Matt Bacon

Thanks so much for the kind comments, guys... Jeremy K -- yep, the 2000GT is the Hasegawa curb side kit. It's painted in Tamiya "Racing White" which I think is a pretty good match for the really pale creamy yellow of the 1:1. bestest, M.

Thanks, guys... If anyone is wondering about the registration plate -- unlike most of my models, this one has a real plate rather than a "MATT B" variant -- this model represents John Surtees' BMW 507, given to him by the team manager of Agusta as a thank you for winning his World Titles... You can see shots of the real thing here: http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/front_website/gallery.php?o=0&id=579205 bestest, M.

Interesting -- I didn't realise that Doyusha had done the 2000GT as well as the James Bond DB5 with Oddjob and Bond figures. I'd love to know the story with the two Airfix 2000GTs as well. (Try acquiring either of those kits without selling a kidney or mortgaging your grandmother!). I guess the original open top release was a tie-in You Only Live Twice, following on from Airfix's DBf with gadgets (which was also different from the Aurora "Super Spy Car"). It seems likely that the coupe version was reworked at the same time as Airfix's toolmakers converted the DB5 into a DB6. I've never seen the DB6 kit in the flesh, or to measure, so I don't know if they lengthened it as needed as well as remodelling the "Kamm tail" rear end treatment. It still seems a lot of work to do on the kits, though... the James Bond DB5 remained iconic, even if the DB6 was the "current production version" when they were redone; and it's not like very many 2000GTs in coupe form made it to the UK, so the convertible would have been much more recogisable for most UK modellers. I doubt that there would have been more sales with generic road version of the cars than with the movie tie-ins. I guess it's possible that the Bond licenses ran out after a few years, and Airfix were just trying to find a way to keep both kits saleable. The moulds thoroughly disappeared several decades ago, though, which is why If you find a more recent Airfix DB5 kit then it's the generic Doyusha version inside the box. There's also, apparently, a version of the Hasegawa kit with full engine detail (minus the billet con-rod, of course ;-P) but I've never seen it -- mine was the curbside "Historic Car Series 1" box you can see above... bestest, M.

Where's that first picture from, Greg? That must be a significant %age of all the 2000GTs on the road today! Certainly of the 60 or so that were sold in the US... bestest, M.

Thanks for the kind words, guys! Check out the build thread for the LFA, Cliff: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=86471&hl= The Tamiya LFA is the best model car kit I have ever built. You owe it to yourself as a car modeller to treat yourself to one. The only problem is that it'll set expectations of fit, finish, engineering etc that other kits simply won't deliver, so eternal disappointment is around the corner. Just kidding -- it's great. Get one, and if you don't like the lines and fussy detailing, paint it as a black one... bestest, M.

(well, not quite 50 years, but they look good together...) There's a family heritage running through this lot, and they look cool together! And these two share Toyota's passion for engineering and a roaring Yamaha heart beating under the bonnet... plus they look even cooler together! ;-P bestest, M.

And a few with the next car Albrecht Goertz designed... The lineage that got me started on this latest "two-fer" build: bestest, M.

I haven't seen many positive write-ups of this kit -- and I'm not sure why not. It's an early 90s kit, and not up to Tamiya's latest standards, but it IS very well detailed and fits together pretty well. It needs some work to get the bonnet to close properly (and in mine there's some tin can on the underside of the bonnet lid and a strong magnet atop the firewall), but that's about it. There's a fair bit of flash to be cleaned off (sometimes on delicate parts), and a lot of the chrome parts needed stripping, cleaning up and re-doing, but nothing a sharp knife and ten minutes couldn't fix. I'd also recommend stripping the chrome off the windscreen frame, mirror and sun visor frames, gluing them together into a single sturdy assembly, and then rechroming them. I think the under bonnet and underside detailing is excellent (and taught me some new things about different types of car suspension) and, with the cockpit, it all responds very well to simple detail painting. ..and now with the hard top: If I'm honest, I'm not really happy with the hard top. I just don't have the scratching skills to do the windows and glazing justice. My advice is that if you want a hardtop version, find an issue of the kit which has one included -- and if anyone's got one that they're NOT going to use, I'd happily take it of their hands to have another go! bestest, M.

