fumi
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Posts posted by fumi
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2 hours ago, mikemodeler said:
This is a huge deal in the OEM world. Financial misconduct is a nice way of saying "stealing money". He has been one of the most talked about OEM CEOs in recent memory and has tried/proposed mergers with several manufacturers. He is ego driven and is notorious for his cost cutting ways to profitability, often at the expense of quality or design. He will most likely do some jail time but his days in the OEM world are through.
"le cost cutter" was synonymous with Nissan since 1999, when Renault sent him to restructure Nissan. While I agree that cutting the redundant models and dealership channels which were a legacy of the bubble economy was inevitable, he went further with an un-Japanese move and cut all contracts with their long time suppliers which he deemed "unprofitable". This drove a lot of the small and middle sized OEM suppliers, many of them partners with Nissan for decades, to bankruptcy and the quality of their cars took a nosedive. After the effect of cost cutting waned, design and development took a hit and models were left to languish for 10 years and more without refreshment. Engine development was cut up particularly bad, to the point where most of the engine lineup dates back to 2010 or older.
But he did turn around the company and people worshipped him so much that a manga was actually written that showcased his life. He eventually took over the CEO job of Renault as well and became chairman of Mitsubishi when Nissan got a controlling interest. I guess his ego ultimately took the better of him and he believed he could to anything.
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Carlos Ghosn, former CEO of Nissan and soon-to-be-ex-president of Nissan and CEO/president of Renault and Mitsubishi, was arrested in Japan for securities frand. Apparently he falsified securities reports and underreported his salary by 5 billion yen and appropriated company money for his personal use. His alleged compliance in the Nissan board of directors is also arrested.
After killing off all the fun and saddling the lineup with long in the tooth models in the name of cost cutting for almost 20 years, I am not sad to see him go. I am hoping for a change of direction, but with Renault still holding a leash on Nissan, I am not holding my hope up.
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Not sure if it has anything to do with any new kit announcement, but Tamiya will have a real TS050 on display.
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C4 Corvette IRS from AMT and Revell are all over eBay.
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1 hour ago, dodgefever said:
These are pretty poor kits in my experience. The chassis are on a par with '60s promos, which is OK for a curbside model, but the interiors and wheels are generic and lacking detail.
These were Hasegawa's very first car models. The bodies were supposedly pantographed from Johan and AMT kits and were meant for slot cars. They tooled up a generic chassis for the bodies afterward.
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24 minutes ago, Snake45 said:
Hmmmmm, Type C? Are there types A, B, etc.? The Caddy does nothing for me, but it might be nice to have the '66 Bonneville back. We don't really need the Buick or the T-Bird, but I'd buy the Impala just cause I never got one, even though we now have Revell kits that are no doubt much better.
Type T is just around the corner. No word on the type B, type W or the type I yet.
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Hobby Search has it in stock now.
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Nice colour indeed.
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I don't get why people are so worked up over it, personally I think it is great to see these old cars being modernized with new powertrains. Can't be worse than a flathead or a small block if you ask me.
The 49-51 Mercury isn't even such a great car if not for Rebel Without a Cause. Design wise the same period Ford was much more innovative and technologically the Hudson was more advance.
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7 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:
Revell was around plenty long enough to do something else with that 2009 tooling, they just for whatever reason never did. Makes you wonder if that and the 2010 Camaro were designed as one and dones, or there are more versions tooled into them that the sales figures just dictated they weren't going to do.
Didn't Revell change direction to those simplified full detail kits that are not so great at either end in 2014? Sales for the Camaro was probably good enough for them to tool up a new mold for the ZL1, along with that 2014 Mustang GT. The Challenger didn't make the cut, however.
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Resin Realm is out of business. Star Model, which is hosted inside resinrealm.net, is still in business. I just ordered from Steve 2 weeks ago.
As for the resin offering, he sells Flintstone as well as his own line, which I believe were Hendrix before. They are not top notch, but still very workable.
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9 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:
HOWEVER (and I just checked a kit to verify this), a less intense way (than what fumi describes) to visually correct the initial appearance is to simply soften the convex "roll" as the lower panel turns down. Easily done with files and sandpaper.
There is sufficient meat at that location to achieve a worthwhile improvement in the appearance.
That is exactly what Steve Boutte did with his excellent custom coupe. I lack his skill and don't have confidence in maintaining a uniform curved interface and a straight crease across the ridge, so I chose to preserve the curve/ridge and extend the flat part in the middle of the body side instead.
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Having built 2 of these and having a sealed white box version still lying around, my view of this kit is not as glowing. 3 major issues jump out of my mind right away:
- The "ridge" on the bottom of the body went up 3 scale inches too high. The easiest way to fix it is to cut out the lower half of the body half way across and around the rear fender, trim off the part along the lower door line completely, rejoin the body with the trimmed side as the new bottom, fill out the space in between, and rescribe the door line just below the crease of the ridge. You will also need to trim the floor pan where it joins the body, but fortunately that area is conveniently recessed, so you just need to grind out the step along the floor pan and not have to reshape the whole thing.
