Matt Bacon

A real legend -- another of the "old guard" from the days of motor sport that produced "larger than life" figures. His inspiration will live on, in Sweden and beyond, I'm sure. RIP Erik... bestest, M.

Oh, there's a simple answer to that. No, there isn't. The Airfix James Bond release of 1967 is the only one with a reasonably accurate body shape, engine details etc. Except the tooling doesn't exist any more, it's not been available for years, and if you can find one today you'll be paying collector prices. Apart from the digressions, most of the rest is about discussing what needs fixing with the two other more easily available (but not currently in production) kits from Doyusha and Monogram. Does that clear things up? ;-P bestest, M.

Anyone know of a transkit to transform a Tamiya CLK-GTR into this baby? bestest, M.

Looks fantastic, though personally I wouldn't have gone for the bonnet decal. Those lines look great really stark, and simple... bestest, M.

The Doyusha is basic, to say the least: I can't find the pix of the Bond version, but it's much the same with a radio-telephone and a neat attache case for your guns... I'll try to dig out and photograph the Airfix chassis, engine and interior. One seat and the floor are messed up to accommodate the "working" ejection seat, but the rest is reasonably well-detailed, IIRC... bestest, M.

In the UK, you're looking at about £120+ for the Airfix Bond kit (£40 just for the BOX!), about £35-40 for the Doyusha DB5 and £40-£50 for the Bond version with the figures included, and maybe £25-£30 for the Monogram DB4. The Airfix box of the non-Bond Doyusha can occasionally be had for £20-£25 (I got mine as a "I'll never build it" for £20 for the "cut and shut"). I've never seen an actual kit of the Airfix DB6 for sale, but the box (with parts for "spares or repair", sometimes) goes for maybe £20. If I only knew a good resin caster, the Airfix Bond DB5 body could form the basis for a resin DB4 Srs I-III body (shorten and blend in the Monogram front end for the headlights), DB4GT (shorten and leave the headlights alone), DB5 (using all the kit parts) and, with a bit of work, a DB6 (though the best bet would be, maybe, to use an Airfix DB6 kit and rework the roof line and tail). My plan, I think, is to take the Monogram DB4, glue some thick sheet to the bottom edge and sand back the body to a more curvaceous shape, rework the window line, and narrow the floor pan to fit inside the curvier body... bestest, M.

Hi, all... does anyone do a '48 Buick Super Convertible in kit form? I'd really like to have a bash at building this: http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/classic-cars/videos/a25418/jay-leno-garage-icon-derelict-1948-buick/ bestest, M.

Sorry, Snake... will do. ;-P Sounds as though when Airfix re-tooled the DB5 into a DB6, they left the front half alone, and tried to keep the changes in the back half. But the 2" additional headroom starts at the top of the windscreen, which is taller, but more raked than the DB5. That would explain why it all looks too squashed. The wheelbase extension from DB5 to DB6 was to give the rear passengers more legroom, so adding that in behind the doors is accurate, but without raising the roof probably makes it look even flatter than it should. And once you've got the roofline wrong, the taper to the tail is always going to be a mess... (I've never seen a DB6 version of the kit in the plastic, built up or not: you don't feel like taking a few pictures, do you, Snake?) So basically, we're left with the ONLY accurate-ish Aston Martin in 1/24 scale being the original Airfix James Bond DB5, whose moulds were vandalised to produce an inaccurate DB6, and have now disappeared entirely. Surely THAT's an opportunity for Tamiya? ;-P bestest, M.

You should take another look in the box, Richard. T'interweb seems to think that the MPC DB6 is the same as the Airfix one (the Doyusha only ever appeared in an Airfix box as a DB5). If that's true, then it's the same kit as the James Bond one (at least engine and body shell wise... no ejector seat and machine guns...), but with the tail end retooled to the DB6 Kamm tail. Which means that the body should look pretty much like the white one above. So if your MPC doesn't, then the internet sources are wrong (what? WHAT? The internet might have a fact wrong? ;-P). bestest, M.

Thanks! This: Is the Doyusha kit "cut and shut" to make a racing DB4GT. If you look at the rear of the "greenhouse," you can see the fuel filler cap on the wing (there's one on each side). Another thing the the original Airfix DB5 kit captures much better than either of the others is that width of the "ledge" around the top of the wings. I could see in photos that there was plenty of room for two full size fuel fillers on the real thing , but the ones on my model are "as big as possible" but still pretty weedy, and they are really set into the apex of the wing, not sat on top of a flat plane... bestest, M.

Thanks, guys... a bit of a test, now. I traded the EOS400 for an EOS40D, because the 400 was consistently underexposing, and all the shots had to be messed with in Photoshop. These following are straight out of the camera with the 40D. That in itself is a big difference, but I think they are actually better coloured, better dynamic range and slightly sharper. But I may be kidding myself... What do you think? bestest, M.

Getting slightly back on track... ;-P White plastic is the Airfix "James Bond Aston Martin", silver plastic is the Aurora/Monogram DB4, the built one is the Doyusha DB5 in its Bond incarnation (came with rather nice Bond and Oddjob figures). The Airfix James Bond tooling was modified to make a Kamm-tailed DB6 and then disappeared. Later Airfix boxes called "Aston Martin DB5" have the Doyusha plastic in, with no Bond accessories. The non Bond version is also available in a Doyusha box. The Doyusha is pretty slab-sided, especially at the back, but not quite as much as the Aurora/Monogram. As you can see, the original Airfix Bond DB5 does a pretty good job of rendering the curves and undercuts of the real thing. The Airfix is also the only one to get the window line along the roof right. All in all, it's probably the most accurate starting point for a DB5 model (or a DB4 Series III with the faired in headlights, if you cut and shut it, taking a section out of the doors). The only problem is that they are rare and highly collectable. I bought mine for £7 in a charity shop, so I've got no qualms about building it... bestest,M .

