Matt Bacon

Oh, don't worry... I disagree with myself half the time... I'm as much of a Ferrari fanboy as anybody -- you should see my bookshelves, and about half the models I've built feature a prancing horse. There's no more powerful brand in the auto industry. But they need to remember that it's the cars that make the brand a winner, not the other way around. It might be just sour grapes on my part, but, I can't think it does any good to try to maximise the revenue from brand licensing at the expense of feeding the global "fan-base" which includes all of us who build the models but can't afford buy the real thing. With luck, this'll turn out to be just a hiatus driven by the change of ownership, and before long we'll be back to normal service, with kits from all the usual suspects. Maybe even of the "Manifesto" concepts... bestest, M.

...it takes a lot longer to prepare to mould styrene than it takes to sign a contract. My guess would be that the "business case" for re-issuing that tooling, based on existing knowledge, made sense : "Hey... we have these moulds already, so all we need to do is allow some money for marketing, and some new boxes, and some new decals, and we'll go on paying Ferrari what we paid before for licenses, and hey, presto, we can sell a kit for €24.99. Now, not so much... And suddenly, someone at the newly-independent Ferrari decided that every individual model of a Ferrari car has to pay €5.00 for using the brand. If you're selling die-casts at $187.75 a pop that's bearable. If you're selling plastic kits at $18.75 a pop, that's all she wrote. We should all start invoicing Ferrari each time we build and display a model, on the basis that we're marketing their brand for them. Far from everyone can afford to buy a Ferrari. But if they are serious about capturing the hearts and minds of kids who might ONE DAY buy a Ferrari, then the F1 team ain't doing the job for them any more. Forward thinking-brands like Mclaren and Tesla will let a million models bloom, because in a decade's time, they'll be the influential brand, not Ferrari. bestest, M.

According to Revell Germany's spokesman, Ferrari has withdrawn its brand license, so Revell can't at the moment make any Ferrari kits (which means that the 250SWB reissue is canned yet again...). Revell is not the only one, either. We also know that FIAT Group withheld the license for Airfix to use the Maserati name, scuppering the re-release of the 1/32 Indy. I guess this means that either: FIAT Group/Ferrari want too much money for their brand licenses and model kit vendors can't afford to pay them and make money on the kits. FIAT Group/Ferrari has decided on an exclusive deal with one vendor (though how they could make more money that way than with all the kit and diecast manufacturers paying license fees on all their sales volume, I don't care to guess) Ferrari is going to make its OWN kits. It's all a negotiating tactic. Don't suppose anyone knows if Chrysler has withdrawn its brand license from US makers? (Which would suggest that it's a FIAT thing, not just Ferrari and Maserati) If Tamiya releases an FXX-K at Nuremburg, that'll be an interesting clue. Anyway, bad news for the hobby, I reckon, since Revell's Ferraris have been the best affordable kits of most of their subjects! Grrr... bestest, M.

Me, too, but there isn't... ;-( It's a Giulia TZ2, which they only built 12 of, but it was very successful in its class in 65/66 for a short while before Alfa abandoned the GT class and focused on the Tipo 33. Of course, I'd like a Tipo 33 Stradale even more, but as the name suggests, that's a street, not racing car, so that's DEFINITELY not what Tamiya is making... bestest, M.

It's true the FXX-K is most likely. I'd LIKE it to be one of these: bestest, M.

That's not a paint booth, that's a Tardis. It's "bigger on the inside"! ;-P bestest, M.

7026 and 7027 are the two Revell Germany 918 kits, one a "Weissach" package. They're identical apart from the decals and the wheels. Instructions here: http://manuals.hobbico.com/rvl/80-7026.pdf My guess would be, looking at the other 85-XXXX instructions, is that 85-4329 is just the Revell USA boxing of the kit. The contents of the box will be exactly the same, though whether it comes with both versions of decals and wheels in one box, or they've selected one or the other, you'd have to wait and see when the instructions are uploaded to the Hobbico site. bestest, M.

i think I'm going to recuse myself from this discussion, and agree to differ. I don't want to get into a fight with any of my friends on this forum, and this is inevitably shading towards the political. Two countries divided by a common language, and all...! It's been interesting, but, certainly on my side, enough said. All the best, M.

That was nearly 250 years ago. It would be appropriate to compare the United States in 1800 to the EU, I agree. Today, not so much... bestest, M.

And I thought that the Constitution specifically established the Supreme Court and the third branch of the Federal Government to deal with "controversies between states, between citizens of different states, and between citizens of one state and another state", which would seem to fit the case you raise nicely -- how can you be legally married in one state with all that implies, and not in another? In the single nation that America now is, it is absolutely NOT a local/state issue... bestest, M.

