Zoom Zoom

The lump under the hood seems to be the Ecoboost turbo.

Found this by surprise tonight when in Wal Mart to get some coolant and decided to peruse the Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Yes...this is a $9.97 diecast by Motormax...go away if that offends you Album HERE I doubt we'll ever see a plastic kit of this...and if so, it will cost more and probably won't be that much better. This thing is pretty nice; doors fit nicely, wheels steer very nicely, detail level is pretty good. Paint is okay....for a $10 diecast. I think mine is missing one spotlight. I had no idea this model was coming out. I recently saw a 1/24 SHO by Greenlight for nearly $30 and it was a mess, no way I was going to buy it...nothing fit, panels didn't match, terrible treatment of door pillars. I saw two other variations of this Taurus; one was a generic white highway patrol unit and the other was a black and white generic local municipal unit. They both had very low-profile roof light bars w/siren. I got this one because it looks so cool all in black. Perhaps Wal Mart got the first run...I was on a couple diecast sites this weekend, nothing to indicate this was coming.

The Pegasus 18 Michelin Pilots sold by Scale Dreams may work; they're essentially the same tire that is in Tamiya 350Z kits. The stock front tires, and stock tires from AMT/Polar Lights kits like the Ford GT and 2004/2005 Pontiac GTO's are a perfect fit for the Revell tuner wheels; and more realistic sidewalls. Someone was making aftermarket repops of Revell's thin tuner tires, but I don't remember who.

Nice work

If you cannot blocksand the areas around the sinks level, then you have to use some sort of filler. Depending on the size/depth, you might get away with dabbing some Tamiya or Mr. Hobby "primer in a bottle", or a dab of superglue followed by kicker and immediately sanding, or swiping it with the filler of your choice. Don't cut corners with bodywork and paint. If you are going to customize or whatever, deal with the consequences. Small marks where you do custom bodywork are expected, and if you want good results you'll have to work for it! Just roll with the punches.

That's really a cool conversion!

That's very unique, neat model I assume it's 1/32 scale?

Nice work, excellent concept and execution! I am also a big fan of the Jada kits...well, all except the Corvette that had caricature-proportions. I was dying for a GT500, nothing to be found (at the time) from Revell, and then when I saw how good the Jada kits were I built my GT500 and never even bothered to buy/build the Revell kit when it (finally) came out.

Too many to count. I admit it, I'm a freak...my lawn and yard might suffer, I might not vacuum enough, but I manage to make plenty of time to build my models Part of this is the inevitability after looking at my 1,000+ unbuilts that they'll never get built anytime in (multiples of) my lifetime. Now that I build a lot of the newer releases, and still can't keep up with all the new stuff I want to build, at least the "inbox" isn't growing anything like it used to. I'm on track to build 15-18 models this year. I've built that many in the past 2-3 years per year. I don't want to count how many...I sold a few, gave away a few, still don't have enough room. But I'm having fun

I thought I had posted a reply here last night? Anyway, congrats on your win, the Pontiac is awesome and definitely deserving of the Ricky Couch award, great meeting you yesterday, I enjoyed the show very much...the day literally flew by. I didn't use a flash so my photos aren't as nice, but I did shoot a bunch yesterday. I was amazed at both the quantity and quality of models on display. I'll make sure to get more ACME members to the show, I'm embarrassed to say there were only a couple of us there yesterday and the show is far too good and far too close to miss. SCMA Contest Photos HERE

Nice job now why haven't I ever bought or built one? And I passed up one for $10 recently (it was started but very workable)

There is no such animal as "Hobbylink.com". Therefore all answers you have received are speculative. There is a huge difference between the two mail order houses that share a similar name. Hobbylink Japan, and Hobbylinc. Until we find out which one of these two you are discussing, everything is purely conjecture. That said, ordering on Friday and on Tuesday you are already on the internet wondering where your stuff is, I have to say you are a very tough customer for anyone to please.

Meh, doesn't bother me, I knew when they started they were never going to make their intial target date (last Xmas), and I'd rather they get it right than let it out with issues that can and should be fixed. I have plenty to keep me busy until it gets released

Very nice! I wonder if anyone is going to build the model w/those awful graphics (from the first issues).

