Matt Bacon

Thanks, Dennis! Something that I only just noticed, looking at those last two pictures, is how much of the "design DNA" of the original Countach is lurking there under the 21st Century aero that will be added soon... bestest, M.

Thanks! The engineering and fit of this kit continues to impress. The red and orange transparencies are provided pre-tinted, which removes one irritating task. I scraped the plating off the top edges of the one-piece light bar, and attached the clear pieces with Formula 560 Canopy glue. The untinted thin pieces at the bottom are handed and need to be checked carefully before applying. They form a < joint with the red parts that fits perfectly. I wish more car models came with a proper headlining piece -- so much easier to paint. This is grey Alcantara, so it's heavily drybrushed, decalled, matt varnished and detail painted. The rear engine bay liner is a neat single piece moulding that responds well to some detail painting. I'm still not quite sure what holds the engine cover hinges, but it won't be long before I find out! Couldn't resist trying it for size. Very thoughtful engineering helps here, too -- the chassis simply clips into just flexible enough retaining brackets front and rear, so it's easy to clip together and take apart. Aoshima provide excellent masks for the clear parts -- just beware that the number and letters of clear part and masks for the three octagonal windows in the engine cover are mixed up (it's obvious which mask really fits which window) and more importantly that the windows fit with the clear edges to the rear, not the black borders as shown. Lots of small bits and pieces still to do, but I really like the way it's coming together. bestest, M.

I think they're pretty good. And although they don't state a scale, it's pretty clear that the Aventador is 1/24; It took my son (an 18 year old Lego expert) about 20 minutes to build and sticker. It went together pretty straightforwardly, and as you can see, compares pretty well shape and detail wise with the Aoshima model that I have on my shelf. If you want a 1/24 McLaren P1 on your shelf in 2015, this may be the best way to get it! bestest, M.

Thanks -- he's an owner with taste and money, you see... Slow but steady progress... A real symphony of black on black, hence the fact I've 'borrowed" the orange e-gear and paddles from a non-SV Murcielago special edition to brighten things up a bit... A lot of the cockpit is black or grey Alcantara, so I've tried to mix up the textures somewhat. The engine out of the box. I'll busy it up a bit, but you really can't see the plug wiring under the intake manifold/airbox... ...and I couldn't resist a little test to see how it all goes together... bestest, M.

Well, I'll be snapping up the i8 and the "Weissach Sports" 918 (which basically seems to be "Martini livery without the licensing fee..."`) as soon as I see them. Plus of course the DS19, but that's OT in a thread about Revell's 2015 releases... bestest, M.

Not as many as usual this year -- I normally reckon on one build per month, but moving house mid year meant quite a long hiatus before the workbench was up and running again. So, with no more excuses, on with the (rather brief) show... Avro 720 Mirage, Polar Lights, 1/25 Fokker E.V, Eduard, 1/48 Toyota 2000GT, Hasegawa, 1/24 Datsun 240ZG, Hasegawa, 1/24 Lexus LFA, Tamiya, 1/24 BMW 507, John Surtees, Revell, 1/24 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, Tamiya, 1/24 Jaguar XJ220, Tamiya, 1/24 ...there might be another completion by the end of the holidays, but I suspect what you see here will be the lot for 2014! Happy New Modelling Year 2015, everyone! all the best, M.

That'll go straight to the top of the build pile when it gets here! bestest, M.

Time for a separate thread for this one. Those of you with long memories may recall that I began this back in May, alongside the Tamiya Alfa GTA. Well... this one's finally got back to the bench, after I was distracted by finishing the GTA, the XJ220, moving house etc etc... NIcely detailed parts and good engineering make this a pleasure to build. The engine bay is lined in cigarette foil. I'm not going to town on this one like the XJ220, but I'll busy it up a little. No point in wiring the plugs, though -- they are completely invisible under the inlet manifold. One thing to note, though, if you do decide to wire it, is that the wires come out at 90 degrees to the "obvious" direction... Not many parts in this assembly, but it looks nicely complex. The engine is the chromed kit part, matt varnished and then treated to some Citadel wash. My owner has swapped his shocks for some aftermarket ones in purple and yellow... The body in Giallo Orion. You can see the risks of painting parts separately here: the doors and air scoops are a very lightly different yellow from the body, thanks to different amounts of pearl. It was a lesson learned, hence painting all the XK220 body colour parts as physically close together as possible... bestest, M.

