Matt Bacon

What... really? In a movie about Formula One in the Seventies? ...sorry, that's not meant as a poke at you, David. If there's one thing that sticks from the many books about motor racing 1950-2000 that I have read, it's the steady evolution from a world in which the technology killed people (usually drivers for whom WW2 fighter ace values still held true) to a world in which it was extraordinarily bad luck to die for your sport. For me, Hunt and Lauda are smack in the middle of the "seismic shift" in motor racing from "jolly good show chaps... pity Archie didn't make it" school of the 50s-60s to the multimillion dollar circus of the 1980s-2010s. Of course, I don't think it's a bad thing that people don't die in F1 for our "entertainment" any more than I wonder why more Olympic Marathon runners don't keel over at the end. "Rush" is History, kinda. At least as much as the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" is History. The best thing that it can do is transport you back to a different age, where the world was different, and make you think (a bit) like they did back then. Once, there were heroes... bestest, m.

Octane or Classic Cars magazines. Octane is probably the best all-rounder, while Classic Cars has just had a re-vamp which (to my mind) is too focused on classic cars as investments, rather than "money pits which are fun to drive...". As a modeller, both have plenty to offer in terms of detail shots as well as inspiring "real-world" stories which encourage my builds. Evo and Top Gear mags feed my modern supercars habit. And I've been very lucky in my second-hand bookshop finds with a whole range of classic "bedside companion" books from the 60s which compile the best European automotive journalism from the 50s and 60s. As a writer myself, "By Brooks too Broad for Leaping" by Denise McLuggage, "And the Revs Keep Rising" by Mel Nichols, "Fast Lines", by Pete Lyons, and "The Road to Muckle Flugga" by Phil Llewellin are the BEST collections of automotive journalism I've come across. I owe these to B.S Levy for the introduction to those names, and I just wish he'd get on with the second volume of the 200 MPH Steamroller! bestest, M.

Apparently the Emhar Bedfords will be re-released soon. See what the late Ted Taylor (it's still a wrench to have to write "late" in this sentence...) made of them here: http://tedtaylor.hobbyvista.com/149-emhar-bedfords/page-149.html I don't know if a 1939 Bedford is easy to convert to other GMC trucks, but you should be able to tell from these pics... bestest, M.

Not sure about that... as far as I can see, the only bare carbon in the street car is the airboxes on the engine and the consoles on each side of the centre seat. The rest is covered in carpet and trim -- it's not as if the model "opens up" much! However, what I AM worried about is how very fragile that one-piece bodyshell is going to be once the "struts" are removed. I wonder how far into the build you can leave it before cutting them away... bestest, M.

These were built for a "gee maybe old kits weren't so bad" display at Scale Model World a few years ago. I bought them as Smer reissues from the Czech Republic for about €20 including postage, and they arrived three days after I placed the order... Partly because we were showing what the old kits were really like, and partly because I didn't want to spring more for a set of wire wheels than I'd spent on the two kits together. Be sure, you are buying some very old plastic, but it's pretty good. These two are the only "full detail" kits in the Merit range -- the rest are basically just body shells and wheels, ideal for slot conversion, which I why they've never made a return, I suspect... Driver figures would be a big help, I reckon! bestest, M.

Probably more than you want to know: http://tinyurl.com/nq4bl7s US Service personnel can import a US vehicle, but it still gets a a UK number plate. Obviously, any car bought in the UK will come with a UK plate anyway. I have seen American cars, usually SUVs, driving around here (we're not far from Menwith Hill) with US plates (notably, Virginia plates... I wonder why ;-)). I'm not sure how the legalities of that work, whether they have to get a UK registration within a certain period of time. Either way, whatever the car is, they carry no very obvious distinctive marks (helps to stop activists or actual terrorists targeting the vehicle), but they may have some kind of base pass/ID in the window that I haven't spotted... I don't know whether the tax-break works in reverse... ie can you buy a British made car at a 25% discount as long as you ship it straight back to the US when you leave the country? I can imagine a C-17 could carry quite a few DBS's back home... bestest, M.

That is lovely! In fact, I think one of the most beautiful 250 GTOs of all (and thus one of the most beautiful cars of all) is the silver one with yellow markings in the Mike Zumbrunn "Ferrari Legends" book. your model is a superb recreation! I must go and read your tips about the steering wheel. Bravo! bestest, M.

Thanks, guys... Dave, the SA Aperta is pretty much an open-top GTO. The windscreen's lower and more raked, and the body is stiffened up to account for the open top. It's pretty much the same engine, but in the Aperta body it's a tad slower-accelerating and a few mph off in top speed. They only made 80 of them, compared to 599 of the GTOs, which are therefore common by comparison! The SA is a tribute to Sergio and Andrea Pininfarina, who styled many of Ferrari's greatest hits. I think it's generally less "extreme" than the GTO, and a great car for cruising the hills above Nice... Check out Harry Metcalfe's drive video here: Turn the volume up! (the piping on the seats is a decal on mine, and neat leatherwork on Harry's) bestest, M.

Thanks, guys! Skip... thanks for the compliment, but I don't think I'm in that league! If I find a 1/16th that I can afford and like the subject of (Alfa 33, Countach, 300SL) I'd like to try a bigger scale build, but I don't have the display space for all the models that are in the stash now, much less embarking on a new "Big Boyz" addiction. All bets are off if I find an affordable 1/8 E-Type, though... I think you need a sunny day to fully appreciate the "electric red"... bestest, M.

And a few with its stablemates: The "Scuderia" shot. Just the Cali to build, and an FF to source from someone, and I'll be able to replicate the Ferrari "atelier"... Best.Drag.Race.Ever Spot the difference... bestest, M.

