Spottedlaurel

Retribution might be a strong word for what I'm doing here, but if I'm taking revenge against some wrongdoing then it's my own stupidity for letting this happen: Model car mishap by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Orginal photo just after it happened in 2013. I took them to a 1:1 car show on a hot, sunny day and left them on my dashboard. Imagine my disappointment when I got back and saw this had happened. They were all decent examples of my 'modern era' builds, where I'd started to pick up tips online, pay attention to ride height and wheel fit within the arches and also get inspiration from 1:1s posted on forums etc. 1:24 Tamiya sun-damaged kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I tucked them away at the back of the cabinet and decided it was finally time to put things right. It took a while, but eventually I managed to source replacements for all of them: 1:24 Tamiya kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Two Nissan Skylines, a Silvia, Honda City and Toyota Sprinter (basically a Corolla coupe). The latter was the most difficult, I was lucky to get one at a sensible price. I've ended up with three of the Hondas, one had slightly damaged roof pillars and might end up as a speedster, don't know abother the other but it's a nice little kit that I might do another way (or maybe box stock?). I've pulled them apart to salvage whatever I can from the original builds, as much as anything so there is some continuity from the original to the replacements. Some wheels have ended up on other kits, and I may do one or two of them in a different colour for the sake of variety, but generally I'll follow the same formula. I had a production line of matt black chassis painting going on last weekend, but this is the one that's advanced most so far. I'll start off with before and after shots, then move onto current progress: Tamiya 1:24 Honda City GG by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Tamiya 1:24 Honda City GG by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr This is what I'm trying to recreate. I think it was finished as far back as 2008. 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr After a session of prepping and scribing five bodyshells last weekend, I'm starting to get them into primer: 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr At standard ride height, on the stock wheels. 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr And on the Advan A3As that it will be fitted with. Since then I've redrilled the front axles holes and carried out some surgery on the rear inner arches which will get it sitting properly on those fatter wheels: 1:24 Tamiya Honda City kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Rest of the components have been primed ready for detail painting. It's quite comic how few other parts there are, and it's a snap-fix kit, yet it still builds up into a decent little model. More on the others to come, as and when they progress.

Coming together nicely David.

Looks great, regardless of it being built in a limited time period. Goes to show that we really don't need to get to hung-up on what we do - just build them up and have fun!

What a fantastic job you've done here. The before pic makes it look like a tired clunker that's been dragged out of a barn. The finished result is excellent, great colour choice too. I was admiring a couple of 1:1 '68 LTDs of similar vintage at a show just recently, they're great-looking things with the transitional styling between the clean '60s look and heavier appearance of the 1970s models. Your build showcases that perfectly.

Great to see it finished, looks really good. Initially I wasn't sure about the front end, but when I forget what it would originally have looked like then it makes more sense and I can see what they were trying to do.

Very impressive Claude. It'd be quite somthing at 1:1......

Good to see more progress on it. Looks like it'll need refuelling soon as well. Can't imagine quarter of a tank will get this very far....

Monto Carlo for me please. By coincidence, a Monte Carlo was one of the few 'proper' American cars I saw when I went to NYC/NJ in 1999: 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Very effective, a lot of detail there and the stainless steel body looks great.

Thanks everyone ? After a summer of finishing mostly sportscars it was good to do something a bit different.

Yes, it was the Manta I was thinking of. I really like the look of 1970s Opels and Vauxhalls. I had a Manta A for a while, and I really like the Manta Bs with chrome bumpers.

They look excellent! I can see some similarities with UK/European GM styling of the same era. Rockford, yours looks great too - the sort of thing I'd be very pleased to see at a show here or even better on the road. The Street Machine kit you posted is the one I have.

Look forward to seeing it progress Gareth, vinyl roof and all! I have one to build, someday. Mine is the Street Machine version, but from memory it has stock parts included.

That worked out very well, it looks excellent.

Nice work! I'd never heard of the Mod Top until reading about it here a few weeks ago.

Thanks guys! Thank you David. I doubt I'd have tried it if it wasn't for that well-defined recess that I could mask into - might be more difficult with the paint thickness on something flat? My biggest concern was the paint peeling, but I used decent quality tape (with a bit of BMF on the intricate curves) and the Tamiya paint seemed to key onto the previous layer well enough for it not to be an issue. It actually got masked-up twice, once for painting the champagne after the green, and then the other way around after I polished through the green....... It gave me the confidence to do the silly multi-coloured Datsun 280Z. The only paint peeling problem I had on that one was with a non-Tamiya automotive colour.

Very mean! I like the funky decals, gives it a great period look.

Either your photos are very good at hiding the problem areas, or you're being rather modest - I think the latter, it looks excellent!

This thread was certainly good motivation for me, I hadn't considered finising that '65 Corvette off but now it's one of my favourite builds. It also inspired me to do the Ferrari, even though I didn't include it here. Got a couple to choose from for the next round.

Looks really good, count me as another person happy to see it not in red.

Looks good. I like the styling of this generation, I have a couple myself to do someday.

I had my '93 Camry wagon written-off a few years ago after another driver went into the back of me. They let me keep it and gave me the market value, minus a little bit for what they said would be its salvage value. It looked tatty (still does) but I'd spent quite a bit keeping it going, it would have been very difficult to find another one and I think they're fantastic old things. The approved bodyshop prepared a quotation, it would have been around £3500 to get repaired so little surprise about that not happening! It took me three years to get around to it, but I got it back on the road again and I still use it regularly. All I did was fit another tailgate, luckily I had one spare from another wagon I used to have on the road. Even the bumper survived OK. The Audi A4 that hit me got written-off and scrapped. I didn't need to get an inspection, all my insurers needed was to know that it passed an MoT test. There used to be a procedure we had to go through here to get a repaired write-off back on the road, but that got withdrawn a few years ago. Today on the road I have a 2020 Toyota Yaris hybrid. It's a loan car while my Lexus RX450h is in for a service (yes, it was a surprise to me too to get that as my alternative, especially given how much this major service is costing). Just 50 miles on the clock when I was given it, I'll have more than doubled that by the time I get it back there tonight! It's OK, nothing too exciting, keeps up with traffic fine and is doing around 55-60mpg+ on open roads. By way of contrast, at present my RX is getting just under 40mpg (that'll go down to low-mid 30s when the weather gets colder and I use it on shorter journeys). The Yaris has obviously been pulled-off the forecourt for use as a loan car, they have it for sale at £15,695 as a used car even though it's basically brand new. I dread to think what its new list price might be.

Looks great, it's survived very well over the years since you built it

Great to see it finished, it came together remarkably well.

Thanks ? Thank you. The paintwork took a bit of effort but it was worthwhile. I find Aoshima kits are generally a step down from Tamiya in terms of quality, but they offer such a great range of subjects I can't resist them.