Matt Bacon

I’d like to have seen the video of him figuring out what was wrong with FIRST one… though it might’ve had a pretty epic run-time… I have say, though, even with much simpler, older cars you can get some pretty bizarre and hard to diagnose faults… I mean, who knew that a 2013 FIAT Panda has TWO binary “stop light switches” which can both work perfectly for their main job, but if they don’t switch in and out exactly in sync, they trigger a Christmas tree of warning lights and messages telling you the ABS, hill hold, stability control and electronic diff are disabled. Your first thought is “must be one or more of the ABS sensors, right..?”. But no, it’s just one of the computers “unable to reconcile brake position sensor signals”. So you change the switch that’s actually pushed by the brake pedal, and it doesn’t fix it. Two weeks later, a lot of reading forums by me and then my excellent mechanic dudes, and a visit to the garage later, we discover there are two of the blimmin’ things, one of which is nowhere near the brake pedal… It’s only supposed to turn the little red lights on! At least most problems, someone else has seen and posted about it online these days… best, M.

The most recent issue also lists Wes at the above email address as the guy to contact for "Advertising Inquiries", so I suspect he's your man... best, M.

Back to more or less where I was three days ago! There's one pipe out of the eight that's not quite right, but it's not very obvious, especially with the matt black finish... The wheels are very sloppy here -- the centre spinners actually go all the way through and are what the axles really fit into, but I need to polish them up before they are ready to fit. It does look slightly odd with the wheels right at the back like that. On the third version of the exhausts the four headers on each side come together into a single stinger pipe which extends behind the tail of the car, which looks a bit more like you expect the back end of an F1 car to be. But I wasn't going to try and make that work with the parts I had! best, M.

The WIP is here: The 250 SWB is the Gunze kit, which I think still has a lot to recommend it! best, M.

@JarJar01 they are effectively the same kit. The DB4GT is built from the Airfix boxing of the regular Doyusha DB5; the DB5 is the Bond Doyusha kit, which comes with gadgets and two rather nice resin cast figures of 007 and Oddjob… best regards, Matt

Ah, but did it turn out to come from a "uniquely-styled" small SUV built in a remote South Asian country for only two years based on tooling licensed from a former Soviet Bloc car company's back-catalogue? 😜 best, M.

I wonder if it’s a licensing issue… limited duration or production numbers, so it was a one and done deal, and they’d have to stump up more cash if they want to make more. best, M.

… and I guess 112 jars of Tamiya Extra thin only take up as much shelf or warehouse space as a couple of car kits! best, M.

I expect the man with nearly 6000 posts has seen it all before, and gets a bit fed up with people who barely interact with the forum posting to say they don't like the forum, the magazine or the people who do all the work... "Yawn"seems pretty restrained to me.... best, M.

In which I take one step forward and two steps back... Well, that looks nice and shiny, doesn't it..? These were, not to put too fine a point on a it, a right pain in the proverbial... There are actually eight different exhaust pipes. You are supposed to be able to tell right from left by a small saw cut in the inner end on the rights, and front to back by a small saw cut in a different place on the underside of each, such that the cuts line up when you have them in the right order. The front is nearest the side of the car, the rear the furthest away, as well. My kit was missing some exhaust pipes, so I'd got four as spares from Squires. They are of course, all numbered Part 16. Also, the castings were a bit lumpy,. especially at the ends, and needed cleaning up. All of which added up to a lot of trial and error to create two sequences of exhausts when the "identifying marks" were not clear in the first place, and without being 100% sure that I actually had two sequential left and right sets to work with in the first place. However, I am quite happy with the above. Or was until I tried test fitting them having de-masked the body. They did not fit. At all... Then the "Aha moment": These words did not mean what I thought they meant. In the kit was a part that fitted to the engine with two serrated wings (I mean they really look like feathery wings) which support the stack pipe exhaust arrangement. The instructions do not show them on the part, so I thought this was telling me that I had to cut them off the engine part so they didn't obstruct the fit of the body and exhausts later. To be fair, that DID need to be done. Because this kit was one of a bargain stash of second hand ones, I'm never quite sure if they are exactly as they should be, and this one shows some evidence of being a bit of a mish-mash of the 1961 car kit and and the 62/63 kit, whether confused by its original owner or when it was packed all those years ago. However, what this note really means is cut off the sides of the lower rear body, along the lines marked with tape above. Which I have now done. A "piercing saw" was invaluable here to cut between the two moulded cutaways in the body. Damage was relatively limited., but as you can see, there's a whole lot of remasking to do and a return trip to the paint booth is in order. On the plus side, with a bit of careful manipulation, the exhausts click into place as they should in a test fit, so there's that... best, M.