You get a better class of car park, too... ...as will this, from my build earlier this year. I think it's the very one I copied... It was all the same colour all over in real life, honest! These are especially for Skip: I loved it when I built it, and I love it even more now I've seen one... And I wish there was a kit of this baby.... That, my friends, is Diablo Purple! bestest, M.

Another very enjoyable day out for Jack and I at the Donington Historic Festival -- my favourite motor racing event. So much more enjoyable than F1... The Cooper T38 (no, I hadn't heard of it either...) was the ultimate winner of the RAC Woodcote Trophy for pre-'56 sports cars. The D-types were being driven hard... A photo more atmospheric than good, but you don't see an Alfa 6C3000PR "Disco Volante" very often... The pre-66 2-litre race has been a shoo-in for Lotus Cortinas in previous years, but this time the best looking car in the race, Andrew Banks' Giulia Sprint GTA, was the leader from start to finished, closely pursued (as you can see) by the legendary Jackie Oliver in the BMW 2002. Sadly, we didn't get to see Jackie O in his brilliant yellow 250SWB this weekend, but he was racing it on Saturday. The Minis were in there at every corner... with a special technique: This guy is NOT in a spin. We were standing at "the Esses", a 60 degree right left jink in the track. The fast Mini drivers (and only the Minis, not the Cortinas or BMWs) twitched their cars across the track about 20 yards before the corner, slid into it sideways, and then got back onto the power to straight line out of the exit, like this chap: Fantastic to watch... ..and John Surtees was driving demo laps in Lola T70 Can-Am coupe... bestest, M.

I did a bit more research, and yes, it turns out that this WAS Chris Evans' car -- he sold it through Talacrest in 2010. When he had it, it had the number plate "GTO 288", though. Charlie -- in the UK you can't have plates "personalised" to suit whatever you want , so no "BIGSPNDR", but you can trade and sell on original number plates that have a valid UK registration number, which starts with A1 (which I have seen) and goes via F1 (which now adorns a white Veyron belonging to Mr Kahn, a Range Rover blinger of Bradford, which I saw outside my local Indian restaurant a couple of years back) and runs all the way through to YG14WNA which could be on my ride today. I take great pleasure in making up valid number plates for my car models, some for my name (my 288 carries the plate M477 GTO) or for relevant words (M1URA and MA53RTI). So the plate on this is the new owner's personal plate -- and I can't decide whether it's "glow" or "blow", but the latter might be a bit too much of an advert for a drug dealer! bestest, M.

Somebody's had a respray done -- and it's probably better than the original factory paint! bestest, M.

Thanks very much for the kind words, gentlemen! This is a kit that ANY car modeller would enjoy building, no matter what your normal subject matter is... bestest, M.

And a few more -- the "in-action" wing is held on by tiny magnets that Mr Tamiya thoughtfully provides. bestest, M.

Fantastic kit of an extraordinary car... bestest, M.

The Lexus is pretty much finished now... Mostly, it's the 507s turn in the spotlight... Should all be done and dusted this weekend... with a bit of luck! bestest, M.

So there I am, attaching the mirrors to my Tamiya LFA. They have little squarish recesses on the body, and a small square "plinth" on the mirror stalk. I put them on, and they aren't symmetrical. I clean off the glue, and try again. Same result. Then I clean up the plinth and the socket and try again. Still not the same. And then it occurs to me. They aren't MEANT to be the same. Mr Tamiya has engineered the kit so that the mirrors are in the correct positions as if a driver was behind the wheel. The nearside is pretty well at 90 degrees to the body, for a view straight back, and the offside is at 45 degrees or so. I can't think of any other kit I've built where the mirrors are deliberately offset asymmetrically to the correct positions... Wow... bestest, M.