- The mating area along the hood and the front fender is very vague. With the hood warped it would not conform to the fender. Use extra care if you want to fix the hood as it is very thin and can easily deform beyond repair in hot water.
- Both grilles are too angular. They designed the front fender as a one size fit all deal and fit both grilles around the opening, but the 46 grille and the 47-48 grille are very different in shape. In the end the 47-48 grille is too thin and square while the 46 grille is so misshaped it is unusable. To make either grille look right you will probably need to scratch build it.
All in all it can be made into a good looking model with some effort but it would take major work to fix the body issues. If you must have a 47-48 Chevy they are the only game in town, but I would not pay Tamiya money for them.
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I think no skirt is better, they make the body look too thick.
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For China or Hong Kong based brands like Hobby Design or MSM Creation I would use Hobby Easy. Much closer to the source and the shipping is cheaper.
ZoomOn, Eighty One and S.K. Decals will also sell direct.
https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Games-Toys/Skdecals-1557454941209426/
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13 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:
Although to be perfectly fair if you were comparing that 1980s AMT kit with a 1980s Tamiya kit - the Tamiya kit might be arguably worse in terms of overall quality since a few of their first 1/24 kits were little more than disassembled motorized toys. You have to get into kits manufactured in the late-80s to present before the "Tamiya-like quality" is actually the standard that term implies.
Interesting that if you were to compare the 1980's AMT 280 ZX and the 1970's Tamiya 280 ZX kits, eventhough the Tamiya one is motorized, the fit and finish is still far superior to AMT until you pick them up and look at the chassis.
As far as 1/24 car kits are concerned, you would really need to go back to the 70's to find a bad Tamiya kit. By 1983 Tamiya was already producing exquisite full detailed kits like the Honda Prelude XX.
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On 9/22/2018 at 11:45 AM, Casey said:
Looks like this place is going to carry at least the '66 Cadillac: https://internethobbies.com/collections/coming-soon/products/hasegawa-model-cars-1-24-1966-cadillac-sedan-deville-lowrider-kit
Might be cheaper to order direct from Japan, though, too.
You are more likely to get your kits from overseas than from Internet Hobbies. They are a known scammer.
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Panda N2, that is an interesting combo. Will the fenders be black or body colour?
So Splash ships overseas? How long did it take?
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These lenses from Barchetta are very nice.
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1 hour ago, Italianhorses said:
I see. Technically, this is what grey primer supposed to do. I honestly never had problems this, but maybe I'll give it a try. Thanks.
I find this most useful with bodywork where waviness and high/low points may not be obvious even after primer coat.
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2 hours ago, MrObsessive said:
I guess it all depends on what era one was born as to what they're going to be familiar with. My Dad was born in 1933. He could tell all of those '30's and '40's cars apart with no trouble at all, while to me they all appeared the same. Same I guess could be said of today's cars. 'Car kids' I'm sure can tell today's cars from each other, and may think that the cars from yesteryear all look the same.
It's all a matter of perspective.
Exactly. Rather than saying all modern cars lack style, it is more like we mostly identify with things from what we perceived as "better times".
I grew up in the 80's. The cars I like the most are made between mid 80's and mid 90's. To me luxobarges made in the 70's are the worst, but someone growing up with the big Lincolns and Cadillacs would probably think the exact opposite.
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I really don't understand the hate on back up cameras around here. The fact is you will never be able to see what is lurking in the area below the trunk line with your rear view mirror no matter how careful and attentive you claim you are, be it a dog or a cat or a kid running out just as you are backing up your car. It just makes sense to have that extra visibility there.
As for "interesting" colours on new cars, they are always great when someone else own them. People loved my lime green Fiesta. Yet no one wanted it when I was trading for a new car. Dealers flat out refused to take it. I was lucky enough to have a friend taking it off my hands just as I was about to give up.
And you know what cars look the same? Take out any GM catalogs of the same model year from the 60's and 70's. The cars all look the same. They are practically the same car with a different grille.
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1 hour ago, dshue76 said:
I think Revell tooled too many new automotive kits too fast and we see what happened to them.
Hobbico's demise has nothing to do with Revell tooling too many new car kits too fast. Quite the contrary, Revell was supposed to be Hobbico's few bright spots.
Ghosn arrested for securities fraud
in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Posted
These days they just get on stage in front of cameras, bow profusely, and life goes on as usual.
My guess is Ghosn will get a slap on the wrist, publish a memoir or two, and probably get back to the business scene in Europe. As of now Renault is still keeping him as CEO and chairman.