sports850

LS used to make a lot of semi obscure kits , they did half a dozen or so different mini sedans in 1:20 and 1:16 but also produced a mini van and mini traveller (wood trimmed van with rear seating) except they were on the mini sedan floor pan . A Van/traveller shell has a 4" longer wheelbase with an extra panel welded into the floor to bridge the gap , their van and traveller looked a little on the odd size when you knew what the full size version looked like , but I'd still love to get my hands on one or more of each ... And I thought for a moment that was a mini in the box behind it , but it's the Honda N360 isn't it ? Does it have the mini type nose or the flatter front end ? Any chance of more photo's of it please ?

That's looking good Nick

This is my build inspired by this competition , http://www.modelcars...showtopic=55712 , if I get it finished in time I'll add it over there , if not then I'll just do it for myself Mini Ha-Ha was a '70's mini creation by Matchbox (they also did a flying VW Beetle for opposition) , it was availible in a box or blister pack as shown here (these are both mine) , I was originally thinking of printing an A4 backing card for it but can't figure out how to make the plastic blister easily so might go with scanning and enlarging the box and going that way Anyway , my version will be based on a spare Tamiya mini body I had sitting around and an InfiniT I had built but got bored with , it'll be donating wheels , front and rear ends and bits and pieces , and a resin engine like this one , just waiting on details from the supplier to see what scale resin engine will look the best ...

This photo is a couple of years old now , in a previous house and in my bald headed phase I have hair again now though it's thin on top , might have to go back to the cue ball look yet That's the sports 850 that I'm leaning on by the way .

Looks great , interesting to see how small the trailer looks with that car on it compared to mine with 8 mini's on it

My preference with box art are the ones that have the "artists impression on the top and photo's of the model on the side (like some Tamiya models) so you get the interesting shot and the actual

I'd look at some of the variations in body styles that aren't offered yet , wagons or vans or pickups/utes of models they already do sedans of (looking at you Tamiya , we want mini van's , pickups and travellers ....) . EDIT > And give us two dashes like some manufacturers do , LHD and RHD .

Well at least the TG crew were closer to the truth than the Simpson's were when they portrayed Australia but we don't care , we can laugh at ourselves Nice build Walter , but I want to know if , when you build the rest of the cars from that episode , you are going to make the Comaro with , or without the cow on the roof ?

Like I need to start any more projects .... but I have a cool idea for this after looking at the other builds in progress with a body I have sitting around ... I'll have a play first and see if I can do what I want to do before officially joining though

:blink: Well , I guess it is possible , wonder how many times you could wind it up and down before the cord inside jammed though . Where did you findd this gem ?

Another book I keep going back to is "don't stand close to a naked man"by Tim Allen . It explains a lot about his humour and how he got to where he is (or was when he wrote it at the peak of home improvement when he wrote it) . His follow up book "I'm not really here" (i think) wasn't that great however ...

That's cool

There is another hobby store an hours drive north of here ( www.scaleautomobilia.com.au )who is more reasonable and he gets the majority of my buisiness , but you have to wait till it's worth making the trip there . I'd love top be able to get my hands on any kit for $5-10

I tried to link this here yesterday but the forum didn't like my file name

My jaw has hit the floor at the prices , to give you an idea my local hobby shop sells current revell kits for anywhere up to $65 and Tamiya around $55 each , remember our dollar is currently very similar to yours too . I don't care what those kits are like , even if you only use the motors or wheels or whatever out of them in projects I'd be grabbing whatever you can afford and have fun with them .

Very nicely done , definitely leaves you wanting to see more of the ship it comes from . As far as I'm concerned , a builder has really hit the mark with a diorama or vignett (or however you spell that thing) when you look at it and can visualise the rest of the ship/building/scene spreading out from the piece like I can with this one . How did you bend the styrene to shape so it looks so realistic as canvas , heat or some other method ?

You've done a very nice job of it , these look best with the steel Cooper S wheels on them like this , unfortunately the Austin kit is the only one that comes with them . What's the green thing on the rear parcel shelf (there's a story behind it isn't there ??? ) ? The only thing I could suggest with this build is you move the brake and clutch master cylinders across to the left side of the engine bay as well . You did well wiring the engine , I know how fiddly it is to do and get to look right

I generally have one or two books on the go at any time , my usual read is any of Clive Cussler's books (I have all of them bar one of the Sea Hunter books and the Dirk Pitt revealed one) , I don't read them in sequence , just grab whichever one I haven't read for a while (I read so much I have generally forgotten the details of what's in specific books so can easily reread them . My other favourite Authors are two Australian's , both now deceased , John O'grady who had a very Australian humour where we aren't afraid to laugh at ourselves (also very politically incorrect in todays terms) and Evan Green who also happened to be a motoring journalist and PR man for BMC in Australia in the mini era . One of Evan Greens book's is about to be made into a movie , "dust and glory" about the Australian Redex trials in the 50's . Apart from them I read anything I can get on the history of mini's and anything marine oriented , especially relating to whaling in open boats (if you ever get a chance , read "the killers of Eden" by Tom Mead about the bay whalers working out of Eden in NSW , Australia . It's the only place in the world that's known of killer whales actually helping human whalers catch whales by herding them closer into shore and attacking them to slow them for the whalers to catch up . I tend to haunt 2nd hand book shops fairly often too and just grab what looks good at the time too , whether it's fiction or non fiction .

That's a pretty serious effort , full marks to the driver for keeping it upright .

Harry , you could get used to it when christmas means you are surrounded by girls in bikini's on the beach you can keep your white christmas , I'll keep the bikini christmas :)

Tongue firmly in cheek Nah , you guys are the ones upside down , our side of the world has less land mass so therefore is lighter . We all know that if you get a ball and stick weights on it to symbolise the continents it will roll until the heaviest side (Europe , see , they are dragging the world down is on the bottom and were on top . After all , the globe was only put north side up to keep the poms happy so they had a reason to think their cold wet country had something going for it after all , what other country would send their prisoners to paradise while they stayed where they were cold and miserable . I am writing this on my phone sitting on the beach after surfing with my kids on a beautiful autumn day while my mate is shivering in his london spring :)

That's filmed down here , a bit further south in Victoria , presumably in the floods we've had recently . Normally there's a snorkel up the back of the cab on those things but he's still pushing his luck crossing there . And they aren't windscreen wipers , they're fish scarers

I'm on facebook (search by my username) and a few forums . The main use of facebook for forums isn't competition but advertising . One forum (international mini model collectors club) has a pretty good facebook page which people find from people with the same interests (mainly from the other mini pages there) and then join the forum for the thread's with information rather than just photo's on facebook

I'd say late 70's Ford Courier for the red one as well , the Mazda B1800 (or was it 1600 ?) had a different looking grille down here at least and I think that one's the ford grille . EDIT > I'm thinking perhaps a fiberglasss canopy on the back of it as well .

Yeah , I moved over here after being told by the owner that I should proof read the site before letting my boy's look at anything there if I was concerned about language ....