Thanks, Mike. The LFA is finally assembled. It went together as well as I'd expected, though I was surprised to discover that the exhausts don't actually reach the ports in the rear of the body. Otherwise, no issues... ..and with the pop-up wing popped up: They make a striking pair, I think. Last detailing tomorrow, I hope! Home straight, definitely. bestest, M.

Water. All the Citadel range are water-based acrylics... bestest, M.

And in that spirit... I don't believe that the choice of subject matter is relevant to the original question. What do I think objectively makes a good kit? 1) Accuracy of shapes and parts relative to the 1:1 2) Fit of parts. 3) Quality of engineering of the kit -- thoughtful parts breakdown, intelligent choice of how to represent components in scale form (i.e. not reproducing every individual part of the 1:1 but creating accurate assemblies), sensible compromises between detail, accuracy, visibility and ease of build. Sensible breakdown of parts to aid painting. Robust engineering of "working" parts. 4) Finesse of detail 5) Ease of assembly (should come with 2 and 3, but...) 6) Sharpness and alignment of mouldings (should be straightforward quality control, but...) 7) Quality, accuracy and understandability of instructions. 8) Accuracy and usability of decals/metal foil transfers etc (i.e. dial decals don't have thick, out of register borders of "carrier film" which mean they don't fit into recesses in the dash...) That's my starter for 10... bestest, M.

And since I've now put the 507 to sit on a tile so that the wheels set finally in a four-square, "feet on the floor" position, I thought I'd test out the hardtop again... ...seriously, if someone offered me one of these two cars for real, I wouldn't know which to choose. Nice problem to have, though... ;-P bestest, M.

...and here's the next stage. Wheels on the 507: The Lexus is not so photogenic at this stage, but progress is being made. The body shell now has all its grilles etc fitted, and the lights have been painted. The retracted rear wing has been carbon decalled (using some of the spare "patch" decal from the Tamiya LaFerrari, which has a better texture than any aftermarket product I ownn), because I decided that the blue wasn't a good enough match for the body -- one too few coats of the transparent glaze second colour, I reckon. It just goes to show that the only way to be sure with these two- and three-layer colours is to tape the "add-on bits" into window gaps, for example, and spray them all together. For whatever reason, the "extended" wing is a better match... And here it is... I think it makes the beast look pretty wicked... So... this is the bench tonight. The finish line is in sight, I reckon... bestest, M.

the windscreen is on, now, and I'm glad I did build it up before painting... And then time for another test fit of the hardtop. Still needs glazing, obviously, but the fit is going to be OK! bestest, M.

I'm pleased to report that the "fettling" has been a success... When I left off, the bonnet would open nicely, but hovered open with about a 1cm gap at the back. It would close OK if you pushed it down, but popped back up of it's own accord. Fortunately, I remembered that a while ago I'd acquired some small but strong magnets -- that's one covering the 10mm mark on the steel ruler. Turns out that you can fit one nicely into that silver box at the centre of the firewall. With a magnet in there, and a piece of old knife blade glued to the underside of the wide end of the bonnet, the magnet holds the bonnet closed very nicely. It's strange -- Revell have obviously designed the kit so the bonnet rides high in the middle, to sit flush with the raised chrome grille behind it. It's not warped -- the fit into the corners and along the sides is too exact for that. I can't really see from photos if this is prototypical, but it would be a lot of work to fix, involving flattening the bonnet, reshaping the sides to be straight again, and probably lowing the engine or shortening the air stacks/carbs... Anyway... on with the LFA now. bestest, M.

Didn't do as much on the LFA as I wanted today, but the 507 is progressing nicely... These are all kit parts, just with some detail painting. I decided that the best way to deal with the chromed windscreen and detail parts, which were covered in flash and injector pin marks, was to strip them, glue into a solid assembly, and then respray them with Humbrol Chrome Silver. And the clear part does fit -- I checked before polishing it! Getting the bonnet on and opening was a pain. Both plastic pins on the bonnet ended up being replaced with steel pin segments, and the transverse tube in the frame at the front of the bonnet fouls the crossbar above the radiator,. With it removed, the bonnet opens fully, but there's going to be some fettling needed to get it to close fully tight... bestest, M.