mikevillena

The Porsche 907/8 and the Ferrari 330 P4 were also issued by AMT(?) in a double kit. I remember that the decals were non factory markings; perhaps depicting cars that were raced at Daytona. Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to trade the un-built kit decades ago. I think there were other double kits (namely the 917 & 512) in the series as well.

Bruce, no offense was intended. "FROG" is the name of the kit manufacturer and is not meant as an insult to the French. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_%28models%29 Interestingly enough, they re-branded the kits sold in France and the United States. I've built many of their kits. My favorite was the Arado 234 Blitz with the guided bomb. The only reason I brought up FROG is because the NOVO text style reminded me of the FROG kits. As it turns out, there is a connection between the two. Similarly, J.A.P. engines are engines manufactured by John Alfred Prestwich and powered many a memorable British motorcycle and Morgan Three-Wheelers. I simply don't go around insulting people nor will I ever disparage their nationality.

You are really progressing nicely. Compare this to the first one and you'll see what I mean. If I may suggest... Keep you background really fuzzy with minimal details. Grey out the background colors. Sharpen up the contrast on the car especially on the front surfaces. Save the highlights for the front details as well. All of this will center the attention on the car itself. It might help you to look at landscape paintings to see how distant trees and foliage are best done (fuzzy shapes and not individual branches and leaves). I too paint but strictly portraits in oil. Keep it up

Turned out brill, Pat. The kit is very interesting in that the package states "Made in USSR" but is printed in English. Must have been made towards the end of the Soviet era. I believe this plane's DNA carried forward to their immortal Mosquito Bomber/Night Fighter/Fighter Bomber and even further into their incredible post war Hornet. Wasn't there an early FROG kit as well?

Robin, feel free to join in. Your Mazda 787 would be in appropriate (and very good) company Okay, I've added you to the entrant's list. This should be a beautiful birdcage!

Beautiful job, Robin!

Misha - Glad you could join us. Revised the entrant's list. Phil - Superb job on a true 24 Hour build! All interested parties are welcome to join in the build with an appropriate car. Entrants can also add new eligible projects at any time.

Hi Misha. The original kit was by Heller of France. I built the kit back in the late 70's but sold it along with my entire collection in 2001. My friend kindly gave the build up back to me and is waiting for a complete restoration: The model is tiny and it's hard to believe that it's in 1/24th scale. You will definitely have to scratchbuild a lot of the missing details. The same goes with the 917's in the series.

Here you go: http://www.bosch.com/media/com/bosch_group/bosch_in_figures/publications/archive/GB_2012_EN.pdf Guess who owns 92% of Robert Bosch Gmbh stock? http://www.bosch-stiftung.de/content/language2/html/389.asp BTW, "Stiftung" - FOUNDATION (NONPROFIT), i.e. CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

Paul, you can add any projects as long as they are at 20% or less completion stage. Merely adding or changing the decals on a completed model does not make that project eligible.

Greed.....is not necessarily a bad thing. The pursuit of profit is the cornerstone of the economy. All of our jobs rely on companies and corporations engaged in the pursuit of profit. It is what allows us to put food on the table, clothe and house ourselves and our families. It even allows us to pursue hobbies like building plastic kits It is in essence neither a "good" or "bad" thing. What does distinguish each profit seeking venture is it's intended goal and underlying social conscience. For example, Robert Bosch Gmbh is actually a non for profit corporation. Bosch's corporate constitution dictates that their profits be given to charity. Their strong social conscience was incorporated into the company's DNA from the beginning (1886). On the opposite end of the scale is Wal-Mart

Still cleaning up the bodyshell. There was a surprising amount of misalignment between the mold halves and inserts: I've also taken to opening up all of the louvers and re-scribing all of the lines as well as adding missing ones: I will have to cut out the "aerodynamic extension" on the door area so that I can add the rest of missing door. I will also have to grind out the molded screen air intakes on the "c" pillar, build out the correct passages and add fine wire mesh.

Excellent. I'll revise the participant's list to include it.

