Matt Bacon

Thanks, chaps... slow progress, thanks to trying to manage my stash "garage sale" eating into bench time... but at least I'm getting somewhere. I'm a little nervous about posting this while Mike Villena is crafting his masterwork on the other channel, but here are my best efforts: Engine (which is surprisingly large) is now done. The wiring is a pain, since it's a "twin-spark", with two lines per cylinder. A bit of wash and detail painting brings the kit parts up a treat. The interior is based on a real period car that I found online at Bring a Trailer. The seats are grey vinyl, not black, and the door cards are NATO Black with Citadel black details. Carpet is done with Plastikote Velvet for texture. bestest, M.

Model -- the wire wheels are very impressive, but they don't look like quite right compared to real Cobra wired rims... bestest, M,

I've seen guys racing (hard) in 250 GTOs and in a 330 GTO that is one of only three ever built. The Cuda's only worth a couple of million dollars and has some rarity value -- but why wouldn't you drive it? Granted, you might not thrash it around a racetrack like the guys with their multimillion dollar GTOs, but since it's not really a race car, you probably wouldn't anyway. I don't think any car should be "too rare and valuable to drive" -- I mean, both Ralh Lauren and Jay Leno make a point about how their cars are all driven regularly, even the Bugatti Atlantique and the Steamer... bestest, M.

These guys can sort you out: http://www.whatrecords.co.uk/search.asp?artist=Led+Zeppelin&title=&format=&catalogue=&submit.x=-312&submit.y=-314 not cheap, but impressive reissue sets... bestest, M.

Model, but a very good, large scale one! bestest, M.

There's also the distinction between "Lightweights" and "Low drag". The lightweights have major structural parts and the engine block in aluminium instead of steel. This is a lightweight in action: As you can see the nose is a bit different for better breathing, and some have wider rear ends, but they look essentially like an E-type with a hard top. Then there's the low drag version (also a lightweight, but not all lightweights are low drag): The windscreen is more raked, and the roof is very different from a coupe. From above it has a tear drop shape, almost coming to a point at the tail, giving much wider haunches -- which were often even bigger to take wider tyres as well. I think the mods are all doable with Milliput, and the recent well-documented restoration of the Lindner Nocker low drag lightweight to racing form means that there's plenty of reference material to hand... bestest, M.

The mid-60s Revell E-Type (also boxed as an XK-E) was tooled in England, by the Revell (UK) operation in Potters Bar (previously they'd done several of the "modern" 1/32 cars for Revell -- a Healey and a Sprite, at least, which have also been re-released as Advent kits). It is still available, and is the plastic that has recently re-appeared in a Revell Germany box with artwork of a black car wearing a black factory hard-top on the front, which could easily confuse you into thinking that it was a coupe, at a cursory glance. That'd be the easiest E-Type to obtain, if you don't care that it's 1/25 instead of 1/24. The Heller convertible is probably quite rare -- I think I've only ever seen one in all the years I've been trawling second hand car kits at shows. The coupe has been reboxed much more often, I suspect, and certainly on this side of the pond the Airfix boxings turn up very regularly on eBay for reasonable prices... The Airfix FHC "which resembles a lightweight version" is just the same Heller coupe, but with Dunlop steel racing wheels instead of wires, some stripes in the decals, and box art that leaves off the bumpers... I _THINK_ the best starting point for a real lightweight would be to begin with the convertible with factory hardtop, rather than a full coupe. There's much more room to create the "haunches" of the lightweights around the hardtop than starting with a full couple, which would have to be cut away, I reckon... There's also an even older Airfix 1/24 E-Type, about the same vintage as the original James Bond DB5, which was motorised. I have no idea what its origins are (Airfix tooling or bought in), but it's a rarity that goes for £80 plus on the rare occasions it shows up on eBay. Plus there's a Frog 1/16th version of similar vintage: which is even more expensive... bestest, M.

Hi, Charlie -- I wouldn't say a LOT more recently, but there is a Heller E-Type Coupe in 1/24 (which seems to have a very similar parts layout to the 1/25 Revell kit), which also occasionally turns up in Airfix boxes. There is also a Gunze Sangyo kit of the convertible, which also occasionally turns up in Airfix "Hi-Tech" boxes. This kit is quite a challenge, though, because the body shell is about the only part moulded in plastic -- the rest is white metal castings, wire to fabricate some steel tube parts from, and photoetch steel for parts like the underbonnet structure. It does have great wire wheels, though... bestest, M.

