Justin Porter

Admittedly, it comes down to the kit and the paint I'm working with. For instance, I have a few of the Revell SCCA Trans-Am Camaros, specifically the Baldwin Hot Wheels Camaro and the Sharp Rain-X Camaro. The Baldwin kit is molded in bright blue. Sharp's car is molded in a nearly translucent yellow. Any hope of a good result on those builds requires primer on every part so that the final color isn't effected.

Given the sharp rises in accuracy and tooling on the military side of 100% Chinese companies such as Takom, Trumpeter, Rye Field, Meng, and on down the list, frequently of subject matter where there are very few if any surviving examples upon which to base the kit (Takom's magnificent full-interior King Tigers for instance) I would tend to believe it has little if anything to do with whether or not Chinese tool cutters have ever seen a 'Cuda. It may be Chinese manufacturing, but I'm willing to wager it wasn't the Chinese who came up with the initial CAD file that cut that tooling. Rather, it's just the terminally stunted design philosophy of Western model car kits that are trapped in the hazy fog of days when a T-bucket with a chrome helmet was the biggest thing in the world.

Fantastically turned out build. Always great to see one of these "de-contented" muscle cars.

For so many years, Wingrove was a benchmark in terms of craftsmanship, finishing, and research. It was no exaggeration to call him one of the world's preeminent modelers and perhaps the automotive modeler most respected by our colleagues in the modeling world at large. He will be missed, and his work will remain a testament to the artistry of this hobby.

Very fun approach to the Tamiya Alfa. It's one of those "you have to try this out!" kits that drops together really sweetly.

You would suppose that the Johan lineup would be a good "just tool these" list for Moebius or Revell if they ever get a bit fuzzy on what to do next. The world needs an AMX kit that isn't antiquated.

As great a pain as it can be to build, the old Revell Austin-Healey 100-6 is a kit I love because it does hold up as a great replica even with its age. Granted, it's also the best argument that a 100% new Big Healey kit needs to be tooled up (Hasegawa? Ebbro?) but for now it sits nicely alongside classic sports cars built from much more modern tooling.

That IMSA 280ZX is going to be so choice. Can't wait to build it in PLN's scheme.

Massively eye-catching with that drop and those wheels, to say nothing of the color combination!

The California Kid is one of those inescapably RIGHT cars that's made it impossible for me to look at a '34 Ford coupe and not think "black, flames, chopped, nerf bars" no matter how unoriginal the thought is. I would also add, and somewhat critically...

Ebbro has done a lovely range of Lotus 49's, and have added a Brabham BT-18 F2 car to that range as well. Tamiya and Hasegawa have both offered kits of the Honda RA272, with Tamiya also producing a lovely kit of the Lotus 25. Fujimi produced the Ferrari 330P4 and Ford GT40 in both MkI and MkII guises. Heller also tackled the 330P4, which was also reissued at one point by Union. Heller's line also included a Porsche 907, a McLaren M7A, and a Brabham BT-33. There is actually quite a long list given how globally popular the source material is, with new kits being released all the time.

For the past few months, my two distributors haven't been able to get their hands on several Revell or Revell of Germany car kits that are "high demand" items, with the '68 Chevelle being in that group. Another "oddly enough" example is that the RoG Ford GT racer is still outside of my distribution channels despite the fact that Tamiya's Ford GT was effectively in my hands within seconds of its formal announcement.

Amazing to see one all built up and looking good. Definitely, I agree with you that just ignoring the "features" is the best way to go.

Oh boy howdy has it not been smooth... I'm not sure who was doing product demand predictions at Revell to determine production run sizes, but I feel like they moved a decimal point to the left by accident. At this point I've resorted to sacrificing a goat to the old gods to try and get more '68 Chevelles and Baja Broncos for my inventory.

The warbird news has been exciting for me so far this year too. Eduard is supposed to be showing off their all-new 1/48th P51-D. Granted, we've seen a good number of nice Mustangs lately (Airfix's being the standout so far) but Eduard is easily my favorite kit manufacturer for airplanes so I'm pumped.

Lovely build of what are some amazing kits.

Already had to remove the rear header and re-jig it because the luggage area plate wouldn't fit properly around it. Honestly between the overflow tank and the airbox it's likely going to end up in "what you can see" territory.

Another update on my Fujimi 1/24th scale Dino 246GT. Two color coats are down and I think looking quite good on this particular sports car. More chassis work has been done too with the full rear suspension in place and the exhaust starting to come together.

Really an astonishing and original piece. Something to be proud of, Paul!

That really does look like an eye-catching piece for any shelf. Great looking work.

That's a very attractive kit. I'd need one for the shop shelf and one for my shelf.

Absolutely a lovely build of one of the more fascinating cars in motoring history.

Now that is pretty well turned out. The color is really striking and appropriately 50's too.

The first tip I can definitely pass along is to keep your micro drill bits and pin vise handy because none of the holes for the locator pins are either wide or deep enough especially if you have any paint on anything. It's very easy to misalign parts because of this.

Really liking the engine and interior detail so far.