Harry, multi-million dollar Stradivari are used by the world's top violinists in concerts. Several are on lifetime "loans" to certain virtuosi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments The sound quality actually improves with age as does the provenance if the instrument is played regularly especially by competent hands. But then again, Stradivari are meant to be played as intended by the maker. Porsche also loans out their museum cars to distinguished pilots for occasional forays notably Goodwood. At the very least, they fire up the engines once in a while:

Cool! Participant's list updated.

Following the race action at: http://www.24h-lemans.com/live/en Porsche 919 now in 2nd place overall! One of the commentators shot his mouth off about some B.S. story that Fernando (that's exactly what this moron said) Porsche chose to skip 01 and 02 designation blah, blah, blah.... This guy is a total idiot! Yeah, FERNANDO Porsche. Slightly miffed that both British commentators keep mispronouncing PORSCHE. IT"S POR-SHA not PORSH! Also it is "Hunaudières" NOT Mulsanne Straight! Mulsanne is the name of the village, Hunaudières is the name of the roadway. Get it right!

Registration deadline has been withdrawn. Participants may now join at anytime. Additionally, participants are free to change their entry or add new entries.

Phil, why didn't you sign up here? You can still throw it in there: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=90008

Manufacturer: Porsche Model: 935/78 FIA Classification: FIA Group 5 Base Kit: Tamiya Scale: 1/24th This Tamiya kit was tooled back in 1978 so it is curbside and was intended for motorization. I built the original issue kit in the early 80's and it came with a Mabuchi motor, metal contacts and wires.

The official build thread is now unlocked. Participants can begin posting their build. Please use the following format for your first post: Manufacturer: (example: Porsche) Model: (example: 935/78) FIA Classification: (example: FIA Group 5) Base Kit: (example: Tamiya) Scale: (example: 1/24th)

Just a little bit of an update as I've been away from the bench. Sanded the inside contours of the belly pan and applied some spot putty: More sanding and surfacer: Started laying out the chassis. Began with the lower spaceframe tubes: I'm going to try and build a "birdcage" as inspired by the Maserati Tipo 61. The main tubes are .062 diameter and the rest will be fabbed from .040 rod. It scales to roughly 1&1/2" and 1" respectively.

Thank you Danno. I ought to pay a visit to the new "ford only" site. I am a Ford man myself having owned several Mustangs, Escorts and a Focus. My favorite was my old 5.0 GT with headers, straight pipes, re-worked electronics, lowered Racer Walsh suspension, street cage and grippy Yokohama A008's. Needless to say, the tires last less than 8,000 miles.

Bernard, you and I think alike (which might be a great misfortune for you) I got really ambitious although I don't know why but I decided to design my own version of a "birdcage". More on that possibly poor decision later. It could be the strong Italian espresso that I've been drinking. Robin, you are too kind as always. But most of this stuff is relatively simple and straight forward. The real key is a good working knowledge of the material and what you can get away with. As to problem solving, I've had some practice in my previous life as an engineer.

Finally got the belly pan's external shape close to where I want it: Instead of using a razor saw to cut the belly pan loose from the body shell, I simply (and carefully) pried it free using an x-acto knife. You can clearly see the internal "planking": I blended the lower part of the radiator shell as part of the design. I used my Gyros super fine saw blade and my flex shaft mototool set to crawling speed to carefully cut the upper part off: Using various sized rotary ball cutting bits I started shaping the internal wall to follow the external contour and thinning it to the same thickness as the body shell.

Bernard, your absolutely faithful approach to replicating the classic and traditional fabrication techniques in scale is simply marvelous and is an inspiration especially on a traditional hot rod build. And your carbon fiber rod modern rod project sounds absolutely "top drawer". Hope you share that build when you start it. BTW, I was doing research on modern front suspension designs for the '32 and I saw an interesting design. It had a CNC milled front beam that is rigidly attached to the chassis. The front suspension travel is via "sliding pillar" (just like a proper Morgan) but the springing and damping is done remotely via hydraulic lines to the coil over units mounted on the firewall. For the life of me, I can't remember the site. Anyway, I'm flattered that you have taken interest in my build. And I do look forward to your inputs.