David G.

Brilliant work on this! It's a shame about spilling the tray of bits, were you able to recover them all? I guess it may be difficult to know for certain until you near completion. Thank you for continuing to share your progress. David G.

The wild paint really suits your design. Can't wait to see more. David G.

This build is going rather quickly, at least for me. Time for the next update. Parts clean-up and prep for the rear chassis assembly. Definitely not a conventional set-up. You can see on the lower left that I've already assembled the chassis block and engine housing. This is the rear engine housing and the chassis block with rear axle. What I'm concerned with here is the seam in the center depression. Features like this are rather difficult to fill and smooth with putty. My solution is to cut a thin piece of styrene sheet to an appropriate size and shape. Once glued in place, it is a near perfect filler. That's all for now, it's not much but there it is. As always, thanks for watching and keep those cards and letters coming! David G.

That turned out nice! David G.

Fabulous work! It does look like a vehicle that Mercedes would have tooled up in the late Thirties or early Forties. David G.

An excellent version of, arguably the best Batmobile! David G.

Nicely done! I love the work you've done with the seat and the pliers on the door handle. Nice touches! David G.

Spectacular work Simon! Your detail is (of course) excellent and your weathering effects look great. Years ago I built a small LST for my brother who served on her during his time in the U.S. Navy and the PE work on in nearly drove me batty. So I have an appreciation for the level of work that went into the one you built. If I may, here is a snap of the U.S. Navy LST 1180, USS Manitowoc. Regards, David G.

Nice work on the roof Eric. I admire your patience, conversion builds like this can be rather demanding. David G.

Great progress on this! You have a lot of great looking work going on there. David G.

Super sweet cars, great diorama and a nod of approval from The Stig himself! Who could ask for more? David G.

Sorry to hear about your injury, I hop you're healing well. Excellent work on the wrecks! You seem to be cranking them out very quickly too. David G.

Wow! Everything looks fantastic so far! I can't wait to see more. David G.

Thanks for the link Bill. I did go check it out, you built a real sweet rig there. Thanks for the photo Keith, nice work on the tools and equipment. When I bought mine I had no idea of how the size would work out as completed. Had I known, I probably would have bought two. As it it though, mine's not bad it's just not suitable for large American cars. Thanks again for the feedback. David G.

Beautiful detail work! Looks like it's fresh off the line and ready to haul. David G.

Looks Great! Spectacular paintwork! David G.

That reminds me, it's time for an update! Just a little one, but here it is. The next little step I chose to take in this journey of a thousand steps is the oil pails. As I began to remove the handles from their sprues I realized that they were too thin. Way too thin. Though they looked great, I was unable to remove the handles without damaging them. I decided that the only way to go was to make my own out of music wire. With the biggest challenge of this little part of the project behind me, the rest of it went together rather quickly. The handles are bits of wire insulation. Here is a shot of the newest members of the garage settling into their new home. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment. David G.

Thanks for your comment Bill, and your thoughtfulness. I like to build a wide variety of model types and styles. As I like to say, "Shiny and Dull, I build 'em all!" I'll be sure to keep an eye out for posts of your work, I would enjoy seeing what you've done. David G.

Love the color! I'll be keeping an eve on this one. David G.

Nicely Done! David G.

Oh, it wasn't meant as a slam JC. I was just surprised. I'm used to the big old V-8's from the 70's. The larger of which would probably weigh almost half as much as that whole Rally car. Like this one from my 71 Olds. Engine and transmission together just under 900 lbs. Any way, I love the work you're doing on this Fiat. Thanks again for taking the time to share it with us. David G.

When I started building this kit, my desire (aside from adding another Batmobile to my collection) was to be able to complete a build within a reasonable amount of time. So far, this kit has provided me with a good balance of challenge and accomplishment. It's a rather simple kit but the unique design and structure add a bit of interest to the building of it. Struts and braces added to the front. Front suspension and wheels. There's not a lot of clearance for the wheels. But I guess that Batman knows what he's doing. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment. David G.

Thank you for your comment Simon. Based on the research I did there is not a lot of detail that would be visible in that area. Most of the vehicle is fairly well shrouded with airfoils and spoilers which actually seems appropriate for a Batmobile. The mechanical detail and busy-ness that can be seen is fairly well represented and I'm mostly satisfied with that. Mostly. Thanks again, David G.

Wow! There is so much detail in so many different tones and colors that it'll almost be a shame to paint it all one shade of gray or white... whichever is the proper color. David G.

Wow! Two points regarding the engine issue: 1. How tiny the correct-sized engine is. 2. The size difference between the two. But yeah, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right. Your engine looks great so far. David G.