Matt Bacon

I’ll enjoy this! best, M.

Very cool. It’s a beautiful car in the first place, and the execution of the iconic livery on that curvaceous shape is spot on… both in design and in your flawless application. Great model! best, M.

Metalcote comes in rattle cans as well as regular tins. best, M.

If you can get them in the US (Megahobby seems to stock them), Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium and Polished Steel are great buffing metallisers. The Aluminium goes from fine matt silver to reflective and slightly darker, and is handy for aircraft where you can mask panels and change the appearance in a patchwork like real “natural metal” airframes. It’s also good for aluminium castings on cars to get some differentiation between highlights and recesses. But the Steel is amazing… it starts out dark matt gray, but the more and the harder you polish it, the more chrome-like it gets. It’s great for things like brakes, where a light polish results in a cast iron look for the hubs, and firmly pressing on the discs with a chamfered matchstick gives you the polished metal of the disc surface… best, M.

Tamiya, for example, has always excelled at delivering outstanding detail in relatively few parts. The entire chassis and suspension of the 90s NSX is about 10 parts but builds up into a detailed and accurate replica that just needs some (quite involved) painting to bring it to life… best, M.

Cool! The Revell Snap-tite 63 Corvette Coupe is very nice and a simple build: It’s not quite in your era, but I also very much enjoyed the Moebius Chrysler 300… best, M.

What kind of cars would you like to build? It’s helpful to know to guide recommendations. You’ll have more fun and are more likely to finish something that you want on your shelf. For example, there are some excellent “easy click” or “snap kit” from Revell or Aoshima but they aren’t of US period originals… best, M.

Apologies for muckiness. It doesn't half pick up grease and dust when you're wrestling the glass into the body, and the whole thing together for a test fit... The rear screen and engine cover does open as it should and close tight, which I call a result. Of course, it doesn't _stay_ open on its own, but I'll figure out some solution. Quick test on the chassis. That rear light panel was a complete nightmare to paint. I've never had any luck spraying the Tamiya clear colors... I just can't get the consistency right. So it's a lot of coats of thinned brushed paint. It looks ropey if you hold it up to the light directly, but in situ it's OK. Time to crack on and complete the black, black and more black interior... best, M.

These guys clearly did: best, M.

I managed to get the clear coat on in the cool of yesterday evening... I though outdoors in diffuse sunlight was probably my best shot at capturing the color accurately. Even I am amazed by how much the clearcoat brings the paint to life, and subtly swings the color to a more blue-green, as it should be. If you compare these, especially the last one, to the picture of the real thing at the top of the thread, I think we'd all agree that Steve has done a pretty good job of matching the color! best, M.

I’ve never seen one, or at least not an up to date one. A whole lot have never had a full detail option. As for the Enthusiast Models, your best bet is to locate one that is definitely an EM kit on Scalemates, and look at the “timeline”. For the 911, for example, they quietly re-released the early 911S and 911R in ordinary-looking boxes with all the EM parts a couple of years back. Which made a couple of my eBay saved searches irrelevant… best, M.

They’ve announced the 2024 McLaren which should be available towards the end of the year. I’m expecting to see a built up one at Scale Model World (IPMS UK Nats) in November, but probably not to be able to buy one until later. No one is going to give them access to a current season car early enough to kit it in the same year, I don’t think… best, M.

This color is rather hard to photograph, especially in the velvet texture of the Zero basecoat. Anyone who's used them will also know how much the appearance of Zero Paints colors changes when you apply the clearcoat. I'm not sure when I'll get to do the clearcoat. As a two part mix that actually cures rather than just drying, it's very sensitive to heat. Your working time drops rapidly the hotter it is, and the last thing I want is to be trying to apply the final wet coat when the mix has started to cure (that way you get orange peel, for sure). The workshop is about 34 degrees C at the moment... 😜 best, M.

I assume this one is just warming us up for the last-season one coming towards the end of the year… best, M.

The 250 GTO is one of Fujimi's gems, for sure. It's a much later kit than the Enthusiast Model series, but has engine detail, and you can pick up a box with a fabulous set of metal wire wheels in it, though the regular plastic ones are pretty darn good. best, M.

