Ensis Ferrae

I honestly didn't see this till just now. . . the old Group B cars are seriously my faves. Yours looks quite nice, especially considering you saying you had to restore/rescue some of the decals. I've built the Heller version of this same car, and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. This is one I wish they'd repop for us.

Well "got" today depends on definition of getting. . . In the mail, I finally got the Photo etch upgrades and decals for a Ferrari 250 GTO, and the PE upgrades for a 68 Ford GT40

Thanks for the link, looks like they are sold out as well

Beautiful build. . . I just ordered one of these kits online myself, however the PE up-detail kits were out of stock there. Could you post up a link for where you got your photo-etch?

Ohh this one is pretty good, looks well researched and admits their own limitations. Thanks

Hello all, I am a historian by degree, and obviously love cars. . . There's a book or article that I'm after that I have not been able to find to this point. Long and short of it is, I'm wanting something that goes into the details on the how's and why's of the old, old racing colors. As most of us know cars were largely assigned colors based on their country of manufacture. . . So, I'm after a book/article/documentary video or something that really digs into that.

Have you taken a look at spotmodel.com ?? Ive found them pretty good for finding a ton of kits, and optional add-ons to kits.

Just how did you get that Arctic Blue Metallic to come out looking like that!? I've been trying to spray the body of a 53 Ford pickup, and I'm bout to probably have to start again cuz of spray issues. Overall that is one sexy build.

The weathering is quite nice. Watched this build from the workbench thread, and the contrast between the weathering on the inside and outside is quite big, but nice.

Looks great. . . with the cracked windshield, its literally the PERFECT time to mess around with weathering!

Near the tail end of their lifespan, British Layland was building licensed Hondas under their own badging (according to James May's Cars of the People) Not quite the same thing but NUMI in California saw Chevy and Toyota "jointly" building early camry and corollas (which if I recall were badged as the Cavalier and something else for Chevy). . . of course, only one marque had decent reliable cars out of that venture.

After having built another Heller kit, I've been right put off them permanently. . . I'm glad you're taking even more steps on this kit to make it look good than I did on my own project (I started a WIP thread here, but largely abandoned it as I finished the kit. . . 3/4ths of the car are in weathering pigment now ) This is looking quite good with all the extra work you're putting into it.

Great job. . . thing that astounds me is how the body is longer than the actual box. How were the pieces presented prior to the build??

Thing I've noticed in working one some other Group B cars and going to The Google for example photos, it really does seem that the cars changed appearance so often that it's little wonder our kit makers have so many variations/differences in decals

Some progress over the weekend, got the cabin mostly done. . . Strangely, the kit is made with doors that nominally can open, yet it did not come with the three pedal setup that most kits do for the drivers' side. . . . Ultimately, I cannibalized the pedal setup from the PE upgrade kit I bought for my Lancia 037 build, as those doors do not open (nor does the interior appear to be overly visible). Additional 'bummer' moments with this kit include the fact that there are no decals for the setabelts, door interior is incomplete (will be attempting to copy the door liner bit from the Lancia kit again, it may not technically be correct, but it will look better than a hollow void in the door area). There are even further areas where proper detail is lacking, namely in the wheel arches/well area. . . Essentially when you build the cabin, you have a blocky front/rear panel, and when you attach the body, there are massive intentional gaps/holes that are not covered even when the wheel and tire assembly is installed, so, this kit is turning more and more into some early scratch building efforts on my part, and I hope that they come out pretty well to at least mask the lack of detail in the actual kit.

Short-ish update, got basically "step 1" of the instructions done. . . this is the bottom tray of the car, the engine block and transmission/wishbones on the rear: To answer a few previous questions: I have no idea how related to the Tamiya kit this one is, but I suspect they are not related at all. . . This is due to how Tamiya typically sets up the attachment points for wheels (ya know, inner wheel spikes, with a rubber washer that goes into the brakes to allow builders to have rolling wheels). . . .The mold isn't the most crisp and clean I've seen, plenty of mold lines to clean up on most everything I've clipped so far, dry fitting can be a "pain" because how tight the contact posts are with their matching holes. . . However with that tightness, once you get glue in there, things slide together quite nicely.

Looking absolutely solid so far, decals are usually the part I hate doing the most, but get the most satisfaction when the come out right

There is detail for the engine underneath (probably hard to see due to my original pictures. Here's a shot much closer of the bottom piece. You do build the block and cement it to part of the piece in the picture, so there is detail underneath, I am just not sure at this point exactly what will be visible.

Hello all, Never really have done a full WIP, and figured this is as good a build as any to try it out. Pictures today are just the "unboxing" of the kit, however I hope to begin working on it sooner, rather than later, and keep everyone updated. Despite having so few pieces (the kit only has 41), the appearance here is that it can be built open or curbside (for instance, the rear hatch, and the hood are not glued down, per the directions, leaving the option of having things more open). Just from my initial visual inspections, looks like there is quite a bit of flashing and mold lines to clean up, so should provide me a good bit of work, and hopefully look ace when done.

Honestly, I'd rather that IF GM were to bring a Holden over to the US for production, it should be the Holden Maloo. . . I cannot begin to describe how often I've been on various automotive forums and people are wanting one of these. Or, at the very least, a proper replacement for the El Camino/Ranchero.

Ordered a Heller kits Peugeot 205 Evo 2 T16 WRC car in 1/24 scale (pic from the website, not me. . . I'm waiting on postage now)

One of the local American Legion members and I hit it off at a local hobby shop (RIP hobby shop), and we got to talking about this sort of situation. . . A "decent" suggestion that I would have, based on my conversation with the aforementioned gentleman, is to find a local build/hobby/modeling club or group. . . This past year they had their chapter president pass on, and because the wife who was left behind knew of the club, and knew some members, invited the entire club chapter down to help her go through his remaining kits (now in this case, we're talking fairly extreme. . . 2 car garage filled floor to ceiling with barely a path for walking through, with nothing but model kits, 99% of which were untouched and complete). Because this was a club environment, the guys who helped clean out the garage gave the wife a reasonable amount for kits they wanted, to help her, and helped her list/sell the remainder. Personally, seems like a decent set up, because we're talking about people who are nominally friends, and as such don't want to screw over anyone, understand what the wife is going through and are legitimately trying to help her get through stuff. So, long story short: I'd suggest finding a group/club to join and make sure people are close enough to occasionally do stuff outside of club meetings.

My parents gave my a Hasegawa Lancia 037 . . . . though between Turkey Genocide Day and christmas, I gifted myself quite a few kits due to the closest model shop to me closing its doors permanently. That haul includes a 1970 Challenger R/T (the Vanishing Point challenger kit), Mel's Drive-In Hudson Hornet, a 3-in-1 kit of a Cobra "race team" (1950 Ford Pickup, trailer, and 1963 Shelby Cobra), 1970 VW "Superbug Gasser" kit by AMT, Italeri Ford Escort II rally car, AMT's Enterprise D, and AMT's USS Reliant

Before joining this forum I had only dreamed of the day I'd see the Quattro in a scale kit. . . Not only am I enjoying this WIP thread, but also loading up the wishlist/cart to buy the Beemax kit for myself soon, and anxiously awaiting the release of some other ones. There's only about 4 Group B's that I want, and of course the Audi is right there at the top, you sir are doing an excellent job of building this one. edit: question, have you thought about, or know which car you are making? By this I mean, are you going to decal it up for Walter Rohrl, or Stig, or another driver?

I've always loved the look of that particular BMW Williams, and you have done excellent service to her with this one. Simply great work mate.