Zoom Zoom

I've already built your model :shock: See below. We may have remembered the same car from SoCal; I lived there in the early 80's. I had the same questions as the 308 is IMHO one of the best Ferrari designs of all time and wanted the best looking model. Brian Venable showed me the various 308's in his vast collection of Ferraris and he was correct proclaiming that the Monogram curbside 308 is the best of the entire bunch, the shape is the most accurate. Even at that it's not perfect, the engine cover/decklid is a bit flat and the taillight location isn't perfect. If you can live w/o an engine, it's really a very nice looking model. I simply relocated the taillight lenses outboard of their locating holes, and I found a cheap Magnum PI parts kit for some fairly accurate Pirellis instead of the TRX's that came w/the 308. I think Gunze's 308 is the next-best kit, it has opening doors and I believe fender flares. Nice overall detail. Nice thing about the Monogram kit is they can be found cheap. I almost bought one for $5 at our show in '04, a friend walked up and saw it, he also knew through Brian that it was "the one" and I asked if he wanted build it, he said "yes", and I let him buy it. I wasn't going to let it sit on the table or go to someone who wouldn't build it right :wink: I built my 308 from recollecting perhaps the same car you remember:

You guys would make lousy detectives I'm 99.999% sure that Mal looked at Chris' online album that's in his signature, saw a picture of his workbench decoration and commented on it. I think Mike is losing it so close to graduation and his 18th birthday which is less than 48 hours away :wink:

She's pretty talented, looking like that while balancing a trio of goats on her head :shock: :wink:

Looks great! Very Juha-esque. Very unique subject, and the color scheme complements it perfectly. You've got Dona, you don't need a red convertible :wink: Missing Link Resin now makes resin copies of the only really accurate '69 Mustang, the rare one from AMT. It's the right size (unlike the MPC reissue which is underscale) and it looks better than Revell's because the front end is accurate. Had you had this option when you started this project, would that have been an option, even though it's 1/25 scale? The Revell is good except for the unfortunately droopy outer headlights. Don't know how they could have screwed that detail up so completely; if you look at a '69 'Stang from the front the inner and outer lamps line up horizontally on the same plane (just as if there were no grille divider or outer headlight bezel between them) but Revell obviously wasn't working from photos, or the pattern maker and kit designer weren't wearing glasses that day. The way the kit's face looks is so frustrating because it's pretty much impossible to fix without very difficult surgery and rebuilding, either the entire front fender because of the integral character line and/or the grille and surround. You did pretty ###### well given the circumstances, and I can understand how it took so many hours.

Probably just late. I heard there was a snafu w/the taillights; tooling missing or something like that. Haven't heard of any cancellation.

Very nice! Do the hood struts really work or are they static? Nice subtle upgrades to the car, much more character than stock.

That's incredible. Models of T/A cars like this are too scarce! I'd have a hard time giving that one up, even if I was holding the payment for it :wink:

Now that's a snazzy Caddy! Nice job, nice model. Would be fun to drive a 1:1 version of it. You can't beat a bubbletop for classy lines, and the Caddy is the classiest

Still think this is my favorite C6 from the Gonzalez Garage

Nice! I was thinking it was a Fujimi and read on another board that it's actually 1/43.

It's not a prebuilt diecast, it's the identical model you can buy and build. It's just been built for you. For $60 they are amazing. From my perspective I value my investment in building a lot higher than Tamiya does. I'd rather have bought the preassembled model vs. spending my own limited free time building the exact same thing I can pay Tamiya an extra $20 to have it fully built for me. In this case Tamiya is making it worth my while NOT to build it! At the rate I build, it will take several lifetimes to finish what I already own. If I'm going to spend 10-30 hours on a kit like this I want something more unique than something identical that's spit off an assembly line. The whole phenomenon is making me realize that everything I build has to be unique; I'm even less likely to build anything OOB anymore because I desire to have something more unique. And the comments are in no way meant to belittle what Mark has done; his model is amazing and I'm sure it's a good step above the one you can simply buy from Tamiya. It's just my own personal rant w/Tamiya; they're not making the models that I came to expect from them, and when I do buy one from them they go and make it easy for anyone to own one already finished.

