Matt Bacon

Yeah, like most posts on this board stay _exactly_ on topic all the time... Come on guys... for most of us in the rest of the world 1/24 and 1/25 are pretty much interchangeable (they are not 1/43, 1/32, 1/16 or 1/8th) and we'll build one, the other or both, like I do. The difference in size between the average period US car and European or Japanese protoypes is big enough that it doesn't make much difference to me in the display cabinet. I'm highly unlikely to build both a 1/24 and 1/25 version of the exact same thing and display them side by side (except possibly an E-Type, since I already built the Revell(GB) tooled XK-E convertible, which is 1/25, and I have Heller and Gunze 1/24ths in the stash). I seem to remember Tim Boyd's Muscle Car kits book has some very positive things to say about some of the Monogram 1/24 Detroit iron (and a Monogram tooling is the only way you're ever going to get a Aston Martin DB4 or Maserati 3500GT). I'd say in the late 60s, 70s and early 80s, Monogram was amongst the very best kit makers in the world, across a wide range of "real" subjects. It's taken decades for some of their tooling to be surpassed, and some of it still hasn't been, even though it has to show up in Revell boxes these days... Seems it turns out that OP wasn't trying to restrict the question, anyway... best, M.

Looks great, and bears no scars to give away your hassles with the back end. Love the colour, and you're a braver man than I am with the window tint! You forget what slabby, brutal-looking beasts they were compared to a Huracan... best, M.

The Reverend Mrs B took a funeral this morning at her church in Kildwick. A gentlemen called Tony, who was a leading light of the vintage car scene in the north of England, and the Model T enthusiasts community across the country. We were expecting it to be well-attended, and some people to come in classic cars. As it turned out, the very large church was packed to overflowing, and every nook and cranny of the village was packed with parked cars. Tony was clearly well-known and loved in his various old-car worlds -- various people said he was always the man to stop on vintage car outings and rallies to help out others, always ready to dive under the hood and tinker... I was recruited as parking marshall, and took a bit of time to photograph some of the gems that people brought with them. Some of the older cars were trailered to a meeting point ten or so miles away and then driven to the church, but a number of people travelled up to 300 miles in their old-timers, and were still there an hour early, catching me by surprise! More or less in chronological order... 1901 Albion... genuinely a horseless carriage, with an engine that looks as though it should run on steam... 1912 Wolseley -- anyone who though vintage cars were small, well, this one ain't. It's a car built for the Empire, and barely fit through the church car park gate, which admitted modern Range Rovers no problem... A Dodge, not sure from when... A couple of Model T's of varying vintage. A well-travelled Talbot that had come a a fair few miles today as well... My personal favorite: a gorgeous 1931 Lagonda Though it was a close run thing... I might have chosen this 1925 Bentley! Definitely a candidate for most stylish conveyance - 1956 Citroen Though this was pretty good, too... Hope nobody needed this on the way over, though it was super cute... A few youngsters in the crowded car park as well... As an elderly gentlemen walking past through the village as people arrived said to me "Well, they're giving him a reet good send-off, if nowt else..." RIP Tony. Some more pictures here: https://cmatthewbacon.smugmug.com/Tony-Chesters-Funeral best, M.

Hi, @Samuel S It’s done like this: bestz, M.

Beautiful...love it! best, M.

I'm not a big fan of modern F1 racing, but I was looking for something to watch with supper and tried the first episode. I stopped after three last night, but I'll certainly be watching the rest. With pretty amazing access, you get to see quite a lot of what's really going on before, during and after the races, and every side of Formula One. Each episode focuses on a specific character or two, and some specific story -- the last one I watched was Daniel Ricciardo and his amazing dogged drive to stay in front at Monaco... there's more of him to come, I'm sure. If you're someone who enjoyed reading Driven or No Angel or Burning Rubber or The Mechanics Tale, or watching Senna or Rush, then give it go... best, M.

I think it’s more about who makes what I want. If Tamiya makes one, then that’s a win, but for my interests it’s probably Italeri or Protar, who made the classic Ferrari’s that are my favourite cars. In terms of quality and detail, if not quite engineering, Beemax/NuNu are close to Tamiya, but you do have to like classic rally cars or odd series modern race cars... Best, M.

Thanks very much for the kind comments, everyone. It’s really only the back end that’s a pain, and with luck the notes in my build thread will help someone else to learn from my mistakes! The colour is stunning on the 1:1, and I think using the real paint does it justice, though it’s hard to photograph to reproduce the shade and richness accurately. I am very pleased with how the alterations to the body to accurize the shape came out, and those you CAN appreciate in the photos. Thanks again! All the best, Matt

Looking back, I think the 275GTB has Renaissance Campagnolo resin/metal wheels on it. The NART Spider has its bootlid spoiler enhanced, which Tony Nancy did for McQueen at the same time as retrimming the interior, which is why it has the rather plush leather bolsters for seats instead of the proper buckets. If you use the original seats, paint it pale yellow and add the Campagnolo wheels from the one above, you'll get the car that Faye Dunaway drove in The Thomas Crown Affair, but more interestingly also finished 17th overall and 2nd in class at the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring, with Marianne “Pinky” Rollo and Denise McCluggage behind the wheel... (Ms McCluggage is a bit of a hero of mine...) The GS 250 SWB looks so much more purposeful than the dire AMT/Esci kit, because it's a lot more like the real thing. If you can't find one, at least try for the Italeri... best, M.

