Spottedlaurel

Good to see the older Celicas, and I can only dream of my '92 LS400 being as clean as that one!

Thanks Tom, didn't realise that it started life as an IMC kit. Thought it was odd being Japanese and 1/25 scale. Found a few more built/WIP examples when I searched with the IMC name. Looks like it has its challenges, maybe one to just enjoy and not take too seriously....

Traded a diecast for this one: It was on the condition that I build it as the dragster version: Might still make some minor mod's, even if it's just a change of wheels and tyres. I hope the latch and hinges on the engine lid are strong enough for when the 'chute is deployed.... Good to see the old price tag on it. Apparently Taylor & McKenna had 10 shops and were bought by Beatties in 1987.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses. I've seen the Mk1 Cortina bodyshells come up for sale every so often, I guess the intention is to build a Lotus Cortina using an Escort donor kit, but what you're doing is much more interesting! There is/was a guy called Steve Green who ran a similar car in drag racing here.

In the same supermarket car park, on different days: Triumph Renown from 1952. Very dated styling by that time. 1975 Ford Consul, better known as the Granada Mk1. This one has the 2-litre engine, they're particularly popular with a 3.0 V6 which offers a fairly sporty drive for a big saloon of the '70s. Very funky Purple Velvet paintwork, a factory offering back then - I've painted one of my models in the same colour.

It's a shame there aren't more of them as kits. I've got the Accord Wagon on the go at present, and I finished this '90s look Chevelle back in 2020: And my take on the Ghostbusters Cadillac: P.S. Do minivans count?

I like that, nicely done. Not sure if I've seen a built example before, good to hear that it goes together well.

Very nice. I can imagine it being a bit of a challenge and I doubt many ended up looking as good as this.

Really looking forward to see your time and thoughtful attention put to good use on this one. The Samuris are much-revered here, but as a British conversion probably not too well-known elsewhere in the world. I don't recall seeing a replica at 1:24 scale. Great start on the spoiler. Which version of the kit did you get? It looks like some had two engines, the S20 Skyline 'six' and the L24 which was fitted to the 240Zs as sold here. A good way to get close to the Samuri engine would be to fit the triple carbs from the S20 onto the L24. It has to be said though that the detail on the carb's isn't great, at the very least some separate air intake trumpets would be nice. Fujimi sell both engines in their Nostalgic Racer Tuning Parts set, Hiroboy has it in stock at present. Somewhere I have the book written by Spike Anderson of Samuri. There'll be lots of reference material in that. I also have loads of old magazine articles, may even have one or two spare if they'd be of any use. I imagine very few of them were identical at the time, even more so now with subsequent mod's and restoration work, so you can apply some artistic licence. How far are you going with the distinctive paintwork and signwriting?

For today read the last month or so.... These came as one single Buy It Now listing. The Nissan GT-R in the middle is started but complete (the remainder of it not pictured here). Bought individually at retail this would all have cost considerably in excess of what I paid, part of which I have already recouped by selling the Subaru kit. I'm reaching the conclusion that I have plenty of complete car kits, apart from a few gaps that I 'need' to fill, so I'm concentrating more on buying wheels and accessories. Buying this one meant I could add my standard version to the 'for sale' pile. Just the way it's packed is so carefully considered, with the separate holder for the photo-etch parts and metal intake trumpets, let alone the great detailing on this kit. Neither of these are quite complete, and one is started, but there's enough to build one decent track day car out of the two plus spare parts for other builds. Again it meant I could sell a road car version. This is the sort of thing I am enjoying adding to the stash. Bodywork has been neatly brush-painted, hopefully that will strip back OK although it might just need some gentle polishing. I'm thinking some sympathetically chosen wheels fitted in the right place with a bit of lowering and fitment of one or two of the accessories (not the sidepipes!) will make it look pretty sharp. Will go well with the Ford EXP I got recently (also an Airfix rebox of an MPC kit) and the '80s Chargers. Despite all of the above I have ended up with less kits than I started the month as I sold a few at a 1:1 car show. Now trying to refine the collection....

