Zoom Zoom

Comparision/contrast. About the same footprint as an Austin Healey Sprite.

Kei Car Wiki I call this diminutive mid-engine beast "Lambotini". Aoshima Mazdaspeed Autozam AZ-1. Built over the past few days, fun project in between commission projects. The real car has a 660 CC turbo 3 cylinder engine by Suzuki; Suzuki built this space frame gullwing car (think gullwing Fiero...plastic body panels fit the same way) under license for Mazda; a little over 4000 were produced in the early/mid '90's. I sat in one recently and barely fit, my feet were hilariously too wide to operate the pedals in the uber-narrow footwell...depressing the clutch would involve depressing the brake at the same time. This has to be the coolest kei car ever made, and they're just making it to the US under the 25 year law.

I fought with the headlights this evening. The rest of the kit is a breeze, the headlights...ugh. Thank goodness for Formula 560 canopy glue!

Thanks; I started mine over the weekend and took a close look at the headlight assemblies. Was it a matter of figuring out which way the chrome reflector traps the lens to the opening on the hood? Overall it looks like a great kit w/just enough detail and some clever molding. The hardest part looks like masking the canopy/windows inside/out.

I used Tamiya extra thin, it's my go-to liquid cement these days. Any of the liquid cements that soften plastic so it "welds" itself together should be fine. The Tamiya extra thin dries quickly.

Never know what will arrive from Hobbylink Japan: Car show freebie bag from Hagerty's near my workbench has been claimed: My little computer expert at around 4 mos. old, at 10 mos. old he's way too big to nap on the laptop anymore, even if he still tries:

The seller is Paul Hettick, not Robert Burns.

My recent order was $3.50 for shipping 5 jars of paint.

It's claimed to help seal the plastic surface, close the pores so to speak, after it is sanded. These are the areas that are always prone to ghosting if you use a too-hot paint on some plastics, with the surface gloss sanded away the plastic swells up from the solvents in the paint. It's not necessary if you're using common hobby paints (Testors, Gunze, Tamiya) but with these automotive sourced paints it's important to be mindful of the potential for crazing/ghosting and use proper methods of sealing the plastic from the aggressive solvents in automotive paint.

They're quite similar. So far I've only shot one color of Gravity (Porsche Sapphire Blue) and one color of Splash paints. While friends claimed that the Gravity paint would allow you to paint 2-3 bodies per jar, I used nearly an entire jar of the blue to cover one body. That said, it was the first iteration of the color offered which was revised later. It seemed to not have the pigment opacity that I expected. The paint job was a success. I recently sprayed Splash Paints Highland Green; being a dark color I decided to prime it with Gunze black surfacer. Even though the 1 oz. Splash jar looks suspiciously small, after thinning the paint slightly (with Mr. Color Thinner) to help smooth the paint flow, the Highland Green covered amazingly well in thin, opaque coats with no signs of crazing or ghosting, though I did use the liquid cement trick on areas of plastic that had been sanded to remove mold lines. I ended up using perhaps 20% of the 1 oz. jar. I'm pretty pleased how it turned out. I wouldn't hesitate to use either brand. My Splash order was placed on a Wednesday afternoon, processed by their PO early Thursday, on my doorstep on Sat. That's pretty fast from Oregon to GA.

Ditto! I had so much fun building an STi-style BRAT tuner, I really wanted to build a more stock-like BRAT, but they're not exactly easy to find. This one had been in my stash for a couple decades when I built it over a decade ago:

Those are both very cool! No build issues w/the AZ-1? I'm tempted to get started on mine; sat in one in April at a dealer in VA on our way to NNL East, and the first one registered locally showed up a couple weeks ago at our local Caffeine & Octane. I don't fit in the AZ-1; pedal box is way too tight. The local owner said he has to drive w/his shoes off. My left foot would hit the brake pedal every time I went for the clutch. My right foot would hit the brake when I tried to hit the accelerator. These are truly tiny cars! I had no issues like that w/the Beat I sat in. Nice work on both models, lowering that Beat makes a big difference...the OOB stance is too high.

There is absolutely nothing new about Revell Germany reboxing Revell US product...and because of that, if and when that box ends up in the US it's a lot more expensive.

Once my ordering issue was resolved on Wednesday I ordered 5 jars of paint. They were delivered yesterday (Saturday). That is fast service from Oregon to Georgia! Can't wait to try them!

deleted

That was well worth the wait and the effort! Bravo!

Order direct. Shipping is fast and reasonable.

No worries; I've known him since 2002 and the products, quality and communication are excellent. I've enjoyed building the models and I've written several articles over the years, from his first days as Scale AutoStyle to his current C1 Models company he started. I bought 3 more transkits at the NNL East a few weeks ago. I've also ordered online, the transactions have all been smooth and shipping relatively swift and not very expensive.

Ah, Hasegawa finally decides to do platform-style interiors again.

Mine is almost entirely OOB. I did have a vintage set of wheels/tires in my parts box, so I haven't used the resin steel wheels included w/the resin kit. Somebody on FB I believe started down a rabbit hole, asking if this kit's chassis was based on the AMT '69 Corvair chassis, wanted to know if the '69 Corvair chassis would work "for more detail". Words were not nearly enough to convince them that the '69 Corvair chassis idea would create a cascade of issues requiring scratchbuilding, so I took these photos to compare. Use your own judgement...we're talking two different generations of Corvair chassis, different wheelbase, etc. I'm 1000% fine using the made-for-this-model resin chassis as everything fits precisely.

Our show (ACME Southern Nationals) dropped the NNL moniker a few years back. It still slips out occasionally but it hasn't been used on our flyers for 2-3 years now.

What a novel concept!

This is the one I wanted in the first place...got the DS19 too, maybe time to build it to practice up on the fit of the doors/hood/etc. Rode a few times in a '72, what a spaceship...so smooth, comfortable, and quiet. The owner's only complaint was it was painfully slow, but it averaged 27-32 MPG which in the mid-70's was pretty stellar.

Get the DS19 kit that's already out to do that version, it's also less expensive (by maybe $20). A guy in Belgium already built one...pretty cool subject.

Drop dead gorgeous! Nice work.