Gorgeous model-turned out really nice. I have one to build plus I bought the extra detailing parts. However I'm at a crossroads w/the kit and Tamiya in general. I really wanted to build this same car. To enjoy the experience and get better acquainted with complex decals, and hopefully enjoy a similarly impressive result. But now I can simply buy the kit from them ready to go-for only a few bucks more than the already-expensive kit, I find myself angry with them for taking a project I really wanted to build and cheapening it by offering it via mass-production. At this point I have no desire to build the car; if it does get built it will be in a completely unique paint scheme. I realize I may always have had a lot more fun doing it that way in the first place, but sometimes I'm too hard-headed for my own good. Tamiya just isn't the same anymore, and I miss that. Not only are they barely producing any new kits anymore, they're making the finished product available to anyone for what I consider fire-sale prices. How they can get that kind of quality of build/finish for that price is amazing. But by doing this the whole aura and passion that was once Tamiya is history. The reward of finishing one of their kits is now worth a whole lot less.

Now I know why my hair is standing on end. :shock:

Looking great Ismael! The color scheme looks great. Did you get the link I emailed you about Pininfarina's coachbuilt 612? Seems we're not the only ones that felt the 612 needed some extra character. Here's the link so everyone can see it. Nice details like California-style hood, chrome grille/headlights, revised taillights and side cove, still fugly wheels :wink: http://www.italiaspeed.com/2006/events/vil...arina/1804.html

Nice color choice.

That turned out very nice, and I still like your '57 too

Congrats! Well deserved. Trophy is kind of cool even if a bit macabre.

Can't argue with that, for many standard colors I won't bother to break out the airbrush. Best spray can paint, hands down. They now also have cans of transparent colors like blue, green, red, orange so you can apply that over their silver leaf or any other metallic or pearl base for a nice candy effect. Their clear pearl however leaves a lot to be desired, the pearl effect is weak at best. Pearl midcoats seem better suited to airbrush users for best effect. One can get a decent look from layering the pearl clear between a solid and a transparent color, it just won't be quite as "pearly" as if it were a more integral part of the base coat.

Nice models guys! This is one of my favorites. Such and easy/quick kit to have some fun with, lotsa bang for the buck. Custom-mixed Model Master enamels, Modelhaus tires, parts box wheels, did some simple surgery to get the front end down where it belongs. Got another one to do with a little more patina :wink: This one qualifies as a factory hot rod, though it was a prototype. One-off 1934 Ford model 40 Speedster, commonly referred to as the "Edsel Ford Speedster". Built for Edsel Ford to satisfy his need for speed. It was originally gray metallic but later restored and repainted red. The real car has tons of character (one of my all-time favorite cars in person), and is in the original survivor condition from that restoration from the early 50's, and apparently will stay that way. Model by R&D Unique, w/a few parts from Revell's '37 Ford PU. This is the model built by an unknown builder, in the car's original color scheme: Dan Fink's Speedwagon, in a different color. Another spectacularly easy and fun kit to put together:

Can't wait to see this one finished to your standards! It's a gorgeous kit of a beautiful car. What color will you be doing this one?

Thanks for the sharing the details! I especially like seeing examples of how to fix things like this. Too often I see examples of builders facing an similar obstacle and their automatic solution is to strip what is essentially perfectly good paint and start over. The more examples, like this, that can be shown...the better.

Looking superb! I'm also surprised how often people don't trim the decals along panel lines. Some decals are far easier to trim than others, and it can be tricky...one wrong slip and there could be a big problem. Are the seats and lots of parts white metal? That is one material that I wish never was discovered by model producers, as the part finish is always rougher than resin, finishing is a tedious and often thankless job. Too many model companies use it as a crutch to add weight and cut down their production costs/time. I have one Model Factory Hiro kit and I despise the parts that are white metal, they would have been so much nicer had they been produced in resin. So many superb parts in resin/photoetch/machined aluminum and then you look at the white metal parts and they don't even begin to compare.

It's only a can of paint ; and it's only a minor setback. If it were a new can of paint (as in recently purchased) w/a receipt I most certainly would take it back for exchange. However I wouldn't expect anyone to pay for my mistake on an older product that I damaged and had no receipt for, especially on something as inexpensive as a can of paint. The remedy is simple. I would take the damaged can of paint with me to the store with the intention of buying a new can of paint. I would show them the old can, tell them what happened, tell them I don't have a receipt, tell them I was willing to buy another one, and that I would like them to safely dispose of the damaged can. At best they may take pity on my situation and let me exchange it for a new can w/o the receipt. At worst they throw the can away and I am only out the cost of a new can of paint, and would be back in business w/a minimum of cost/time/hassle.

That looks really cool! Though I admit I like the un-decaled look better, but the are pretty neat...would make great graphics for a real race car.

Um...erm...this will be interesting, to say the least... How are the Barracudas coming?