Matt Bacon

I dunno, I think they've got this look down pat: I like it... At least, if someone makes the transkit, there's an obvious "retro" livery to go for! best, M.

I really hope someone will do a transkit for the upcoming Revell AMG-GT: ... and that Zero and Scale Finishes will do the green... best, M.

but some of the defense was that you can hear the same chords and the same sequence in classical and folk guitar music going back centuries. The verdict wasn't about whether they sounded the same, it was about whether Paige and Plant had infringed copyright on _published_ music. best, M.

That's dye chemistry. The chemical in the stripper is (probably) oxidising something in the paint. Same reason white paint can yellow with age (not just absorbing horribles from the air...) And does it matter if the red is a separate _pigment_ coming through the base coat, or "molten" plastic? It's still red stuff surfacing in the clear coat. BTW, polystyrene is inherently transparent. As you'll have noticed when cutting clear parts off the trees, it's also rather brittle. To make it more tractable, it is "filled" with inert material (like talc), and coloured with dyes. I'm doing a little experiment... best, M.

This is what I think is happening in the case of the two I've experienced: Both were painted the same way -- Tamiya white fine surface primer, then the Zero Paints 2K system. The primer, being a primer, is designed to provide a "key" for paint layers above, and the base coat paint goes one quite rough, and matt, again by design, to give a base for the clear coat that allows it to spread and level without running. I think that means that both the primer and the basecoat are, at the microscopic level, porous. I think that the thinner in the 2K clearcoat mix "soaks into" the basecoat and primer layer. If you've ever done "chromatography" in science, you'll have put a drop of ink onto a solvent soaked piece of filter paper, and watched capillary action separate the ink into its component colours as it diffuses and spreads across the paper. I think that the same is happening here -- the red dye from the plastic is diffusing through the thinner soaked basecoat layer, and into the clear, and then settling with clear as it slumps into the nooks and crannies... bestest, M.

You're just not looking at the pictures I posted. Explain to me in any way how "not opaque enough" would account for the gathering of the red tint in the creases and on the ledges of the body, when you can see clearly in the picture in the IPA that the white primer underneath in those places is covering completely. IPA on its own will leach the colour from Italeri red plastic eventually, as I discovered whilst soaking the 275 GTB, which had to go for weeks because the paint and clear was throughly cured, not freshly applied. The liquid was red tinted, not the yellow of the paint, which came of in lumps, eventually... best, M.

And that small spot on the rear bumper is clearly somewhere I didn't get enough layers on. best, M.

WRONG! There is such a thing as "red bleed". This is it: You can see clearly the "orange" tint along the creases in the left side of the body, above the rear wheel arch flare and below the fuel filler, at the front right of the roof and at the left side of the hood. IPA taking the clear coat and paint off. You can see on the real left door that the white primer has no red showing through in the crease, where yu can clearly see the orange tint. The greeny yellow stuff is the sealer. I hade the same thing happen with an Italeri Ferrari 275 GTB. It's not "too thin paint", it's the clear coat leaching dye from the red body plastic. You may choose to believe that it doesn't happen, but it happened o me... bestest, M.

Plastic colour certainly DOES bleed through primer and basecoat, sometimes, anyway. I've had two builds where I had to strip the model right back to bare plastic and start again when the 2K Clear Coat was tinted by the underlying plastic colour. In both cases the paint job was yellow over a red plastic body. You could see the red-tinted clear making the body look orange in areas where it was gathering slightly (recesses and the base of some panels). I bought some dedicated Zero Paints sealer, and now I use it first -- but only on builds with red plastic and a paler final colour (white or yellow). bestest, M.

...well, it beat the nearest Ferrari, which is kinda the bar they set themselves. It's the closest you'll get to a "win on Sunday sell on Monday" class these days... LMP1/2 is whole different ball game. The unsung heroes of this year's battle are the Alpine/Nissan guys -- 1st in the LMP2 class first time out (for a good few years, anyway). bestest, M.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/24-hours-le-mans/posche-ford-gt-win-24-hours-le-mans Well done to Chip Ganassi and the whole team of engineers and drivers. Couldn't have turned out better for the big anniversary! best, M.

Really good. Still one of the coolest cars ever made... bestest, M.

Fantastic build and lovely photos. One to be really, really, proud of! best, M.

I'd figured it for something new and retro-styled (the Morgan Aeromax with coachwork by Saoutchik look), but I couldn't find the darn thing. I was trying to think what existing platform had that extreme ratio of the distances from the rear wheels to driver vs driver to front wheels... bestest, M.

Lovely job... You can see how it's the "missing link" between the 250LM and 330P, can't you? bestest, M.