There was a recent-ish article in Octane about the reproduction build as well. If I remember rightly, it's being powered by two Kawasaki motorbike engines, airworthy Bugatti 50C engines being in short supply these days... http://bugatti100p.com bestest, M.

http://www.fishermodels.com/product/bugatti-100p-record-plane-124-scale When I saw this, I HAD to buy it... it's a record breaking Bugatti in 1/24...except it's a "what-if?", and it's a plane... My plan is to build it into a diorama with the the Heller Bugatti T50 and a couple of period figures. I need a super sleek pilot (think Howard Hughes) and a super cool engineer (think Levon Helm as Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff), so an ideas where to source those guys would be much appreciated! bestest M.

Thanks for the positive comments, guys! Matija, Christian... the great thing about the Academy box is that it's in production now -- the only reason for eBay is to find a Korean seller. I haven't seen an Italeri-boxed version for sale ever, and the only RoG one I've spotted was ridiculously expensive. I wonder if there's some license that's expired between Italeri and Ferrari. I emailed their team a couple of years ago to see if they were planning to re-release any of these "classics", as they are doing with the Porsches, and they told me a firm "NO." There was also a strong rumour a couple of years back that RoG was going to re-release the Italeri 250 SWB, which is way better than the Esci/AMT abomination, and that came to nothing. (Though RoG DID do the 250 GTO recently). In theory, Italeri could release at least the 250 California, 250 SWB, 250 GTO, 275 GTB and NART Spider, Daytona... Christian... I do have a few Rosso Corsa Ferraris, but I also have 'em in blue, black, silver, yellow and now "Aubergine". There's a lot of scope for interesting colours in the more "GT" rather than "Sports" end of the range... Helmut -- those are the wheels and tyres in the box. I don't think they are too bad -- put them next to a set of Renaissance Borranis or the etched wires that come in the Gunze 250s and they look a bit clunky, but I could buy two boxes of the entire kit for the price of one set of Renaissance wheels... Thanks again, all! bestest, M.

Yeah... by comparison to the Jaguar E-Type Coupe and the 250 GTO, the DB4 and Maserati 3500 GT are actually pretty good! Hard to believe that there's still no accurate state of the art E-Type** in 1/24*... bestest, M. *(OR 1/25) **nor a 1/24 or 1/25 F-102 either, for your diorama scene... I guess you could do it with a 1/48 model and a couple of 1/72 versions and call it "forced perspective..."

...and with her build partner: it's much quicker to go curbside! bestest, M.

A hard to find kit in an Italeri box, but it turns out that it's been reboxed for the domestic Korean market by Academy, as "European Classic Car". No mention of the maker, nor any Cavallino Rampantes on the box art or decal sheet. However, all the bits are there, and it can be had for a bit less than £20 delivered from eBay. Some detailing under the bonnet to fill the empty space, with a fair few bits and pieces liberated from the spares box or scratch-built. Otherwise it's pretty much OOB. Colour is a home-brew "Vinaccia" (so much nicer than "Aubergine") made with Zero paints components, and the interior is Ferrari "Tobacco" aka Vallejo Tanned Flesh with a dash of yellow added... bestest, M

Thanks, all... my work here is done. Full photo set in Under Glass... bestest, M.

All true, but a lot of that can be improved with some careful sanding -- the body shell is reasonably thick! The hood scoop is a case of check your references -- there are at least two different styles I've seen, so your car might have either. The biggy is that side window/windscreen issue, which is going to mean new glazing... If I get a minute, to dig them out, I'll line up the bodies of the Airfix James Bond Aston, the Monogram DB4 and the Doyusha DB5, and we can do a straight compare and contrast... bestest, M.

My owner has had his upgraded to the competition set up... ...seriously -- I don't have a spare oval air cleaner, and this was supposed to be an "empty the queue" build before I depart in an entirely different direction! so, more or less done now. A few fragile details (door handles, wipers) to add, and a good clean, and then she'll be ready for prime-time... bestest, M.

Well, Roy is a pretty good modeller, but it can be fought into submission: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234925603-simil-r-ford-gt40/ bestest, M.

The most obvious error, which throws the look of the car off, is the roofline over the side windows. You can't see the error easily on the box art of either release of the kit, but the line of the top of the windows should rise all the way to the A pillar. The Monogram kit has a "hump", highest about half way along the window. I haven't done the measurements yet to decide whether it needs fixing by filling in underneath, or cutting away at the front to flatten the line to the windshield... but something needs to be done! bestest, M.

Except this isn't a GT40... It's a Ford GT Le Mans from 2010. This is what the callipers really look like: The plastic ones look fine, as long as you realise that you're looking at them from the back, in the plane of the disc, not from the side... I'm still on the hunt for that SimilR kit, because it's a great starting point for a fantastic build... bestest, M.

Great looking build and finish, and I love the engine. One question -- how does the driver steer? As far as I can see, the front wheels will be scraping the inside of the fender any time the steering wheel is turned! bestest, M.