The Fujimi is also substantially bigger in “1/24” than either the Hasegawa or Tamiya 1/24 kits (their bodies fit inside the Fujimi one), so it really will be too big. If you’re careful with cutting, though, you should be able to switch the instrument hood section and the glove box section of the 1/25 Revell dash… best, M.

Tamiya Fine Surface Primers say "for plastic and metal" on the can, and I've never had any issues using them over white metal, brass or plastic, and following up with any of the TS spray color coats. Note that the Tamiya primers do not need sanding. Make sure your surface is well prepped and clean, spray with the primer, and your TS paints will lay down super smooth and appropriately glossy over the top. This: and this: are both TS spray colors straight out of the can over Fine Surface Primer (grey and pink) on white metal kits. The paint has not been sanded or polished at all... that's just as it comes out of the can. best, M.

Soldering iron. This low temperature solder works the opposite way to regular soldering. You don’t heat the parts being joined at all, but melt a blob of solder on the iron and carry it to where it’s needed. When you touch the blob onto the fluxed seam, the solder runs into and along it. Then you can use the iron to smooth and spread the solder along the join line. As you can see above, because the solder is basically the same material as the cast parts, they really become one piece when they are joined. Best, M.

That seems to have worked OK. I'll need to tidy the wheel openings when the masking comes off but other than that it looks good to me. One additional top tip for the low temperature soldering approach. If you don't have the finesse just to get it into the join (which I don't.... see pics above) then using a Stanley knife/box cutter as a seam scraper results in a LOT less material to sand away. It's brutal, but it works... Drilled out the holes in the wheels. They are pretty deep in the castings, but actually drilling them through makes a big difference. I'm not going to try to replicate the "turbine wheel" inner faces which helped to cool the brakes. best, M.

I’m surprised the Fujimi GTO with wire wheels is still doing so well. It’s a good kit of a great car in the best value version, but it’s been around a while now… best, M.

Thought it might be interesting to show the low temperature soldering in progress... In the absence of bottle sealing tape, I've gone for strong and sticky electricians "gaffer" tape to hold the halves together. I'd agree it looks a bit messy and unpromising.... I'm not practiced at the technique at all. But the most important thing is to flux the seam well, and make sure there's enough molten solder to fill and join it. One advantage of this technique is that it is done after a few seconds, when the solder sets solid again... no need to wait for epoxy to cure fully, or for filler to set solid. However.... after a few minutes work with some Swiss files and sponge sanders this is the result on this section. The join is virtually invisible. Obviously the whole thing will need sanding through the grits before applying primer, but I'm happy that the shell will be solid -- and seamless -- by the time I've finished. best, M.

Hi, Justin… that’s really interesting. Thanks for posting. As a matter of interest, have you tried weighting by how long in the year a kit was available for? I could imagine that if the Giulia GTA reached the #2 spot in four months while the 32 Ford was available all year long, for example, then that might say something useful. More generally, if you can figure out which sort of kits have a big initial sale when they hit the market and then tail off vs which sell steadily all the time they are on the shelves that would be really interesting data… best, M.

