Matt Bacon

Just the body painted so far: and a couple in the sun: When I did my Moebius Iron Man, I was struck by how good the TS-39 Mica Red over TS-84 Metallic Gold looked, and I thought it was a pretty good match for the "electric red" of the SA Aperta. So I promoted this Modelzone bargain (£12.99) up the build list... bestest, M.

I use Copydex rubber cement when I tack things together to paint as one unit and then disassemble to fit other bits in around them. It's not super strong and only really bonds when it's fully dried, but it will glue everything together AND peel off completely with no residue, and you can just pull all the assemblies apart. bestest, M.

Try looking here: http://tinyurl.com/puacosv It may be more than you want, but it's pretty detailed! bestest, M.

And here she is... one of the most enjoyable £4.99s-worth of modelling I've done in a long time ...time for your close-up, Ms Johansson Really nice kit, with very good fit, even without glue. And the sculpt is very faithful to the delectable Ms J, although I suspect her legs aren't quite that long, nor her thighs quite so robust. However, this is Natalia Romanova, international super spy... bestest, M.

Thanks, Ira! Very nearly finished, now. I just want to see if she needs a few more highlights and shading in the daylight... Proper pics in the studio tomorrow... bestest, M.

I just could't resist those Modelzone prices -- £4.99 for this... Not a complex kit, and intended to to snap together. Nicely detailed, though, even if her legs do seem unfeasibly long! Primer everywhere to start with. The sculpt is extremely good, I reckon. It's got Ms Johansson's turned up nose and full lips rather nicely, and the eyes have slightly raised detail for the iris and lashes, which will help painting no end... She's not actually as yellow as she looks here! Citadel colours mostly, with Elf Flesh as a base, Dwarf Flesh for the lips, and a lot of mix and matching, wash and blusher from chalk pastel. Hair is mostly Vallejo -- I started with "Saddle Brown" overlaid with red "Woodgrain", then progressive dry brushing in lighter colours, finished with a coat of Citadel "Fuegan Orange" wash, because the home team all though she was too much a brunette, not a redhead... The suite is actually blue, not black or grey. I started by spraying the body matt black, and then used my "carbon fibre" technique of spraying through a fine mesh (salvaged from a bunch of flowers we bought this weekend) to mask a dark blue top-coat, which now has the look of a "technical fabric" of some sort. Actually, though it's hard to see clearly in this image, the effect of the mesh stretching and distorting over her curves makes the fabric effect even more realistic... And this is where I'm at tonight. Most of the details painted in Vallejo German Grey with some dry brushing for relief. She's not quite a "weekend project, but not far off. Should be finished tomorrow, I reckon. bestest, M.

And here are a few with the granddaddy... bestest, M.

This started life as a nicely moulded but crudely painted (and in many places not painted) Mondo die-cast. I stripped all the paint, and detail-painted the nicely detailed black plastic parts for the interior and engine. I still need to add some chrome badges and scripts, but that may take a while since I'm still working on how to do it! bestest, M.

Now we see the advantages of a "kit" with only 20 parts that press or screw together. I did say the fit was impeccable, didn't I? This'll be the last "in progress" update. I need to figure out how to make some "chrome" logos and badges as decals, but then it really will be done, and proper photos in proper light will be on their way... bestest, M.

Thanks, chaps! I agree, Tom... but this one was half the price of a Revell 599 or California, say. If it's the only game in town AND it's cheaper... Our friends at Mondo decided to make the tails lights all in red. After looking closely, I figured out that it was paint, not coloured styrene. Caustic soda wouldn't shift it after a couple of days, so, I tried putting it in Surgical Spirit and running it for a while in my ultrasonic cleaner. That turned it first into pink jelly and then took it off completely. Hooray! Once they were properly clear, I painted them in the right places with Tamiya Clear Red. Headlights finished with lenses in place. I outlined the glass with a Sharpie, and put some black paint on the inside ends of the locating pins to prevent a rather weird "light pipe" effect. The grille got a chrome surround courtesy of a brilliant paint marker. Last good look at the inside before it's all closed up. I hate DOING BMF, but I like the results when it's finished. These are just raised lumps in body colour on the die-cast. They shouldn't be... Door handles BMF'd and shaded with Citadel dark wash for red to give a bit of relief. ...and now we have a kit of parts to put back together! bestest, M.

