Spottedlaurel

Great to see you making good progress on this one. Despite being fairly basic it goes together very nicely. I went with similar size wheels and what look to be the same tyres on mine: Just looked to see how I lowered mine. It looks as if I struggled with a clash between the front suspension lower arm and the wheel (even with the back sliced off), so rather than use spacers under the struts I cut off the original arm and glued a new one in place higher up.

What a fantastic start. I'd love to give one of these a go, as a reminder of those I've seen on French holidays, however I'm not sure I could do it justice.... The later DS is one of the few old cars that my wife really likes, but I wouldn't be brave enough to own one at 1:1.

I'm pretty much reaching 'peak stash' with my latest arrivals: All from the same seller, the Mazda and Dodge were cheap and helped average out the cost to a sensible level when I decided to go for the Corvette America. I know that it's not the greatest kit, but it's one of the first few I built back in the early-mid '80s and I still have the remnants of the original in the parts box (I used the wire wheels on a recent project). It's only the second one I've seen come up for sale here in recent years and I had the pleasure of breaking open the seal. Hopefully I can do a decent job this time around....

Look forward to seeing what you do with it! I keep pondering the older Monogram versons I have in the stash, not as CBR entrants however.

I'm getting to the point where I don't 'need' too many more complete kits, but wheel sets and parts to work with what I already have will always be useful: The Beretta isn't complete, seems like someone had enough out of it to build a slammer, but the remains should be sufficient to give something else the Pro Street treatment. The Nissan Laurel by Fujimi was bought complete with the intention of restoring/modifying, but it's so nicely done I've just put it straight into the cabinet. I may lower it and fit some different wheels at some point, but I don't need to do much else on it.

Coming together nicely. Any issues? This is definitely a kit I want to do someday given the interest I have in 1:1 Datsuns - maybe a retirement project.

That certainly has plenty of character! This is a reference that might not translate to the other side of the Atlantic very well, but do you drive around pretending to be The Gaffer?!

Look forward to seeing what you can do with them Gareth, good luck! Must be quite a rarity in the UK, but given what they were like getting them built is definitely the right thing to do.

Great to see some progress being made on other builds. Wouldn't say I've started mine, but have done some useful planning this morning...... Working out how best to convert the Accord Wagon to take the NSX's mid-engine set-up. Helpfully I have the standard Tamiya NSX that I built back in the '90s to work things out, so I don't have to mock-up the new floorpan too much. Grey one is from NSX, black the Accord's. Online sources suggest a difference of 7.3" (185mm) between the two, which equates to just under 8mm at 1:24. Using the assembled car I measured similar. I had been looking to graft the Accord's front floorpan onto the NSX's rear end, but it looks simpler to stretch the NSX. I'll make the cut where marked above, which should be easy to recreate with a bit of sheet styrene. I also need to trim off the sides, then the width is just right to slot under the Accord. The floorpan stretch as I propose will bring the interior and dashboard forwards to the right place relative to the windshield: The gap between seat backs and engine will open up a bit, but that's no problem and it will give room for me to create some sort of enclosure. I think I'll use the NSX interior base, plus the LHD dashboard option which Tamiya helpfully include, but with the sides removed and replaced by those from the Accord (on the front doors at least). I have a rollcage from a Tamiya R32 Skyline racer which I'll use, the width and windshield rake are about right. That might donate some appropriate seats too. If it fits like this with no work then I think I should be fine. I really don't want to get into bodywork modifications, and the NSX suspension is giving it a suitably low ride height so I don't have to hack around the delicately detailed components. The most I might do is cut some small vents into the rear doors, below the rubbing strip. The NSX is fairly modest in that regard with a front-mounted radiator, so it doesn't need big vents. My version of the Accord doesn't have any bodykit options, but with it sitting so low I don't think it needs them and I prefer the low-key standard look, I might just add some form of splitter under the front bumper. Haven't yet worked out colour or wheel choices. Perhaps a dark metallic blue or green, something quite subtle. Wheel choice will be down to whatever suits the NSX brakes and suspension without too much modification. I suppose I could keep the standard NSX rims for an easy life, but I usually like to swap them. I've got one more current WIP to finish before I fully launch into this, but it's good to have something to start thinking about when I'm away from the bench.

Perfect in every way! It's amazing.

Excellent job! The weathering looks very effective. I enjoyed building one of these a few years ago, and I still have another one in the stash.

