Spottedlaurel

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.

Very nicely done, it's stood the test of time very well. I bet it looked wonderful as a 1:1.

Thanks. I'm still learning after nearly 40 years of building kits. I recently started struggling with my eyesight and I solved that by getting varifocals. Yes, I think the mirrors were chromed and they came on the same moulding as the bumpers. Wheels were an accessory set of Volk Mesh by Aoshima.

That's excellent Gareth, amazing what you've done with it! I look at mine every so often, then put it back again......

Good to see another one of these built. I finished the same kit in 2020: I didn't attempt the curved chrome trim around the wheel arches! I also struggled with the photo-etch badges.

Yeah, I can do that ?

Recent arrivals: I'd been hoping to find one of those Hilux kits for a while, I got this one cheaper than a reissue and it's pleasing to see the old Matchbox logo (such a big part of my youth). Nicely moulded in beige and orange it looks like it will be a simple thing to chuck together, just what I need to get me motivated to build more regularly again. And it has a boat with it! The Platz is an oddity, a saloon version of the little Yaris/Vitzhatchback. Should look good lowered and on some more purposeful wheels. My daughter has a 1:1 Yaris, it's a fun little thing to nip about in. Wire wheels and lowrider parts are believed to be from an AMT Impala, will come in useful for something, someday.

If its'a rebuild/restoration/reassembly of one of my old builds then it comes when I realise I've found and identified enough parts to make it viable. Otherwise it's usually a sighting of something seen at 1:1, giving me an idea about a kit I already have in the stash. Or sometimes just realising a certain combination of subject vehicle, colour and wheels will go together well. Maybe it'll be inspired by a half-remembered car I recall from an old magazine. At the moment however I'd say it's whatever is easiest - I'm struggling a bit with motivation and haven't started anything new for quite a while, certainly since moving house last year. A simple slumpbuster arrived recently, I might go for that to get me back into the swing of it.

Fantastic work Zack, looks ready for the pages of a late '70s magazine feature. I enjoyed watching it come together on the WIP thread. As others have said, you have a wonderful collection of period-looking builds there. Any more in the pipeline?........

Great to see an LS built, that's very nicely done.

They're excellent! Look forward to seeing more of them. Both 1:1s had a very clean look by the standards of the time.

Very nicely done indeed. The glass trim mentioned by Sonny looks excellent.

That does look good, nice work. Seems to build-up nicely as an 'everyday' car, gives me ideas about mine.

Very nice. You've really done it justice.

Thanks everyone! That'll be good to see. Perhaps make a scoop out of some sheet styrene? Or adapt something from another kit, like I did on the purple '57? Thanks Anthony, and great to see the old box art. I'd forgotten that, but I imagine it must have been my inspiration back when I first built it. I did use the rollcage as well. Despite the thick paint in some places making the trim less than distinct I managed to get all of the foil down first time.

Coming together nicely. Good work on the black trim, there's a lot of it isn't there?!

Surprised to see this one resurface! It was an enjoyable build that looks good in the cabinet. Thanks Rusty. Ouch. I feel your pain, I had the same happen to five nice kits that I stupidly left on my dashboard at a 1:1 car show. Never heard of rose thorns being used on a build before! There's some ingenuity.

Nice one Mario! That has a lot of character and it's the way most Minis went here. My mum had several, on the first one the external hinge area rusted-out and the door fell off when I opened it one day.....

Love the period photos and your approach to this build, I look forward to seeing it progress.