Definitely worth doing some research. You can find unboxing videos, and 1999.co.jp (Google “name of kit 1999.co.jp”) has viewable instructions for most kits. Fujimi kits in my experience are a mixed bag. As mentioned, the Enthusiast Model kits are complex and amazingly detailed. They are also often boxed without the Enthusiast branding (often as Manga tie-ins) or as regular “Red box” kits, sometimes without detail parts trees (eg no engine). Check instructions for particular boxings to see what you’re going to get. There are regular curb side kits. Many newer ones are well shaped and have accurate if simplified detail. Older ones are often over-simplified and sometimes compromised by having been designed to be battery powered back in the day. But they are often the only game in town. Some kits are not strictly 1/24 scale: the accurate Tamiya 240Z body fits neatly inside the Fujimi one, for example. Fujimi often plays fast and loose with versions of the basic car. The box may call it one thing, with accurate, well done box art, but it’s writing checks the plastic can’t cash. What you get inside is the same in three boxes, perhaps with an extra parts tree (say, seats and steering wheel). The FIAT mentioned above is one example. The RX-7 Spirit R is another: you get a few different decals and some Recaro seats, but the nose/front clip is not modified at all into the distinctively different Spirit R version with more aggressive aero. Your best bet is to tell us what cars you want to build, and the collective wisdom of the MC tribe will chime in on which kits/boxes to get, and which to avoid. Plus you might get a chorus of “Buy the Aoshima/Tamiya kit instead”… best, M.

Quick test fit with the wheels: Well, they certainly fill the arches. Arguably a bit too much, but I think that might be the price for using the Fujimi wheels, which are probably "inch-up", on the Tamiya kit. best, M.

The suspension is finished. Like the rear, the front assembly is primarily two big parts, a main frame with upper wishbones and the lower frame. Very nicely detailed and molded, though. Engine in place for a test. It looks reasonable through the mesh, but I think I'll add a few wires and hoses to busy up the space at the left between the heads and the airbox/fluid reservoir parts. Now I need to make some progress on the body. best, M.

I had the good luck to drive one at a nearby museum’s “Drive Dad’s Car” experiences. Getting in and settling down feels like climbing into the cockpit of a WW2 fighter and strapping it on… it’s so compact. Your feet are way out against the footwell wall because of the huge transmission tunnel. But get it going… that smell is so evocative. Leather, old rubber, fuel. It took me straight back to Air Cadet days flying a 1950s era Chipmunk. I loved it, but I can now imagine just how much hard work it must have taken to wrestle and pilot one non stop Rome-Liege-Rome at ten-tenths. Those folks had real cojones. Or in Pat Moss’s case, didn’t… best, M.

You're making that one up.... best, M.

In increasing order of the likelihood of actually owning one: a 911 Reimagined by Singer, a Cayman GT4, an Alpine A110, a Lotus Elan, a regular Cayman, an Aston Martin DB7, a Jaguar XKR and an MX-5... best, M.

Sounds like it could be Model Factory Hiro… they started in 1989. best, M.

It was too hot to hit the bench early last week, and work got in the way the second half, but things are moving again now... Again, very typical Tamiya... that perfectly-fitting lower subframe with wishbones and control arms is one crisply molded piece with slightly complex painting instructions... The back end looks properly busy, though. "Kevlar" backed seats. You're probably thinking "they look pretty crude..." ...but given that this is what you can see (BEFORE the body goes on), perhaps I might be excused..? 😜 best, M.

Sadly, I don’t… best, M.

Sections 1 and 2 of the instructions completed! The engine is very typical Tamiya: only 6 parts, but with very complex painting instructions, enhanced by the many detail photos of the real thing that are available online. Similarly, the exhaust is only three parts, but this time the "all-over chrome" painting directions are a bit simplistic, especially for an NSX-R... The single-piece chassis is also nicely detailed with a little careful painting. Quick mockup suggests it will fit together nicely. From the other side.... One of the reasons it's worth spending a bit of time on the engine. The NSX-R has a mesh panel over the engine, whereas the NSX has a solid trimmed "parcel shelf." On the left, the Fujimi part, trimmed and extended to match the size and shape of the Tamiya part on the right. This should mean that the engine is visible even with cover closed, but also the Tamiya rear window is hinged and can open, so it's possible to expose the engine to full view... best, M.