Making progress on this one. Clear coat polished, could have gone a bit further with it but that's not the point of this build: Now painting up the interior, suspension and modest number of other parts. Not yet decided on wheels, will have a play around tomorrow.

That's very nicely done Luke.

Just asking price. Pretty sure I saw others for sale in Japan for even more. This is it compared to a normal 1/24 Skyline: Width approximately similar, but shorter and obviously a lot taller! Haven't discounted the fact I might build it someday, but there are plenty of others ahead of it in the queue.....

The Mazda looks similar to but better-detailed than the Fujimi version I'm putting together right now. Had the Firebird back in the '80s, still haven't finished it due to a warped shell. Not sure that whoever did the artwork got those rear tyres quite right.....

For me, probably this one: Random purchase some years ago off eBay here in the UK. Never seen one here before or since. Whenever I've looked more recently any others I can find for sale are a 3-figure sum. Only one I could see right now is in the USA at $200, and others in Japan in the past were more than that. It's now one of the few unbuilt kits that lives in the house, not the garage.

Nice! And not black?....

Thanks Atin. It went down well - I was slightly nervous, as there was a bit of leaking goo from the seal on the can. Just need to get on and use it up. The base coat looked almost good enough to polish in its own right, but I'm not sure how that would have gone so it got the clearcoat today. It's now in the boiler cupboard and it looks like it will polish up nicely. Now to find a bit of time to work on the rest of the minimal detail....

Nice start there, very clean. We didn't get this 2-door model with the open headlights in the UK, I think it's more attractive than its 3-door 200SX sister car with pop-up lights that was sold here instead. I've built this one a couple of times, it goes together nicely and I can't think of any problem areas.

Good to see an update, and well done for persevering with the grille opening - looks to be well worth the effort! It's not something I've done yet - maybe one day.....

I 'needed' to start a quick, simple build and this one fitted the bill nicely. The wheels at top left are what it came with, the others are some random sets I've had for a few years and I am contemplating using here. Or I might pick something else entirely. Modest parts count and simple detailing, just what I need. I seem to spend too long with the wrong sort of tools and brushes in my hand, doing work on the house, so something I can get in and out over Easter would be good. One of Fujimi's rather basic floorpans. As with many kits of this era it's intended to be motorized so any suspension detail is massively simplified. That's fine, it makes lowering very easy and I just want something that looks good on the shelf. The body is OK though, with decent proportions apart from the overly deep front spoiler. I like the first wheels, but even on this late '70s car the tyres look too chunky. I think they'll be better on an older subject. Might keep it straightforward and go for the kit-supplied set, complete with the very wide rears - something like 17 scale inches.... I decided to tone down the front spoiler, as it looked too deep without any sort of sideskirts to balance it out. A few minutes with the razor saw and a bit of cleaning-up has given it a more sensible look. Got everything in primer the other day and between other jobs I managed to get some colour onto it yesterday: Decided to go for a medium/dark metallic blue, in this case Ford Java Blue from the Halfords automotive range that I picked up cheap when it was on clearance. At 1:1 it seems to be used on mid-1990s Escorts and Fiestas and it's coming out a little lighter than I'd imagined but that's fine. I think it might be a mica paint, so the 'metallic' fleck scales well to 1/24. It hasn't had any clearcoat yet, that'll be done later today/tomorrow. For simplicity I will probably use the Halfords clear, I've had good results with it before. Hopefully this one won't stay here for too long as a WIP, I'd like to get it finished quickly to give me a bit of motivation for other builds.

Very nicely done, I much prefer the older truck's body on there.

Great work on the slicing and dicing, would never know from looking at the completed photos. And well done for persevering after the speaker incident!

Nice one, great to see it built 100% stock.

Very nice, you've really done it justice. It certainly puts the cartoonish Fujimi RX-7 I'm currently building into perspective! That does have a LHD dash however, so it might be another option for a USDM build.

That's a kind offer, thanks Les. Yes it did, although I wasn't 100% sure at first as they were hidden in one of the bags.