Spottedlaurel

You've captured the look of it very nicely Matt, the colours look spot-on.

Nice! Got a great period look to it.

Thanks, and sorry! It's not too dissimilar to the dark green I had on a '93 Camry estate a few years ago. Almost black in low light, but then became brighter with a slight purple flip in sunlight. Nice work!

Going away on holiday and dealing with busy family life either side of it meant that I hadn't done anything to my Accord/NSX mash-up for some time. With a run of good weather I finally got on with cleaning up the odd seams which were still apparent after the first coats of primer, then it got given more primer, a few coats of BMW Boston Green and clearcoat: Generic automotive primer, with the colour and clear from Halfords aerosols straight out of the can. These photos were after an hour or two, it's now hanging in the boiler cupboard and is drying out to a good smooth finish, looks like only minimal polishing will be required. In sunlight the colour really comes to life. Looks like it was at 1:1 on mid-late '90s models, which suits the era of this Accord nicely and I can visualise there being a similar colour in the range back then. Should go well with bronze or gold wheel centres, looking smart but subtle, with just the ex-Monogram Citation vents giving any clue about something a little different...

Heather, may I offer my deepest condolences. There was certainly something special about what Roger shared on here, and I'm sure that reflected what he was like in person.

I'm not that far south so I can't say what's down that way. I'm across in the lumpy bit that sticks out into the North Sea north-east of London. If you find yourself in East Anglia, there's a nice little shop called Model Junction in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Not a vast range of car kits (and the last AMT/MPC sealed reissue I attempted to buy there was warped!) but it's in a town that is well worth a visit in its own right. Further across on the coast, there's the Hannants wholesale warehouse. It's also open to the public, and you can wander around the aisles while they make up orders for shops and online customers. It's a little daunting, I tend to get some ideas of what they have on special offer before I go and try not to get tempted by the rest. If you're here for a while I'd take a look at what the online retailers like Hiroboy, Kent Models and Jadlam have - the former two are where I buy most of my kits. You're certainly not going to find them in supermarkets and even what toy shops there are don't have many/any.

This is the '67 Impala isn't it? I had similar issues: I don't think I truly discovered it until I tried it with the glass. I ended up shaving of lots of material as seen above. And trimming off some of the excess glass. Apart from more/earlier trial-fitting, in hindsight it would have been better to trim off the side glass and replace it with clear sheet. Even then I would still have struggled with the front edge of the dashboard, unless I had managed to misalign it that badly? After all of the above, and also some trimming of the firewall, it still felt like the front end wasn't sitting nicely on the chassis and it was more than glue would hold, so I put these wire links between the inner arches and chassis rails. Crude, but it worked. I got there in the end, still looks good in the display cabinet above me as I write.

Might be a bit more limited on here in the near future, due to an upcoming 1:1 car purchase. In the meantime: No immediate plans for this one, and there are far too many decals for me to do it as a box art replica. Maybe merge some of it with the road car, and use the leftovers for a Time Attack car? Realised this isn't much different to the AMT version I already have. I think it's attractive car and certainly has potential, will be interesting to try and realise that. In doing a search I was reminded of the very nice version that sadly departed MCM member Plowboy built: I can't immediately find the completed photos that Roger posted in the Under Glass section, but it looked excellent.

More progress on the Accord/NSX mash-up: With the floorpan and engine/suspension coming on nicely it was time to start thinking about the bodywork. With the mid-engine I need to get some air in the back, so I found these vents from an unlikely source. Any guesses?! On my recent Mazda RX-7 build I trimmed the bottom of the spoiler. I realised it was just right for adding a bit of depth to the Accord, so that got attached. Just need a bit of finessing. Suspension completely installed, along with the V6 and transmission. I cut off the stock airbox and added this resin intake. Have also started on the interior, although at the moment it's more cutting and trimming than assembling anything. The bulkhead was split from the interior tub and I removed the sides as I'll be fitting the Accord's door trims. The NSX tub is being raised so the dashboard is at the right height. A little more done here, including installation of the radiator. With some decent weather yesterday I got some initial coats of primer laid down. I can see a few things that need further attention, but nothing too bad. Trial-fitted the smoked rear glass here (it has duplicate sets of clear and tinted). Wheels are roughly in the right place. Widened the existing exhaust cut-out and formed a new one. Also added random bits of styrene to locate the rear of the floorpan. The view underneath. Was pleased with how much it's moved forwards, I can't see anything too complicated in the near future.

Something of a theme to my purchases from a couple of sellers this week: The "Tools 2" set contained some resin/3D printed chassis stands and the photo-etch toolbox, which itself retails at something like £13 online. Thinking that I'll assemble a pair of the garage bases for photographing/displaying larger cars then keep the antique one as more of a hobby scene for smaller vehicles. Already got some other tools which I need to get on with. The Mitsubishi is an odd thing, certainly not 1/25!

Good to see your take on it, and very inventive repurposing of the Skyline light sourrounds!

Great to see you continuing to make such good progress with it David.