Getting back to the bench with the next in the series: the Auto Kits BRM P57 driven by Graham Hill. Although Auto Kits did make a kit of the 1961 car with the "stack pipe" exhausts as in the picture above, the kit I have is of the 62/63 car which has normal horizontal exhausts. I don't mind too much, since I prefer the look of the more familiar layout, although trying to figure out the way they intertwine and join to the engine promises to be "interesting". This model will be my first use of low temperature soldering in anger. The rear fairing and head rest are two separate parts from the body and they were held firmly in place and soldered on. The liquid solder flowed nicely to fill the gaps, and could be remelted easily to smooth it our and remove excess. The grey you can see is the remains of the primer I used to check for holes and gaps. The whole car has had a very thorough clean up and sand to get to this smooth surface -- there were some pretty rough mould lines and pour stubs on both top and bottom sections. Both half-shells have been "adjusted" for as close a fit as possible. The suspension is pretty well detailed, and the geometry fits together really well. There was a bit of a pause because my kit had two rear left upper wishbones and no right hand part, but the nice lady at Squires Tools fixed me up with a replacement part in a few days. All eight exhausts have to thread through that rear suspension behind and below the shock absorbers and under the half-shafts... Thought I'd better check, but with no further adjustment, it does sit with all four wheels on the ground. Phew! Next job is to at least make up the exhaust clusters for each side, though I may not fix them permanently in place until after I've closed up the body and painted it to make masking the suspension easier... I also need to figure out whether Graham can go into the cockpit and be adjusted to grip the steering wheel from above after the body is joined, or whether I need to get him built and painted first. best, M.

Really annoying thing… I know I’ve painted #1 in very recent years, but can I remember what it is…? Best, M.

@CabDriver thank you, and yes, the DB5 and Land Rover are in the issue after the one with the McLaren and Lamborghini. Short answer: I liked it a lot, though I swapped the wheels for some 3D printed wires. The kit ones with a wash to pop the detail are not at all bad, though… best, M.

Thanks, all, but I’m not sure what brought this blast from the past back to the surface: it’s 12 years old! @Pierre Rivard the paint is colour matched Zero Paints Almond Green (I think… it’s just possible it might be California Sage) best, M.

I got a couple of these in the UK IKEA store, but they are available across the pond as well: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skuffen-shoe-box-clear-30532356/ I reckon 4-5 built models in each, and they stack neatly.... best, M.

Started out with some 1/43's from Airfix, which some of you may have spotted in MCM this year... McLaren 765LT, Airfix, 1/43 Lamborghini Huracan Evo, Airfix, 1/43 Land Rover Series 1, Airfix, 1/43 Aston Martin DB5, Airfix, 1/43 Audi eTron GT, Revell "Easy-Click", 1/24 BMW 1000RR, Lego, 1/5 AC 289 Sports MkIII, Monogram(ish), 1/24 Lotus Esprit, Fujimi, 1/24 And the year's big project -- a series of recreations of comic covers painted by artist Roy Cross built using Classic British Kits for a display paying tribute to his life and work. 1928 Delage, Auto Kits, 1/24 1958 Vanwall, Merit, 1/24 1961 Ferrari 156, Auto Kits, 1/24 1955 Mercedes W196, Merit, 1/24 There'll be a few more of these to come for 2025. Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! best, M.

Oh my word! That’s the best built one of those I’ve ever seen or am likely to see. Though I think it’s more a fantastic model “inspired by” the kit rather than built from it… Well done indeed. I do find it odd that despite well over a century of being “the best cars in the world”, as far as I’m aware that kit and the SE Finecast Silver Ghost are the only 1/24 Rolls Royce kits (unless you count the very fine rendition of the Merlin in Airfix’s Spitfire, Hurricane and Mustang superkits…) best, M.

Yes… I think those Monogram metal body kits were effectively diecast, like those Hubley kits. That alloy is harder and more brittle than the pot metal these are cast from. These you can carve with a modelling knife, file away and cut quickly, and the material sands and polishes very well. Also, if you have the skill or are prepared to pick it up, low temperature soldering is a really good way to join and fill parts, since the “solder” is the same stuff as the metal you’re joining, so the two parts really become one instead of needing separate passes of glue and filler… best, M.