...I'm not sure that's true. Fair enough, if something is in the Constitution, then whatever it says is the law. But the constitution can't possibly cover every possible legal eventuality about every possible thing, never mind good manners, engine maintenance or falling in love. That's why there are laws and statutes, Haynes manuals, and Cole Porter. The fact that they cover matters that the constitution doesn't surely doesn't render them unconstitutional...? Do you really need a constitutional amendment to set up a school system? bestest, M.

You guys do have a real "them and us" attitude to "the Feds", don't you? They're not "them", they're YOU. Any of you can get elected by all the rest of you to any post at any level of government, local or national. When do you suddenly turn into monsters? I'm sure the Constitution didn't call for a Nuclear Regulatory Agency, a Federal Reserve or even a State Department (though they caught on to that one pretty quickly...). Or come to that a standing army and navy and a Department of Defense. But like it or not, America is now a nation and a global superpower, not a loose affiliation of a handful of ex-colonies that it takes days to travel between and which trade more overseas than they do with each other, oftentimes not speaking the same language. There's probably quite a lot of things the Founding Fathers said that may not quite apply today. I just find it amazing that the radical, ground-breaking, liberal, humanist thoughts and deeds and, especially, words of a group of brilliant minds bent on changing their world can be fossilised in a way that I'm darn sure Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine would have hated. They were revolutionaries, futurists, and if they were around today, they'd STILL see the world and want to change it for the better, not cling to the past... bestest, M.

They certainly seem to have hired the right people in from Tesla. It looks way cool, too... I think I might just apply for a job there ;-P bestest, M.

BTW, what that Wikipedia article notably fails to mention is that the UK has had standardised testing and a National Curriculum for three decades. We sit at 6th in the league table of of international education systems compiled in 2015 by The Economist Intelligence Unit (that nest of left-leaning subversives). Above us are South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Finland. Every one of them has a national curriculum and standardised testing. Oh... and the USA lies below Russia. For 15 year olds in maths, the US rates 36 out of 40, between Slovakia and Lithuania. Once again, the top 10 all have a national curriculum and standardised tests. So if I were you, I'd get on with implementing the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. It might get you higher up the table... bestest, M.

Yup. It's a great idea to allow states to legislate about, say, having their own value of pi. (And yes, before you say it, I KNOW it's only Indiana where it even came close and that in 1897). It's just a bit tough on a Delaware student who wants to go to Stanford if the Delaware school board has decided that matrix algebra is more relevant in Delaware than differential calculus... Or on an engineering apprentice from Detroit who's only learned about internal combustion engines and wants get a job with Tesla or Faraday Future in California. OF COURSE there should be nationally agreed expectations of skills, techniques and knowledge in science and math. Find a way for the states' Boards of Regents to come together and agree those shared expectations, and I'd be just as happy. But it needs to be done. bestest, M.

...by the sound of it, joining a school board would be a good start... Seriously. I'm the Chair of Governors at our local primary school (in the UK) and a board member of the Trust that runs my primary school (and five others, plus three secondary schools), so I'm hands-on involved in the education of children. If you're not happy with what goes on (or what you read is going on), then bring your commitment and skills to the party. You may also find that compared to what you read, what's actually happening is, well... "a little more complicated than that". (For example, until you look a little deeper than the National Review*, as I just did, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Common Core initiative was introduced simply to befuddle youngsters with trendy pedagogy. I know there's a tendency over there for any federal initiative to be regarded as borderline treasonable, but really, doesn't it make sense for kids anywhere in the US to be taught the same things in the same way -- which is what Common Core was primarily intended to do -- so when they move house, or go to university, everyone knows the same things as they do?) bestest, M. *Self-proclaimedly "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion"

Aoshima Lamborghini LP670-4SV, 1/24: A really good kit of a beast of a car... Hasegawa Lancia Delta Integrale, 1/24: neat simple little kit of a car I'd really love to own. Revell Bugatti EB110: one of the hardest kits I've ever built, which fought me all the way, but worth it to have a model of this neglected supercar in the cabinet... Fujimi Dino 246, 1/24: Keith Richards' car, from a simplified curbside kit that does justice to the lovely shape... Academy's 1/24 "European Sports Car: we all know what it is really, don't we...? Airfix 1/24 Quickbuild Bugatti Veyron and McLaren P1: well, it's the only way to get these two supercars in 1/24, innit? Heller Delahaye 135, 1/24: my first magazine article for AMW, soon to see the light of day... I hope! And now for something completely different: Kitmaster J.94 Saddle tank. OO/HO: first of many builds for the CBK SIG celebration of all things railway made from Classic British Kits.. Kitmaster Beyer-Garrett 2-6-0-0-6-2, OO/HO: a really big beastie which as taken a battering... Kitmaster SNCF 241.P "Mountain" OO/HO: a case of "you don't see those around very often..." Kitmaster New York Central "Hudson", OO/HO: another fun weathering project... Kitmaster German Railways "Baureihe 23", OO/HO: looking a bit cleaner, because I like the colours! Kitmaster Swiss Railways Ce 6/8 "Crocodile" OO/HO: an ugly thing -- one for the completists only! Kitmaster Princess Coronation Class Pacific "Duchess of Atholl", OO/HO: my favourite of all these builds. I think I got just the right amount of weathering on her... Master Box Pin-Up "Marylin", 1/24: well, you would, wouldn't you... And finally... Moebius "Catwoman", Julie Newmar, 1/9: not done figures for a while, but I couldn't resist this one... bestest, M

