Erik Smith

The Fireball ones are quite a bit different than the one on the Bugeye. Spot Model has THESE from Renaissance...? I was thinking the Aoshima MGB, but they are different lug set up. The Tamiya Mini are probably way too small.

The going price on the ‘Bay is a little silly these days.

Well, here it is! THE most anticipated model of the year! Hasegawa’s Isuzu Gemini. Nice crisp, clean mold. A few very faint mold lines. Separate hood - makes painting the windshield wiper area easier and probably means different versions are coming. Separate side trim. The top side of the engine bay actually has a little bit of detail (strut tops) and it looks like they could do an insert style engine...but only the bottom half is included for now. The separate wheel covers make painting easier. There are two taillight and headlight sets for an earlier and later version - I have no idea about that, but all you Isuszu fanatics probably do. Nice decals. I don’t know how well those defroster line decals work - they seem cool, but end up kind of cloudy looking. Includes front glass mask, nice. The not so good - as with the BMW 2002, the door panels totally, well, suck...barely, barely scribed, no depth.

Oh, now that might be interesting. I’ve actually been doing close to what you describe lately (well, my two in process models) Depending on timing, I’d join. It’s actually nice to reduce choices and work with what you’ve got.

I wouldn’t recommend the smaller Duplicolor Scratch filler primer. It sprays really well and, even as “filler” is relatively thin, but for some reason it does not adhere well to bare plastic. I had multiple occasions where Tamiya masking tape lifted it off. The big cans of sandable Duplicolor, however, are great.

Yup, as Jonathan says, you can put it on first. In addition to the tight (very) chassis fit, the panel line that separates the bumper from the body can get inundated with primer and paint of your not careful or don’t somehow scribe it a little deeper. I glued the front on first to ensure a nice tight fit, that ended up too tight and I lost part of the panel line on one side. The fit on mine was so tight, I don’t think I could have pulled it back apart without damaging it had I needed to adjust anything.

Yeah, it’s not even original! Aoshima already beat AMT to it...

They look like old mold tires with gold stripe and wide whites? Overall, this looks like a useless pack. Lakepipes, hub caps, and bumperettes?

Like the old adage ”You can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can sell a book by its cover” Same with models. If it looks good, people are more likely to buy it, regardless of content. As to Bob’s posts - yeah, rambling, incorrect and often incoherent, but read them with a poetic beat, maybe snap your fingers as you read them and wear a beret, and they make sense.

Nothing about that picture makes sense...

Very cool. That looks like a very decent resin kit.

That or an 84-88 truck or 4Runner. Preferably 84-85 live axle, but whatevs.

As a side note, but related to the cars above... The prepainted Crown has about the best 5 lug modern steel wheels that I have found in a kit - and the version pictured has both the plain steelies and the chrome hub capped wheels.

Or one of the funky Nissan retro cars, which are coming to America now thanks to the 25 year rule...

Hasegawa is kind of a wildcard. I wouldn’t be surprised at anything they make. As far as I know, they have only made three US vehicles - a Ford Thunderbird, a Pontiac Bonneville, and a Willys “Jeep” - are there others? Their Kubelwagen was an odd (for military) scale and full detail. Their newest car is an Isuzu I mark. The BMW 2002 kind of popped out of nowhere. Sunny truck. They made a Jimny...etc In my lame opinion, and since I saw a very nice US version yesterday...I think a 1980s Bluebird/Maxima is the next big seller. It was the first mass produced Japanese V6 car too, so...yeah.

Nope. But you can get resin HERE

Kind of a tough call. A lot of the late 70s early 80s Aoshima and Fujimi kits are kind of crappy. They were motorized and have very simple chassis details and often times cumbersome or lame interiors. But...Aoshima has recently done a series of Nissan Cedrics, including a police variant, and it is a very nice kit. Also, the I think they did one of the Corolla, which might be a little older mild but still decent. Aoshima also has a preprinted Crown police car, but it’s more modern. I am not too familiar with what Fujimi has in terms of police cars - but I would start with the Aoshima Cedric.

For some odd reason, which I refuse to try to explain, I love theses second gen Maximas. It’s great to see any older (30+, yes, that’s older) car well maintained and driving too...

Oh man. Based on what they have released in the last three years, anything goes...

This was posted here before. I wish I felt good calling half finished models finished. I’d be able to “finish” so many more...

Great work. Very nice model!

Cool. Nice work so far. I like the choice of wheels.

It is a pretty cool car. 318 with 155 hp. Eek. I thought my 2010 CR-V was gutless (150 hp four...)

Thin it.

Not sure how they (USPS or somewhere along the line from Japan) managed to do this...but kit was miraculously unharmed.