Oh, that's just ridiculous. So I want to know people's tips or tricks to do something and because it's a question it goes in Questions and Answers? There's no logic or rationale behind separating these sections, really... It's just making the site harder to use for most people. As it stands, it seems that if I, without prompting, want to tell the world my painting secrets, it goes in Tips and Tricks, but if I want to ASK the world their painting secrets, it goes in Questions and ANSWERS, which then presumably have exactly the same content as if those same people had just decided to write them down on their own cognizance. Time to merge these two subforums under a single "Modelling How-Tos" topic, IMHO... unless there's some well thought-out rationale to keep them separate... which I'd be very happy to hear. bestest, M.

It's one of the few kits I've come across that has both RHD and LHD dashes included. I wish more companies would do it! bestestt, M.

...the other two, (for what it's worth, and before anyone asks) are the E-type and the Lamborghini Miura... bestest, M.

Yep, Brian... it's a "K&R Replicas" white metal kit, bought for me for Christmas a few years ago by my lovely wife. It's not Model Factory Hiro expensive, but it was about £100, which is really about as much as I can justify for my "hobby".... It is one of my all time top 3 favorite cars, though, and the only one of which there is no mainstream plastic kit (and I seriously doubt Mr Tamiya will be creating one any time soon). I'll re-home a few more pics and post them up here towards the end of the week... bestest, M.

Thanks, guys -- here are a few more of the E-Type (or XK-E to you guys!). It's the early-60s vintage Revell kit, built straight from the box for a Classic British Kits SIG display at Scale Model World a few years ago (Hence the CBK 51G number plate). It's a classic BRITISH kit because it was designed and tooled by the Revell UK guys at Potters Bar) I takes some work, and if Mr Tamiya came up with a state of the art new kit I wouldn't complain, but it's really not a bad kit, IMHO... bestest, M.

Given the discussion of XKSSes and E-Types over on Jaguar Man 21's build thread, I thought it was probably worth re-uploading these pics, so I didn't hijack his thread any further! They disappeared when Apple's Mobile Me Gallerys closed down a couple of years back, but I've rehomed them with SmugMug now. And Charlie -- that's a Jaguar XJ13 racer, a stillborn prototype, but it remains one of the best looking cars I know... bestest, M.

Thanks, guys! Curtis -- if I can get mine looking that good when it's done, I'll be very happy! Did you modify the suspension at all? I'm not going for a full-on racing "stance", but I think it would benefit from dropping a bit, especially at the back, and widening the track. If you did, any tips would be welcome! bestest, M.

Two very different cars, but both a tribute to the best of Italian sports car know-how... The GTA in primer. I'm trying out the technique suggested by "Cruz" in which you wash the shut lines with black while the car is in primer, before painting. He suggests rescribing the lines first, but I thought that the GTA had crisp and deep enough lines out of the box to test the technique without needing to scribe them. The Murcielago in primer. I wanted to get as many parts of the body together as possible to avoid having to match the colours, and glue clear-coated pieces together. In practice, this means the extreme nose, skirts and lower edges of the extreme rear can be attached. Doors and one intake (which has a segment of body colour inside) have to remain separate... The Murcielago will be Giallo Orion -- a pearl yellow colour -- with lots of black/grey carbon trim. This is, once again, the ever reliable Zero Paints system of ground coat, base coat and clear coat. Whereas the Giulia Sprint GTA is in a colour scheme inspired by some of the racers I've seen at Donington over the years. More Zero Paints, this time Alfa Rosso Corse and Lamborghini Powder Blue (a Miura colour which eventually lost out to the lime green when I built mine, but I may still do another in this colour, because it looks so cool...) And now with the clear coat on. You can see how much it changes the apparent colour of the base coat, especially on the Lambo. I think the change is even more intense with the pearl finish because it reduces the scattering of light by the pearl layer, and lets you "see through" to the base coat more directly. I also tried using clear over a decal for the first time, (the Alfa "snake" on the bonnet) which has worked very well. There are the odd spot imperfections here and there, but once again the Zero 2K clear has done its job and settled into a smooth, glossy finish all over. These will now go away into plastic boxes for a week or so to fully cure before polishing out those spots. It's good to be back at the bench! bestest, M.

I wasn't trying to hijack Jeremy's thread, or his WIP ;-P I was just trying to answer Bill's question about the quality of the wheels. This RoG kit is the same as the old Revell US one... bestest, M.

The wheels are OK, IMHO -- it depends on how picky you are! ;-P This one was built straight out of the box for a "Classic Kits" demo -- the tooling was made in the UK in the early 60s so it's over 50 years old now, and as you say, it's pretty well detailed and crisp for a kit that old... bestest, M.

Sometimes, especially in Revell kits, you get vinyl tyres that are very black and very shiny. I've come across rubbing the tread on sandpaper to "weather" it, but does anyone have any techniques for dulling down and making the whole tyre more "grey" and realistically rubber like? bestest, M.

