Justin Porter

A brief break while clear coats dry to work on the lovely little Twin Spark twin cam in the Alfa. The finish is mostly AK Interactive Xtreme Metal paints. I used an Iceman 8 cylinder distributor in place of the kit distributor and Gofer wire and boot material, while the wire ties are just crimped 0.3mm solder.

Thank you very kindly for the order and glad you received it! I look forward to seeing it built because Tamiya really packed that one full of good stuff.

It is an acrylic which made it that much more impressive to me. I chose to spray over gray specifically as a test of how good the paint's coverage would be, figuring that white or pink primer would be giving it too much of a head start to impress me. lol

And we're live and in color! After a quick spray of Mr Surfacer 1200 my airbrush was cleaned and without so much as a pressure change I dumped the Cobra Motors Rosso Corsa into my airbrush and sprayed away. I am IMMENSELY pleased because it worked just as it said on the bottle. Absolutely airbrush ready, giving a really great tone over gray primer, shooting with no odor compared to my typically preferred Mr Color paints, and self leveling nicely to give a good base coat. I plan on using GX112 clear over the base coat and I think it's going to make for a very classy little Alfa.

This is the new reissue. I had earmarked one of my initial shipment as MINE for the moment I could bring them in at my shop. ?

Amazing thing is that this was an actual race car by the Mooncraft racing team that took part in races at the Fuji Speedway in the predecessor to the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship. It was powered first by a BMW four cylinder and then later by a Mazda rotary. It wasn't hugely successful but it was wild looking. Mooncraft would also later rebody a Riley Daytona Prototype and run it as an entrant in the Super GT series.

It's wonderful how certain events line up. One of my priorities at the shop has been trying to source an automotive specific line of premium paints that really suits my demographic. This year, AMMO by Mig announced their new line of automotive acrylics titled "Cobra Motors" and I decided to give them a shot. Then Tamiya announced they were bringing back one of my favorite kits. With the Alfa coming back onto the shelves AND a test jar of Rosso Corsa 50's-60's from Cobra Motors, I have the perfect testbed for this new paint line. Naturally, as this is a paint mule, the first step is marking out the thankfully minor mold lines and giving the whole body a good blocking-out with Tamiya 1500 sanding sponge.

Round 2 is consistently one of the highest priced non-premium brands across the board. Even the bulk of my imported kits like Aoshima, Fujimi, and even Tamiya tend to be cheaper. Case in point? Just brought the reissue of Tamiya's beautiful full detail Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA into my shop. That's on the shelf for $32.

Just announced on the Future Releases list at Stevens International today. AMT-1345 1/25 2023 Ford Bronco Outer Banks (New Tool) $38.99 TBA AMT-1472 1/25 1960 Ford Starliner Custom $37.99 TBA AMT-1473 1/25 Mopower Plymouth Funny Car $37.99 TBA

While not as big as some of the others like Model Roundup or Wes' Model Corner, I do like to think that I do a pretty good job of e-commerce through my shop's website for Haven Hobby in Elyria, Ohio.

Games Workshop, the company that owns and produces the lucrative Warhammer 40k tabletop gaming brand, contacted me through a regional sales representative to determine if I would be interested in becoming a retailer of their products. Within a week of their initial phone call, I had product samples, line cards, advertising materials, sales guides, sales metrics, and wholesale ordering catalogs including footprints for self-seller floor racks. They went out of their way to make the case that having their products in my store would be mutually beneficial in a prompt, thorough, and transparent manner. I bring this up because to date the only model car kit company that has gone to anywhere near these same lengths to demonstrate that they WANT to be on my shelf and that they value what retailers bring to the table - oddly enough - is Chinese racing car specialists NuNu who routinely private message me about upcoming products, thank me for sharing their social media material, and unfailingly have sent me a NuNu countertop calendar for the past now three years. I accept that most model car kit companies are not nearly as engaged with modern sales and media practices as gaming companies, or railroading companies (Rapido for instance), or Bandai, but there has to be an absolutely BARE expectation that a company that is trying to sell a product - particularly a product that ideally they want other people to sell alongside of on their own shelf - is capable of clearly communicating What That Product Is.

Knowing how vast the gulf can be on resin between the stuff I've got from C1 and the stuff I've got from Flintstone, rather glad to hear it's closer to the former than the latter. But now we all know we're talking about a promo style resin curbside which the initial post made absolutely no effort to explain. I'm certainly not opposed to Jo-Han coming back as a short run resin company, but I feel that if we're announcing their products then it should explained what those products actually are.