This is my version of the 275 GTB: And this is the NART 275 Spider, built as Steve McQueen's ride: This is the Gunze 250SWB best, M.

That looks fantastic to me... detailing looks great, and I always think a driver figure adds some context and scale to open race cars. Great job all round. bestz, M.

Mine has the same problem too. Replicas and Miniatures does a very reasonably priced set of replacement resin wheels and tires — I just haven’t got around to buying it yet... best, M.

Lovely job. I’ve heard people say that this the best 1/24 car kit ever made, and in your hands it looks it. Tricky colour scheme to photograph, but you’ve done it justice. I’d love to figure out how to reproduce those Mike Zumbrunn pics of the real thing, beautifully lit in a black studio, at this scale, but I haven’t got it yet! best, M.

A generally nice kit from Aoshima, but there are a couple of things that need fixing shapewise. Aoshima has moulded some strange pinched shapes at the front edge of the doors, and at the top of the rear flanks there's a sharp wall on the kit bodyshell that doesn't exist on the real thing. The back end is also a real dog to get together, and KEEP together as you try to get the body over the chassis. This one was built to represent a real one I see around here every now and then, which is a bit more elegantly turned out than the usual bright Lamborghini colour options! best, M.

What a great looking result. Outstanding build of a truly beautiful sports racing prototype. Great choice of a slightly unusual livery, and I think the sheen of the paintwork is perfect for a 60s racer in period. Brilliant! best, M.

"Forged Carbon" components are an alternative to laboriously-crafted carbon fibre parts which have to be built up from layer upon layer, of fabric and end up with the graphite checkerboard or woven twill look we all know, and for which you can buy decals in many sizes, weaves and scales. Lamborghini pioneered forged carbon, but it's now to be seen on aftermarket parts for other mean machines, like a wing for a Hellcat. It looks like this: I think there may be one decal sheet available, but since forged carbon is usually to be found made up into complex shapes, that being the point of the stuff, decals don't seem to be a great solution anyway. I thought I'd try painting it instead, and what follows is how you can make reasonably convincing forged carbon pieces in a few minutes with minimum cursing and stuff you probably have lying around... The basic tools are a couple of shades of grey -- you don't need forty -- Tamiya Smoke, tweezers, a paper palette, and the all-important sponge. This is packing sponge that once protected a graphics card in a cardboard box, and I keep around for things like filling intakes to stop paint getting inside. At the back, our convenient piece of black painted plastic ("Here's one I prepared earlier"). At the front, a few small pinched off pieces of foam. Grab a piece of foam in the tweezers, scrabble it in the lightest grey, and dab it on the palette until it starts to make speckles rather than blotches. Then dab all over your surface. It works just as well on curved bits 3D bits. If you have areas of forged carbon surrounded by something else (eg carbon air vents in an alcantara grey dashboard top) then do the carbon first and paint the surroundings after, so you can cover up any wayward blotches... Go to the darker grey, and then the black. If you feel like it needs more highlights, or is looking too repetitive, tear off a different shaped bit of sponge, and go back for another pass with your grey of choice. Once you've worked through the layers and additions/touch-ups, you'll end up with something like this: Finally, apply a topcoat of Tamiya Smoke to blend and give it a shiny surface. On small parts, brushing it on works fine, but here I've airbrushed it. If you look hard, you can maybe see that I've applied a heavier layer of smoke at the right hand end, which tones it down a bit. The camera tries to balance out the exposure, so it's a bit more contrasty than in real life, but you get the idea... And this is how it looks used in anger, on a Huracan Performante: best, M.

I hear you, Thomas! Anyway, after yesterdays mis-step, I think I really can call this built. A bit of time to set solid, clean up the greasy fingermarks, and the decals, and she'll be ready for her close-up... As you can tell from the "Band-Aids," my worries that bits of the bodywork would break loose as I flexed it to fit over the chassis were well founded. If I was doing another one -- or if you're tempted after reading this -- it might be a good idea to leave off the diffuser under tray from the back end assembly until right at the end. With the under tray in place, both ends of the the chassis have to be pushed into the bodywork, flexing it front and back. Without the diffuser, I think you could get the front end locking tabs in place, and then swing the chassis up into the bodyshell, with easy access to the previously mentioned flexible vertical end plate into which the rear tabs slot, to make sure they are properly seated in their slots. The diffuser should then be easy to glue to its mounting lugs from below... Now, then... numberplates ;-P best, M.

