Spottedlaurel

Thanks all! Yes, amazing when you look at a modern Hyundai then go back to where they were in early-mid '80s with the RWD Pony and Stellar. I wonder if the Pony wheels would be big enough? Depends how accurate the scaling is of course, but in theory they're 13" and I'd have thought a Mk2 Transit would be 14-15"? Taller van-type tyres might do the job though, perhaps with the addition of a sleeve around the Pony wheel. I have both kits, I'll compare them at some point.

Very nice. One for the boss of RJ's? Whoever was lucky enought to have the keys would certainly get between the sites prettty quickly....

That's really nice Tom, a super-clean build of a great-looking car.

Well worth the effort over all those years, it looks amazing. I thought the same thing! Quite a handful at 1:1 I'd imagine.....

That's really nice Gary, very subtle. What does an American 'six' sound like, and how do they rev and respond to tuning? I've got a 2.4 6-cyl lump in my 1:1 Datsun, it's probably strangled by its single carb and limited breathing in the cylinder head, so best just to row it along on the torque and enjoy the noise (which is a bit like a boat I often think). But I know the 240Z etc uses the same engine to much better effect. Just curious, V8s get all the attention and the 6-cyl engines seem like a poor relation, but in other markets they were the top-of-the-line unit.

Very nice! You've really done it justice, it looks wonderful. Always a pleasure to see one or two of these at 1:1 when I go on holiday in France.

That's great Steve, you certainly nailed the brief to create something cartoonish and fun! I built a stock one of these some years ago when my son was young.

Thanks JC. I'm hoping to make some good progress on this over the long Easter weekend, this is where I've got to so far....... Front bumper and winch before. And during! I couldn't find an easy way of shaving the winch and bar from the bumper so it's ended up in pieces. The centre section of the bumper is a fairly simple shape so I'll try and scratchbuild that from some flat styrene glued together, shaped and filled. The Hilux sold here had one-piece windows, so I've cut out and smoothed this little frame. I've also choped off the rear bumper/step and removed the little tab that fits into the bed, as I've filled that slot and I'll glue it on. I filled various holes in the bed floor along with the sink marks in the rear quarter panel. As it is now, in red primer awaiting a solid red topcoat. Since the photo above I've filled and primed the slots above the rear window - they're to locate the rollbar, which I'm not using. I've also filled the holes in the front valance where the under-bumper lights would fit. The bumper-less chassis was given a squirt of satin black, it fits nicely. Looks like we're due some decent weather over the holiday weekend so I'm hoping to make good progress on this one.

It was my birthday earlier in the week, so I treated myself to a few things which are now on their way to me. I got this one wrapped up on the day (having bought it a few days beforehand!): Looks like a really nice kit, with some alternative parts to build a different year/version. The obvious temptaton is to sit it low on some period alloys, but I might resist that and build it to replicate a 1:1 I saw some years ago.

Nice work, and unlike some car-based, home-made pickup conversions it looks like it would be a surprisingly useful thing at 1:1!

Great to see that GT-R. Indeed so. Don't forget about the Doyusha version. Then again.....

That's very clean, nice one. I keep seeing this one coming up in listings and have dismissed it. Now I see what it's like I'll pay a bit more attention to them.....

A couple of Mazda-related items for me: A bit of an oddity, but something that I think would be pretty useful at 1:1: It came with no wheels and tyres as the seller had used them on another project, but that's fine. It might end up sitting low on a set of 8-spoke Watanabes or similar, whatever looks good from the spares box. I think I'll have my work cut out with this one....

Great to see an obscure kit like this built-up, nice job! Many of these older Japanese kits are quite toy-like, best just to go with it and have fun.

Good to see one of these in progress, it's coming together nicely. I've had one of these in the stash for quite a few years, I need some inspiration to get building it!

That's wild! Looks like something from a 1980s issue of Chrome & Flames magazine.

Excellent! A really nice recreation of your 1:1, it came together very nicely.

That's fantastic Gary, looks really sharp and great to hear the story behind it.

That's fantastic, looks just 'right'. Great save on the roof too.

Very nice, that colour really comes to life in the sunlight. Suits it well. I'm with you on never getting any build quite right, there's always next time.......

I shouldn't really be starting this one, it's only just arrived and I have others that have been in the stash for 30+ years. But, you know how it goes..... I was happy to find the older issue with the Matchbox branding: On opening it up I was pleased to see it was nicely moulded with minimal flash and trial-fitting the major components showed them to go together well. I could do with an easy project to ease myself back into building since moving house last year, and it seemed like a good candidate. This very nice build by @Adecosteis how I'm hoping to go, keeping it clean and simple and hopefully losing the winch and bar: We got limited numbers of this generation Hilux in the UK but they're super rare now. Later versions are still very popular with anyone who needs a good working truck, and I found an interesting article about a businessman not far from me who has a wonderful collection: https://mag.toyota.co.uk/toyota-people-guy-nicholls/ I'm going to try and get as close as I can to recreating his 1980 example, painting it red and fitting it with stock steel wheels. Obviously mine will be LHD, but I think the overall look will be there. What's in the box: Not too much, but there is a boat...... The decals don't look useable after 40+ years, but I wouldn't be using many/any of them anyway so that's no problem. I realised I had an appropriate set of plain steel wheels in an Italeri Toyota Land Cruiser kit, trouble is the tyres weren't right so I had to look through all my truck/off-roader kits to find something suitable. I narrowed it down to these: Kit-supplied wheels and tyres bottom left, Italeri wheel fitted with Bridgestone tyre from a later Aoshima Hilux bottom centre, and with a Monogram/Revell Goodyear on the right. Middle row are some aftermarket alloys from a Fujimi Suzuki SJ Samurai, and accessory Aoshima AWC Steel Daytona with Bridgestone Desert Dueller along the top. I hoped the tyres off the latter two might work, but they were either too wide and/or didn;t look off-road enough. I think I'm going to go for the bottom centre option,mocked-up on the front here: As per Adam's build, I'm going to lose the rear bumper. I need to find a rear end shot of a UK version to see what they did there, I might have a brochure somewhere. Despite having a fair few trucks, vans and pickups in my stash I haven't managed to complete many of them yet, I'm hoping that I manage to get this one across the line as a quick, simple project.

A very sharp build, looks really good.

A subtle but potent update, looks great.

Nice work. It looks just 'right', and interesting to read how it works.

Nice one! Certainly what most of them here in the UK after 5-10 years of damp, salty winter roads.