Very nice. I saw it coming together on your WIP thread, the finished result looks excellent. I've built the simpler Fujimi kit but not yet started the Tamiya version, I need to be in the right frame of mind to do it justice.

Finished this simple snap-fix kit today, not quite a year after starting it. WIP thread here: It's based on a rare surviving UK example seen in this article here: https://mag.toyota.co.uk/toyota-people-guy-nicholls/ I usually take a stock kit and modify it a little, this time I've spent time and effort taking it back to as close to standard as I can. The kit went together really nicely, I could have easily built it OOB but in removing/smoothing-out a few elements I gave myself some work to do. The wheels were from an Italeri Land Cruiser kit, with tyres from a later Aoshima Hilux. They are perhaps a little chunkier than the originals, but I think that can be got away with on a 4x4. The plain steel wheels are such an integral part of its look I had to fit them (and I now get some nice spares to use on another project). Paint was an automotive can of Fiat Red Orange, which seems to replicate the original pretty well. I had one or two issues along the way, requiring a partial repaint of the finished bodyshell. Rear bumper cut off the chassis and roll bar, etc removed. Removing the bullbar off the front end made a big difference to its appearance. I was going to reconstruct the remnants of the original bumper but then I had an Aoshima Nissan Terrano kit arrive with a spare front bumper which was close to the original Hilux item, so I narrowed and filled that. Indicator lenses are thin sheet styrene covered with BMF then painted with Humbrol clear orange. I made up UK-style plates with the original LAL 45V registration by printing a CAD image onto normal paper then laminating it by sticking selloptape both sides. It might eventually yellow, but will be easy enough to replace as and when necessary. Brightwork was by a mix of Gundam marker and BMF, 'black' trim my favourite Revell #9 enamel all done by brush. Lots of black vinyl and plastic inside, I didn't spend a lot of time on this. I trimmed out the quarterlight frames, as the 1:1 didn't have them. Being LHD this is where my build deviates most from the original. I don't think I'd be capable of neatly swapping the dashboard and steering column over, in hindsight the easiest way would have been to scan the original, mirror the file and then 3D print it in RHD format. Not a lot to say about the underside, other than painting the exhaust I kept my detailing very basic. The body fitted onto it in a very positive way, unlike some of the multi-piece trucks I have to build someday (Datsun 620, Ford Courier and the like). Just noticed one or two paint chips - the can is almost empty and I don't want to use the rest of it for touch-ups until a 1:24 tractor build my son is doing in the same colour is ready to put together. This was an enjoyable kit to build, with my early example being well-moulded and fitting together nicely. Any difficulties were of my own making with the conversion back to standard. Thanks for looking.

Another of the recent Hasegawa Toyotas, this one probably the nicest so far: A very well engineered kit, with solid and moon roof options and crisp detailing, and including the top half at least of an engine. I compared it to the rather older Fujimi MR2 kit I also have, the latter wasn't quite as clunky as I remembered but it does have a somewhat longer wheelbase and larger arch openings. I suspect the Hasegawa kit is the more accurate of the two. Hasegawa for a stock(ish) build, and Fujimi for something a bit more modified I reckon.

Thanks for the info. I've started to scribble down little notes when I get advice like this and pop it into the box, as it could be months or even years before I get around to building them.... On Friday I received a mixture of new and secondhand items from an online retailer: I suspect the Malibu will end up with a few leftover parts from the 3-in-1 '70 Chevelle kit that I also have. I like that era of Monogram box art, evocative of the days when I first started visiting model shops, and it has extra appeal to me as a birth year build. Ditto the Galaxie, don't know yet whether that will be a stock daily driver, or maybe kept fairly subtle but with upgraded running gear and sat low (imagining it's on airbags). S&H Torino was cheap, I don't have enough slotmags in stock and one day it'll look good sat on a shelf of stock-ish/day 2 builds. It certainly won't be red with white stripes but maybe those decals will be good to recreate one of the terrible replicas that I would occasionally see, based on something entirely inappropriate. The Brat will look good with the AMT Hilux I'm finishing off at the moment.

Thanks for the advice Steve, I'll watch out for that. I don't have any immediate plans for it, apart from maybe pilfering some of the extra parts for other builds. It was fairly cheap (by UK standards) with minimal shipping cost when purchased with the Caprice and Shelby Charger.

