Spottedlaurel

A few odds and ends which have recently arrived: I like these basic Monogram kits, despite the low parts count they build up nicely. Wire wheels are not intended for the TR7.... Been after a Celica Liftback for a while. Not sure if I'll build mine as per the box art, as usual it's essentially a road car kit with extra parts in the box. Bumpers are unchromed. First used the 'chrome' Gundam Marker at the weekend. Not a replacement for BMF, but easier to apply in some circumstances - I did some deeply recessed headlight bowls and they look really good. I was pleased to finally get this version of the RX-7, as I already have a couple of the earlier version. This one seems to be an older release and unusually for Tamiya it has an accessory wheel set included. I want to combine the circuit racing parts of the Escort with the rally car kit (which has different arches) to create a loose replica of a National Hot Rod short oval racer, like this:

I've had the usual paint disasters, especially in my early days of attempting spray jobs. Also I once ended up with a particularly orange hand when I painted a Monogram '37 Ford without wearing a glove. Certainly wouldn't have wanted to do it to my armpit! More recently, back in 2013 this little incident eclipsed all previous blunders: Same cause as mentioned above, leaving them inside a 1:1 car on a hot, sunny day. What an idiot! Eventually found replacement kits and I built new versions, using whatever components I could salvage from my originals: I know these shots have been seen elsewhere on MCM, but they seemed to fit the spirit of this thread....

Love what you're doing here Roger, it already looks like it was meant to be this way. The lowering is spot-on. Either of those colour choices will be good - I've successfully used them on '80s cars, but I've seen them on other, older subjects on here and they also suit them really well.

I can't recall exactly the order of my very earliest kits, but I know I had the Matchbox Porsche 917-10 and found it quite fiddly, and maybe a 1:32 Bentley and/or Jaguar SS100. None of them survive. Someone also gave me the 1:24 Airfix Spitfire, which never got completed - don't know what happened to it, I suspect it ended up in the loft and then got thrown out. I very definitely remember the Monogram Triumph TR7 Wedge kit, but all that survived from that one were the wheels and tyres and instruction sheet. Until recently...... I don't have any interest in revisiting any of the others, but doing a decent job on the TR7 has always been something I'd like to attempt. Finally got myself one this week. Yes it's basic, but as with others in this series it's nicely proportioned and I look forward to having another go at it.

In that case I reckon it was in the early days of Street Machine. In mymind it was metallic green with a white top. Even if I've misremembered it completely I like the idea, and it'll go with a Mini I want to build in a period custom style. I remember that Fiesta in CC.

Marble-effect plastic goodness there! I like the Pontiac, is that a decent kit? Got these in the week: Was surpised to get it for the starting bid, meaning it was significantly cheaper than the recent reissue. Looks to be an early one, no barcodes on the box, and it's quite a crisp moulding. Get the paint stripped and I've got a good starting point for an early '80s custom - there was a magazine project car from back then which I'd like to loosely replicate. As I recall it had a padded vinyl top and opera windows..... Not my usual thing, but looks like it should be an enjoyable thing to do someday. At some point it was sold for £4.99, but I can't believe it was ever that cheap full price so must have been on clearance.

Part-built Corvette was cheap, purchased primarily as a modern-ish V8 donor. What's been done is fairly tiday, so after I've pulled the engine might finish it off as a kerbside display piece. The book and catalgoue were found at a 1:1 car meet yesterday. That era is peak Monogram for me, it contains what I remember being in the model shops when I started getting interested in kits. As a bonus it looks to have been sold new at a local model shop that is still going and where I get stuff from every so often.

I don't know what they're called but I found similar 6-stud wheels in a couple of Japanese kits: The bottom kit has five of these: Complete with some wide Yokohama Mud Digger tyres. Also this Aoshima Hilux https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10743568 Has a set of five narrower, unplated wheels that look similar. Bridge Mud Duellers in that one. But both have rivets, and neither give a clue as to what they're called.

Both are very impressive, but having built the R/M 308 myself I'm amazed with what you've done on it. No way of knowing that such a basic kit could give those results. In fairness the basic body shape looks 'right', but you've taken it to another level.

That's very nice, puts the box art build to shame!

Nice idea, look forward to seeing how it turns out. I did a fairly crude but similar exercise on this Maserati: During the process I discovered that the body fitted quite happily on a Monogram C2 Corvette chassis.

Have been managing to hold back from buying much, but this nicely detailed Hasegawa Corolla was a decent price:

I have a couple in the current stash: Can't say about the wheels, as I was given it without them. The bodyshell looks OK, but panel lines quite shallow. The bumpers have separate black and chrome parts to represent the different materials. Ignoring the Daihatsu, I got this Toyota for a reasonable price. Seems pretty decent to me. Has opening doors but alloy wheels rather than the wires shown on the box art. Both the above are designed to be motorized, they include an FA130E motor and wiring, but at least they have full depth interiors unlike some of the Doyusha 1:24 range. The battery compartment is within the engine bay, so as typical for many Japanese kits of thi era they don't have an engine. I used to have this Skyline R30. Certainly a step or two up from Fujimi's miserable attempt at the same car, and at least on a par with Tamiya's version if not better - I recall it having separate bumpers, for example.

I opened up a load of boxes and took lots of photos, I'll report back tomorrow. In the meantime, the Advan HFs in RX7, Skyline R33 GTS (not GT-R) and Mitsubishi 3000 GT are all shown as 225/50x16. They seemed bigger than that to me. The R33 GT-R has the Expedia 255/45x17s you're after. I looked at a Fujimi Altezza with 17s, they were 245/40. Aoshima 17" accessory wheel sets had similar.

Remind me to have a look over the weekend, I have most of those Tamiya kits. The NSX also has different widths front to rear.

I've been trying to avoid buying more stuff recently, and I haven't built anything for a few weeks, but I couldn't resist this one: The side window frames are a completely separate plated oulding, so there's minimal foil work required.

Interesting to see something about this kit, and the 1:1. I have this slightly different image which I scanned from an unknown publication: It's a nice period piece, but I'm not sure if I'm going to build it OOB. More likely to swap parts with another MPC 620.

Nice start Gareth. Hope your work on the 1:1 has got everything sorted and you'll be back on this soon. Not a generation of Charger I'm very familiar with, but I took photos of a nice 1972 318ci that was at a local show the other weekend:

A wonderful replica of the original, it looks fantastic.

Nice work Anton, I think you've got the look of it just right.

That's fantastic. I know nothing about the 1:1 but your perseverance, workmanship and colour choice have really worked out there.

A useful batch of Skyline R32 parts, well under £10: They replace pretty much everything I robbed from another Skyline for my entry in last years CBP Community Build, and it's particularly useful to have the competition parts so I can upgrade a road car.

Yup, those Nascar wheels suit it well. I used a set years ago on a hi-po Dodge Monaco I built, I think I was able to use the AMT kit's fat treaded tyres on the Monogram wheels that time. I hadn't thought about using the Grand Cherokee tyres on anything else, but I'll bear that in mind. I have that one in the stash and I was going to use its wheels on something else. Good luck with this new build! I still haven't made any progress on mine.....

Realy nicely done, and great to read your story behind the inspiration for it.

That looks fantastic, well done for persevering with it after 30 years!