Ken

Don't worry Bill, I won't scream. I have gotten a ton of deals just for being at the right place, or auction at the right time. My first Testors 512 cost me around ten bucks. Like I said, I missed one that ended up going for 14.50$ just a month or so ago. :x

It was the celica I just recently got. I would have probably been fine if I hadn't seen your start at your kit. Besides, it now looks like Aoshima is re-releasing the line that the Liftback GT is included in :roll:

Got to ride in one of those years ago. A friend's dad had one tucked away in the garage. He had bought it new and never let it go. So one sunday morning, his dad said... "let's take the rambler to church!" Being the Mopar fanatic that I was(and still am, although I was a sucker for the black javelin that lived down the road) I kind of chuckled when I saw the car. We got in and sat in the backseat. Dad and his daughter sat in front. On the way to church dad impressed me with a few launches and some decent chirping into second gear. What really blew my mind was when he turned to his daughter and said... "You wanna try?" She jumped right in and laid down some rubber both at launch and when she broke the rear loose speedshifting into second. My opinion of AMC changed from that day forward. Got my copy of the Johan kit socked away in the closet. Got it during a half off sale at the local Hobby Lobby. I just wish I had bought more. I was a kind soul and left a few for other to enjoy... most likely, they ended up on Ebay

I am starting out apologizing to anyone here that I may have outbid. I have been hunting the bay looking for one of these kits. I bought one many years ago and then gave it away to a friend. I later saw the kit in the trash and did not fish it out. I have regretted it ever since. Tom recently had one in his inventory, but I stuttered on trigger and lost it. Anyway, 'IT' is a Testors/Union/Heller/Protar Ferrari 512 S. Mine is still sealed in the box... lets hope that there aren't any warped parts It is funny, the union examples go for big bucks usually the 50-60 dollar range. The Protar examples are the same. The Hellers are expensive as well. The Testors seem to go for a bit less. I missed on one a while back that went for a whopping 14.50$. This one set me back 36.00$ and shipping. I didn't want to pay that much, but what with Brian posting his resin that he is working on... I just had to have it!!! This is now two kits that I have bought off of Ebay due to Brian's undue influence. I gotta stop reading his posts... :wink: Here is the link http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...earch%26fvi%3D1

I got the Aoshima kit I won on Ebay today. I took some quick pics in the parking lot at work. Here is the box. Not too badly bent for coming from Hong Kong. The body itself looks pretty good. I have gotten out the ruler, but it looks like my old ride. The only disappointment is that the kit was intended to be motorized and as such, the interior suffers a bit. In this pic you can see the abnormally large tire hump in the passenger's side rear seat. I guess this was to clear the gears for the motor. I may try to fix it or not. The dashboard also appears quite a bit flatter than the original. Notice, the gauges are on the 'wrong' side. On a good note, the gauges are on the clear tree and fit in the cluster from behind. Good thing for detailing. There are several choices for the front end. There is one grill with square(???) openings for the lights and one with the normal round lights like mine had. Front seats are two parts bottom and back. I am guessing that the extra grills and steering wheels are for a 'race' trim celica. The bumpers are JDM, but I like those better than the clumsy looking US spec bumpers. These will also be easier to modify and tuck into the body. Paint them body color and call it done. Oh yeah, sorry for the crappy pic Lastly, there are photo-etch scripts included in the kit for exterior badging. In all I am happy with the purchase an see plenty of potential in the kit.... Now to search for some decent wheels... where did I put that Fujimi list???

Hey Brian, I just got my winnings off of Ebay this afternoon. I will try and take some pics this evening and get them posted. The initial 'groking' of the kit looks promising. I didn't see a US spec dashboard, but there was a US style grill... The only downside is that it appears that the kit was motorized at one point.

Yeah, that does help. I had problems with air in both the molding rubber and the casting resin. I can deal with the bubbles in the casting resin, but I was trying to avoid the bubbles in the molding rubber. At least I know I really need both to do it right. Right now, I will just deal with the voids as the road wheels come out looking banged up, which is good for a combat vehicle

I always liked them without the big wing... I thought that they looked a bit 'cleaner' without it. I know it will be a stunner with you building it!!!!

