Spottedlaurel

Thanks everyone for the kind words! It was an enjoyable thing to do (and I'm happy to keep up my completion rate of one model/month). Thanks! Coming from this side of the Atlantic, that association didn't strike me - as a back story let's say that the owner worked for the local school bus repair facility, spent most of the budget on those fancy billet wheels and the car got sprayed up using 'leftovers'..... Oddly enough a factory project I recently worked on has its handrails, doors, feature panels etc painted in a similar colour as it matches the yellow in their logo. I noticed it when I walked around there the other day. Now it's reminding me of work, I'll concentrate on the school bus association!

Well done for taking this on, good progress so far. I think there were also some snap-fix 1:32 kits from a few years ago? I got a couple for my son when he was younger. As I recently found when I built a 1:43 kit, working at smaller scale has some different challenges to 1:24/25 etc (not just the need for better eyesight/glasses!).

Revell kit, built late 1980s style. WIP here: 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I'm going to get this out of the way first and apologise for the chrome strip on the bonnet edge, I didn't realise it would sit up in the middle until it was firmly attached and it didn't want to come apart again. That being said, if I'd made it parallel with the grille it would have left a gap above it. Ah well.... 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Painted Tamiya TS Camel Yellow from an aerosol, wheels from the Monogram 1937 Ford, bucket seats from the 1966 EL Camino (thanks to TimJ), other odds and ends from the parts box. Suspension lowered as much as possible without having to cut the inner arches. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Loosely built as a 300 rather than a Malibu, so chrome panel areas infilled, less brightwork and other mod's like badges shaved, door handles removed etc. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr A quick Cars and Coffee Sunday morning meet (with appropriate social distancing!) with the other American builds I've done over the years that are still complete: 1:24/25 American kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24/25 American kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr As ever, it's not perfect and I suspect those who know this model better than me are cringing at some of my detailing, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. It matches the concept I had in my head and I'll probably build a similar-style companion to it at some point. Thanks for looking!

That looks great, nice job you've done there! I'd happily have that as a kit or as a 1:1.

I'll keep an eye out for it - the hearse might be a particularly appropriate candidate for that one..... I have to admit that seeing your restos, and others on here, has got me thinking about the ones I already have. And it was cool that my son seems to be interested in them as well, he was the one going through the boxes and matching things up.

Looks pretty good to me, I don't imagine my 10th model was as impressive..... I saw a red RX7 just like this on the road a few days ago, and it did get me thinking.

Chevelle's finished, so one with the next project! If you're aware of this car you probably haven't given it much thought, and if you've never heard of it then it's basically six/seven-seater MPV that's a bit smaller than a Previa. 1998 Toyota Picnic GL Auto by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I've never had one, or even been in one, but I got this Aoshima kit on eBay some years ago for a mere 99p - can't believe no one else wanted it! I've looked out for them since and slowly assembled ideas for what I want to do with it. 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Only the 3-spoke wheels came with it, the others have been robbed from other kits. This is my main inspiration: A one-off created by Toyota GB. It wasn't just about the looks, they dropped-in the MR2 Turbo engine! More here: https://blog.toyota.co.uk/toyota-heritage-fleet-the-story-of-the-picnic-sport-turbo The wheels are something I particularly wanted to replicate reasonably closely. I have a set of them which came off a Camry Sport I used to own (another Toyota GB oddity which they put into production). 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr These wheels are from a Lexus IS200/Toyota Altezza, pretty good and they have been used on the real thing: 1998 Toyota Picnic GS TD by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr But after some extensive rummaging through my stash I came up these as a better alternative: 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:24 Aoshima Toyota Ipsum kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr They're from a Tamiya Mazda RX7, with narrower, lower profile tyres from a Honda Prelude. The kit comes with some fairly understated bodykit parts, but I'll probably lose the roof spoiler and will pack out the front lip to give it a deeper look. I suspect the suspension will need lowering considerably, and maybe the rear inner arches cut back to accommodate this. Not 100% sure yet about colour, probably going to be Tamiya TS-60 Pearl Green. I'll give it a silver base first and might go two-tone, as it has a fairly obvious break line which even I might be able to achieve. Let's see how it turns out over the next few weeks.....

