Bainford

Nice conversion, and great looking model. Very creative.

It's a valuable recyclable material, so I wouldn't expect to get it for free. However, offer $2-5 for a sheet. That is many times the value of the material as scrap, but still a very cheap source of thin aluminium sheet for the modeller. A friend who worked in a print shop years ago gave me seven of these plates for general garage use. I had them kicking around for years before getting rid of all except one, which I kept for modelling.

Interesting technique, Bernard. Thanks for sharing. I have never seen Kosutte Gin Sang in person, but I remember a few years ago it was a topic of interest on the SA forum, and I was curious about it then. Using the link you posted above, I checked out the C1 Metalizer. Looks like interesting stuff, so I ordered some. However, I have a product that I bought in a craft store about 25 years ago that seems very similar (the brand name escapes me right now). In fact, I bought two little bottles, one with a silvery powder and one with a gold powder. In the ensuing years the small bottle of silvery powder appears to have oxidised, having darkened and lost much of its brilliance and almost seeming a bit graphite like (like fine, powdered pencil lead). Have you noticed anything like this happening with your Kosutte Gin Sang? When I bought the stuff, I had no idea what to do with it, but it seemed like it might have a purpose. I figured I could add it to paint in the manner of pearl powders, but never tried that. I really like the effect of rubbing it on a painted surface. Another surface sheen/texture product to keep in the arsenal. Cheers.

Nice looking Willys. I love this kit, and you have made some proper changes to it. Well done.

Nice build. Such a fantastic car. I had no idea a coupe version was available in scale. I'm going to have to get one of these.

Cheers Matt . I get it. It was just my knee jerk reaction to your comment. As an Europa owner, I view the DeLorean as an over weight, under powered, pathetic and ridiculous door stop, whereas the Europa is pure, uncompromised driving brilliance.

WHAT!?!

Lotus Europa. Negotiating traffic while nearly lying on your back in a paper thin, fiberglass cocoon with a roof height less than the hood height on some cars, eye level with the axel of 18 wheelers.

Outstanding work! An excellent example of proper model building. I am most impressed with your machining skills, thanks for showing us your process. Looking forward to seeing more.

Very nice Escort. Looks great without the decals. I've been very curious about these kits for some time now. It looks like they build up very well. Nice work. I really need to get a couple of these, one of which I would build as a weekend warrior, similar to yours.

Very cool sedan delivery. The T-Bird responds well to this treatment. Nice job on the custom work.

I have a wooden coin tray from an old timey cash register. The rounded contour of the compartment bottoms makes fishing out the small bits easy and controllable. Also quite useful are the desk drawer trays used for organising pens, paper clips, etc in your office desk. They are cheap at places like Staples, or even the dollar store. Very useful for your 1:1 tool box as well for organising small bits.

I still use my tried and true coat hanger. I tried many different methods of holding the body over the years, but found it was the coat hanger that worked the best for me. It is easy to handle the body when painting, ensuring good paint coverage in the difficult, hidden areas that are hard to access.

This was my first thought as well. Some silver and gold paints seem to have an almost powdery surface layer that resists adhesion of tape, decals, top coats, etc.

Captured the awesome vibe of the 1:1 nicely. Good work on the stripes.

Great style. Very cool! All that's needed is to scuff the tread surface of the slicks up a bit.

Sorry Dan, but yes I did. You're going to have to open your mind up a little bit. I built my first within a month of my 5th birthday. I remember it very well, a 1/32 T-bird snapper. Of course my father helped me, it was the first model kit I'd ever seen. But I was hooked immediately; so much better than my toy cars. By the time of my 6th birthday I'd built several small scale planes and battle ships. And whenever Dad brought me home a small plane model, of course he had to get one for my sister and brother also, who were 1 and 2 years younger, respectively. My brother would lose interest and I'd finish his, too, and these were done without parental assistance. Sure, they were serious glue bombs, and one day he brought home three bottles of Testors paint and brushes. Yup, we made a mess, but it was fun, and it was modelling, and I was learning how to do it right. Still am. My daughter built three 1/25 scale snap-together cars and a 1/72 scale snap-together plane when she was four. Of course I helped where needed, but by the time of the third car kit, she didn't need much help. ...and she was not yet five.

I'd be happy if they would just put a label on the bottle that I can read. I find it ironic that as the model building demographic gets older, the printing on the bottle labels gets smaller. Even trying to determine what paint in the bottle is nearly impossible.

That's a bit larger than the standard contingency decal. Try looking at decal sheets for large scale models. Slixx has a sheet for 1/16 scale with Hurst decals on it. Also, Gofer Decals has a sheet of contingency decals with two variations of the Hurst decal, and the decals are a bit larger than standard.

I get mine at Component Supply (tried to paste a link here but it won't take). Anyway, available in lengths of 30" and 60", huge range of ID and OD sizes and wall thicknesses.

Any resin that needs to be stripped of paint I will put it it in the "Purple Pond" from now on. Beware of resin in the purple pond. I've read it can destroy resin. Be sure to test scrap bits before committing an expensive body to the stuff.

Wow! No doubt an exceptionally impressive kit. Being 1/12 scale it won't make my 'want' list. At that price I would be scratch building instead, anyway. Nonetheless it appears to be a stunning kit.

There are a couple there I've not seen before, and I'm not familiar with the LS brand of kits at all. Anyone know anything about them? I'm also interested to know more about the Nakamura Mk IV kits. They are motorised, so presumably have the commensurate lack of chassis & engine detail, but how is the kit in terms of body proportion and detail, and are the tires/wheels decent? Any info would be appreciated.

Cool looking Torino. I loved these Torino fastbacks as a kid.

Very nice build. You nailed the look. Well done.