Spottedlaurel

I really like what you're doing here, it's worked-out very well.

I failed to complete this during my two-week holiday, which ended three weeks ago! With the forthcoming house move my time and attention has been required elsewhere, but this weekend I found a couple of hours to make some progress - I'm determined to get one more across the line in my time here! Interior just brush-painted with various shades of Revell/Humbrol enamel. May not be super-accurate, but it looks the part. With the standard suspension fitted I could see how it worked with the accessory wheels - some work required! This is where I'd got to at the end of my holiday. Moving-on to this weekend. Underside shot, for what it's worth. I'm treating this as a curbside build, so what's happening here is just to hold the wheels in the right place. The kit's suspension is really nicely recreated and went together well, it gave me an appreciation for how these work at 1:1. If I built one in more standard guise it'd certainly warrant more time and effort, but that's not the purpose of this exercise. If I can I'd like to retain the posable wheels up front, so after lots of trimming and shaving this is where I am: The wheels are just mocked-up, I still have a bit of work to do on their final position and the ride height, but it's nearly there. Only other significant job to do is paint the dark trim inside the glass, then final assembly. I was going to fit a larger rear silencer, but the accessory set is now packed and not immediately accessible. I may try and find a set of front brake discs - those with the kit are too small but it depends on what I can find with the few kits I have easy access to.

They sound like the wheels I got with an Aoshima Y30 Cedric, they went very nicely on a '65 Corvette.

That looks great! I can see there was a lot of work required on the window trims and other brightwork, it's come out really well.

I saw this first time around and liked it, then came back for another look and comment and it'd gone, so I'm glad to see it's reappeared! Nice work, a very '90s Honda colour for it and the OEM bumpers have turned out really well. Could the bumpers off an Aoshima Accord wagon also be used I wonder?

Yes, good luck Pierre! Hope you get some out on display again soon Chris. Having spent most of my recent spare time bundling-up quite a few thousand old car magazines and getting them down to a rented 20' storage container along with books, brochures, my children's old toys and random stuff from the house that we probably shouldn't have kept/still be keeping, I shall be moving onto the models and diecasts this weekend. As our move is very local I don't have to worry about them surviving a long road trip or being handled by the removal guys, but I'll still be using plenty of bubble wrap etc. I have some spare space in my office, might even get them down there so they're completely separate - I'd hate for them to suffer due to an avalanche of inexpertly stacked 1970s magazines!

Always a treat to see a new build from you Chang, and this one certainly doesn't disappoint! So clean, and fantastic paintwork - really something to aspire to (although I know I'll never get anywhere close!).

Very nicely done Steve. I'd happily run that as a 1:1.

I can't remember if I had anything for it "Under Glass", but there are some completed photos of it on page 62 here:

You certainly do like the C210/211 Skyline! I have one or two, recently got a 4-door and a late C110 for the nice OE alloy wheels they came with - I want a set to create a close replica of my 1:1 Laurel C230.

I built a very loose replica from the Monogram '55, started in the '90s and finally finished at the very beginning of this year. Some good tips here on what not to do! I used to watch it every so often on a VHS recorded off the TV, somewhere I've got a DVD.

Interesting, I'd have thought it was more complicated to get a racing car licensed as there'd be the sponsors and the original manufacturer? Also, I suppose racing cars sell better and they can spin-off numerous versions to collectors with just a different decal set.

A nice survivor, it's lasted the years very well.

Great to see this one, and like Les I'm also interested to see what road car options might become available. The Sierra and Sapphire were hugely significant cars here, I think they topped the sales charts for much of the 1980s and almost everyone will have a memory of them. My mum and stepdad had a 5-door XR4x4 which I drove a few times, a different beast to the Cosworth but I liked it. A couple of tidy Cosworths I've seen: If it could be converted to non-Cosworth spec then even more options become available: I could even recreate my grandad's Sapphire: Would be great if a 5-door bodyshell was offered, or even an estate!

Great to see, I look forward to this one becoming available here in the UK. I've never seen the Monogram kit. Tamiya also offered this version, which I bought started but unpainted: Green must have been a bit of a signature colour on the early model.

That's fantastic. A very sharp build and the dark edging around the chrome trim really adds to the look.

Very nice Claude, super-clean looks and detailing!