I don't have both to hand, but I think the consensus is that if you don't have a 250 GTO kit already, then the Fujimi is the one to go out an buy. The shape is better than the Gunze (and the MFH, according to Tom Tanner) -- I know, for example, since I HAVE built the Gunze, that the rear wheel arches on it have more angular "corners" than the the real thing, which is a smooth semicircular curve. However, if you HAVE a Gunze kit, especially if you have the full on version with the white metal engine, then you have a superb set of wire wheels that are way better than the Fujimi ones, which you'd have to pay a LOT of money for in the aftermarket. The Fujmi has a full engine, which my Gunze kit (actually an Airfix rebox) didn't. Although, oddly, the Airfix rebox of the Gunze E-type DOES have the white metal engine, and very nice it looks too. In the end, I think if you've got a Gunze kit, especially if it's the full-detai version, then there's no need to buy a Fujimi one. The wheel arches could be fixed pretty easily if you start with a bare body shell (I didn't find out until after mine was painted and there was no way I was starting all over...) bestest, M.

That Monogram 250 GTO/LM is a very different beast from the 250 LM that Academy makes. The 250 GTO LM is the 1964 version of the front-engined 250 GTO. The Climax kit is now available from Model Factory Hiro. The 250 LM is a mid-engined design, and only available in the fairly mediocre Academy kit in styrene. I thought it was an ugly looking beast until I saw the Ralph Lauren car in an exhibition last year. It's not. The best way to get a decent-shaped 250 LM is probably to start with the Burago diecast and go to town on that. It's a lot cheaper than the MFH resin one, that's for sure! bestest, M.

I think the first thing, as the guys have said, is to figure which generation of 911 you want. This may help: http://blog.caranddriver.com/porsche-911-generations-the-legend-grows/ Then for every generation there are steadily more extreme versions, usually Carrera, Turbo, GT2/3 and more pure racers. At one end of the story there's the Fujimi 911R 1967, and at the other end (probably) the 911 GT3R (which is a 997 generation car). There must be 50 kits covering the spectrum from one end to the other... Personally, my "grail" kit is the Fujimi 911S 1969 (another Enthusiast Model), which I'd make up as the slate grey car Steve McQueen drives at the beginning of "Le Mans". To me, that's the essence of 911, but it's kinda hard to find one... bestest, M,

Lots of detail painting. There are only four parts in this picture (five if you manage to separate the steering wheel...), and that's after me prising out the gear shift because the assembler had put it in backwards. All this interior was black raw plastic in the model I bought. It just goes to show... there's lot's of crisp detail to paint if you want to! And yes, there's a wash and some dry brushing on the seats to give them a bit more relief. It may look a bit caricature in bright light, but inside the car it just makes the "modelling" a lot more convincing. This is all detail painting of the kit part, with the exception of the instruments, which are printed out from a Car and Driver review... This is a single moulded piece, which should be a wake-up call for "curb side" manufacturers. I'll probably add a few more bits of wiring/tubing, but with careful painting it's pretty convincing, IMHO. The headlight buckets are not body coloured, as the diecast would have you believe. A bit more final detail, but these are pretty much finished now... Coming together nicely, I reckon. There's some detailing to do, but the mainstream plastic kit vendors could learn a lot from these diecast guys. There are only 20 or so parts in this "kit", but the fit is irreproachable, and the end result really benefits from some detail painting on the crisp components. Great online picture reference is invaluable, of course.... bestest, M.

It's the only way to get one, so I'm treating this as a white-metal kit, rather than a "detailed die-cast"! It's the Mondo Motors model. The one I received shows every sign of corner-cutting and cost reduction compared to the reviews of the model on the web. There was nothing like the level of detail painting you can find online -- just one overall red body, a few black grilles, and nothing else... So, I stripped all the paint, and primed all the black interior plastic for a new colour scheme... ...and a couple of days later, here we are... The moulded detail on the dash and the engine bay is actually pretty crisp -- at least the equivalent of a current Revell Ferrari. The colour is the same Rosso Brunello as the 3500 GTi -- I want them as a pair/compare and contrast... The dash isn't glued in place... The main problem is access around the seats, but as you can see, there's a good level of detail to paint. Black carpets, and dark wood trim with this leather, all picked from the configurator... bestest, M.

In the car park... I just liked the colour! I guess if you can afford to run a classic racecar, the odd supercar is pocket change... Lots more, including some detail shots of some modelling use here: http://cmatthewbacon.smugmug.com/Cars/Donington-Classics-2013/29286583_Knvk5R bestest, M.

A few things you don't see every day, from a great day out at the Donington Historic Festival: Sunbeam Tiger LM Coupe Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Mercedes W125 continuation Jaguar XJR-15 Facel Vega 2 My garage... ;-P DBR1, DB3S and DP212 (I think...) Lancia Aurelia ERA and Alfa wheel to wheel Not the best picture, but the unique ERA GP1 in action... Senna's Lotus 97T in which he won his first GP, before it went out on the track...

