Spottedlaurel

Oh my, you described how bad they were but I didn't realise the scale of the problem! Fingers crossed the replacements reach you in the next day or two. Excellent work otherwise!

Thanks, and yay! Look forward to seeing you work your magic on one. You have one in your stash I presume? Thank you David. Did the mid-engined Turbo reach the States? I know you got the standard 5 (sold as Le Car?). I also have a normal 5 kit: 1:24 Esci Renault 5 Police model kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Good to see the progress and completions on here. I'm in for the next round. Not 100% sure which one it will be yet, but I have several contenders. I'll have a look tonight, just need to see which is most achievable. I have a bit of holiday later this month when we should have been going away, so hopefully I can use that time to push on with another project alongside what I already have on the go.

Thanks all of you, it was an enjoyable build. Not particularly detailed, but what was there looked 'right'. I'd love to see what someone like Alex (Italianhorses) could do with it. It was great to get it out in the sunlight last weekend, the blue paint looked good. The wheels seemed appropriate, just like someone would have put on as upgrade back in the day. And it gives me an interesting set of wheels to use on something else in the future! I was lucky, my friend had owned it for some years but had got out of building them and sold it to me at a good price. I felt I owed him a debt of gratitude so I got round to it quite quickly after receiving it.

Looking good so far, I like the sound of your plan.

Agreed, that Mazda is great - it's a new one to me as well. Slightly odd box art....

Finished this one in 2015, bought from a friend on Flickr. My mum had a Renault 5 back in the 1980s, but hers certainly wasn't this crazy mid-engined mutant! 1:24 Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo kit contents by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Quite simple, and like many early Tamiya and other Japanese kits it was designed to incorporate a motor. No engine and fairly basic suspension, but it nicely captured the look and feel of the real thing. 1:24 Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Wheels came from one of my Japanese kits otherwise it was built OOB, paint was Tamiya TS-19 Metallic Blue (I think).

Thanks Joe, but don't hold your breath for the second attempt - too many others in the queue to do first time around!

I love the character and history to the van, a great tribute! Pickup looks sharp too.

I like the maroon colour on the bottom left. Pale gold is an interesting one!

A very enjoyable bit of ridiculousness so far, I look forward to seeing it progress! I don't have any recollection of seeing Space 1999 back in the day, and back then we only had three channels so it wasn't like there was much else to watch! I think I've seen odd clips of it since then, it looks vaguely familiar. Wikipedia says (so it must be true) that it was the most expensive TV series ever made for British TV up to that time - which may not be saying very much..... The only vehicle listed by IMCDB for the show is a six-wheeled Amphicat, which looks to be pretty much standard. The box art promises a lot, I love the surprised look on the face of the three-fingered character. Just as importantly, did the kit include the mini print and if so were you lucky enough to get one signed by Catherine Schell?

Wow, that's pretty striking! The colours really emphasise the shape.

All look like interesting/ambitious projects! The Escort particularly stood out to me, is it based on a real car? I'm pretty sure there was one here in the UK back in the mid-late '80s, I think it was on the cover of Street Machine magazine and metallic maroon in colour.

It worked out nicely, well done for persevering with it! I think I'd have given up and consigned it to the parts box.....

That looks like it was a fine way of getting yourself back into building, it's worked out really nicely. The 'muscle memory' for doing it was obviously still there!

Very clean, very effective.

A slightly older build, completed this one back in late 2013. It was based on a combination of a couple of 1:1 examples I had previously: 1986 Nissan Laurel 2.4SGL (C32) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Horrible UK-spec model which I bought for £25 and then had to spend a few hundred getting it roadworthy. Nissan Laurel 2.0 Medalist Hardtop (C32) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Much nicer JDM hardtop, this is now with an enthusiast in Holland. 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Arii kit, and reference material. Mine had the same opulent maroon interior as that brochure shot above. Arii 1:24 Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Like many Japanese kits it has no engine and the underside is relatively basic, so I concentrated on doing a half-decent job on the interior and bodywork. 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr No plated parts apart from the wheels, so the grille etc was done with BMF - quite a fiddle, as I recall. Lights suffer slightly from being given the ability to fit bulbs. 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Colour was Tamiya TS-58 Pearl Light Blue, which went down really nicely. Looking forward to using it again on another project. 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Accessory wheels fitted, I can't immediately remember what this style is called. It was lowered quite a lot. 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Arii Nissan Laurel Hardtop C32 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I recently got another copy of this kit. Maybe I'll build it as a more faithful replica of my white car, or try something else......

? Thanks Joe. Just random bits from the parts box on the engine, I didn't have a clue if I was installing the carbs the right way round...... Thank you, and that's exactly where the wheels came from! I built it in the early '90s and for some reason it ended up in bits, with the wheels in another box. As soon as I found them I thought they would work with a bright, solid colour. I may resurrect the '37 soon as it's survived the years pretty well - you should give yours a go! Thanks Ricky, I enjoyed planning and making those little changes.

A very nice haul there! I'd happily have any (or all) of them.

That's very nice! I enjoy seeing one or two of these when we visit France each year, they're still amazing looking and your version nicely captures the style of the real thing.

Thanks Curtis! I know a 1990s minivan is going to be of limited interest ot most people, which is why this will be all the more challenging and rewarding...... 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr This shot sums up yesterday's progress (with parts attached to the sprues also primed). Unusually for me, as I'm not a big fan of bodykits etc, I actually attached parts to the body. Side skirts were added as was the front lip, but the latter packed out by around 1mm (so roughly 1" scale) to give it a deeper look. I think these parts are restrained enough to give it a sharper look but with being too crazy. Panel lines were scribed and wheels got a bit of attention...... 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Point of no return! 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Finished result. What's handy about these RX7 wheels is that they're male fitment the same as the kit's originals. Most of the others I had were female, easy enough to overcome but it's one less thing to do. 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr This is low as it will go, looks good to me. It appears I can just get away without cutting the rear inner arches. Very happy with the wheel choice, and the tyres stretched onto them are just the right profile - they're supposedly 15", on a rim which I imagine is 17 or even 18", but luckily the rubber has a bit of stretch. The RX7's tyres were way too wide, and a bit too tall, and these 15s were spare from my recently completed Honda Prelude build.

I did mention some of these in another topic just yesterday, but to avoid repetition I'll show a different (and terrible) photo here as it includes some others I must get on with..... This shot was taken in 2007 and only one of them (the '57 Chevy) has been completed. I think they were all started in the '90s. Corvette has been stripped of its Humbrol brush paint, ex-Ghostbusters Cadillac hearse still awaits a window repair/replacement, '55 Chevy needs a couple of body repairs and enthusiasm and the Maserati has recently been resurrected and I'm looking at completion this year!

Really pleased to see you pick this one! I'm sure you'll work your magic on it. I have one, bought brush-painted and part-built but with everything there for stripping and rebuilding. I put a motor in the Tamiya Gr.5 Celica I built when I was young, I can't remember it being super-quick.

Thanks! It did, it's now in the "Under Glass" section and happily sitting in my cabinet.

That looks wonderful! The colour looks great on it, I've used it myself on a 1980s car and I wouldn't immediately associate it with something from this era but it works really well.