Thanks, guys... apologies, a few real life things got in the way today. Plus I obviously had a a real "counting my chickens before they are hatched problem". So a couple of steps back in order to move forward more effectively... The location of the wing pylons into the body is, to put it mildly, a real pain. There are two small (tiny) diamondish-shaped tabs at the bottom of the pylon near the front, and two square indentations on the rear body panel front edge. Needless to say, with primer and colour and glosscoat painted, the indentations on the body are less well defined. The parts probably fit together perfectly with liquid cement straight off the sprue, but with paint and two colours to deal with, it's a lot less easy. Fortunately, I realised that I'd only tacked the panel in place with Copydex for painting, so I could get it off easily to try and get a decent, firm, joint. So, out with the microdrills and some 0.5mm brass rod. It took several rounds with the microchisel to open up the sockets enough to get the wing pylons in and on at the right angle, and drilling the holes for the pins was also no fun... Of course, the rear parts of the pylon bases also have to sit flush against the rear decking, so there was a fair bit of trial fitting. Eventually, it's on, and firmly fixed: now i just need to get the whole assembly back onto the car. But first... This bit is a pain to assemble, with quite flexible parts and not so well defined mounting points, and some very difficult bits to get a grip on. I gave up on the light boxes as a bad job, and the lights themselves are not very well engineered (oh for a Tamiya version). The two body colour panels attach in three places, and need to be put in diagonally and then rotated into place so the upper corner approaches the frame from the outside, moving inwards, and the two lower edges come mate from the inside, moving backwards... They will also need to attach to the rear bodyshell... the only joining surface being about 3mm long, and on a seam... Those two towers on the black piece in the middle fit into the vertical plate at the rear of the main bodyshell. They are the only solid mounting point of the whole back end to the car. This is why they want you to put the back on before fitting the body to the chassis, so that you can reach that joint from both sides, make sure it's in place, and clamp as needed. They don't tell you that, though... As you can see (circled), I've also added a couple of hefty tabs to help locate the green elements to the body a little more solidly. It requires a bit of carving inside, and they need to be high enough up inside the shell to clear the wheel arch lines at the back. And finally, we get to here: I'm going to leave this the full 24 hours to set... update tomorrow PM. best, M.

It looks stunning, especially when you start to see how little of it there really is. The outline/footprint seems normal...ish, but then as the camera moves around you realise how much of it is cut away "internally" inside the overall envelope. As for "extraneous whiffle-makers", if Adrian Newey is behind the aero on this beast then I'm pretty sure there's nothing extraneous -- his excellent book "How to Build a Car" tells a tale of constantly pushing against the boundaries of F1 rules for ultimate aerodynamic efficiency in pursuit of tenths of a second... or more specifically in pursuit of a few feet at the first corner. This was always an exercise in what he could do if there were no rules... beyond "be road legal", and the Highway Code has little to say on the matter of aerodynamics. Rear view mirrors and windscreen wipers are another matter, and did you SEE in the video how they'd solved those problems... I can't wait to see Chris Harris rag this one round a track... best, M.

Well, to be fair, everybody else copies what Pininfarina has done over the years. This is pure essence distilled from the mother lode. There’s some 288 GTO proportions and some P3 curves, a touch of McLaren at the front and especially P1 in the glasshouse, and the back end has a touch of the Zondas about it. Sure, it’s a bit generically hypercar, but curvaceously good looking, and not covered in supposedly “badass” aero touches that just make the whole thing incoherent. It’s remarkably svelte and elegant for something with power and performance in Chiron territory... best, M.

I will, Mike... in fact I'll post a little step-by-step tutorial shortly. For now, here's an update on progress... probably the last before it ends up in Under Glass... Bodyshell is on, with no trauma at all. Very easy, precise fit with almost no flexing needed. They'd have you add the back end before doing this, but I thought that might be asking for trouble... best, M.

Well, I was pretty darn sure that it wasn't British or Japanese or Aussie, so then I started thinking about where else made right hand drive cars ever... or at least in the late 40s and early 50s... best, M.

Is that the one that had the Felicity Shagwell figure? I seem to remember that Austin came with the E-Type... best, M.

The real thing: The kit: Doesn't look too shabby to me... I might squeeze a few more wires/tubes around the existing pipes at the back end, but other than that Tamiya seems to have captured it pretty well... best, M.

Because Tamiya kits are the best designed, engineered and shape-wise accurate kits in the world? When did you last hear anyone complaining that Tamiya had got the roofline or fender shape wrong on their <insert kit here>. It seems to me that they make choices about the level of detail that’s required based on what you can see, and on less obvious criteria. The DBS has an opening hood, and you can’t tell the engine isn’t there in full... it’s not like an Olds or Mustang with a cavernous bay around the engine. The La Ferrari and FXX-K have a big opening clam, and full engines. The LFA, oddly, has a full drivetrain, maybe because it’s a project that was close to the boss’s heart... The Japanese manufacturers have always gone for a mixture of curb side, simplified, and full detail kits in their ranges — look at Aoshima and Fujimi as well. Tamiya has always made what they want, the way they want to, which is why we have a Storch and a Swordfish in 1/48 and a Jaguar Mark 2 or Alpine A110 in 1/24. Whether or not you want to buy them is of course up to you... best, M.