If you've got some eye protection and some rubber or latex gloves, buy some "caustic soda" or "lye" (Sodium Hydroxide or NaOH) crystals for intended for cleaning up the kitchen. A teaspoon or two of crystals in a Hellmans jar half full of water will take all the "chrome" off your plastic in about a minute, and when you carefully pour it out, clean out your sink drainage into the bargain... Just add it carefully, and wash it out well... bestest, M.

Sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised -- I have a set of nicely painted HD DBS wheels in my spares box because I couldn't get them to fit the tyres acceptably no matter what I tried, either. You could strip the "standard" wheels and do them in a nice dark graphite colour: http://www.celebrityautogroup.com/vehicle-details/2010-aston-martin-dbs-coupe-6-speed-2-door-coupe-893b914c9bbcc744b43b2e9a7f1757e7/ That would be pretty stylish with a black body... ...or: bestest, M.

I completely agree. I use Citadel's washes, drybrushing and shading on all my interiors, engines and panel lines -- with a reasonably deep panel line,the effect is excellent. Because they have a full range of colours: red, purple, green, blue, orange (for yellow), plus four different shades from brown (for flesh) to true black, you can always find a colour that's appropriate for your paint job or engine bay. The blue, purple and brown washes are also really useful for "heat-staining" hot bits under the hood... bestest, M.

Hi, Justin... you're right that those metal decals are a bit tricky... I had a real issue with them on the matt white coated inlet manifold. Having messed up the "6.0 litre" completely, I had to print out a replacement with a "fake" metallic tint. After that I got wary. If I remember rightly, if you look at the decal sheet, you can see that there are a few large areas of clear carrier film in some of the number plates that you aren't going to use. I ended up applying the metal decals to those clear areas, where you can rub them down hard, and then once they were stuck, cutting them out and applying like normal decals. That was essential with the other underbonnet markings on the matt white. Even though they'd probably "take" OK on the clearcoat gloss finish, putting them on with the film carrier allowed me a bit of wiggle room, and time, to position them exactly right, rather than having to commit immediately they touch down. As for the brakes, the disks are carbon ceramic -- I find that Humbrol 56 "Flat Aluminium" is a pretty good match, since you don't really want any kind of shiny metal look... Hope this helps! bestest, M.

Thanks, Justin ... glad you like it! (The leather is "Madagascar Orange", IIRC, though it could be "California Poppy." Either way, it's a Vallejo colour!)) This is where I got mine from: http://www.mediamixhobby.com.sg/shop/fg0004.html#.VI9VYsbzQWw They've sold out of the set I used, but the above is an alternative DBS wheel set... I assume you've had a play with this: http://www.astonmartin.com/en/configure No DBS any more, but the DB9 options give plenty of latitude, and the pictures you generate are invaluable, I found... bestest, M.

Great project... I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the HD wheels. I bought some for mine, but gave up on them when I couldn't make 'em fit the tires at all. In the end I bought some FG Model wheels, which were ace, and the right size. I don't know how available they are these days: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10180875 This is my take on the "Carbon Black": It's done with Zero Paints. The base coat is a plain satin black, but I stirred a small amount of real graphite powder (used as lubricant and from a hardware store) into it before spraying. Then I rubbed the base coat with an old T-shirt to shine it up slightly, and finally hit it with the clear coat, which I tinted with black as well. So it's a real "Hotblack Desiato" number in black with black highlights over black... Hence the rather brighter interior -- which is a real option, by the way: bestest, M.

This place isn't the easiest to navigate, but has lots of the information you want: https://www.scalemates.com If you Google <name of kit/original> "scalemates" you'll usually get what you want in the top couple of results eg: Googling "Ford Galaxie Scalemates" gives you this: https://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=227920 bestest, M.

It would! You could, I dunno, maybe semi-close about 1000 miles of public roads ranging from smooth highways to semi-dirt tracks, with fast straight sections and twisty mountain passes, tell 'em they can take any car they want, and the winner is the one who has the shortest time over the whole circuit. See if any of them can do it in less than 10 hours... bestest, M.

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone. It may not be a "state of the art" Tamiya kit, but it's still a fantastic canvas to build on. As ever, reference is key, and I found a great book at a very reasonable price. I could have spent even longer in the engine bay, but life's too short... and there are too many other goodies in the stash. What's up next? Decisions, decisions... Thanks again, all! bestest, M.

