Simon

Looks great, I just finished one of these myself. The steelies really make the best of the sleek body lines, and as for that paint job, I think any car modeller would be happy to achieve such a shine. Nice work.

Lovely job, Mark. I might have to try an SEC one of these days. The paintjob goes really well with the wheels. That mobile phone is ace, is it part of some kind of accessory kit?

Nice Fox body, wish we could get 'em as cheap in the UK as you can in America. Great paint, and I am interetsed in the rubber specks behind the rear arches, I have been wondering how to recreate rubber on bodywork.

Really nice Buick. The older kits do present a few challenges, in terms of parts fit and overall detail, but this is a lovely clean build.

Really nice work, Mark. I take it the cream one is the Revell kit, what about the blue truck? I have a real soft spot for big rigs built to look subtle, rather than as show trucks. How did you handle the fuel tank? I see you have removed the seam, how did you then re-finish it?

Hi folks, I often drop in and admire the work shown on this forum, but I haven’t posted here in ages – been focusing more on military and aircraft than on cars, but then my friend asked me to build him a mean 68 Charger as a sort of bandit’s car. This was real fun, adding scrapes, a few beer cans and cigarette packs inside, and generally dirtying it up! Under the hood is a nice 426 hemi, the idea being that this outlaw fellow always keeps the motor in fine fettle but is a bit lazy on the paint and polish side of things! Though you can hardly see the grime and scratches in these photos, as we are having a sunny day here for a change. It was also partly inspired by a Beastie boys song called ‘High Plains Drifter’, which contains the line ‘I’m doing one-twenty plowing over mailboxes/Radar detector to tell me where the cops is’. This is the Revell kit from 2008, not a bad kit and it includes a nice set of steel rims as well as the 440-inch mill. I hope you enjoy these shots.

Here you go Doug http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/tinshark/Other/S5001180.jpg http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/tinshark/Other/S5001184.jpg

Welcome Andrew, your Bedford is really impressive. I'd never heard of Emhar before these came along, I wonder what else they have up their sleeve? I fancy trying one of these. Isn't this truck in this month's edition of Truck Model World?

I love it! Great work, especially on the wrecking gear. Though I doubt the rubber cone suspension would allow it to lift much more than a full suitcase! Very imaginative

Looks lovely mate, I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes togehter - I've often wondered what the Heller Citroens are like.

Thanks lads. Chris, the main issue is the joint halfway along the body. It doesn't matter about the floor because you can't see it, and the joint in the roof is easy to smooth out because there is no detail up there, it's totally smooth. However, the body sides have ribs and rivet detail, which would end up being sanded away if you are not careful, and makes it hard to hide the join. Other than that you couldn't get a much more straight forward kit.

Hi folks, here is a build of Italeri's much-criticised 48-foot US reefer. Not my first choice of trailer, but US trailer kits are hard to get here at the moment. Built box stock apart from some self-adhesive gemstones for the tail lights. I need to add a diesel tank under the chassis at some point for the fridge unit. The K100 is 1/25, which would make this a 50-foot trailer. Not perfect, but I'm pleased with it.

Lovely clean build bitner, the colour scherme really makes this one stand out. This has given me inspiration to get on with my second K100!

Really impressive trucks, Richard. Three gravel trailers, I can't even find one! I have thought of trying a Revell/Italeri Australian truck myself, how did it go together? Were the extra parts (diesel tanks, air snorkels etc) included in the kit? Did you find it to be a good kit?

Hi Johnny, I've nearly finished the 48' reefer kit. I'll post photos soon so you can judge for yourself. Opinion around here seems to be that the kit is totally inaccurate, but I decided to build it as US trailer kits are otherwise impossible to get hold of over here. The body is not tall enough, making it look too long and low. The wheel hubs do look pretty big. There is no diesel tank for the fridge unit. The big pain in the neck for me was joining the ribbed halves of the trailer sides - the rib and rivet detail makes it hard to smooth out the joint, I'm 80% happy with my attempt. I'm going to hang it behind a 1/25 K100 Aerodyne, will post pics when I'm finished. Here is a German language review with photos: Click here for reefer article auf Deutsch There was also a discussion on the board about it, see here: Trailer topic

Ah, a very satisfying sight. You managed the double yellows very neatly too. Correct. Notice also how Declan has carefully captured the appalling road surface that we are so familiar with in this part of the world

Yeah, there seems to be nothing but Targas here too. I prefer the look of the coupe, not that I could afford to run either My daily driver, 1996 Jaguar Sovereign, 5-speed manual with 73k miles.

Nice gasser! I think you were right to keep the paint, it has a nice lived-in look to it.

Hi Buck, I often find my inspiration to start building comes from reading a book or looking at car websites. Go and pick up a favourite car book you haven't looked at for a while, and I bet the inspiration will soon be flowing

Hi folks, snow has arrived here in Britain. So what??? you might ask? Well, though we get it most years, snowfall here is considered big news - the TV news headlines are dominated by snow news, with reports of people being cut off from civiliastion and even having to spend the night trapped in their cars on the motorways. Rail services are being cancelled, and the police are advising everybody to stay at home and not travel unless it's absolutely essential. So, sounds like a severe snowfall doesn't it? Roads and fences buried deep under waist-deep snow? Actually, it was 6 to 7 inches. Now I would guess that for many people in the world, including some parts of the US, 6 to 7 inches of snow isn't worth more than a few comments during the evening weather forecast, and certainly wouldn't stop people going to work, shopping, or anything else. And yet for the second time in 10 months, Britain has ground to a halt. Is this attitude common elsewhere? Is it a reaction to increasing health and safety regulations making people generally more cautious and less willing to 'risk' going out in bad weather? Maybe it's a lack of awareness of how to deal with it - I don't know anybody here who uses winter tyres/snow tyres, and because the snow only ever lasts for a week or so, we are not really used to driving in thick snow for any length of time. Anyway, I now have to drive over a mile to see my optometrist - wish me luck! Simon

If you look around your local hobby and craft centre, you might find packs of small round self-adhesive gem stones in various colours, usually white, amber, red and various others. These might be just the thing to improve those moulded-in lights. Looks a nice trailer, very nice build.

As a UK resident, I see a number of differences between Euro trailers and the kind of trailers often modelled in the US. Do they use 'Super Singles' in the US? Super Single wheels and tyres are universally used over here, they have wide tread tyres used singly instead of doubled up (2 to an axle instead of 4). Things like rear lamps and marker lights look different. Euro trailers often have side bars running under the body between the rear wheels and the back of the tractor (if there is any space), to prevent cars going underneath in the event of a crash. Similar bars are on the rear end. I think different materials are used to make 'em too - not so much ribbed sheet metal or polished aluminium on Euro trailer bodywork. Also, the trailers just look different in terms of size and shape. Well, they do to me at least. This is probably a result of the generally older European highway network having tighter bends and lower bridges and all that. Small diameter wheel/tyre sets are often used to allow higher bodywork to be used and still fit within load height restrictions. These are all reasons why I enjoy modelling US vehicles, it's a different look to what I see everyday on the road

I'm so glad you didn't waste money on an airbrush! Excellent work. Viva la Humbrol!

Sensational! The paint on the '55 is superb, and the orange livery on the 455 (which reminds me of the Revell 320i racer) is very unusual and suits the car surprisingly well. Nice builds.

Superb. A very creative build of a slightly obscure kit. I like the concept, it looks like the kind of outfit that a Pebble Beach contender might turn up in, especially with that Ferrari 330. As for the interior details, I can only imagine the time you spent planning and building. I love the use of a 1:1 graphics set - real ingenuity, what the hobby is all about!