Absolutely! Complete with fascinating and plausible but still inaccurate engine options like GT40's powered by the Indy Four-Cam.

So, I'll bite. What exactly IS the kit that New Jo-Han are producing? Is it injection molded plastic, traditional cast resin, or 3d printed resin? Is it a full kit or a transkit? Is it a full detail kit or curbside? Is it meant to replicate a vintage Jo-Han kit or is the detail reflective of modern standards? If all you need to have a kit launch is a picture of a real vehicle and a pseudo-vintage label then stand back because I'm about to make IMC the most exciting brand in vintage sports car kits again for the first time in five decades!

Expecting these in this coming week at my shop. Amazed that Tamiya put the MSRP at $49 on this release given that the 240ZG was in on an MSRP of $71. This will give a LOT more people a chance to enjoy the great design of the Z kit.

The new tool '55 is definitely due. I've been extremely pleased with how the latest reissue of the '57 Bel Air has moved at my shop and the '56 Del Ray has been a very steady seller on my shelves for years. All they would really have to do is slap their current box art on the last "Rod & Custom" release of the kit because that wheel & tire package alone will be a mover.

Firstly, very happy to see your work which is absolutely topnotch. If I were to be greedy about what I'd like to see created with your level of care and talent, it would be along the following lines. Lamborghini Espada Iso Grifo And a transkit to convert the Tamiya S2 Lotus Europa Twin Cam to one of the Renault powered "breadvan" body S1 Europas.

Exceptionally pleased by the K5 tooling. It looks to be - at least on a superficial level - on the same par as the '71 Mustang with nicely designed pieces like the HEI style distributor and the steering gearbox.

That's going to be a fun quick build and knowing Tamiya it's going to be reissued at a pretty low price too.

A neat kit to cover, but I have to argue the fundamental premise that 70's Japanese cars aren't well represented with new tooling. In particular, Hasegawa has gone absolutely berserk as of late giving us 21st century tooling of the Isuzu 117, the Mitsubishi Galant GTO, the KPGC110 generation Nissan Skyline, their 70's Celica which this year is getting freshened to FINALLY offer the liftback body style, the Nissan Sunny pickup, and I'm certain I've missed one or two. I'd also freely point out that the RX-3 itself got brand new tooling in 1/24th courtesy of Fujimi in 2005.

Very nearly done. I elected to use the scoop from the Revell '41 Willys as I just plain wasn't happy with the way the bug catcher looked and didn't really want to scrounge another kit for a different blower hat. The driver's side pipe hangs WAY too low but it would likely take some heat to get it tweaked up into a more attractive position. The AK Xtreme Metal Chrome worked very well for the grille insert and I'm pretty pleased with the stance as well. I'm going to figure out a headlight and a taillight solution and add a few more details and then the next time you see this ought to be in its "glamour shots" for the Under Glass side.

Good grief. A really good case is being made for fresh tooling on this subject since it's not as if it's an obscure car or anything. Very fascinated watching your improvements since they seem very straightforward and sensible.

Not a ton of progress tonight but important progress nonetheless. A bit of digging in my parts boxes found some seats that I believe are AMT C4 Corvette sourced, the steering wheel and steering column from a Revell Deuce, and the dashboard and interior side panels from the Revell '41 Willys street rod. Granted, the side panels required a bit of cutting and trimming in order to get them sized for the '34 Ford cab, but the end result is looking like it'll be a relatively pleasant interior.

A quick update as I got quite a bit done this evening on the '34. After a TON of sanding the initial primer coat, I was able to get the cab into color! It's wearing a coat of Gunze GX215 Ice Silver that I think will really carry the "overgrown Hot Wheels" vibe of the build. I did a little paint detailing on the engine and used some styrene square rod to build some engine mounts so that the big block now sits proud in the frame. I included a chassis pic to show the adapted Revell '32 Ford suspension. Ignore for the moment that I haven't installed a driveshaft. lol The passenger fender still needs one more pass with filler before it's good for paint BUT that's further than this has got in close to two decades. I've bounced around some interior ideas but have to check that the parts are actually somewhere in my basement. Stay tuned!

Super clean '32 coupe! The flames really do set it off well.