Steve H

Wow Brian, this is absolutely incredible!! Your attention to detail, and scratch building skills are outstanding. Very nice!

As part of the mock up to establish track width, I needed to have wheels and tires sorted out. I started with some wheels from another endurance car. These came from a partially started Nissan kit purchased at the same time as the Mercedes. Here’s a look as they were… After a bath in some easy off, they were cleaned up and primed. Valve stems were added. Then the rear wheels were modified to fit with some aluminium sleeves from Scale Production. The fronts needed some mods to fit the tires I chose, then the outer portion of the rim received some BMF (done AFTER paint) to match the look of the rears. Yes, the wheels are painted in what will be the body colour. Silver base, Tamiya metallic orange, then Tamiya clear orange, finally Tamiya clear. Here is how they look now… What I’m aiming for with this build, is sort of a futuristic street freak. Like a, “more refined” Mad Max type of thing… work on interior has begun, but nothing to show yet. Thanks for having a look, cheers, Steve

Thanks for joining in the journey Robert. Good to have you on board Bil. Thanks for having a look.

For the chassis….. After a quick mock up, I determined the front track width needed to be 10” narrower. So I cut off the front, and removed 10mm of width. The best part is that this really doesn’t impact anything else in the build. No engine to fit in later… Before any cuts… front of chassis removed, plus the narrowing… With that part done, more mock ups revealed I needed more room inside. So chassis was cut, 10mm added to the wheel base. This allowed more room inside, but also added some needed room in the engine bay out back. Again, quite easy as there is no trans tunnel, frame, and such to deal with. So here it is back together in one piece. The front portion of the chassis plate was also extended and shaped to match the front profile of the Daytona. The chassis plate was also narrowed along the sides, full width left at the rear. Still some fine tuning to do in that area as I progress. That’s it for this round. Thanks for taking the time have a look. More soon…

Hi Mozzi, great looking build! Should be a very cool colour combo when the tape comes off. The wide body treatment looks fantastic on this body style. As for the paint, the AS military colours typically dry semi gloss, or flat. I agree that all Tamiya paint definitely needs a clear coat though. Cheers, Steve

At the time the metalizers were being discontinued, unfortunately, I wasn’t building much, or as connected to the hobby knowledge as I am now. As such, I was not able to stockpile those. ??? I miss those paints, I have a tiny bit of magnesium left and then that’s it…

Haha! Yep, this one is a bit of an adventure for sure. Stay tuned John. Thanks Chris, let’s see what you got! Share here or a PM. Thanks for having a look.

Lots of good information guys, thanks to those that did a deep dive. I use almost exclusively Tamiya paints. The discussion I had with my LHS suggested that they would NOT be able to get Tamiya paints anymore. One more shipment on the way and that’s it. So I did what any good Canadian hobbyist would do… panic buy!! Should be good for a few years now, bank account, not so much….

Love it!! This beast is really coming together Anton. I assume you printed those fantastic rear tires? Very nice ? The interior is really well detailed.

Hi David, nice gasser…er…. taxi, yes taxi! You guys crack me up. I must admit, Jim’s “gasser” post had me laughing out loud. Definitely a basic kit, but it looks like you are working your magic on it.

Great looking custom so far Andy. Very impressive to do all the work you did opening the doors and not crack an A pillar or rocker panel. ? Love the stance you are aiming for!! Cheers, Steve

Yes sir! Well… a fair amount anyway. Lots of modified kit pieces too. My last build was mostly “out of the box” so I’m enjoying being back at my kit bashing antics. Thanks for checking in!

As I mentioned at the end of the first post the styrene chips, and dust have been flying at my hobby desk. I added the sunroof filler piece. The first major task was some surgery on the body. First step was to remove the back half of the body. Very simple task. I cut the lower angle to follow parallel with the back edge of the door. The upper portion of the cut followed the back window edge.The masking tape on the front fender is a guide for step 2. Second step was to liberate a portion of the front fenders. Then add some filler pieces to the body, so that the fenders can be reattached. The fenders received styrene strips across the top, and on the bottom edges at both sides of the wheel opening. This will allow some more track width at the front, and give the car some attitude. The upper piece is longer than the fender at the trailing edge which made it look a little less chunky. The fenders have been thinned considerably on the inside as well. The styrene was thick!! The first 2 photos the fenders are not glued, and were taken before fine tuning the shape along the top. In the above photo you can see I opened up the grill. Probably won’t be much to see behind there, but hopefully the rad will be visible… Not sure if I will be able to find the kit headlights, but I will figure out something when I get there. The fenders are now glued in place, with some VERY preliminary body work. My kit had huge sink marks at the front corners of the fenders. I’ve got that mostly blended in now. The inner front fenders have also been removed. I will build a “trunk” under the hood later in the thread. The fenders were attached about 3-4 scale inches higher so I could achieve the stance, and overall look I am aiming for. I debated whether or not to leave the belt line on the raised fenders since they no longer lined up with the body line. This is visible in the first picture below. As you can see in the second photo, I decided to remove the belt line from the fenders, just felt it looked cleaner… If you look close in the last photo, you’ll notice there is roof scoop. Being rear engined, no need for a hood scoop!!? Next update will show some of the chassis work done so far. Still a long ways to go, but the pieces are slowly coming together. That’s it for this update. Thanks for having a look. Cheers, Steve