Post-Christmas arrivals: Seen one or two nice builds of the Charger on here, would be difficult to make it look any worse than the box art.... Caprice is one I've been after for a while - do love a land yacht, and I'm sure the trailer will come in handy someday. Airfix rebox of the MPC kit, surely the perfect companion build to that Charger? It's been brush-painted a rather bright green but is otherwise pretty much unstarted. These should all suit larger Japanese cars pretty well, or perhaps even something American with a pro-touring slant?

I've always done it afterwards. Never tried it the other way around, it just seemed to me that the slightly different texture and sheen of BMF compared to the clearcoat on the surrounding paintwork would better replicate the 1:1 appearance of chrome and brightwork.

Inspirational! So clean and subtle, but purposeful - excellent work Roger!

Hope all is now OK for you Gareth, good to see you back at it although a shame you've had to strip the paintwork. I reckon a metallic would really bring out the curvey shape, like that green 1:1 I saw.

Wow, what a collection! Just the one V8 for me: After being out of use for most of 2022 I got a fresh MoT pass on it just before Christmas, with a bit of welding plus attention to the rear brakes, then I'm going to start using it again from tomorrow- can't wait. Such a smooth thing to cruise around in. It needs some jobs doing, but I'm going to try and work through them and keep it going as long as possible. I paid very little for it, but that was with the promise that it gave me more to spend on keeping it going and that's what I'm now doing. The early ones in particular are pretty rare here now and nice examples are more than I can afford, so I've got work with what I've got. My 1980 Datsun Laurel just keeps working. Should click over 100,000 miles in 2023. I don't own this one, but I do get the occasional drive and I was the one who found it for my daughter and her boyfriend. They bought it for a charity banger rally, driving from the UK down to Dubrovnik. Unlike some they brought it home again and it's now their daily winter transport (with his Mk2 MR2 for fun/summer use). I don't think it's a model that reached North America, it's a UK-built car that sits between the Corolla and Camry and this particular one has the 2-litre MR2/Camry-type engine. It's probably for this reason that it is now up 275,000 miles, and we're hoping to get it to 300k. The little 2004 Yaris (Vitz) in the background is now my son's as his first car, passed-down from his sister. With my 2014 RX450h daily driver and wife's 2010 Auris (AKA Corolla?) the theme is pretty obvious here.....

I haven't yet built any accurate replicas of my own cars - done several that were inspired by the real thing, but mixing things up a bit so it combined elements of several 1:1 cars - however I did this one a few years ago for my stepdad of the MGB he had at the time: Using the Revell-boxed version of the Aoshima/Airfix kit: In hindsight I should have lowered the suspension (OOB I think it suits the height of the rubber-bumper cars), but I did get a can of the correct Mineral Blue paint mixed-up.

For those who don't want to sit through a video they're shown on Heller's website: https://www.heller.fr/en/category/only_coming_soon The standouts for me are the 1:24 Renault 4 van, two trailers and MF 135 tractor - as a '70s child living in the countryside whose dad worked on a farm (and later selling tractors) they were something I saw all over the place. Heller's kits seem to be a decent price in the shops so hopefully I'll be able to pick those up at some point, perhaps even on our 2023 French holiday.

Last purchase of 2022 that I will have in my hands. There are others but they'll start coming through in 2023.... On the way to the coast for a walk and some fresh air managed to swing by the big Hannant's wholesale/mail order warehouse. It's rather odd being in this building with thousands and thousands of kits, even just the Hasegawa section I was in had plenty that I would have loved to get. I restrained myself to just this Starlet, which was on special offer, and the Tamiya TS aerosols which were being cleared out. A lotof them were just £1.99 each and even with a few more expensive ones they averaged out at well under £3 a can which is less than half most retailers sell them for. The chap said they're going to stop doing them, whether he meant Hannants selling them or Tamiya producing them I don't know, but it was well worth getting these. Never used the Pearl Clear before, could be an interesting way of adding some interest to the solid colours in this selection. The Halfords automotive primer and clearcoat work nicely in my experience, they seem to be happily compatible with the TS colours (and of course their own spray cans which I get whenever I see any older colours on clearance).

I've been lucky to see a few 1:1 examples in France when we've been on holiday there. I have the 1:24 kit as well, but it has widened rear arches to approximate the look of a competition car. I'd prefer to convert it back to standard, but that's a project that's beyond me at present....