Justin Porter

Red letter day at my shop because our Cobra Motors rack finally arrived. I was very pleased with these paints when I tried them for my own build of Tamiya's Alfa Giulia and with a few positive reviews from other local builders I took the plunge. For those who are curious, they're an airbrush ready water based acrylic in 30ml jars and designed as a two-stage (color coat/clear coat) system. They've rolled out with 62 paints in the line including a 2K clear (hardener & lacquer) and the blend of colors touches a little bit on everything from American classics to modern race cars. I'm definitely hoping the line is a success so that it grows over time. https://www.migjimenez.com/img/cms/PDF/Cobra_Motor_Dossier.pdf

Really an exciting build especially with how strong the results are. My favorite detail easily is the fuse box because it feels to me like it wakes up the engine bay.

The Lincoln has been a modest success over my counter. There have been two primary customers for it. #1 - Casual builders who were completely unaware the kit existed at all. These folks see this wild yellow Lincoln and then look on the box and see all the wild parts and the lift-off body and think it's a cool and different thing to build. #2 - Kitbashers. Just from over the counter conversations, I've heard plans to put this chassis under an AMT '64 Galaxie, an AMT '49 Merc, and a Revell '65 Shelby Mustang. I wouldn't say that it justified being permanently in the catalog alongside the '69 Camaro and the various Deuces, but it did all right.

While we're all still waiting anxiously for Tamiya to reissue the 1/24th scale kit, seeing this 1/12th scale announcement is a huge joy! The 787B is one of those cars that tends to transcend builders' typical interests so it's ripe for a fresh kit.

Gundam as a multi-media phenomenon actually has a 20+ history in the USA with the series Gundam Wing first airing on Cartoon Network in the year 2000 where it was a smash hit. Bandai followed up their partnership with Cartoon Network's Toonami and Adult Swim blocks by airing the series Gundam 08th MS Team, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, G Gundam, and ultimately the original Mobile Suit Gundam series from 1979 and the "Universal Century" timeline's climactic movie "Char's Counterattack." This media blitz was paired with Gundam model kits being widely available in major toy and department stores - particularly Toys R Us - as well as a huge marketing campaign with television advertising for the model kits including tie-ins to music videos by popular nu-metal band Linkin Park. In short, Bandai has been working their marketing machine HARD for two decades in the USA and elsewhere, marketing to children and young adults alike on their terms and creating a fanbase that's interested in Gundam first and the model kits as an adjunct to the fandom. There's no parallel to it anywhere else in the modeling world.

I'd really have to conduct a bit of a census on builders to determine who was using what paints for what purpose given that the brands of paint I carry are GENERALLY pretty universal. I stock Tamiya, Gunze Mr Color & Mr Metallic, Army Painter Air, Citadel, Vallejo Model Air & Model Color, AK Interactive 3rd Gen, Xtreme Metal, & Real Color, and Alclad. The closest to a dedicated automotive paint brand I carry is that I'm ramping up to bring in the new Cobra Motors line of automotive paints from AMMO by Mig and have sold some jars of that individually before the rack has arrived. That being said, I'd say that my top paint consumers are probably first aircraft builders, then auto builders, and then Gundam. Casual aircraft guys buy the widest variety of paint, tend to hone in on a brand or two that they prefer, and generally need at least three or four new colors with each new project as they jump from air force to air force and from era to era. By comparison, casual auto builders consume a lot of paint but generally in a handful of colors (flat black, aluminum, silver, gloss red, etc) that they just have to restock every now and then. They do offset that a bit as auto builders buy rattle cans in the widest volume of any variety of builders. Generally, my military and Gundam builders only buy spray cans of primers and clear coats. That's at least from informal counter observations. I can't say I have as "hard" data on end users.

Just got this kit in at the shop yesterday and it's genuinely a fun piece. In particular, Hasegawa really knocked it out of the park with the interior detail which is good with that big rear window.

Looking incredible!

That would be the Airfix kit of the Bob Sharp Racing #33 Datsun 280ZX that Paul Newman drove. A VERY bare bones kit that's not even in the same league as the simplified Monogram 260Z let alone modern tooling like either the Hasegawa or Tamiya 240Z's.

That would be the Revell 1/25th scale kit of Brock's BRE team 240Z which was reissued MANY times. For a time it was the best rendition available of the 240Z given its full detail and the somewhat questionable contours of the Fujimi body but it finally had to relinquish its place on the Z pile to the hugely superior Hasegawa and Tamiya kits.

