Chuck Kourouklis

Yours a beaut, Matt. My single gripe with the kit is that the grille is open, and there's nothing to stop you seeing the cylindrical mounting boss for the front end behind it if you don't fill it in somehow with a panel. Should have been some representation of a radiator, core support, or whatever it is you actually see behind a 1:1 Aston grille there, and it needn't be any too sophisticated to do a satisfactory job. Another happy HLJ client here. I'd suggest looking around for kits recently re-released like the Honda NSX, the 300ZX mentioned earlier, the Ferrari F40 or Testarossa maybe - there's a number of these available on the cheap, and the quality is just about commensurate with the latest releases. If you trip across one of the Jeeps shown above, you should find it pretty nice. The Mustangs will give you about the same building experience, but for proportions and accuracy, they are an uncommonly dismal effort from the company.

Pretty damned amazing, Harry. Hat's off to you on this one.

Just found the last Fat Boy I think you're talking about, Matt - But HobbyLink Japan says a number of times that the Fat Boy Lo pictured in the first post is all-new.

Tamiya's first 1/6 in 17 years. All-new. Due November.

Wait a minute, waitaminit - is that a buggy-sprung beam axle I spy on that kit? I mean, it already warrants two or three copies on first buy - are Rat Roaster/Deuce supplements now a fourth?

That, or to show off some new retro box art - which, dammit, more often than not results in me buying one.

Missed that earlier! That's very cool, Scott...

If it's a straight reissue of the '89 kit (some 24-year-old "modern" tooling right there) - and the "street machine" notes about wheel and engine options indicate it will be - it'll have a bench and the hemi.

I think the website says 85 weeks, mailed in monthly batches...

Man. At least the DB has a link to which you can appeal to have it eventually sent out of the UK, but I'd love that DS too...

Noo kiddin'! I don't think sending one of those resins to Des Plaines would go amiss at all. Looks ridiculously, silly better for the relative subtlety of all the adjustments. Good show, Mike!

Love the older Monogram kit. Also dig The Revell Germany/current ProModeler 1/72 17G - necessarily more coarse for scale far as panels and surface detail go, but the interior detail is nice and all the control surfaces pivot. And if it's a bit pricier than the classic Monogram 1/48, it's certainly the most manageable for space...

Here we go: while the Tamiya Corsair was big news, this here's some really B I G news: All 39", 577 pieces, and 800,000 engraved rivets of it (and I wouldn't be surprised if the literal rivet-counter reference were meant to be a little funny). What's kool is that the fuselage halves and locking wings are presented in such a way that the kit practically shouts "MOCK ME UP": Wiild stuff, full catwalks and cockpit and gun bays, and as you see, the separate upper fuselage sections not only make for easier modification between versions, but also for a removable section to show off interior detail. There's also a small screw-in wall anchor that grabs into the plane by its bomb bay so you can hang it that way if you have absolutely nowhere else for it. Surface detailing is actually quite fine and handled with a fair amount of finesse. No way should you cheat your groceries or your mortgage, but if you're able to work out the 300 or so dollars and this is your kind of thing, odds are decent you won't be sorry. Doesn't so much steal Tamiya's thunder as roll in a mighty cacophony of its own...

Got that, 'n should have my 17 tomorrah, God willin'. Brief overview on the Corsair: Tamiya's dialing back on the pin/polycap and magnetic cowl trickery, but if anything, they're cramming even more engraving into the plastic. Control surfaces are fixed positional instead of functional now, but holy buckets, the detail in the engine and the cockpit - we may have new standards for plastic, here. Parts breakdown seems to be some 15% or so over the Trumpeter Bubble-top, and the body surface subtlety just blows the Trumpy away. Tamiya's P-51 may still represent their overall apogee, but what the Corsair trades away in worky-worky, it more than grabs back in detail. It need make NO apologies.

