Matt Bacon

Slightly hard to believe in this Yorkshire neck of the woods, but a police flatbed recovery truck drove past me at the end of our road with a very immaculate red Cord Roadster on the back... I wonder what the story is there... best, M.

It's either by someone who works for Scuderia Glickenhaus, or who is seriously "inspired" by the Glickenhaus oeuvre... best, M.

Looks absolutely fantastic... lovely work, and a great colour scheme. I gather, though there may be room for two suitcases, that whatever you put in them will be well and truly cooked before you arrive at your destination! best, M.

"dangling wire'? External load sling on the Wessex HU.5 ;-P best, M.

Real or Model? best, M.

Thanks, guys.... yes, they were highly competitive rally cars... the "Mexico" edition was brought out to mark Hannu Mikkola winning a 25,000km London to Mexico Rally in 1970. Those rally cars (which also took four more of the top 10 places in the rally) had a bored out and tuned version of the same "Kent" 1.6 litre engine that's in the standard Escort. That makes a Mexico more or less paint and decals conversion. The Mk1 was also re-engined with a 2 litre Pinto engine to create the RS2000 and some even more serious rally versions, or with a Lotus Twin-Cam engine. These days, a real Mk1 RS2000 or Twin Cam will set you back the best part of $50,000, and more if it has in-period major rally victories under its belt, whereas a Mexico is probably still sub £10K, so it's the more affordable route to classic fast Ford ownership... best, M.

That looks brilliant, as ever Jurgen. An Art Deco classic, for sure. How did you do the flexible exhaust tubing? And how does the real thing breathe? Are there some actual slots somewhere in the gaps between that chrome "grille" trim? Great job, and I love the colour... best, M.

Last one (probably) built for a 1/32 automobiles Classic British Kits Group Build elsewhere... The kit I picked up for £5 on eBay was a bit tired, but its actually not a bad starting point, with plenty of detail parts for the engine and running gear. With the parts cleaned up, the fit is pretty impressive: the lengthy exhaust pipe was a snap fit between the end of the header pipes and the silencer, for example. The engine is detailed a bit and wired for plugs etc, where my multicoloured drum of "wrapping wire" came in very useful. The rest is just detail painting of the parts they give you. As it comes, the kit has rectangular headlights, but all the Mexicos I found online had the round variety, so they were replaced with slot racing detail parts from Pendle Slot Racing, which also came up with the decals and and windscreen wipers as Scalextric spares. The wheels had their pie-dish centres replaced with something a bit more sporty in resin from RS Slot Racing supplies. The figure, now known as "Young Shaun" for reasons we need not go into, began life as a rather buttoned up dude with side parting, sports jacket and tie. He's acquired a more appropriate "boy racer" look, and also undergone major surgery to his lower parts to fit properly. The steering wheel was glued into his hands, and if you look REALLY closely, doesn't quite meet the dash in the right place. But he's holding it, which was never going to happen if done the way the instructions suggest, fixing him to his seat waving his arms in the air, and the dash and wheel to the body shell, and then putting the one inside the other... All in all, a kit that scrubs up surprisingly well with a bit of TLC... best, M.

That’s supercool, Snake... I’d love to be able to do that with some “Airfix Magazine” models from my youth. Did you get any back story on how the seller came to have them? best, M.

Well, if your teenage daughter runs a junior Girl Scouts unit for 5-7 year olds, craft foam is pretty easy to come by ;-P best, M.

You can buy sheets of flexible, dense “craft foam” from hobby stores in different thicknesses. It cuts easily and smoothly with a hobby knife or compass cutter, and comes in dozens of colours including black and gray. Glue it with white PVA, wood glue or Formula 560. This in the UK, but I’m sure Hobby Lobby or somewhere does the same stuff in the US: https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/kids/kids-craft-supplies/kids-foam-sheets-and-shapes best, M.