There's no excuse for not being able to do basic maths. But let's not forget that in terms of history, for today's early teens, Churchill, Stalin and Hitler are as remote as Woodrow Wilson, Lord Balfour and Friedrich Ebert were when we were learning it. OK, so maybe WW2 was a bigger deal in world history terms than the League of Nations (;-)), but even so it's easy to forget how long ago things that seemed a big deal at the time happened. Kennedy and Martin Luther King are 55-60 years ago now: what do you take note of that happened 40 years before you were born? What counts as a "simple" question really depends on who you're asking it to. Today's European kids have a rather better grasp of the science and facts about global warming than the adults, for example... To be honest, I'd rather that kids today knew about Reagan, Gorbachev and the end of the cold war than Hitler and Stalin (if I had to make a choice). But most of all, I'd like them to know that the answer to any question about "why does .... happen in the world today?" is always " well, it's a bit more complicated than that..." I sit on this side of the pond and despair that Trump has any kind of traction, and that he's not the satirical joke that he appears to the rest of the world. Thing is, I don't thank that's down to the "kids today", that's the adults... bestest, M.

True, but... The Beatles formative, non-famous years were spent working a relentless schedule of gigs in a "hothouse" environment, so they learned their craft as musicians fast, and well. And just one day, somewhere, someone or some people are going to be the best pop musicians the world has ever seen. To borrow someone else's phrase about some other group of people, they "bottled lightning". You can't separate the band and the music from the historical context, but they were the right people at the right time, and I seriously doubt that anyone will ever do the same thing again. The Beach Boys had the songwriting, the imagination, the ability to evolve, and the vision. But they didn't burst out of Liverpool in a post rationing Britain that was dour and and black and white and bring a fresh spirit which allowed a generation of young people to redefine themselves versus their parents... bestest, M.

I wouldn't go 3D. I hear they are clever with how they use the IMAX, so that might be worth it (all too often, if you just make a movie bigger for IMAX, you make it horrible to watch dialogue scenes, because you can't see both characters at once; just zoom it up for the big action scenes and it's much better...). I just saw it in Sony 4K on a big screen and that was fine... bestest, M.

I think it's good sometimes to go back to the Beatles after a little time off. Some of the songs are so iconic, like "Help", "Penny Lane", "Michelle" or "Let it Be" that you stop listening to them as music. Take a couple of years off, and you can hear how good they are musically, as well... One of the reasons that the albums, especially the early ones, are often very different in their US and UK versions is that they date from a time when, in the UK at least, you didn't have the songs that had been released as singles on an album. Which meant that some of the best known songs from say 1963 or 64 wouldn't normally appear on the albums from the same period, in the UK at least. The US releases are often re-ordered to include them, since some of the early UK hits weren't originally released as singles in the US as well. That's also why Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane aren't on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Except the one I have in iTunes... it's a truly fantastic album if you put Penny Lane in to close the first side, and replace "Within You Without You" by Strawberry Fields, IMHO, anyway! I think that Rubber Soul is probably my favorite, though on any given day Revolver or my version of Sgt Pepper can shade it out. Norwegian Wood is one of those songs that's iconic, but really repays listening to carefully. The lyric is John on his funniest and most acerbic form... and really only Dylan and Elvis Costello have ever got anywhere close. bestest, M.

And one more: from before there were even slide rules, and "computers" were people who did lots of sums. You should never underestimate the value of smart people with lots of experience. They might not be able to explain WHY it works, but they could surely build one that did... bestest, M.

That's brilliant... though probably it's a good thing I didn't see it before I built the Kitmaster Princess. The detail freak in me might have started scratch building internal cylinders! That blacksmith guy must have had a HEROIC appetite for beer, since you'd think that an 8-hour shift of hard physical labour in a heated foundry environment would sweat off any normal spare pounds... It's worth reminding people every now and then that back in the day, people made really complex machines from sheet and molten metal without the help of any computers at all... Like these two: bestest, M.

£12K for a sports car...? That's entry level hot hatch money over here. £15-16K for an MX-5, £17K for a Fiesta ST, £15K for a SEAT Leon Cupra... The BRZ is £25K, the GT86 £27K... That is seriously affordable for a new car... ...now, as to what your £12K would buy in the used car lot... I can think of a few alternatives! bestest, M.

It's interesting that the "Skill level" gets more or less equal billing to the "Revell" brand... bestest, M.