Scale-Master

I am building this a little different from most of the other airplane models I have made, due to the fact the kit fits exceptionally well. I was able to nearly fully finish the wings including most of the decals before mounting it to the fuselage. I was also pleased that my witches home brew of chemicals for a decal solvent worked well enough to apply the decals directly to the semi-flat/satin paint without any silvering and they snuggled into the recessed details nicely too.

Those AMT offerings all have the Eckler's kit on them and will make a conversion even more work. I would start with a stock bodied kit if I were to do it...

I can get out my "Big Ruler" for future pictures. In the mean time to give you an idea of the size, the wing span is about 13.5 inches. The bottom photo of the engine in post #6 and the seat picture in the middle of post #8 view very close to actual size on my monitor.

More interior parts… The dash with gauges that even include lenses. The seatbelts are a paperish tape of some sort that while it is printed, it has to be hand cut out. The PE also comes in the kit.

As wrong as (I think) that car is, at least it is indicative of what many 16 year olds at that time would have thought of as cool.

I really like the "paint". Wet looking.

That is just plain old COOL. I like your vintage era blueprint look as much as the concept. Great shading too.

The ones you didn't try are the ones that I find to work the best. Interesting "review". Just sayin'...

How much for the tractor? I bet I can mow my yard in less than 7 minutes with it. And get rid of those pesky planters I have to edge around...

Yes, a lot of pride and detail work from Tamiya in this kit. And the instructions are excellent. The engine is done.

The interior is made up of many well detailed little parts. Most were sprayed with the green color, and then the details were brush painted. The fit is very good. While most of the inside of the fuselage will not be visible, I still went ahead and painted it all as shown in the instructions, just in case…

The Small Block is by far a better rendered engine than the Big Block. I have swapped the Big Block into the Camaro, but it is a tight fit. Putting the Small Block into the Corvette was much easier.

I have had this Tamiya kit since before it hit the shelves of the hobby shops a dozen or so years ago. Every year I go to the Chino airshow and see real Zeros flying and say to myself, “I have to build that kit…”. I went again couple weeks ago and I am following through this time. The parts are impressive looking. Think Tamiya Lexus LFA, but in a more comprehensive airplane kit. I am building it straight Out-Of-The-Box, just to see how it goes together, and to enjoy the engineering efforts Tamiya has put into it. I started with the engine, even though that is out of sequence according to the instructions, but it looked like a good place to start (and I needed to buy a bottle of the interior green before I could work on the cockpit). Looks like I will be doing a lot of detail/brush painting on this model…

I think they are to help secure the T-Top roof panels.

Nothing opens except the hood, and what's under it is pretty weak on detail. While it should have the opening rear hatch, the kit builds as a fixed window version. And thanks!

Thanks Art, that was the plan, (after I started it and realized the time frame...)

Good luck with that, if it is based on this kit you'll see a lot of accuracy issues when compared to your real one. But at least the exterior looks close. This one is done.: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58660

Original Monogram kit from ’78, built out-of-the-box. Tamiya lacquers for the exterior colors. Vinyl for the red pinstripes on the body and wheels, I had to make new decals for the doors, and license plates. The hood spear is a painted decal I made to match the silver paint on the lower section. Took about three and a half weeks. There are some inaccuracies, and a few poor fitting parts, but all in all, a fun build. Here is a link if you want to see the WIP: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57576

Did you save some of that paint for a Meyers Manx? Or a bass boat? Looks like a good gel coat job.

I am glad I chose to go the OOB route. To correct just the big things that can be seen if it were a curbside would be a huge undertaking, and overall, I am pleased with the way it looks. I have enjoyed building it, I don't think I would have enjoyed trying to correct the problems. The cool part is unless you really know the car, or put it next to a real one, most of the issues don't distract from the overall package. And thanks!

Getting close. That rear spoiler is very incorrect… And the engine bay is bland…

Very impressive. The driver looks like James Garner.

They are kind of like pototo chips. For the first time in decades, I don't have one as a kit on hand. I do have a comprehensive book on them if you can't find what you are looking for.

One of the cool things about these cars is the freedom to do some eye catching color combos if you are so inclined. Bright or high contrast colored wheels and noses are quite common.

Slow going with the wait for paint to dry and some fit issues. The body is mostly done and the interior and firewall have been installed into it. I didn’t like the way the hood pinstriping looked, so I redid it with the same vinyl material I used for the pinstripe on the body. The glass fits very poorly (especially the windshield) and took a lot of work (and glue) to fill the gap between the clear and the body.