I've brushed it on, I've sprayed it on, I have used it a couple times as a topcoat. It did not like being wetsanded at all (used Micromesh just like I do on regular clear). It had cured in the dehydrator. It feels durable, almost like Teflon, up until it was cut. Dry sanding was another story, it remained stable. It is in no way, shape, or form as durable a topcoat as any real clearcoat. I painted several IROC Porsche models a few years back w/craft store colors and needed to use Future as a clear for some reason. I far prefer using Gunze Mr. Topcote as a safe clear over decals vs. Future. If others get good results and like using it, that's fine w/me. I'll stick with the clears I use regularly.

Last word I heard was another 3 month delay because of tooling issues; August or ??? and the 300 not being available until "late 2011".

Some of their stuff; decals, metal transfers, are fine. But their resin quality isn't great. Their 599XX transkit...all the parts undersized, etc. etc. Wheels that are kind of rough...Aston DBS wheels with "female" connectors instead of Tamiya "male" connectors...

You know the story behind the Hobby Design resin TT? I kid you not...it is a common ~$15-$20 Welly diecast model that they took apart and recast in resin. Period. Hobby Design...caveat emptor, big time Welly has done quite a few modern Audis in 1/24 scale; the current A4, A3, TT, Q5, Q7, R8. I think Burago does an RS4. Diecast companies sell them, they're on Ebay. The only modern Audi plastic kits are the A4 DTM car and the R8, and the R10 LeMans racer. There will be an R8 Spyder this summer.

I think it's better at being a barrier than a top coat. I had a difficult painjob that I was running into unexpected etching of my color over a base color, thankfully I was shooting light coats at the time through the airbrush. I ended up shooting Future as a midcoat barrier, and it did the trick. I just don't like how Future flows; to me it seems too thin, it will run very easily, and I don't like how it polishes out...can't use water. "Real" clear paint is much superior, IMHO, for external use.

I'll be there, looking forward to it

Thanks for all the replies! They're little adhesive-backed "beads" found at a craft store. They're sold in small packages layed out in rows. The amber was tinted w/a Sharpie.

A tiny concept track day car, and you're focusing on the ride? Don't worry, I'm cooking up a custom Caprice idea for a club project, I'm sure it will have a pillow-soft ride for soothing the bumps away on the days I'm not carving corners on the track or in the mountains

This is one of those ideas that crept up and slapped me upside the head. I had a $5 Lindberg D-Type Jag swap meet find, intended to build it up as a D-Type w/a few additional goodies, somehow it ended up in the vicinity of a Tamiya Miata...and this idea was hatched. I used a Tamiya Eunos Roadster, as it was RHD. The size/scale/layout of the two bodies were so close I had to do this; Mazda has done a couple Miata Monoposto concepts, so I decided to do one of my own. With a show coming up I wanted something new/crazy from my workbench, something custom and not OOB. Burning the midnight oil, this model took a very short time to go from idea to show table. I would love to own/drive a car just like this...great trackday special. I shamelessly stole their 2011 Mazda Miata 20th anniversary paint scheme from their SEMA showcar. Tamiya light gunmetal and Testors grabber orange are the two main colors. This was built "just for fun", a lot of that fun was the fact that it wasn't a highly-detailed show-stopper, it's more of a "what if" simple curbside, and it certainly scratched the itch for a nearly instant-gratification custom.

Thanks! I guess I can put it on the forums now that it has been published. The entire concept of the build just kind of happened one night when I was comparing the Lindberg D-Type body (I bought one intending to build it) and the Miata. They were so close in size, shape, layout, that I figured "why not?" and that's all it took. Glad you like it, I like how it came out too. Best part was, aside from the cutting/blending of the body, it was a dead-simple curbside build that didn't take forever to go from concept to execution.

My Tamiya paint stand works just fine (plenty of friction between the base and the holder), but I was using one at a friend's house and his stand had the same problem you mention, almost caused a disaster.