Thanks all! Had a bit of a gap in making progress,but as it's such a simple kit it doesn't take long to move things on when I do manage to grab a bit of bench time. As is sometimes the case with Japanese accessory wheel sets. the back of the rim needs trimming to suit the tyre. For some silly reason I rarely do this in a vice, but at least the wide rims made these wheels easy to hold while I cut through with the saw. That's better. Centres brush-painted with a couple of coats of Humbrol gold #16, caps and nuts to be detailed. So, what do they look like?....... That'll do. This is with the floorpan in place, the rears just about fit without needing to relocate the inner arches. It'll be interesting to see how much of the original suspension I can use, and to what extent it needs to be lowered. The accessory wheel/tyre set has a similar rolling radius to the originals, so I won't gain anything there. There's a 1:1 MX-5 in the next village that sits about as low as this. Paintwork has been given my usual Micromesh and resin polish treatment. It's OK, but not my best. I couldn't get a decent final coat on the green so I had to give it a bit of clear (I usually try to avoid this on non-metallic colours). Chosen seat/interior colour can be seen in the background, Revell #17 enamel from memory. It has a bit of a butterscotch/ginger quality rather than a plain cream or tan. As it now sits, waiting for final detailing and assembly. I'll add a large exhaust outlet, did toy with a rear wing but decided against it. If all goes well with our move to the new house then I'll celebrate by getting a new board........

A well-executed 'what if?' concept you've built there, very nice. Perhaps what Opel could have offered as a replacement for the Manta in the 1980s? In the 1980s Street Machine magazine here had a "Motorvation" page with sketches of things like this, they may even have done one for the FWD Ascona/Cavalier.

Nice work there Anton, I like the clean, understated look and also the wheels and tyres you've chosen. I've got the same kit to build someday, good to see what can be done with it.

Thanks Curtis. Ironically I probably won't be using the hardtop! Thank you Jim. I remember your nice builds. I think the black interior will be a bit gloomy against the dark green, I'll do it something like this one my friend had: I've a feeling it was some sort of special edition, it was certainly a JDM car.

This is hopefully a quick in-and-out-in-two-weeks holiday build - let's see if that happens....... I did something similar last year (on a Monogram Datsun 280Z), it didn't quite work out but I made life difficult then by painting the panels in different colours so there was a lot masking and drying time to consider. This time I've chosen something simple which will be a single colour and that has minimal trim and detailing to deal with. No engine, the suspension will get minimal detailing and being a convertible there's not much to do on the windows or surrounds. The plan is to get it sitting low on a set of wheels with stretched tyres, but otherwise straight paintwork. I tried these SSR Mk1s as they were assembled, but I wasn't sure. So I'm going for these Racing Harts instead. I've swapped the tyres from another accessory set, which had a touch more sidewall depth and looked better to me. I'll be happy if I can get it sitting like that. The suspension may need surgery, but with the excess rim depth cut-off I think they should fit in the arches OK. For colour I'm going to go for Tamiya TS-9 British Green, quite common on JDM imports and I remember one like it that was owned by a friend. It had a tan leather interior, which should look good aginst the green. Wheels will have gold/bronze-painted centres. Since the above shot it's had couple of coats of the green and following a wet-sanding session I'm just about to give it another coat or two.

Nice work on that one Gareth, just as I'd imagine it should look from seeing all those '70s American films and TV shows! If this is the same kit as the Joker Goon Car then I built one some years ago, went together nicely as I recall and it still looks good on the shelf. Mine was done as a matt black hi-po rat/stealth car. Still got another one to do someday, and the Force 440 coupe version. Thinking of doing one of them as a stock passenger car.

Alan, that's remarkable! Really nice job you've done there, I remember those WIP shots......

I've been through the last couple of months without doing anything to my various builds. We decided to move house, so getting our place ready to market and look at new places took up a lot of time. Fingers crossed we now have somewhere to go to, and buyers lined-up for ours, so the move should happen late summer/early autumn. The new place has an indoor study/studio room, and the garage is joined to the house, so I can build and get access access the stash without having to go for a walk down to the end of the garden and sit in a cold shed. As we haven't exhanged contracts we're not yet at the point of being able to pack, so I have a bit of time and with good weather I've been able to make some progress again. 2021 Cannonball Ruse build has been painted and polished, Toyota Hiace van has seen a little bit of attention, and I've got back into this Tamiya BMW M635CSi: I started it last year as a reshell of one I'd built back in the '90s. Now I look at the photo it doesn't seem like my old build (the top one) was that bad at all, but the paint was flat and I had the bodyshell etc spare so I thought it would be one less box on the shelf. I'd bought the duplicate kit for a cheap price as the original hood was warped, at some point I sold its engine to someone on another forum and the wheels have been used on another project, so it couldn't be built as a complete, second model. The floorpan and running gear, engine and interior on my original were all absolutely fine, so I'll just pop the new bodyshell on. Rather than the original, generic white I went for Tamiya Pearl White this time, not easy to use and I don't enjoy painting and detailing white cars anyway. I painted the wheel centres gold to give it a bit of colour. Since the above shot I've started the BMF work, there's a surprising amount of it for an '80s car. Still got more black detailing to do too. As I'm on leave for the next couple of weeks I'd like to try and get it finished. I can see once we start packing, going through the move and sorting ourselves out at the other end then I won't have much building time! Like I did last year, I'm also looking to start and finish something completely during my holiday period, a quick and dirty build just for fun. Looked on the shelf and a Tamiya Eunos (MX5/Miata) Roadster looks to be the ideal candidate........