A pretty good day yesterday. Finished the '66 Chevelle, started the next project and my son spent some time with me out in the shed starting his next project: 1:24 Tamiya Nissan 350Z Track kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr I've painted this 350Z for him, used Duplicolor as it seems to go down really well without much/any need for a clear coat or polishing. He can do everything else from now on. While we were were out there he started rummaging through my various parts boxes and between us we ended up assembling parts for several restoration projects, and he enthused me to look again at a couple of very long-term WIPs. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Built this 1:20 Tamiya kit around 1985/86, in non-standard colours and with alternative, minimal decals. The rear engine and suspension needed reattaching to the front half, the spoiler was in several different places and various bits need refixing, but it's good to see it complete again. 1:24 Monogram 1937 Ford kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Built about 1991-92, this was the wheel donor for the Chevelle. I was going to use the chassis and rear wings for another project, but now I see how complete it is and the paint is still shiny I think it deserves resurrection. Just need to find the missing headlight glass. 1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr This one dates back to 1983-84 I think, probably my earliest survivor. Thankfully the bodyshell is unpainted, but it seems to have been used for some paint practice! If I can clean the glass up a bit then it could be smoked and I have everything needed to get it back 'on the road'. Funny story with this one, I broke a couple of the small pins that hold the wheels on, so I wrote to Humbrol asking for spares. A while later I got an unexpectedly large package in the post (from Italy?) with five sets of the sprue containg those parts! Ths mean I also ended up with five engines, suspension pieces, wheel sets etc. 1:24 Italieri Porsche 944 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Built this one for my stepdad. It ended up back with me after it took a tumble off the shelf. I think I sold the wheels off to a VW kit builder, but it looks intact enough to be resurrected with an alternative set. Cadillac Hearse and '55 Chevy WIP kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Ex-Ghostbusters Cadillac and replica-ish Two Lane Blacktop '55, both have been on the go since the early '90s. The Cadillac got painfully close to completion, then I cracked the front screen. It's still complete however, and following some tips I was reading on here the other day about heating and curving thin sheet using the old piece as a template I should give this a go and get it out of the box after so long. The alternative is I turn it into a banger racer (demo derby car), but that seems a shame after all my BMF work. The '55 has suffered a bit of body damage and lost the central pillar I made up on the left side, then I've got to work out how to fix the flip front. I have a couple of weeks off work next month, when we should have been going away on holiday, so I'll try to use that bonus time to get some of the above on the move.

That's come together very nicely.

I enjoyed watching this come together on your WIP thread, the finished result is great! Really captures that '90s feeling.

Interesting to see one of these given the lowrider treatment, looks really good.

Another amazing paint scheme! Fantastic work.

That's cool! Looks really good, and I love the old photos and your history with this car.

That's really nice, great work. I like this shape and your build has brought out the best of it.

Either option will look fantastic, amazing attention to detail. Same with all your great work on the dashboard and steering wheel, almost seems a shame to hide it inside the car....

Looks great. I presume not a standard model, nor even a prototype? If so it looks like something they should have offered!

Thanks for the kind words! This should be the last WIP update on this one, will hopefully get it finished tonight...... 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Panel lines done without too much hassle - it's never something I look forward to. Everything else pretty much ready for final assembly. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr El Camino bucket seats from Tim, steering wheel unknown from the parts box, everything else basically stock. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Progress got slightly delayed when I put this old build back together, after my son was rooting around in various parts boxes and found most of its parts. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr As it's now sitting waiting for me to get off the computer and back out to the shed!

Good progress! Don't worry about making it too shiny, they rarely are. Or straight and undented for that matter.....

Wow, you've got a lot going on here with this one! You've made a great start. The trim line running around the box looks good.

Looks like a very cool thing!

I built the Revell version 10-odd years ago, I don't have any photos of the parts before assembly but I don't remember it having alternative dashboards or rubber bumpers. Built up nicely, although I should have reduced the ride height - as standard it's correct for the rubber-bumper models but looks a bit off-road for an earlier chrome-bumper version..... I don't know why I opened up the bonnet when it doesn't have en engine.

David has summed it up perfectly, it's worked-out very nicely.

Good for all of us to step outside of our comfort zone every so ften, it's worked out very nicely here for you. You've also given me a potential source for a colour I need on one of my projects.....

Excellent. Those big black sides are a perfect canvas for your paint skills. When I think about building the van I have in my stash this is how it should be, but I know I could never dream to achieve it.....

It looks to convert to a hi-po road car/trackday toy very nicely, nice work!