I'm seriously looking forward to what these babies will do at Le Mans this year (and if I'm really lucky, I might be there to see them do it...). The Martini is super cool, as always. (...though the nit picker in me wants to say that it's a DIFFuser, as in something that spreads out the air coming from underneath, not a DEfuser, as in something that stops the air making a big bang, or stops it having an impact/effect) bestest, M.

Please don't Jim... the more the merrier! I like your retro wheels, and Gulf colours are always welcome (I've got a Porsche 918 headed in that direction...) I havered over how to do the carbon bits, but in the end just went for the graphite grey -- I couldn't see any weave in photos until you got REALLY close-up. Did you find the mirrors a bit of a trial? It took me a couple of tries to get a basecoat that would stick reliably to the softer plastic. I did fill the door seam and the one where the top of the rear deck meets the outer sides of the "channels". I could have done it better, and would recommend taking a bit of time over it to anyone else building one of these. This was a weekend build to keep my modelling mojo ticking over, because I'm working away most of the week at present and modelling opportunities are pretty scarce! bestest, M.

It may be a simplified kit, but a little bit of work yields a nice result... A grand total of five parts in that interior! Colour is Zero Paints. I started out with "Protonic Blue", (a BMW i8 colour), but decided it was too pale, so I overcoated it lightly with Blu Dino. It looks nicely zingy to me now. There's a reasonable amount of detail to paint, even through construction is very simplified. I put carved a centreline channel in the engine covers, and striped the chrome from the headlights before repainting with the complexity of the real thing. And I had to add a bottom to the steering wheel -- I don't know where mine went, short shot, broken or just not there...? The 2005 GT (actually a 720 Mirage...) is a Polar Lights snap kit, titivated, and the 'vette is the recent Revell Germany release of another snap kit. Just goes to show that there's nothing inherently wrong with them, and that a bit of detailing work with pain can really lift them. bestest, M.

And the successful searchers are: GeeBee GTJUNIOR matthijsgrit carsntrucks4you dw1603 Harry P. badluck13 Richard Bartrop Well done, all. Apologies for not answering individual messages -- I was travelling all week and for some reason I can't log into the forum on my laptop. M.

Usual rules apply. PM me with make, year and model... results will be posted AFTER close of play Friday (ie Saturday morning in my timezone), As always, please don't use reverse image search! The answer is 1980-83 Matra (or Talbot Matra) Murena. Who got it right below... bestest, M.

...well, now I want one. Really, really want one... Engine by Ferrari, developed at Alfa by the guy who did the California T engine... Chassis and suspension by the guy who did the 458 Speciale... (also now working for Alfa) Now all they need to do is put the same engine in the 4C and have the same guy redo the suspension set-up. Can anyone say "Dino...?" Very quietly, of course. bestest, M.

This is the Gunze (built from the Airfix box): bestest, M.

Though it does have squared off rear wheel arches which don't appear on any of the real things. I really don't think there's anything wrong with the Fujimi kit's shape, compared to photos and plans. The Gunze is a great kit, too -- it just looks slightly "beefier" than the Fujimi. Having got up close and personal with Nick Mason's GTO, my overwhelming impression was that it was smaller and more svelte than I expected, so for me the Fujimi probably gives the more accurate impression of the real car... bestest, M.

As far as I know, there have never been different releases of the Fujimi GTO. Whatever they're called, they all have the same contents. There are some of the original "Enthusiast Model" series that are now available in regular boxes, with all the same insane detail parts as when they were EM-series kits. There's a 288 GTO, a Dino 246 and at least one of the 911s that's available in something like a "Circuit Wolf" box at a VERY reasonable price. Confusingly, there are also kits which contain the "simplified" versions of the same kits in boxes that look remarkably similar. The best way to check is to go to HobbySearch (1999.co.jp) and look at the full instructions for each box, until you find the one that you want. Anyway, I'd also recommend the Fujimi kit highly. You really don't NEED any aftermarket for it. Just wire up the engine and you're good to go. The Revell is half the price, and certainly easier to find on this side of the pond. The Revell kit is the Protar original, with opening doors; the Italeri is also available in a Testors box, and has a body with closed doors but with an opening bonnet. Both have engines. People have differing views on the wheels in the Fujimi kit. Personally, I think that if you strip the chrome, spend a bit of time cleaning them up, respray with chrome and wash them with a detailing wash, they look pretty darn good. Of course, you could buy one of the dedicated etch Borrani wire wheel sets from say, Renaissance, but they'll cost you as much as the original kit... The Gunze/Airfix "Hi-Tech" has fantastic wire wheels in it, and may be cheaper (especially in an Airfix box) then a set of wheels. bestest, M.

Just goes to show how important a few subtle differences are... bestest, M.