell '68 Pontiac Firebird as a source for a good Pontiac 400.

I would imagine a strip of the tape or chrome foil painted black would serve nicely for the panel and then drill and mount some of the KA Models small rivets.

Fresh update on the XJR-9. The body is now primed with AK Microfiller White and ready for its first coats of Tamiya Pure White. I'll be getting in the TS37 Lavender and the Indycals decals next week to move forward from the white step. The barely visible brakes were painted with AK Xtreme Metal dark aluminum, with Vallejo Metal Color magnesium for the rotor hat and Tamiya titanium gold for the calipers. The Tamiya tire markings actually went down without a fuss which made me especially happy.

The A110 is definitely one of the gems of the Tamiya classic sports car range. So happy you got a chance to build and enjoy one so much.

I'm really so happy to see that this is turning out so beautifully.

Plan is the Silk Cut livery but as the Danny Sullivan/Davy Jones/Price Cobb #21 just because Sullivan was one of several childhood favorite Indy drivers.

So, this is an unfinished build from my early 20's. It got shelved when an error in masking the nose meant that the purple area was oversized for the yellow boundary stripes. Whoops! Recently, in an effort to continue clearing out my basement (much like with last year's Mako Shark II build) I stripped the body with some old Testors ELO and set about getting the build up to scratch. There's definitely a LOT I would redo in the engine bay but I don't trust disassembling that region. On the other hand, the interior was only hand-brushed with Tamiya X-18 so I just sanded that back smooth and airbrushed a coat of Mr Color Burnt Iron over instead. I've found that Burnt Iron does a good job of standing in for carbon fiber decals in some instances, like when a curved windshield is going to hide a good deal of what's visible. I did have fun finding a reference picture of the dashboard and painting it to match. Going to order a replacement set of decals from Indycals and looking forward to having this beast on the shelf at LAST!

To put it most bluntly, the bulk of the model kit industry is situated in Kyiv while the worst of the war has taken place in the Eastern Donbas region near Donetsk and Mariupol; some 400 miles away. It's a bit analogous if not directly comparable to saying "Why are the lights on in Dallas when a hurricane just blew Galveston off the map?"

ICM themselves very plainly described stopping all activity at their factory in February of 2022 and announced that they were back to work in April of 2022. They're a relatively small company, as most model kit companies are, and they've had the good fortune to be able to return to what is their routine. Not every model kit manufacturer in the Ukraine has been as fortunate. On one hand, Miniart, Dora Wings, and ICM have returned to something approximating business as usual. On the other, Clear Prop has struggled to return to routine business and Roden lost their supremely talented box artist Valery Grigorenko to the violence. However circumstances have arranged themselves, earnest hardworking people have gone back to work doing what they love.

Happy to see the Penske Mustangs on their way primarily because Ohio is Blaney territory on account of the family's sprint car exploits so we'll doubtless move a few.

The fantastic Ukrainian model kit manufacturer looks to be expanding their selection of 1/24th scale antique autos. While details are scant at the moment, my distributor recently listed the following as an upcoming kit from ICM. ICM #24050 - 1/24 American Model A Standard Phaeton 1930's Soft Top Passenger Car (New Tool) Grabbed the first Google result for a picture of the subject and I must say that done to the same level as their wonderful Model T's or Benz Patent Motorwagen this will be an absolute joy of a kit and I can't wait to stock it!

Very nice to see. I'm fairly partial to the modifieds.

It was actually a reasonably productive year for me in terms of modeling output. It especially makes a difference that I effectively had two months away from my bench with demolition, construction, and expansion at my shop taking precedence over my own models. I'm also really proud because two of these in particular - the 250GT SWB and the MGB GT - represent major "I always wanted to do that!" builds that I am beyond glad to have completed. I'm also really pleased because as the 250GT and the Mini show, I've now got a photo booth for shooting finished builds which definitely shows them off better than shooting them on the shop's register counter!

This is such a clean build of a truly exciting car and kit. Just getting an Enthusiast Series kit across the finishing line is a monumental task.

Really fantastic and I genuinely love how subtle the little additions are.