A beautiful job, as usual Simon. I love the detail painting in the engine bay and cockpit. Did you have to build much in the engine bay, or is the detailing I can see what Revell gives you? Nice colour choice, too. A gorgeous model of a ...not so gorgeous car. I know the Z1 had some fantastic engineering, but having recently built the genuinely beautiful 507, I think BMW's design team were having an off-day when they pencilled the outline of the Z1 -- but that's just my opinion. bestest, M,

Looks mean -- and cool! Where did you get the Kahn rims? (I could go and get a real set for £2500 -- the Kahn workshop in Bradford is 15 minutes down the road from me -- but I don't know where to buy them in 1/24) bestest, M.

Couldn't agree more with Bill. Though you only have to look at some of the monstrosities that Harry comes up with for the Auto ID contest to see that not ALL Chinese designers just copy Western originals... bestest, M.

I didn't say that Ferrari don't pursue infringements. I said that they don't "actively prosecute anyone building copies..." They went after some people, but not everyone. Depends on who was doing it, why, and what Ferrari thought the threat to their business might be... The guys of the "Italian Replica Car Club" don't seem too concerned: http://www.italianreplicacarclub.co.uk/www.italianreplicacarclub.co.uk/info.php?p=2 bestest, M

Well... all the Chinese technology companies that I deal with have designers. They're nice guys -- usually pretty young and enthusiastic art school types, like designers anywhere. Their problem is that they come from a culture with aesthetic ideals that for thousands of years have been different from the Western world. I look at some of the things that they've come up with that have been very successful in their home markets, and I think -- "bleurgh". They're under pressure to design products that work in European markets, and the easiest thing to do is too take inspiration from something that already works... so they "borrow" or "copy". And that's the thing -- they don't NEED permission to build something that looks quite a lot like a Stratocaster. They'll be in trouble if they design an EXACT copy, and call it a "Femder Stratocastr" in nice script, but that's about it... bestest, M.

The assertion was that Ferrari "actively prosecutes anyone building copies of their designs." They don't. Ferrari will pursue anyone who infringes their trademark (The "Cavallino Rampante" for example), which is why the replicas are not sold with Ferrari scripts or badges. There are 30 or so "Daytona replicas" in the UK today, built by individuals and by companies. None of them have been "prosecuted by Ferrari," partly because the "design right" in the Daytona lapsed after ten years of its first assertion -- it WASN'T a "registered design"-- and partly because Ferrari have got more sense than to pursue a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs building the things out of affection for the car and the brand. Someone making a commercial business of selling "Ferrari Daytonas" with badges and logos, that _might_ be thought to be the real thing, and _might_ divert a potential Ferrari customer from buying a real one would be a different matter (that's why Ferrari don't give any support any more to the Stratos replica built on an F430 chassis, or the guy who likes his carbon P3/4s...). One of the reasons that they protect the trademark and _brand_ so strongly is that, not only do they make a pot of money from it in licensing (though only about 10% of what they make from cars, contrary to popular belief), but in the UK and Europe at least there's a "use it or lose it" clause in TRADEMARK protection: if you don't protect your trademark by pursuing people who use it without permission, then after a while you can't protect it any more... I don't claim to know the intellectual property law situation in the US; I'm very familiar with it in the UK and Europe. Trademark, Copyright, Design Rights and Patents are all different laws, relating to different things (and I don't know what gave you the idea that I don't know the difference between oranges and orang-utans...). Copyright doesn't apply to the design of cars; design rights do. Patents (in the UK and Europe) don't apply to the "look and feel" or "visual design" of a car; design rights do. Companies enforce Trade Marks ruthlessly; they have to. They may try to enforce their patents, but it's expensive and has to be done separately in every jurisdiction where you hold the patent (and you have to apply separately for patents in every jurisdiction -- i.e. a US patent is not applicable in Europe). They will almost certainly defend their "registered designs" because there's a "use it or lose it" risk there as well. But fighting a battle over "design rights", even if someone produces an EXACT copy -- probably not worth it, especially if it's not for sale in the market where your design rights have some legal status. The original question was "Can a Chinese company patent a design that looks rather like an Evoque?" Maybe they can in China (I don't know the Chinese intellectual property situation). But the only thing that JLR could get them on would be either infringing their trade mark (The Land Rover name or logo) or, if it's an IDENTICAL copy, sold in European markets, then they _might_ be able to challenge on the basis of design rights, as long as they are less than ten years old when they do so. The makers of a vehicle that "looks really quite a lot like an Evoque" don't have a lot to worry about... bestest, M.