One of the sleekest supercars ever designed. And don't believe all you read about how the car was compromised by replacing the V12 of the concept with "the engine from a Metro". Not exactly... the engine is a custom version of the TWR racing engine that powered the Jaguar XJR-11 Le Mans car, so its racing heritage is strong (it also powered the Metro 6R4 bonkers rally car, which is where the Metro jibe originated). Interestingly, the output of the engine in the XJ220 is almost exactly the same (540-odd BHP) as that of the V8 that powers today's XKR-S and F-Type R coupe. The engine is where most of the extra work on this kit went in, since the Tamiya original lacks most of the "plumbing" that is shoehorned into the engine bay. A wide range of wire, solder, jewellery elastic and even cigarette packet foil served to "busy up" this important part of the car. There's also a fully wired distributor in there, but you can't see it! (For anyone building the kit, the small cylinder at the rear end of the cam cover of the left hand bank of cylinders is the distributor, and it should be painted red!) Otherwise, the kit is great in terms of shape, fit and detail. The cabin responds really well to simple detail painting (though I did add some seat-belts, which are kinda obvious in that pale interior). The working headlight covers do work, somewhat surprisingly... It is possible, as you can see, to make the rear engine bay cover open. I ground out the slots on the body into which the hinge pins moulded on the clear part fit so that they were deeper and bigger from front to back than moulded. This allows the the cover to slip backwards as you lift it, so the front edge can clear the roof in front of it. When it shuts again, it slides forward and drops into place as gravity does its thing. The fit of the chassis into body is easy enough, but it's lacking positive locations, so you really do have to glue it in place at the front end and at the sides of the rear diffuser. All the pictures were done in exactly the same lighting. The difference is the tone of the card background -- the "brighter" shots later were taken on dark grey card, the earlier ones on a more neutral grey. It helps explain why pictures of a "Brooklands Green" XJ220 can look like anything from almost British Racing Green to zingy turquoise (check out "DK Engineering XJ220" to see the inspiration for this build...) Thanks for watching! bestest, M.

A quick gallop down the final straight now (yeah, right...) I used real glass tinting film for the sunroof, and it worked pretty well. And before anybody comments, I know the wing mirrors aren't symmetrical -- apparently the design around the A-pillars means that the driver's side needs to be forward, while they look into the passenger side through the quarter light. Last glimpse of the interior details And together at last: The fit's OK, but there are no positive locations for anything, and getting the simple hinge mechanism for the headlight covers into the right place as you bring the body and chassis together is a barrel of laughs. Proper final pictures when the weather permits... All in all, an enjoyable build of a pretty good kit. bestest, M.

Thanks, Cliff..! On the home straight now: With a bit of luck, and some extra supplies I've just mail-ordered, it should be finished this week... bestest, M.

Mini, Beetle, 2CV, Golf (Rabbit to you guys)... these are serious big sellers in real life, and familiar to everyone in Europe. More to the point, they're held in real affection by millions. I don't think anyone really loves a Fiat 124 or Ford Anglia... The Saab, maybe. Of all the cars above, I reckon the BMW 2002 Neue Classe, new in time for the 50th anniversary in 2018, is by far the most likely Revell Germany release... bestest, M.

Body is making progress... None of the windows are fixed in place yet. I'll post a bit more detail next time, but I think it is possible to get the rear screen to open safely if you open up the slots for the pins on the hinges, so that the window can move backwards a bit once you've popped it slightly open, and then rotate above and over the rear edge of the sunroof. It has rails on each side and the louvres behind (and gravity) to hold it in the right place when closed, so it doesn't matter if the hinge is a bit sloppy. And I couldn't resist this: The rear louvres (just like the X framework over the engine) are the original black plastic, polished. I think one of the tricks with cars is to get as many different finishes as possible on the black bits, to give the impression of all the different materials used in real life... bestest, M

Thanks, chaps... this is it for the rolling chassis: If you look really closely, you might spot the teeny-tiny Jaguar heads on the wheel nuts. Or you might not. Looks like I need to check the tracking... either one front wheel is on loose, or the steering link came off one of the wheel carriers while I was putting the wheels in place -- a tight fit! Currently faffing about with the windows... bestest, M.

Thanks, Glenn! ...and now the chassis is coming together... ...with a bit of luck, the lid will be on this weekend. I've found a solution for the sun-roof, I think... bestest, M.