Justin Porter

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.

That and the handful of new-tool F1 kits that Hasegawa did in 1/20th like their exquisite Lotus 79 and Ferrari 312T. Of course, both are currently out of production and also worth small fortunes each as well.

Owner/Operator of Haven Hobby in Elyria, Ohio.

It Came From the Shelf of Doom!!! This is a project from long, long ago in my tenure as a builder with the bones of the build having been started some time in the early 00's while I was still in high school. As such, it has bounced around from basement to basement, bench to bench, with me finally saying ENOUGH this summer. The ingredients are fairly straightforward. Take one Lindberg '34 Ford truck, a Jimmy Flintstone chopped cab, Radir wheels and cheater slicks from a Revell '64 Thunderbolt, suspension from a Revell Deuce (I believe a Dan Fink Speedwagon release), and a blown Chevy 427 from a Revell '68 Stingray kit (with the side dumps taken from I believe the Owens Corning release of that same kit). At some point I had started on filling the spare tire well with a styrene sheet plug and Epoxolite putty. I knocked out sanding that and got everything vaguely body related into some Mr Surfacer 1200 to see what I'm really working with on the body. It looks like I will be able to use some Mr Dissolved Putty to clean up the pinholes and the shrinkage and will keep going to get this finally on the shelf.

Nicely turned out. The engine bay really is a gem with all of the clean paint detailing.

Sometimes a project just comes together. This time I tackled Revell's fantastic '67 Corvette coupe kit, only adding the Tri-Power setup and sidepipes from the roadster kit and some ignition wires courtesy of some 0.3mm solder. The paint is Gunze GX216 Dark Metallic Blue over Tamiya TS21 Gold with a coat of Mr Super Clear UV Cut Gloss over top. The interior was finished in AK Real Colors Pure Blue and the same Metallic Blue as the body under a coat of satin varnish by AK. All in all, I had fun adding another big block Chevy musclecar to my shelf.

All wrapped up! Check out the finished shots in Under Glass.

Another critical step, and always one of my favorites, is masking and airbrushing the window trim with AK Xtreme Metal Chrome. The Corvette has minimal brightwork but it's still nice to bring it out.

Part of the fun of the interior of this build was replicating the shiny vinyl of the Corvette interior. I used the same GX215 Dark Metallic Blue for the seats, dash, console, and door cards as I did on the body, but topped with AK Real Color Satin Varnish. The rest of the interior is AK Real Color RC010 Pure Blue plus detailing with assorted Gunze and AK paints plus a couple of touches of Bare Metal Foil.

The heart of a big block Corvette is, of course, that 427ci big block and thankfully Revell gives us a good one. I only added ignition wiring courtesy of some 0.3mm solder (Revell even has the forward looms delicately molded onto the valve covers) and otherwise this is straight out of the box in a host of AK, Gunze, and Vallejo paints.

It's going to be VERY interesting to compare this head to head with the Platz NuNu kit of the same subject, given that they're both excellent companies.