Built from the Academy issue "Classic European Sports Car", with a couple of aftermarket Cavallino's. I think I fixed the door interiors by shaving hardware off something else and moving it all around. I think it's a great kit. especially at the £15 or so with postage that I paid for it from a Korean seller... ;-P I don't think the wheels are TOO bad, though the tires are a bit industrial.... I'd thoroughly recommend the kit, though, as the affordable route to California Spyder ownership... best, M.

Really lovely build of a little-known but very cool car. Saw one in the much-missed Hemmings Sports and Exotics a couple of years ago and immediately invested in the kit. Yours looks so good I might promote it up the build list! Brilliantly done. All the best, M.

Another one from a Group Build for the Classic British Kits SIG. This is a really simple little kit, with no engine detail, so it goes together pretty quickly. Paint is Halfords "FIAT Racing Red", polished with Novus. It's not a factory colour combination, but a restoration I found online which I thought looked great. best, M.

Looks absolutely fantastic... very well done indeed. You've reminded me I'd better go check the box in the stash -- I think I might have bought some resin luggage, but I can't remember for sure! best, M.

You might have to go up a scale.... ;-P CMC 1:18... best, M.

Thanks, guys. @Funkychiken The wheels are actually resin inserts for slot car wheels, from RS Slot Racing: http://www.rsslotracing.com/parts.htm I took the dreadful "wire" centres out of the kit rims, fitted in the resin pieces, and glued plastic card discs painted steel on the back of the wheel to provide something to mount onto the axle (the resin wires are fragile and the fit is a little loose, so I didn't want them to be holding the wheel onto the car...) best, M.

That looks absolutely stunning -- as everyone says, it looks just lie the real thing. I love the weathering. Are they the kit decals or an aftermarket set? If they're the ones in the kit, I'm pretty impressed with the quality! Well done indeed... All the best, Matt

They also have a pretty cool “Magnus” figure to stand by the finished car... best, M.

Built from Airfix's venerable 1/32 kit, first issued when the car itself was new. best, M.

I was more thinking about the Cobra than the Cheetah: as you say, the rights to that one pretty clearly belong to Bill Thomas's heirs... The Cobra's a more complicated story. best, M.

As a matter of interest, does anyone know who owns the rights? Is it Shelby American, who own the brand? Or the inheritors of AC, who own the design of the car? Or Ford, which has less claim but probably more, and more expensive, lawyers (but does see the value in licensing models of its cars). best, M.

A good, if painful, lesson. But I think it also depends on the seller's description. If it says "not complete; what you see is what you get," then fair enough. If it says "Appears complete", or "complete and unstarted" then whatever the pictures, you can reasonably withdraw your bid, or dispute the transaction via the auction site. I bought a kit which was described as "appears complete; unstarted" with some photos of the box with parts inside, and when it arrived the engine had been glued together badly, the windscreen frame of the main body part was broken, and it only had one wheel rim and two tires. Now whether or not you're a modeller, I think most people would know that cars have four wheels, and only having one and a half would mean that a kit is not "complete"... I sent it back and was refunded pretty quickly... It ticks me off when people list kits that they know are not complete but don't mention it on the basis of "caveat emptor", and other hand I admire professional sellers who sell as "spares or repairs", or "body shell only". And don't get me started on people who are selling an empty kit box, but don't make that REALLY OBVIOUS in the listing... best, M.

I dunno... it looks a little bit different in this one from the way it did in the first picture. I can't quite put my finger on why, though... I thought I nearly had it before. Now, I'm not sure. I'm gonna have to go back to my references... best, M.

Oddly, the picture I found of one at a rally in SA also had no less than FOUR Rover 200 BRMs in the same picture. They're pretty rare groove cars even in the UK, and were never officially sold in South Africa. Bizarrely, Belgium was the largest non UK market, with just over 120 sold, but as far as I can see they were never sold outside of Europe. Any of our South African members care to shed any light on why they are apparently popular down there, and if there's some well-known importer bringing them in by the dozen...? best, M.