PatW

Thanks guys, much obliged! Well Scott, talking about good summer. We have recently returned (last Thursday) from Canada & Alaska tour. Starting at the Calgary Stampede, 2 days, Staying with our eldest son and daughter-in-law south of Calgary for a few days, onto the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver and onto a cruise to Alaska, stopping at Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, with various stops and excursions, narrow guage railway, seaplane flight etc. and then unfortunately back home! What a beautiful country you have.

Thanks guys, yes I'm finding one part of my model building a poor job and that's windows rubbers/surrounds, very difficult.

Thanks guys. The interior was complex but by sticking to the instructions it came together very nicely indeed. I traced the template for the orange nose and tranferred that to a masked bonnet, trimmed around the edge of the traced image and using a sharp blade cut out the shape, leaving the rest of the nose masked ready for paint. I also have the black Audi from the same series to build. I have already built the much earlier Mercedes yellow car and will take a photo of the two together on my return.

Built box stock to depict Gary Paffett's 2009 car which he took to 2nd in the DTM championship that year. Nice kit all fits very well, full engine/gearbox/steering. Excellent decals, some are long and I would suggest be cut in two for easier lay-up. Odd colouring to plastic moulding, all bar chrome and body/bonnet in nice white plastic but body/bonnet in a mix of ivory and grey! So as car is initially white, body and bonnet need to be painted white and orange gloss nose painted on after. Painted this one in matt white, laid up decals to body/bonnet then two coats of gloss clear added. Bonnet lifts off to see engine detail.

Yes it looks a fun kit Scott until you try and put the tracks on the jockey wheels and find the tracks are way too tight to stretch!

I completed this recently. The only changes to the truck were at the front end, smoothed out the bonnet (hood), changed the wheel/tyre combo to Centrelines and adding my home made decals, I have a jet ski on the way from Clearly Scale to put inside.

Thanks David. Yes Tom get over there and see what we've been seeing in the UK for years now, thin corrugated metal panels welded together to make a sturdy servicable work horse. There are two pics here of the different types of foody outlets. The first is healthy wholefoods and the second pizza's!

Thanks guys.

Superb Tom, I'll have the Orange one! Yes Gary that would be really cool!

Thanks guys, yes there's always a way to save most if not all situations.

So here is the home printed decal to replace the kit one that fell of this morning....................

Disaster avoided! After posting this the decal fell off althogether. I stuck with paper glue onto a white sheet of paper, took pics of it and scanned it to my PC. Loaded onto a Word Doc re-sized it to the decal size, copied it four times on the same doc and printed it straight onto white backed decal paper. It's in my cabin having been gived a clear acrylic gloss coat so when dried in about a hour will be ready to cut out and fix to the side of the van, Hey Presto!

Thanks Harry P. But this is how I found it this morning when I got up! Now how do I re-attach it without it collapsing? Clingfilm over the top? A drop of olive oil underneath to soften it up? See if it comes off in one piece and put it on double sided tape? If it comes off in one piece scan it onto the PC and print a new decal?

Thanks Carl, one problem today.I went into the kitchen after I got out of bed to do my breakfast and the longer decal on the drivers side has all but peeled off and curled up lengthways! Now that's never happened before! Now I got to think how to re-attach it, thinking a thin coat of cling film? I daren't try and paint on clear gloss because it will just fall to pieces!

Thanks Chris, and I have another photo of the van turning up at the Back Street Garage, to deliver some food either to the guys doing overtime OR they are just having a party!

Thanks guys. These are used a lot nowadays as on street food outlets in the major cities, and very popular too!

Thanks guys. Yes David I can't imagine that you would see many in the USA. Well Peter there are some weird and wonderfull kits out there.

Thanks Jeff, but the body being in 4 pieces plus four doors is a job and a half. I wish I could get a real one though, very trendy in the city of London as a food outlet!

I've built this box stock and not being a lover of multi-part bodies, after this I'm still not. The plastic is soft and sometimes doesn't like ordinary cement that comes in a bottle. The artwork does not show any of the various colours that the kit can be painted to go with four sets of decals. There is a comprehensive list of paints/colours to use but without artwork it's difficult to choose the variant. I went on Google search and found a real version of the one I've built that uses one set of decals (2). All the doors come searate so can be fixed open or closed.

Thanks Carl, still looking for more 'different' builds!

I use a Samsung digital zoom mini camera, Samsung Master programme. I put most pics onto a standard picture file. I then use a word document for each group of decals, which helps in sizing and print directly onto either clear or white backed decal computer paper. As soon as it comes out of the printer I dash out into my cabin in the garden where all the modelling is done. Spray the paper with two coats (letting each one dry) of clear acrylic gloss and about an hour after printing I can start to use them! Sorry I'm not trying to teach granny to suck eggs as we say here in the UK. This is just the way I do it!

Thanks Lloyd, yes I use my art/decal knowledge for graphics, and also print my own decals if I can't see online what I want to achieve.

I quite agree Lloyd, I fumble a bit and find especially when building the wing structures (putting the wing struts on, using various tools to hold them up, waiting till the glue is half set then adding the top wing and used more props/small & large paint tins I need etc until it's all set) at least two if not three extra hands! Sight wise I have an illuminated magnifier. But the hassle is worth it!

WOW Lloyd, the bike of my hero MotoGP Star Rossi! Very well done, superb!

Thanks Al, from a modelmaker of 60 years who couldn't and wouldn't chance making a real mess of decaling, to one that now sees all matter of images online and prints his own on both clear and white decal paper, and takes every opportunity to use them! I've just finished a Rupp Snow Sport Dragster on 'Other Models' 'All the Rest' wanting to add decals to the model, just by fishing through my old decal stash and just cutting shapes out of old racing and rally cars to enhance the kit image.