Jim Gibbons

I believe the old Lindberg "Pogo" vertical take off model had geared, contra-rotating props, but I think it's an odd scale. I saw it was still listed recently in the Squadron.com catalog. Just a thought.

Geez, and at one time, I thought adding a vacuum advance line to the distributor on my '53 Ford was state of the art! Romell, unbelievable work. The German born architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is often attributed to using the statement "God is in the details." (I have a t-shirt with his image and that saying.) It's true, and that sets you apart. As an aside, one of my favorite galleries in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC is the one that has architectural models, including Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" house. It's nice to know that modeling is considered art in some circles, I know I'm viewing it here.

Beautiful. That is museum quality diorama work. There aren't enough superlatives to describe how incredible your piece is.

Yup, that's the same car Bill had. Again, on my ancient 486, I have a B&W photo of the car taken when Phil Hill was racing it. Rats, I gotta figure a way to retrieve those pics! Brizio, I like the darker red myself. The 2300 I saw had original paint and if I recall, was somewhere in the middle of the reds between what you posted and what Skip posted. I made a valiant attempt again to find the negatives, but came up empty. There is hope, though; the friend I went to Lime Rock with was a track photographer there, and I'll ask him if he has prints he can scan for me.

Thanks, Skip, for posting those pictures. To me, though, that was not one of Alfa Romeo's prettier cars. One of my personal favorites was owned by my late friend, Bill Serri. Ralph Lauren bought the car from the estate, and this is how it looks now, done in Alfa Corsa red. I wish this car were modeled in 1/24/5! I'm hoping that at some time I can recover some pictures I have on my ancient 486 computer, as Bill sent me a pic of him in a vintage race at Pocono in this very car. As an aside, he also had a Ferrari 250 Monza (1 of 4 with the V12) that he bought around 1973 for $7500. I saw him arrive at Lime Rock in it once; somehow he got it grandfathered in as street legal in NJ. His license plate was VROOOM. Straight pipes, racing windscreen, no windshield wiper, etc. He would get out of speeding tickets by pleading to equipment violations, LOL. What a sound that car had! I miss Bill. Sorry to hijack your thread, Brizio! 2900B

Bam! That was my skull exploding, LOL! Not to give you extra work, but I think the xenon lamps require a ballast, so you might have to research the size used for automotive applications to connect the harness to. I'm still reeling at how good the lamps look.

I admire your bravery for taking a razor saw to a Pocher kit! I still haven't found the pictures of the 2300, and looks unlikely that I will. However, I have a better chance at finding the negatives, so maybe can make prints if I do. I do remember that the 2300 had body colored wheels rather than natural metal finish like the car in your photo. I guess that was not uncommon.

As a former lighting applications engineer, ....forget it, just plain amazing work!

Just wanted to add this article and video from Autoweek about the Pacific Coast Dream Machines show; in the video, at about 1:08 are a Yak and some Mustangs, including a racing version. Between the cars and the aircraft, it makes me envious towards you west coasters! Pacific Coast Dream Machines

Thanks! The bottled acrylics I used were completely flat in finish, and water based. They're really designed for paper, wood, etc. I chose them as I didn't have model paints that I could mix to get the color I wanted. I added some clear gloss directly into the two mixed colors, and put a thinned coat of clear on after the paint dried except for the carpeted areas. These were kind of hard to apply with a brush, and I ended up stripping some areas and redoing them. I don't know if these could be airbrushed, as they seemed to have a bit of a "gritty" texture. There is a huge palette of colors available, though, so some neat interior finishes can be had.

Well, when I was following Romell's series of pictures on the battery assembly, I have to admit that was my first thought, too! This project is way over the top...amazing.

I also built the Tamiya version of this car for a friend; another of my favorite Italian designs from that era. The Gunze Sangyo kits can be a bit of a pain. I built their Lotus Elan for someone years ago, and it also had the "soft" interior pieces. Heavy sigh. I love these old Alfas so much, I guess I'd better get in gear and finish my Testors repop of the Giulietta Spider. That is one kit where the paint has fought me all the way for some reason.

Looking good! From your photos, it looks like you painted it Tamiya Coral Blue. I did a '62 TBird in that color, and here's a picture of the colors I used for the interior. http://images31.fotki.com/v1097/photos/6/1679196/8847494/TBird_0045-vi.jpg I tried to simulate actual Ford colors for the dash, carpeting, and door panels to offset the white seats. I used art store craft acrylics (I think the two colors I used were Blueberry and Teal), and mixed them with the addition of Tamiya clear gloss acrylic for a semi-gloss sheen. I'm not saying Chevy had the same scheme, but it came out very well, and looks much better than the picture shows.