Thanks for all the positive comments, everyone. It was worth the extra effort to do justice to the lines of this lovely (and if Leno is to be believed, undervalued) classic car. This is no contest winner, but I might put it on a few tables just so other people can see what you can do with some of these "classic kits" as a starting point. I've picked up a Mondo 1/24 diecast of the 2009 Maserati Gran Turismo very cheaply, which is in the paint stripper as we speak. I shall finish that in the same colours as this one, as a companion. And I think it'll probably be a 240Z OOB next -- the body has been painted for a while, and it's a nice, straightforward Hasegawa build... Thanks again for your support! bestest, M.

Thanks for all the positive comments, everyone. It was worth the extra effort to do justice to the lines of this lovely (and if Leno is to be believed, undervalued) classic car. This is no contest winner, but I might put it on a few tables just so other people can see what you can do with some of these "classic kits" as a starting point. I've picked up a Mondo 1/24 diecast of the 2009 Maserati Gran Turismo very cheaply, which is in the paint stripper as we speak. I shall finish that in the same colours as this one, as a companion. And I think it'll probably be a 240Z OOB next -- the body has been painted for a while, and it's a nice, straightforward Hasegawa build... Thanks again for your support! bestest, M.

This is the ancient Aurora kit, re-issued by Monogram in the 90s. It's actually pretty good plastic, with plenty of detail to work with. The opening doors, bonnet and boot bring their own issues, but the end result is rather nice compared to today's buttoned-up kerbside kits with aerodynamic under trays. As you can see, there's a fair bit of work to fine-tune the kit into a more accurate representation of the original classic, which is a truly beautiful, and very purposeful looking GT car. The windscreen is still not right -- it should be more upright, and the base is much more semi-circular, not the large rectangular cut-out Aurora gave us. Personally, I think all the shape issues in this area come from placing the firewall to make room for the operating door hinges, which mean that it's too far forward. The engine is nice, and a bit of time with wiring pays big dividends. Many thanks to Skip Jordan who has been nudging me to give this a try for a couple of years, provided invaluable reference resources, and acted as chief cheerleader along the way. I'm now going to go away and build something from a state of the art kit, out of the box, before I even THINK about tackling the Singer 911 kit-bash... bestest, M.

Thanks, guys... Monty, I watched that video several times in HD during this build -- it's great! And boy, is this a great-sounding car. Skip... I used the "plunge-moulding" technique I described back at the beginning of the thread, but I bought some proper 0.5mm PETG sheet to mould with. Then I laid it over the buck, cut it a bit bigger than the original windscreen, and VERY slowly trimmed it back a bit at a time until it fit. It's glued in, again a bit at a time, with Formula 560 canopy glue. Ace stuff! And now...I think this is done. This is all straight OOB kit detail... I think it's pretty good, especially for the vintage. Most of the detail parts -- wipers, door handles, internal mirror -- are from a junked Tamiya Mk II Jag kit, which I bought for spares. I shaved the kit front indicators down to a base, and used epoxy again to make a clear "glass" on each, which I then painted clear orange. It looks much better than the chromed part, I reckon. You gotta love those working features! Number plates to go on, a bit of a valet, and then proper pictures in better light in the morning... Thank you for watching. ;-) bestest, M.

I think this'll probably be the last WIP update: Just the last external details to add now. The windscreen could be better, but it's the best _I_ can manage! Decals held up remarkably well, considering how messed up they looked at first glance. Microscale decal film, and Klear used to apply them, worked wonders! bestest, M.

It's not a matter of where you go to ask the question, it's a matter of where you find the answer... If I want to know how best to apply BMF to a window frame, do I look in Q&A to see if the question has been asked and answered, or do I look in T,T & T to see if someone has left a tutorial? On the modelling forum where I'm an Admin, we have a section called "Modelling Techniques" with sub forums for "Construction Tips" (building, fitting, gluing etc), Finishing Tips (painting, decalling, weathering etc), "Model Photography" (how to photograph your creations) and "Display and Diorama" (showing off your finished models). How to used BMF comes under "Finishing", and if I look in there, the chances are I'll find a tutorial "pinned" at the top, if someone's written one. I can search that forum for "BMF" to find questions that have been answered, and if there's nothing there already, I can ask the question and wait for answers. As moderators, if we find a thread that has thoroughly explored a specific subject in response to a question, we can pin that thread at the top, too, so that in future it can act as a tutorial. YMMV, and clearly, from this discussion, does... bestest, M.

Well, that was kinda what I meant when I suggested combining them and calling it "Modelling Advice"... it can be "advice wanted" or "advice offered"... bestest, M.

Thanks, Skip... the interior lights are some "Devcon 5 minute Epoxy" from the local store. It's a bit "milky", but looks just right for this job, I reckon. Funnily enough, I'd just thought of using it for the turn signals as well. This may be more than you all really want to see, but... ...I'm REALLY pleased to have to got to this stage... bestest, M.