Matt Bacon

The "wire" wheels have been upgraded with some Scaleproduction resin wire centres that I had lying around; seat belts from blue masking tape... Otherwise out of the box, best, M.

It's not a bad look for one, though... best, M.

...and quite a few are being built by Land Rover... despite the fact that most people will never use the capability, and some might baulk at taking their "luxury limo" to the edge, a Range Rover will go pretty much anywhere a car might even think of going: The pace is a bit slow, and I'm afraid the commentary is all in Russian, but they definitely have a better class of Top Gear presenter over there... ;-P best, M.

Ahh... but not a line, that's the swoosh that makes it go faster... Seriously, I think all these big pickups look equally rubbish. They're covered in the worst excesses of functionless form you can find on the globe today, and that includes the entire production of the Chinese and Indian auto industries. I don't believe that every car should be designed by a wind tunnel alone -- beauty matters, building your brand and driving your sales. But as Bill says, a coherent vision and style brought by a talented leader are pretty essential to achieving a good outcome from the design project. best, M. (Actually, maybe the problem is too much function: the basic requirements are the same, so the manufacturers can't make them very different in overall dimensions, power, performance, layout or packaging, so the only individuality left to them is the skinning and the badges...)

That hood scoop derailed me for some time... I was sure it was some kind of Datsun Fairlady SR311 variant/precursor: As it is, if you look at the Fiat 1500 and the follow-up 124 Spider, you can see what the Datsun designers ran through the blender to get the SR311... Fortunately I then followed the California Spider look through to my enormous Pininfarina book, and there it was... best, M.

Agreed! And they're in Scotland, so very easy for me to deal with. I just wish now I'd scanned that Tomy etched fret for the SS100 so I could scale it up! I think there might be one in the Hi-Tech Airfix E-Type that I have in the stash... Healey and Cobra wire wheels (for example) need to be quite densely spoked. best, M.

Me... I'd just say that it's competing in a Historic Racing event in 2012... ;-P And it is rather lovely... best, M.

I love the way that even in this world of computer aided design and manufacturing, the guys shaping clay into the 1:1 form of the car are still an essential part of the process. Nice video, Bill! best, M.

Fair enough... you'd wish that their own sales team would be briefed, though! Even with an engine, it's struggling to engage my interest... best, M.

Certainly looks cool, and exotic... other than the rear quarter-lights, I wouldn't necessarily have clocked it as a Pantera, though. The tail is very F40-ish. Personally, as with the Countach or Esprit, my favorite is the original clean, simple version. Actually... interesting question: anyone want to suggest a sports/exotic where later iterations of basically the same car (not just re-using the name) were better-looking than the original? best, M.

I've not done much Alclad spraying, but I thought it was always supposed to be sprayed over a gloss black base. It's pretty fine pigment, so the .4 needle should be fine. At 15 psi it should be misting on. What airbrush do you have? There's quite a difference in airflow between different brushes for the same PSI at the regulator, so it's just possible even at that pressure it's too much, but it seems unlikely. What's the climate like where you are? Not hot and dry, this time of year, I'm guessing... Could it be the solvent in the Alclad attacking the primer? Tamiya primer should resist "hot" lacquer so that might make a difference. Is Duplicolour enamel? Sounds weird, for sure... best, M.

The Revell guy at Telford was pretty cagey about the contents. It doesn't have an engine, and the suspension is likely simplified. It's described as a "Skill 3" and has less than 100 parts. (Mind you, the 570s is also a skill 3, and has many more parts, and the Corvette C.7R has substantially less than 100 but builds up into a nice model in the right hands...) The build on show was a mule (maybe even a diecast) so I couldn't look any closer. But no, I can't get very excited about it. It's not really an "aspirational" car in real life, is it...? Just good at what it does. Someone should really be doing deals for a DB11 or Valkyrie, if you ask me... best, M.

Niko... why not apply the Molotow after clear coating? It's tough enough not to need a protective layer, if you let it dry throughly for 24 hours or so. And you'll be spraying it onto a smooth surface. best, M.

IIRC, I think it was something to do with the rear lights that Harry spotted... I'll look more closely at some reference photos and see what I can see... best, M.

Just picked up an Opel GT at the UK IPMS Nats (SMW) for a remarkable price for a new and shrinkwrapped box. I'm going to build a straight stock one... it's a cool car as is, IMHO. I seem to remember seeing a thread in which Harry P explained what need to be done to accurise the kit, but my efforts to find it by searching "Opel GT" in the search bar have failed so far. Anyone have it bookmarked, or can point me at any other online resources explaining what I need to do? TIA, best, M.

All kits I know exist, and ideally not crazy expensive resin versions... 1/25 Pink Panther Show car 1/24 De Tomaso Mangusta 1/32 Airfix Jaguar 420G and Maserati Indy 1/32 Tomy Mercedes 300SL and Porsche 356 And (a bit) more reasonably-priced, but still very hard to find... 1/24 Fujimi EM 1969 Porsche 911S... best, M.

....and this is the Matchbox: And the Matchbox 1/32s from this project: And, finally, a collection of 1930s supercars: best, M.

Finally got these done. Apologies for fewer in progress shots than intended -- life and a rapidly approaching deadline got in the way... Anyway, here they are: This is the Tomy... love those etched wheels. best, M.

Looks like they’ve recruited Marek Reichmann... best, M.

I’ve just been much enjoying Brock Yates’ “Sunday Driver”, and it got me wondering whether anyone makes a TransAm version of a 70 or 71 Camaro? Or the aftermarket parts and a street version? best, M

I bought this Leo diecast for not much on eBay, because I really wanted a Montreal on my shelf, and I figured I could do some detailing on it and have a nice model. And it is indeed a very nice model. The only problem (and I knew it when I bought it, hence the low price and no issue there) is that the windows have gone cloudy and white. Obviously, in photos I couldn't see how it had happened, so I had high hopes to before it arrived of being able to polish them like you would a cloudy headlight cover on a real car. But now it's here, it looks as though the clear plastic itself has gone somewhat white throughout. Anyone had any experience of this phenomenon? And more importantly, anyone have any ideas on a cure? My fallback position is to use the existing windows to crash/plunge mould some new windows, but if, say, gentle application of heat to the original windows will bring them back to clear, then I'd rather try that first... All thoughts very much welcomed! best, M.

A design whose heart’s in the right place, but the execution is more Bizarre than Bizzarini... best, M.

Is that really where the spare went? I know people jumped through some pretty weird hoops to meet sports car regs in different formulas, but that M1A takes the biscuit... best, M.

Not helped, of course, by Tamiya describing their TS sprays as acrylics... They are “hot”, and will certainly craze or eat away anything underneath except primer or another TS spray. The other way around, you can paint any Tamiya acrylic that comes in a pot and thins with water or X-20A over the top. It can be tricky to get the acrylic to “wet” the shiny surface of the cured spray paintjob, so I tend to mask and airbrush the acrylics using very light mist coats to start with to build up a “key”... best, M

Thanks, Bill.. at first glance from those photos, it looks as though the radius of the lip going into the intake is much tighter on the S2, so maybe from a "look" point of view, you could just sand the oval out to a larger size at the top, and do the same with slightly squared lower corners at the bottom... best, M.