Justin Porter

Model building isn't going away. The things that excite young people so much that they want to build models of them are what's changing. Fighter jets and spaceships and tanks and pirate ships and fictional and historical figures? Still evergreen. Still going strong. Even growing in some sectors. Add to that wargaming miniatures and Gunpla and you have a hobby that's thriving on the whole. Car modeling? Oh boy... Car modeling... Car modeling globally isn't actually doing too badly. New companies like Belkits and Beemax have found comfortable niches producing quality racing car kits. Aoshima has settled into supercars while Fujimi keeps the more "pedestrian" cars coming and Hasegawa does the historic thing. Building an identifiable piece of racing history, particularly one that these young builders have created a rapport with often by "driving" it in PC sims or games like Forza, Gran Turismo, or Grid, makes these kits as dependable a seller as your usual array of Tigers and Spitfires. Muscle car, custom, and hot rod kits like those that AMT has focused on since the early 60's? Their audience is a little bit more finite. Ala Kart is a massively significant car in automotive history, but the number of people who have actively interacted with Ala Kart drops each year, and so the number of people who want a representation of it in their daily lives drops. Gradually, with the exception of a few "evergreen" examples, most every bit of that generation of automobilia will become niche. Once they're in that niche, it will be the role of short run, higher end model manufacturers to serve that significantly smaller market (in the model aircraft world, look only as far as the sheer number of different short run companies there are in 1/72nd scale) If you don't believe me, think about the last time that someone mentioned Pierce-Arrow or Winton to you.

A favorite sports car of mine and from experience I know that those kit decals are NOT easy to work with. Well done!

Spellbinding to see work like this.

I wish. The first issue of these when American Satco was the distributor supposedly had LHD dashes in resin in the kit.

Aoshima just re-issued it this year. When I saw it in the "upcoming releases" at the shop it automatically became a "One for the shop, One for the stash." order. lol If you have the chance, don't pass it up! It builds up so sweetly.

Looks beautiful to me. It's not the easiest kit to build cleanly but the results clearly can be fantastic.

Very pretty example of the new NSX.

Very clean build of a very striking Porsche.

My friend Spyro gave me a bit of help and now here's some much improved pics of the MGB.

The Tognotti car that AMT kitted along with the "Wild Dream", right?

Well, I mean obviously that one. lol

Better question than who's going to customize this first... When are we going to get a T-bucket kit with as nice a front axle, spindles and all, as this?

Absolutely on the money here, with the exception of the more dedicated "replica stock" community who correct bodies, match color codes, and parts swap their way to specific cars that existed rather than the more generic examples in the kits. As to NuNu's new 935K3, couldn't be happier and certainly hope to get a crack at building it.

Positively spot on for the model and it's great to see the new home that it's found!

This has a real presence to it. I love the stance and the color combo.

Definitely cool to see a 3rd gen MX5 built.

This is a really exciting build to watch of a particularly exciting car.

Looks pretty good to me. BRG actually suits the F1 pretty well.

It's not an easy kit but it's so worthwhile to see completed. Very nice work!

Love the way that turned out. It's definitely a gem of a kit that I hope Tamiya reissues again.

I can think of a few things that would be utterly fantastic to see... - A new MGB GT transkit for the Aoshima MGB kit (since the AAM kit has become unobtainium) - A road-going interior for the Belkits MkI Escort to build street cars - A "low drag" E-Type transkit for the Heller kit. - A transkit to build a Plus 8 out of the Tamiya Morgan Plus/4.

The Tobias chassis under that kit and its companion Gremlin are pretty tricky to get together, and the multi-piece bodies aren't exactly friendly either. Glad to see yours in such nice shape!

It really has been fantastic to see your builds again. Count me as well among the builders you've inspired with your craftsmanship.

Another gorgeous 512!

This has been a build I've been working on for a little less than a month but it's come together incredibly well. The kit is Aoshima's freshly reissued MGB MkI and it's a kit with quite a few nice touches. The included photoetch and precut masks for the windshield were definitely nice to work with, and the kit as a whole just dropped together. I painted it with AK Interactive's RC022 Blue from their Real Color line and covered that in a few coats of Tamiya Clear.