Paul H

Are these the alternative wheels that are included in all the relatively recent releases of this kit? Been searching for info on this, but haven't found any definite info - mostly just the vague line drawings in the instructions which don't help much! Thanks!

I bought the Merc 600SEL a while back thinking it was a reboxed Tamiya (fortunately it was cheap...), but it's a very obvious, poor quality reverse-engineered copy. Perhaps ok if you wanted to use that V12 or perhaps the wheels & tyres for something else, but the fit & finish of the body, dash & glass mouldings is nowhere near quality of the original Tamiya kit, when compared side by side.

Ah - you have the Hi-Tech version, so the doors look much better than the regular all plastic release. Looking forward to seeing more of this project, as I've only ever seen the regular version built before, and the Hi-Tech has some very nice upgrades, especially the grille & bumper irons. Very interesting to see how the metal wheels turned out. I was going to use the plastic wheels with the separate chrome hubcaps (from the regular kit) for mine, as I didn't like the look of how the hubcaps were cast together with the wheel in the Hi-Tech, but seeing yours has changed my mind, as those look great. Really didn't expect them to polish up so well, but your before & after pic says it all!

Looking great, and very cool colour choice! That 'wood' effect looks very realistic & I wouldn't have thought of using clear orange - cheers for the tip!

Looking great! Fantastic colour choice too - dark blue metallic seems to suit many recent Ferraris so much better than the stereotypical red. Exactly - whilst detail is nice, it is often a pity when it can't be seen later, and from what I've seen, this kit seems to tread a very fine balance between keeping assembly & parts count as simple as possible, but whilst still looking detailed after assembly. Talking of which, can't wait to see the rest of this build

I've been wondering that too - from what I've seen of the Revell in various photos & reviews online, whilst there appear to be some aspects that are better (e.g a fully separate rear subframe, seats & dash), there are others where I think that the Tamiya is superior (e.g. engine bay detailing especially the ancillaries on the bulkhead, & more accurate depth to the front door pockets). Given the size similarities, would be interesting to see if the two can be combined to make a really good version! In the meantime, I'll be sticking with Tamiya (if only because I have a couple already...), but if Revell were to release a Countryman / Traveller version, or (even better imho) an Elf variant, then I'd definitely buy those!

Especially liking that Packard - looks very smart, and I'd be very interested to see some more pics of the interior etc. Always been a fan of that marque, and it's a pity that there aren't more kits of their cars.

Wheels look good - is that BMF or Alclad to the rim edge? Also, this is the Gunze kit isn't it? If so, it's very nice but there is an accuracy issue with the interior side panels, which the HiTech version only partially corrected with its additional photo etched parts, and which has always bugged me The door interior panels should be body colour as they are actually the door frame, except for the raised door pockets, which are the interior colour. However, the kit supplies just a single piece for the entire door interior per side, which is missing the cut-out area above the pocket trim panel, and the instructions call out the whole panel except the pocket to be painted in body colour, which looks wrong compared to the original. Much of the area above the pocket should actually be open & the back of the pocket is a piece of trim (in the interior colour) glued directly to the rear of the door skin. Below are a few pics that show how it should look: (this one not only has the original & correct factory moulded rubber floor mats, but also the back of the door skins behind the pockets are covered in the same textured rubber material) this view shows the depth of the pockets well, however note that the painted surround at base of the gearlever should be body colour. All these views also show the correct treatment for the capping rail above the dash, which should be vinyl trimmed in the interior colour, whereas the kit has all the cappings as chrome (they are in fact polished aluminium), and no paint call-out for the one above the dash. Apologies for the length of this, but if you need any other reference info, please don't hesitate to ask, as I know these cars well, and am (very) slowly converting one of these kits into a fully detailed version. Looking forward to seeing more of your build!

In this link, it's listed as being a co-operation, so if that is indeed correct, then presumably it is the Protar (as reboxed by Revell a couple of years ago) or possibly the Italeri kit (that others mention has been reboxed by Revell on a previous occasion): http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/FirstLook/Hersteller_News/Revell_News_2013.html

Fully agree about the new tooled Mini. Yes, it is a slightly different version than Tamiya's, but not significantly enough imho. However, perhaps Revell are intending to do more versions later if it is successful enough (as they are now doing with the recently announced panelvan version of their excellent recent VW splitscreen bus) - such as a countryman / traveller, or as you suggest, a Clubman. A 1:24 DS would be fantastic - whilst Heller did do 1:16 versions of the earlier type saloon & decapotable, from all reports, they are not the easiest to build. Whether a new DS kit would sell well outside Europe is another matter though.

Parts that would be chrome in the 1:1 are plated in gold, and the rest is satin chrome. It's not as bad as it sounds if built carefully, and appropriate washes etc are applied. When I built mine a while back, amongst other things, I also used suitable colour paints to suggest natural leather for the seats & spare wheel cover, so that the effect was more realistic, i.e. as a scale model of a full size car that had been finished in that way (e.g. something that might have once belonged to Liberace), rather than a crude toy, which is how the photos on the box (without any detail painting) makes it look. If it's of interest, I can dig out some photos.

Excellent work, and those subtle colour / texture differentiations on the GTO interior looks extremely effective. Btw, the Daytona was also released by Revell a few years ago. Almost finished building one (but it has ground to a halt since I lost the bonnet hinge & haven't got around to making a replacement yet) and as you say, it's not as insane as the Fujimi kit, but still goes together nicely.

Beautiful build! Don't see many of these built, which is a pity. This was one of the first kits that I built when I got back into model kits a few years ago when recovering from a hospital operation. Mine now needs restoring after sustaining some damage during several house moves, so I will certainly borrow that trick for the hood hinge. Heller kits are often heavily criticised, but the ones in this series are very detailed, especially considering their age, and are also of particularly interesting & unique subject matter. With this one, the only problems I remember having was getting the rear suspension to sit at the correct ride height (just requires some trial fitting prior to gluing) and that the engine mounts needed tweaking, so that the engine would fit correctly, & thus the radiator top hose could be installed properly. Well worth building!

Many thanks for sharing the info - been wanting to find out more about this kit for ages, especially how it compares to the Tamiya. Please do let us know about how it goes together! In the test shots I've seen, the wheels & tyres looked slightly clumsy - is that still the case in reality, or do you reckon that careful detail painting will solve that? Also will be interesting to see how neat the roof panel join is - although Tamiya's method is more complicated to paint, it does hide the panel join extremely well.

Out of interest, will this be available to read online later on*? I'm in the middle of building this model at the moment (my first resin kit - I also have both their Amazon / 122S & Jag Mk10 kits in my to-build pile) & would be interested to know how it compares to other makers *I would subscribe if there was a digital subscription option. Also, for reference info on the 1800 & Amazon, I can highly recommend these two websites: http://volvo1800pictures.com/ http://www.volvoamazonpictures.se/