I've been enjoying watching this come together over the last week or two, I wonder if any have been built before with such care and attention? It appears to be nicely proportioned and definitely captures the look of the original. By the time I really started noticing what was on the road in the '70s many had already ended up in the scrapyards, but I recall the odd daily driver hanging on into the '80s. Our neighbour had what I remember as a tidy, pale green 2-door which replaced a rotten Mk3 Cortina around 1980.

A mixed bag of arrivals this week: Thought this might have some useful upgrade parts for the Accord Wagon I'm currently building for the Cannonball Community Build, but it turns out to be a different generation. Nice Lowenhart split-rim wheels (which are different to the box top). Opening tailgate an unusual feature. Bodykit is not pretty, and the original builder was going for a rather dramatic look with the colour choice. If I can clean up the black around the door handle then it would be interesting to see if it will take a coat or two of clear and polish out.... Another rebuilder. I like these simple Monogram kits, all those I've seen so far have nicely proportioned bodyshells even if they're very basic otherwise. Sadly this one is missing it's front bumper/spoiler, but I have an Italeri 944 that was built many years ago from which I could rob something. In the meantime the box sits happily with the 280Z and TR7 I already have. A strange little kit, more of a toy really. I already had the box (purchased with another one in the range), then someone found the Citroen on a market stall. It's lost its grille and bumper but has otherwise been put together reasonably well. It has opening front doors, bonnet and tailgate, with a bit of thought it could be painted and detailed as an effective little display piece.

Nicely done, looks good with the wheels in the right place unlike the Cavalier box art....

Nice progress. The engine is a lot cleaner than the 1:1 L24 I have in my Laurel.....

Great to see you back on this one Sonny, it doesn't deserve to sit unfinished in a box and I'm sure you'll do it justice. Certainly looks to be coming together nicely after your recent efforts.

Aoshima do a range of different food wagons based on the Suzuki, I've had this one for years: @CabDriver is/was building a 3D printed Kei truck.

As I recall from the example I built some 30 years ago, it went together nicely: Wouldn't have dreamt of this when I built the kit back in the '90s, but I now own a 1:1 '92 LS400 so I can see what it should look like (excuse the dust and grime): The basics are there, but there's a lot less plumbing. You might be looking to replace the intake setup in any case? Sounds like an amusing project anyway. I have a spare 1:24 engine and I'm looking to drop it into something else one day.

Nice haul! I have a soft spot for the Corvette America (have an unbuilt one here plus the remnants of the poor thing that I threw together in the '80s). Are those Aoshima wheels the really wide ones? I used some on a Monogram Corvette C2, they looked really good, but I did trim them down slightly and maybe fit some different tyres.

Very kind of your benefactor! The only other US Airfix kit I know is the racing version of the 280ZX. Scalemates suggests it's ex-Gunze Sangyo. I had one a few years ago but sold it on - it wasn't particularly inspiring.... There's a little bit about one of them here: How much of a link is there with the British Airfix company? Here they offered rebranded MPC kits under their own name as well those they'd developed themselves.

Good luck with everything else Anton. Life is like that sometimes, the kits and other hobbies will still be there when you have the time/motivation.

Didn't realise it was over two years ago since I last did anything on this one! Not sure that I've actually done a lot more now, but I've been spurred onto making some progress with it. The paint went on in 2021, from memory Sandalwood Beige (Halfords automotive paint intended for a 1980s Austin-Rover). Now got to summon up courage to paint the trims along the bodywork and around all those windows. Sliding door seems to fit OK-ish. Ride height is about as low as it will go without surgery - I think it'll suit it OK as above, some lower profile tyres would help. Big thing now is the interior, and maybe some accessories - it might end up with the inflatable boat from the AMT Hilux kit as well as what came with it.

Good to see someone else is making progress! Did more on mine: Cut notches in the front of the floorpan that take the tabs on the Accord. At the back end I'll need to fix something inside the rear bumper. For now I'm using a block of foam to get a consistent height for mock-up purposes. I've also shaved some material off the hub faces so the wheels sit further in. I'm about there at the front, depending on which wheels I eventually choose. At the back I will also have to take a bit off the inside of the wheel - the NSX's body gets wider at the rear, but the Accord doesn't and I don't want to add arch extensions. Keeping it subtle is the key here.... Back on the favoured 19s. Then I found these BRS M10 18s by Fujimi, which I'd intended to use on last year's CBR entry that never really got started: With the centres painted bronze or gunmetal I think they'll suit it well, and they seem to fit better than the 19s. Also I don't think the NSX had particularly large diameter rims as standard, it probably needs a bit of compliance from the sidewall. And this is going to be something that's meant to travel fast on possibly less-than-perfect roads, not the track. Hopefully now I'm nearly there on the suspension I can start thinking about the body and interior.

From the same seller: Already have the street/strip Nova, but having read on here that it's a useful upgrade for the later MPC Nova I was happy to get this version so I can still build one standard-ish. Always good to have more wheels.