Yes, Greg, but you brought up such a great example that it bore repeating. And as for that Lindberg Impala, hoo boy - they also had to retool the windshield wipers to conform to the new cowl, upper instrument panel surface too I think, and I seem to recall them adjusting the sideview mirror stalks while they were at it. I think they updated to a proper single-carb air cleaner from an original dual-snorkel one, too. And yet. Not only did they not go out of business but respond properly when GM Licensing held their feet to the fire, they went on to produce a few more really solid kits - one of which, the '53 Ford, is just about an all-time classic. Too bad there's no similar precedent from Revell. Oh WAIT - yes there is. That selfsame '69 Charger. In addition to the Nova gas tank you noticed. And the corrected 500KR intake. And the tampo-printed Oldsmobile tires AND the clear strobe lenses for the Mustang LX that they'll mail you free of charge if you ask for 'em. Revell has demonstrated that they're NOT STUPID ENOUGH to go out of business by refusing to produce any more kits out of spite for bad reviews. And on something of a flip side, they've also demonstrated they're NOT STUPID ENOUGH to go out of business when they're caught in a goof.

That was a double-negative and perhaps a little tricky, Keith. What I was saying is that I'm not a modeler who wouldn't like a LaFerrari. Which is to say, I'D LIKE ONE VERY MUCH. YESTERDAY, if you please - though if I have to wait, I'd certainly accept the 288 in the meantime. And that's my final offer.

Not to worry. I sleep fine through cricket-chirping "fires" like this one. Early Bronc, though, man - yeah, somebody NEEDS to do that one. Good call.

Well, I've long wondered if the front wheels would clear with some proper fenders built up on this model, and it looks like you've answered the question. Very nice, btw! *EDIT* Was there a Charger logo on one of the grille panels? And would foil copies of that reinforced with zapped CA from behind perhaps suit your purposes?

WOULDN'T? Uh, not me. Though if they wanna toss us a full-asssembly 1/12 288 GTO as a bone, I can wait a bit.

Just glad to see the coupe getting ever closer to the light of day! I'll be on the other end waiting for a couple, and the woodgrain looks like a nice excuse to restock an Aero or two. Pretty slick! And good on Galaxie for "pre-sweating" the details.

Prob'ly more bumpside variations (maybe a commercial or service version?) but tellya what - I could imagine a lot worse than an early-mid '60s Styleside done up to these standards. Just to, y'know, say it again.

^ + 3.

Thing evidently comes with a wall mount. And yeah, I'ma get one too... The 36? *low whistle* sucker'd need the garage.

Oh Good Lord... "Experts" and "resumes" now? **EDIT** Actually, let's take this down a couple notches, boil it down to what I see as facts, but would invite anybody to dispute with examples of their own. Both sides of the never-ending kit criticism flap accuse each other of superior attitudes and bolstering opinions of themselves. Objectors to criticism point straight to the criticism itself, but the fact is, you generally have to go out of your way to infer that from most of the criticism typical of this and other forums. If anyone can point to criticism with even a flavor of the critic doing it just to build himself up, you're more than welcome to quote it. Critics, on the other had, can point right at the whole "Real Modeler/Kit Assembler" argument. Self-aggrandizing is not only self-evident to the whole premise, it's essential: "REAL" modelers correct the problems, but critics are a lesser breed, complaining about problems only because they can't fix them. By the way, Steve Boutte has been very frank about about the problems with the drip moldings and front door frame contours in Revell's '50 Oldsmobile. He did this model from AMT's '49 Merc without ANY filler: Come again on that "real modeler" thing? Both sides have accused each other of trolling. Again, objectors point swami-like to the criticism itself, generally imputing to the critic poster the motive of trashing a kit purely with intentions to rile everyone up - another aggressive inference of usually questionable substantiation. The ground's a wee muddier here for the other side too - but when critics are dredged up in a conversation that has NOTHING to do with critics in the first place, it's hard to imagine a reason other than baiting and agitating, two key hallmarks of trolling. Like posts #35 & 36 in this thread: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74961&page=2 or like post #4 in this one: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=68830&page=1 And in case anybody needs a reminder, it wasn't a critic who first bent THIS discussion in such a way as to make my post topical. These are but a few examples of the sadly typical balance of reason between the two sides. John B. here put it PERFECTLY. That's all any critic is really after, no matter how any objector tries to paint it.

Don't know how much it'll add to your discussion at this point, but there's one thing it might be useful to point out - The tires in the KR (and the Dodge Challenger and Magnum) come from Revell's Chevy SSR kit. For whatever reason, Revell used the larger rear SSR tires - but the smaller front ones will stretch over the KR's wheels and look MUCH better in sidewall profile. The "California Wheels" editiions of the '56 and '57 Chevy kits come with those smaller tires, so if you have one and build it stock, you might not even waste anything to use its custom tires on the Shelby.