Hi Bill, I think I can keep it interesting. I’ll give it my best shot. Thanks for checking in sir. Hi Anton! Good to hear from you, it’s been a while. Yes, Martin’s build, (well, ALL of his builds actually) are very cool. This style really caught my eye, and my imagination, so I’m excited to see how it comes together. Misha! Excellent news, I’m so glad you’re coming down on Sunday. Look forward to seeing you and catching up. The weather looks promising for a mini show and shine. So far, it’s been fun blending these kits together. The endurance cars are very different from anything I’ve built before, so I spent more time than usual looking at the instructions. I think so John! It will be fun for me, hopefully it doesn’t put you to sleep… Thanks for having a look. Thank you David. Nice to hear from you. It looks like you have been very busy. I’ll try and get caught up on your builds. Your WIP’s are always enjoyable and informative.

Hi all, with summer winding down, and fall upon us here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s time to get a bit more active at the hobby desk. I’ve been missing my forum friends! First, a bit of back story on the inspiration for this build. When I started my ‘70 Cadillac pro touring build in Jan of ‘23, I did some online searches for inspiration. One of our fellow members here, Russell Cook, (“Russell C”) shared a web address with me on the WIP thread. Well, down the rabbit hole ?️ I went, for several hours. Thank you Russell, I got soooo many ideas, which led to more searches, more rabbit holes….. ?️ ?️ ?️ A screen shot of that fateful exchange. A couple of screen shots from the rabbit holes… I knew I definitely needed to build something like this, but I wasn’t EXACTLY sure where to start. I had no shortage of ideas, just needed to figure out a starting point. Jump ahead to our local model show in early spring 2024. Local model builder Martin Aveyard brought his incredible MR2 cyber punk car. Martin, as most of you will know is on the forum here (“Stoke”), and has also been a regular contributor to the magazine. If you have not seen Martin’s models, take some time and check out his builds, they are nothing short of extraordinary. His photography is absolutely stunning too. I asked Martin for a little guidance on chassis ideas, and he was more than happy to point me in right direction. As there was a swap meet at the show, I left with kits and a new thirst to build one of these beasts. THANK YOU MARTIN!! Here are a couple of photos of Martin’s incredible MR2, currently in the under glass section. If you haven’t already done so, check it out!! So, before I go any further… my build will NOT be nearly the work of art that Martin has created, but the overall look will be similar…(ish). I wouldn’t dare compare my builds to Martin’s. With all that said, here is what I am starting with. I picked up a few endurance cars at the swap meet. Some were missing tires, or decals, etc. and were cheap, which was perfect for my project. I decided on using the Tamiya Sauber Mercedes C9 kit as the chassis. I have never even looked at these types of models before, so should be interesting. I had so many different ideas for bodies, from trucks, to muscle cars, you name it, I probably considered it. While digging in the stash for a suitable donor, I stumbled upon a small bag of red styrene bits. What you see in the next photo is all that’s left of an original issue Dodge Daytona. Thankfully, it’s about all I need!?? So… I will leave it there for now, and stop babbling. The styrene dust has flying at my hobby desk, and I have made some reasonable progress with this build, so I will add some updates soon. Lots of modifications, and scratch building on this one… Thanks for having a look, and as always, all comments welcome. I’ve got some catching up to do on the forum here, you folks have been busy! Cheers, Steve

Ahhh yes… another beauty from the house of Claude. Awesome to see a rear wheel drive Tornado! Excellent craftsmanship as always sir. Keep ‘em coming.

Thank you Michael.

Bring the Spitfire!!

Hi Donald! I missed seeing this one finished. It turned out beautiful. Congrats on the well deserved coverage in the magazine.

Hello Phil! Another fantastic replica. A lot of “unseen” work to change it to LH drive, very well done. Your attention to detail on the replicas you do, is outstanding. I look forward to seeing this in person on the 29th.

Hi Andy, very nice custom TA! The scissor doors are great, and well engineered. As always, lots of details throughout the build. That smooth metallic orange really sets the whole thing off. Cheers, Steve

HA!! “CabDriver” racing a taxi cab. That made me smile…. Hi Jim! Another excellent idea for a build. Always enjoy watching your creative process. Love the direction you are going with it, painting the wheels and tires as you did looks perfect. Well…. less than perfect, which is, well….. perfect ? Our local track, (gone now) used to have “hit to pass” racing. It was a hoot to watch, the cars HAD to hit the car they passed. I still have no idea how they figured out who won cause it was total chaos. All cars had “I” beams welded and or bolted along the side of the car, basically from the back of the front wheel opening, to the front of the rear wheel opening. At the end of the season they had a “total destruction” demo derby with the cars. The name says it all there…

Hello Martin! I loved this beast when I saw it in person, but your incredible photography makes it somehow even more impressive here. Another extraordinary build top to bottom. Well planned, and your execution is of the mash up is perfect. Hope to see you at my place on the 29th! Cheers, Steve

Thank you Noah, I appreciate your kind words. Thanks Tim! It’s been a fun journey building this for him. I think he will enjoy having this in his display case. I also think he’ll get a kick out of the build thread here to see the process. Cheers, Steve

Hi Tim! Love your build style sir. Your wheel/tire choices, and stance are always spot on. Great looking paint too!