If it ain't fun, it's not a hobby, it's an obsession. I enjoy researching a particular car to make sure I get the details as right as possible. There are times when I want to add the extras to make it look like it could be functional, and others where I'll just build it "out of the box" and just make it look good. I've built Pocher kits in the past, sewn upholstery pleats, etc., but I find myself building a little bit "less" and enjoying it more these days. I so admire the awesome builds I see here, and find them inspiring, but my disability budget limits getting aftermarket (with the rare addition of photoetched parts) so I just go with the kit flow. More often than not, I give my builds away, and the satisfaction of seeing someone else enjoy the fruits of my labor makes it all worthwhile.

I built that kit in the late '70s, early '80s when it was re-released from Monogram. I wish I had another. I can't recall any specific building issues other than fiddling with all the working panels, but it turned out to be a very nice looking model when done. It's one of my favorite Italian sports car designs from that era, and as Mark said, it's the only game in town for that car in this scale. Enjoy it, and be sure to post pictures when you're done!

Stunning...too bad so much of your beautiful instrument panel detail is hidden.

Solid! Awesome work. 'Nuff said tonight.

Great progress...glad you're saving this kit. Just please, no on the chrome fender skirts! Way too J.C. Whitney!

Beautiful build! The choice of color, interior, wheels, etc. work perfectly.

Kind of have to agree on the old GM X frame cars. I had a '58 Cadillac series 60 4dr hardtop, and in some ways, it was steel jelly. I have a book on vintage car wrecks, and the X frames did not do well. (Plus, it was a total pain to to rout speedometer cables on those!) The Caddy rode nicely, and was a total looker, but safety was not a keyword back then. I often wonder how many eyes were put out from mid '50s Buick dash nobs (not that they were the only ones to blame...just to me, the most prominent.) Yes, cars are better and safer these days. Metallurgy, petrochemical technology, and electronics have done things to cars that couldn't be imagined back then. But I'd still rather have a '50s car for the styling and the "bling!" (I'd just install seat belts like I did w/ the '58 Caddy.) I still remember the beautiful red and black interior on my friend's '56 Buick...eye candy. I agree with Dave's comment on grey, black, or tan interiors. Yawn! I want interiors that look like they were done by an interior designer. My '56 Fairlane Town Sedan had a really nice two tone blue finish that was rather comforting, which is what the manufacturer's goal was, I guess. Marty Martino's replica of the Club de Mer is stunning. I remember seeing photos of his Lincoln Futura body in Collectible Automobile many years ago. He is tremendously talented, and a gift to the old car hobby. Too bad these cars aren't available in the same way as the Beck Porsche Spyders, etc., but then they would lose the exclusivity of a one off.

Philo, sweet 540K! I received that very kit for my 10th birthday in '69. At the time, it was molded in red, and was the hardest kit I had built to that point. The first kit I built totally on my own was the Monogram Ferrari 275P in 1/24 that could be built as a model or a slot car body. Guess it was around '67 I built that one. Here's a 1/48 Renwall '48 Continental I built during summer vacation in '68. You can still see the glue smear I got on the passenger's side door! Unfortunately, the Bugatti that was part of this two model set (for the huge sum of $1.00...ate up my whole dollar gift for getting a good report card!) didn't survive the decades due to its fragility. There is one thing I really miss from the '60s; open roofed Ford Good Humor Ice Cream trucks. I HATE the crummy looking vans that come around these days with the electronic music. I just want to hear the "jinga jinga jing" of the Good Humor man, and being able to get a bomb pop or an ice cream sandwich for a dime!

Glad to hear you're doing well...before you know it, you'll be at the bench again! I really want to get my new hips, but have to face a couple of other surgeries before they'll even thing about it. Ugh.

Looking really good, and the paint is perfect. Now that you removed the heating system, I hope the car was sold in a warm climate!

Long, continuous clapping for your photographer! However...this a model CAR message board, not a board to post runway models!

Back in '97, I was at the first Historic Ferrari Challenge at Lime Rock. They also included historic Alfa Romeos, and there was an unrestored 2300 with original paint, upholstery, etc. that had the darker red color. A beautiful car. I have to go through my old photos, and if I find one, I'll post it.