geetee66

Well done! Nice resurrection of a good looking car The colour looks good. A very convincing build

Is this a Cedric? This 80's Japanese style is strangely intriguing They really did go nuts with chin spoilers and flared arches, but I kinda like 'em Mint green and black always looks good

Very crisp and clean build You did the carbon finish very well. The colour really works, too.

Sacre bleu! That's a very nice build. The paint is so glossy, it looks like it's wet! Yeah...I like it

Very cool wagon It looks a bit like it was designed by a committee, but maybe that's what makes it cool. The station wagon area of the car looks awkward, but it's quirkyness is what makes it worth looking at.

I'm glad they survived all the packing/moving/unpacking ! The wire wheels on your Ferraris look very fine. I had a problem with food-wrap when I used it for masking. It left marks in the surface, or took off the shine. Whichever it was, I shall keep it far away from my models in the future.

Super-clean and crisp build! I'd love to jump in this and give it a proper thrashing!!

Well done, Brett! I built one of these a few months ago. The decals are a bit naughty, aren't they? Yours looks great

Wow! 'Impressive' is an understatement.. Thanks for all the detail you provided. It was very interesting to read all your posts. I feel like I learnt a lot, too!

I love this...so much so, that I've just bought one on eBay. When I first got into model building, I found it hard to understand why so many of us had stockpiles of kits.. Now I know why. I might be $40 lighter, but I'm gonna be $1m happy when I build it!

Unique and well executed! I love the level of creativity here! Nice one, David

I built this as a departure from my usual vintage iron. I picked it up cheap in Singapore after a day-long search of the city for a model shop that sold something other than RC or military kits. My previous build was a 59 Caddy, with tons of chrome, so I thought it was going to be a quick blast, being kerbside. But the carbon fibre decals were a real trial, the kit decals were also some of the most fragile I've ever used. The large decals for the door broke up, despite my extreme care. I had to leave it alone for a few weeks, as I was getting too angry about it... However, apart from the Revell 49 Merc I built a few years ago, this is one of the newest-tooling kits I've built. The fit and condition of the parts was excellent and required minimal cleanup. It has functional steering and suspension. The brake rotors were bright chrome, but a rotational rub with very fine grit polishing cloth gave them a much more realistic appearance. I added red buttons to the steering-wheel (Gran Turismo 5 was quite good source material!) Apart from that, it's totally box stock. The engine and exhaust are moulded-in. I used silly putty to mask the surrounding bodywork while I sprayed on the silver: The tyres are the best I've seen on a kit. I used a 10x lens and could read the size on the tyre wall! Paint is from rattle-cans, polished, buffed and waxed Thanks for looking

Looks like it just finished a Welsh stage! A convincing build, well executed.

I've shown this post to a few non model-builders and they refused to believe this is a scale model...until I showed them the build story. A few still reckoned it's a full-size car. All I need now is the skill, patience and time and I might be 0.0000003% as good as you. Thanks for showing us your work, John. You are a living legend.

I was going to say that! I usually photo mine on a white, but that black mirror makes it look like a real promo shot. Very crisp build. Super-clean and lovely detail. I'd be proud to have one like that on my shelf!

Definitely a great looking build. Decal work is good, too. The tyre surfaces do need to be given a little directional sanding before you install them on the car. I use a fingernail sanding stick on mine, then wash and dry the tyres to remove the dust. Apart from that tiny detail, it's still a very nice build.

Tim...you inspire me to build better models, but I'm also a little saddened that I will probably never be this good! I would run out of superlatives if I were to try and describe how good this build is. You are so skilled and your work is so clean. I really do doff my hat to you, Sir. Tremendous.

Wow, Tim! You have got some real skill there, buddy! This is such an impressive build. It has so much realism. Worth all the sweat and cussing...! I wish my builds were even half as good as this. Truly awesome.

Tres bien, mon ami! The Chevy roof definitely looks better. You did a top job on this and it was worth all the effort. Glad you resurrected it after so many years. Are the other kits in the photos also by Trumpeter. Plus, the surface on which you displayed them looks tres authentique. Much like a gravel car park. Thanks for showing us your fine work!

Very crisp! I saw a few 1:1's of this car when they were new (The Marquis of Blandford had one and found infamy in it, when he was found slumped across the passenger seat, whacked outa his gourd on several substances..) The insurance premiums were mile-high, too, as thieves targeted the cars for their ability to out-run the law. That kinda sounded the death-knell for them. Lovely build. I really like it.

Amazing work, John! You got the paint laid down SO well! Your gold lines are super-crisp. As I've just completed a Watson tribute, I'm massively impressed with yours. You totally nailed it and I'm sure Mr Watson would admire it with respect! Yes!

Thankyou very much for all the nice comments, guys! Cheers Tim, The Piccadilly line isn't far from my house. I live about 2.5 miles from the end of the runway at Heathrow. Planes fly overhead about 55 times an hour, from 4:30am to 23:45pm, 363 days a year. Thankfully, I have double-glazing and Heathrow has sometimes been a lucrative source of income for me, so it's not all bad!! I just thought of something.... If anyone is planning to build one of these Monogram '59 Biarritz or Eldorados, either follow the instructions and install the distributor after the body is on the chassis, or make sure you sit the distributor down low to the engine, if you add plug wires. The clearance is really tight.

I feel your pain with that cracked roof! All this will seem a distant memory when you complete it. It's looking really good so far. Top marks for resurrecting an old kit and breathing new life into it.

I am always impressed with saw and putty work and this is no exception! Thanks for showing us your progress, it helps the more unskilled of us, improve.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Dave, I did use the kit glass. I just gave it a little buffing with fine polishing compound. It fitted the body really well and required only the smallest dots of epoxy to hold it in place.