Rich Chernosky

Dan....no I didn't. The body is removable and it can still be done. I was in too much if a hurry to get it done and forgot about this. Thanks for the compliments. If y ou are ever interested LED bulbs are really cheap...I bought 100 of the 3mm (sizes go as low as 1.8mm) for $6. Three volts DC is all it takes to light them. You just have to be carefull about negative and positive as they only light one way.

Needed a quickie project to get something done and this kit fit the bill. Early Japanese kit that was intended to be motorized and lighted. So there is not much under the body and the interior is pretty basic. I did manage to do a few extras. I cut all the fender vents out and replaced them with thin styrene. I did add the motor but changed the headlights to LED's. They look a lot better but were a lot brighter than I thought they would be. I photod it both ways, with the lights off and on so you be the judge. My primary concern were the ancient decals. They came off the sheet with out cracking but took considerable solvent, heat and some choice words to apply. More details under the photos. Lights on and motor running. Had to put a piece of clay underneath to elevate the wheels. Took a few shots to get this pic. They certainly are bright, it was fun to do this so why not. The decals over the outer fender proved to be the most problematic. Note the wrinkles Only the turbo hangs out the back. Not much engine detail other than this and a few pipes. Adding all those vents took up some time but it sure looks a lot better than the kit depiction.

Those Monogram kits were fairly well detailed for their time. Yours turned out great. I remember seeing that Indy race live. Thanks for posting that memory.

Brett..those were all seperate PE pieces and they did not fit well. The attachment points were very vague and you had to go pretty much by eye. Not as perfect as I may have wanted but done anyway. Initially I used Micro Liqui-tape, which is a very sticky water base contact adhesive that I use for all tiny pe parts. Then several layers of paint and clear all hold them in place. You have to be very careful when handling the model not to touch these as they are very fragile. I only knocked one off during handling and that was pretty good considering there are 12 of them. You'll have fun with this when you do yours.

Carl...that is a wonderful kit and you are off to a good start. I am sure it will be a great model. I used Tamiya X-18 semi blk on my wheels and wiped it off shortly after spraying and before it had a chance to cure. Tamiya thinner doesn't hurt the chrome as much as other thinners and I got the same results. Just a different technique.

I had to threaten him with a Paypal refund. That got his attention. It was shipped the same day he had to refund. It took 3 months to get my order. The paints work Ok. You have to treat them the same as any fast drying lauquer. For my money I will go with Splash paints. Better service on a similar product. Anybody can put up a slick website like Gravity has. Not everybody can provide excellent customer service. Gravity USA spends more time complaining about his competition in Spain than he does taking care of his own business. That's his real problem.

Thank you Phil Thanks Dave, just got Pete's new book on the Shadow and there are 30 pages of text and photo for the AVS so I am inspired. Thanks Josh, I have always felt that sharing was what this hobby was all about. Thanks Thanks

Doug....I cheated when I did mine. I airbrushed the red on then cut the dk blue/lt blue stripe away and applied them as seperate decals. It also meant matching the red carefully. I have had to do this for many of my other Martini variations so it seemed to be the logical choice. I liked the way mine turned out. The decals for the all red version are Studio 27. They also made the carbon fibre set which I ordered too. I got them off 'Ebay from a seller I know personally in Belgium. He's not cheap but usually has what I want.

Thanks JC Yes it was...and thanks Ray. Thank you Gary....that tip went all the way to Belgium BTW.....<G>

Justin....Simil R are not for the feint hearted. Special care must be taken to get everything to line up. I had to insert several aligning pins in the body to get it to sit on the chassis correctly as an example. I have also done their Ford GT kit and the problems were similar. Thanks for the kind words.

Completed today this is a Pescarolor Judd LeMans Prototype from the 2011 season. Car is painted in Splash Colors SP361 Deep Impact Blue and Tamiya TS-26 white. 2k clear was used as the final coat. This piece was a decal challenge to say the least. Much masking was required. Decals were by Cartograf and were excellent in color and register. They responded well to solvent and heat but many of them still fought me til the end. The photo etch fret was a nice touch and despite the complexity of the car the kit was fairly simple. It was defi9netly an interesting subject. See the captions under the pictures for extra info about this build. Thanks for looking. Box art showing the real car. I made a copy of the decal sheet on my computer then coverd the copy with clear package tape. This allowed me to make the paint masks out of Tamiya tape. The tape removed easily from the copy and was also positionable on the model. There were a "lot" of decals. Completed model. Front wheels are painted in Tamiya TS40 metallic black and dry brushed with a touch of silver. Wheels steer but barely. Fit in the wells was very tight. 3/4 back veiw. Note the phot etch braces. they were very fragile and easily bent. Side veiw of the car. The flourescent green decals fought me the hardest and tended to curl up with solvent. The mirrors had to be painted to match these and I got lucky with the match. That stripe along the rocker panels is vinyl tape painted with the same paint as the decal didn't make it. Instructions called for drilling holes in the headrest fro these induction trumpets. I made them out of aluminuin tubing as they looked a lot better than the plastic thingies supplied in the kit. The decals on the roll bars were no piece of cake either. Interior is sparse but well done. I supplied the green material for the seatbelts and the kit has the hardware.

Doug...looks real good. Getting those Martini stripes on the hood without wrinkles is a real challenge. I thought I didn't have this livery in my collection but I should have checked before I ordered one. Yep...its there. So I am going to do the red Martini version and ordered the CF and decals (which cost more than the kit BTW) I will use your WIP as a guide so I appreciate your post and the effort you put into it.

The colours look good on this car. I like the added touches like the wipers. Nice job indeed.

I started this kit some 30+ yrs ago. Its nice to see it being built. Good color choice too.

Turned out great Justin...followed this in WIP. Thanks for sharing

Looks good to me.

She's a beauty Steve, I see you also used the correct tobacco decals.

Welcome to the forum Dave. I have some Pactra paints that still have the 10 cents price tag on them. That makes them over 50yrs old. They are still good BTW. If your caps have been on tight and the heat hasn't got to them they should be OK. They will need to be stirred is all and maybe thinned.

Beautiful builds Bruce. 1/43 is tough and you mastered it. Especially like the Martini.

Still looking good Gary.

The Stratos is a very cool and different looking car. I have seen one in person. Your model certainly does it justice.

Gorgeous job on all that CF and the seatbelts and other interior details. Can't wait to see it finished in the Martini livery..its my favorite. I have the Dekra version of this car built but don't have the Martini and this may be the push for me to re-visit this kit. Thanks for the WIP.

Those Hasegawa kits are great, and you have a good start on them. Hint...easier way to do those panel lines, Get some India ink, the kind that is water soluable when dry and a cheap nib pen. Flow the ink in the panel lines. Any mistakes or extra and take a damp cloth when dry and just wipe it away. Will save you a lot of time. And the India ink has a lot of other uses too.

If you like to decant here is another way. I made these by taking the spray nozzle out of the spray head. The tubing comes from most any spray bottle. A little plumber teflon tape around the tube and jam it in the hole left by the nozzle. Shown are a Testors and Tamiya spray heads. Savogram Brush and roller cleaner works better than laquer thinner. These have been cleaned many times.

Dave...very nice work, don't see much of either variation. The Ford GT was my inspiration to get into automotive modeling. Saw one rumble past me at the 1964 Watkins Glen Gran Prix and bought an IMC kit of the same car sometime later. Still have that finished kit. You commented on my post of 5/27/19 and Gary (gramps) posted pictures of that day I was there. Pretty cool that someone captured that moment on film. I am not in the pic but I will bet I was only a few feet away.