After seeing everybody else do it, I decided that it couldn't be that hard. Well, it wasn't. What was hard was avoiding air bubbles. Something I did not do very well. Luckily, I will be able to cover/fix the most glaring errors. Weathering will take care of the rest. These are parts of the bogie assemblies of Tamiya's 1/48th M4 sherman. I lost the kit parts to the carpet monster. I had the alumilite beginners kit laying around and figured it would be quicker to cast a new one than waiting on the PO to deliver one, if Tamiya would ship it. I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt. Now to figure out a cheap vaccum chamber to remove the air before pouring...

I believe that they are JDM spec bumpers, but they shouldn't be that hard to modify. I am gonna have to dig back into the photo vault and figure out the difference. Here is the one that I won. I paid a bit more in shipping than I would like to, but I got a fair price on the kit. Of course, now Aoshima or Fujimi will release the kit :roll: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...y0%3D%26fvi%3D1

When you can find it, Aoshima has a liftback kit. That is what I just won off of Ebay. This is the second time I got one off of the bay. The first time the kit never showed up. The only thing needed to make it US spec is to change the dash board and interior

Just won an Aoshima 1600 GT liftback off of the bay. Now I get to in 1/24th what I never got to do to my 1:1. If I ever find another full-scale at a decent price, it is mine!!!!

I saw everybody going GA-GA over these, but never saw some place to order them. I checked HLJ's page, but could locate the new wheel sets. Could ya help a brother out??

Looking good. If anyone wants reference for the 67 John Zinc special let me know. We have the car in the Oklahoma History museum. Which just opened. Everyone at the media tour thought I was crazy went I started gushing over it. I have an AMT vintage kit that I have to keep working on. Hopefully, it will turn out as good as yours.

Sorry mark, just making a comment about how incredible your 7 is. I knew you weren't entering, I was just throwing a friendly jab your way. I did not mean to offend. Hope you have a great turnout.

Yeah, some of us have to work I like the start Lyle. I will have to start looking for paint.

Great work as always Izzy. The R/C car is just sick!!! You sir are an inspiration!

But there are so many shades.... I have really got to pay attention to my sig line

Wish I could make, as there is nothing I would want in that picture :wink: Nope, not a single thing in that picture interests me :wink: :wink: :wink: best of luck on the contest. Are you entering the car that you shrunk??

I probably should pay attention to my sig line... what the heck! Count me in!!! Got the crusader and needed a reason to pull it out

started to play with a new project. This body has been floating around my stash for years. I think it was one of the very first kits I ever bought after returning to the hobby/obsession... I still have the box somewhere as well. I am thinking of going the pro-touring route with this one. First up is wheel choice of course. Wheel choice one are 23 inch Peggie Hellas in the back with 19 inchers up front. Second choice are 19 inch Aoshima LZX I think I like the Hellas best. The 23 inchers in the rear fill the wheel wells a bit better than the 19s. Using the 19 inch hellas in the front almost lends a pro-street look to it as well. Now, to just settle on a color and such...

I think it looks just great. I have to agree with the comment about the up-top. The only real miscue on the design of the car. If you are a fan of the car :wink:

Fujimi would be great if they would make something larger than 17 inches. I really can't tell the size from the packaging. Most of the Fujimi wheels that I have seen are 15 or 16 inch wheels. I have started to look into peggies. Guess I will just start buying when I see them.

Yeah Marc, I am slowly coming to that realization. I thought I would give Top Shelf a call as they had a bunch the last time I was in. Gregg, I found MechaHawaii on the net, but there wasn't much listed. I will try and shoot them an e-mail. I guess I could always watch ebay :roll:

Okay, since we have all decided that we have a wheel fetish I decided to come out into the open. I am trying, desperately, to purchase some Aoshima rims and tires. Big problem is most of the usual sources have dried up. HLJ shows pretty much all the Aoshima rims DISCONTINUED!!!!!! Model Express does not show the rims I want. I found a couple, Kranz LXZ and Cerberus at Best 1 hobby. I am looking for some more internet sources, anybody got any??? Done the google thing and what not and I have come up empty handed. Thanks guys