I think, to a degree, Moebius is missing a trick by not marketing the heck out of having tooled truly a class-leading vintage drag Hemi in this kit. An accurate classic drag car is certainly a good quality thing to have, but not trumpeting that vintage drag racers have such a trove of parts in this box like the MUCH more complete Hilborn setup with pump seems like taking a risk on missing out on kitbasher sales.

Clean as can be without a single stray line. Beautiful build.

Genuinely that's looking like it will be a pretty nice kit. I'll hold out hope they'll do an Alpine A610 or GTA.

Tamiya X-27 will take care of that just fine. Much prefer that to trying to mask and paint slender bezels on molded lenses. As to the wheels, they're not great but I see folks forgiving much worse wheels in other kits. Wheels are easy enough to rectify for the builders who want to, and honestly I get the impression a LOT of these are going to end up on Torque Thrusts or Cragars or Keystones.

Really nice looking kit. The headers in particular jump out at me.

I definitely like this build. It feels very fresh from the lot.

Yes it is! That's the Gunze High Tech kit which was a fantastic demonstration of why I should have tracked down an Italeri SWB instead!

I like that this has a very "parked outside the local convenience store" feel to it.

Your tastes reflect what is potentially popular in one solitary and shrinking demographic of builders. You say "not too many" in a way that positively drips of a willful lack of exposure to the hobby at large. That stinks to high heaven of the same mindset that won't buy "foreign" paint brands like Vallejo or Gunze and moans about the implosion of Testors. That looks at the teenagers and twenty year olds piling Gundam on my counter and KEEPING MY DOORS OPEN with scorn as if they're unwelcome guests in "their" corner of the world. Hypercar builders were ecstatic when the Zonda was released as it's one of the seminal new cars of the 00's. Off road builders were thrilled by the Land Rover because it's one of the big boxes to tick off (an early Land Cruiser still hoped for with bated breath). History buffs lost their heads when ICM made it possible to build what's popularly considered THE VERY FIRST AUTOMOBILE. Circle track fans have devoured the Salvinos/WMCC Tour Modifieds as it's the first dedicated kit for them since the Revell ASA Camaros! YOU are not the hobby. The hobby is breathlessly vast and filled with as many diverse and delightful people as there are stars in the sky. Take off your chromed V8 blinders for five uninterrupted seconds and you might even enjoy yourself.

MkI Escort RS1600. Lancia Delta S4. 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen. Citroen DS21. 1961 Pontiac Catalina. Land Rover Series III. Nissan R91CP. Brabham BT-18. Pagani Zonda C12. Tour-type asphalt modified. Dallara DW-12 Indycar. STOCK Ford Model A Phaeton. Just because YOU aren't getting the kits that YOU want doesn't mean other folks aren't having dreams fulfilled.

Thank you to everyone! Wiring the engine was a combination of drilling the kit supplied twin coils, an Iceman Collections predrilled V8 distributor (modified to accept a second coil wire), a pack of Gofer gray ignition wire with boot material, and some 0.3mm solder for the tie wraps.

Quick check. Nova Wagon - molded wipers and door handles '71 Demon - molded wipers and door handles '64 Olds 442 - molded wipers and door handles '68 Coronet - molded wipers and door handles '68 GTO - molded door handles I specifically outlined modifying older tooled bodies so that they conformed to the detail expectations of modern tooled kits. I also pointed specifically to detail expectations consistent with industry standards that have been in place since the late 80's when we began to see kits like the Monogram 1959 Cadillac Eldorado (first released in 1989 making it a 35 year old kit). It only works for Round 2 because Round 2 isn't bringing these kits up to an appreciable modern standard.

By the time an engineer has redesigned the initial 3D scan so that the body has separate wipers, door handles, sharper panel relief, is symmetrical side for side (which many of the old hand pantographed kits are not), the thickness is re-engineered to fit the new chassis and interior, headliner detail is added, and any molded in headlight/taillight buckets are removed so that separate chrome pieces can be used, how is 3d scanning an old body a time saving move for designing a new modern kit? And keep in mind, I am NOT talking about a state of the art kit like an Aoshima Pagani Zonda or Ebbro Citroën DS or Tamiya GMA T.50. I'm talking about just equalling the tooling efforts of 30 years ago with kits like Revell's '69 Camaro and AMT's '67 Mustang GT.

What fun this was! I cannot say enough what a delightful build the Tamiya classic sports cars are. I only added plug wires to the Twin Cam with this, and am planning another build to take advantage of USCP's freshly released 3D print detail set. Paint is Rosso Corsa from the new Cobra Motors line of automotive acrylics from AMMO by Mig under Gunze GX112 UV Cut Super Clear.

Alfa is all buttoned up with and in Under Glass. What a fun build this was!