Another great kit from Revell in their "599" series: Tamiya Mica Red over Metallic Gold ("Iron Man" armour colour scheme...). I really like the sheen on this -- I think it's much more realistic than 2K clearcoat, in scale... Highly recommended! bestest, M.

I'm calling this done, now: Proper pictures to follow in Under Glass... bestest, M.

Thanks, guys... it's been a while, but finally, an update... That was earlier this week, but I only managed to get photos today. The fit of the chassis into the body is superb. One tip for anyone else building one: attach the mirror to the part for the windscreen interior before even painting them. The mirror attachment is tiny, and the mating surfaces are at the wrong angle, so it needs to be test fitted and trimmed until it's pointing the right way! I din't do this and attaching the darn thing took a long time and turned the air over my bench blue! On the home straight now, I hope! bestest, M.

Thanks, guys...got the chassis built today: Everything fits together very nicely, especially since after doing the GTO, I know how the radiator fits, tilted backwards. Thought I'd try a test fit. Contrary to common belief, the wheel/tire sizes scale out very well, and the stance looks OK to me (the wheels need to be centred in the cut-outs). ... now it looks like an Ariel Atom... Compare with the pic in the previous post. New window from acetate looks more in scale. I wish I understood how this glass works -- in the Harry Metcalfe Evo blog, the glass only comes half way up between the "roll hoops", but many photos on the web (notably the Geneva launch pics) show it all the way up, as in the kit. Does it retract as a whole? Do different cars have different profiles? Grille de-chromed, painted black, silvered on the front edge and backed with mesh from the kit. ...it shouldn't be too long before these two assemblies come together... fingers crossed. ;-P bestest, M.

Thanks, Rob! The engine isn't complete, a fact which caused some ructions when the kit first appeared, because people expected full detail for the price. Me, I REALLY don't think you can tell one way or the other looking at it, and the build is foolproof as a result... bestest, M.

Cockpit is finally finished, with belts, pedals etc: ...and I tried a mock-up inside the car: I need to have a look at how that glass works in real life. It certainly looks here as though it'll need a black marker run along the edges or something to tone it down... bestest, M.

It certainly is. One of the easiest to build, best-engineered kits I've ever had the pleasure to put together: ...can you tell that the engine's not complete, but just a top section in a tub? bestest, M.

Thanks, guys! Smudge? What smudge? ;-P Cockpit is almost finished -- just the pedals and kick plate to add, which turned out to be chromed, so are going to be stripped and repainted. The red pinstripes are decals supplied in the kit. I thought that they would be a nightmare, but they turned out to be tough, the right shape, and to respond well to Micro Set and Sol. A light overlay of matt varnish blends them in. The wheel colour scheme is copied from the ones that the rather tasteful blue SA Aperta in Harry Metcalfe's Evo video blog is sporting (worth a Google if you like the look of the car...). Chrome silver callipers and the silver Cavallino wheel centres are rather restrained again. And as far as I can see, SA Aperta wheels are MEANT to be painted, rather than polished metal... bestest, M.

Things have been rather quiet on this one lately... holidays, plus a couple of 1/72 wingy-things to build. However, now I'm back to the bench seriously: Humbrol Tank Grey, Tamiya NATO black, Citadel Chaos Black, Citadel Charadon Granite, and some Klear for the "Piano Black" shiny bits. The back of the seats even have carbon effects, though you'll never know! A few mockups, just to see how it all looks. I think the effort required to do the body-colour strip on the dash was worth it. Apparently these cars are all intended to be spec'd up exactly as the owners want, so that no two are the same. My guy likes how piano black rather than carbon fibre looks, and i aiming for tasteful rather than bad-ass. He also thinks that if he has GTO power under the go-faster pedal, he'd better have GTO brakes under the go-slower pedal (the real thing doesn't have the same disk set-up as the GTO, but Revell have given us the same parts as in the other kit...) bestest, M.

There's this: http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/modern/mengss002reviewbg_1.html You might have to "de-armour" it, but I think that's mainly the cab. 1/35 might be a slightly odd scale, but who's going to notice vs 1/32 cars, since it's so darn big! I don't know of any 1/25 version... bestest, M.

Mine would have to be the AIrfix 1/24 James Bond Aston Martin DB5, in excellent condition, complete and unstarted, picked up in a local charity shop for £6. it seems I could sell the BOX for £30 if I wanted to. However, I plan to build it... bestest, M. ...and THEN I'll sell the box, obviously... ;-P M.

Personally, I prefer the short-tail version I posted up the thread, so it wouldn't just be a case of accurizing, but a fairly major rebuild of the back end... bestest, M.

I'm sure that's it, Skip, but this is what I see when I'm thinking of the Tipo 33: I didn't know there was a "long-tail" version... and I've never had the Fujimi kit, though it is on my "saved searches" now... bestest, M.

You're right, it does look a lot like a Tipo 33. I was confused by the long tail, which doesn't look like the photos I have of Tipo 33 Stradales, which also show black mesh covered vents behind the front and real wheels. But looking at a picture of the plastic in the Fujimi issue of the kit (I don't have one, but there's one for sale on eBay with pictures...), it seems that the Otaki/Nichimo model DOES have a long tail and no vents. Mystery solved, then... (Oh, and the windscreen wiper on the ones in my pictures is at the bottom...) Thanks, all... bestest, M.

http://tinyurl.com/oe5cc8t It looks a lot like a Ford P68, but there are a bunch of detail differences, and it's quite like a Lola T70 road car, but it's not that either. I think it must be that era, though. The colour makes me wonder if it might be some Alpine that I've never come across, but I think it's too big and beefy for an Alpine... Any ideas? bestest, M.