Zoom Zoom

Several hints: Tamiya colors like Pure White are relatively "thin" in regards to pigment. You really need to apply it either over fresh, white styrene or white primer. There might be an issue between using one brand of primer and another brand of paint. If you had used Tamiya fine white primer, you'd be doing backflips right now because it would look so incredibly good. I decant/airbrush Tamiya sprays, easier to build up mist coats and avoid the problem w/paint pulling away from edges, etc. But the main issue you are having is spraying white over gray.

A couple months back I traded some Emails w/Ed Sexton, he mentioned April for the next round of announcements, so I imagine it will be soon. Sounds like there may be some very interesting stuff coming. But in the meantime I have a Falcon and CRZ to build...talk about two vastly different subjects

I got 100%...had to think a bit on the hood ornaments. Next...

Looks pretty sweet The black paint looks perfect.

That is one gorgeous Firebird! Nice work

Looking and definitely do the brushed look on the side trim. If you change your name to Gregg Foose, you'll have to fill the side mirror holes as Foose hates side mirrors

I've been there a couple times when I used to go to the Detroit Auto show; I always found some great stuff and some great prices. It helps that I like foreign/exotic kinds of cars, aka the ones that can't sell in Michigan, so the prices were very nice indeed on some hard-to-find items.

Tamiya is telling distributors to expect the revised primers and thinners etc. to start hitting later this month, and some will be in May. Just be patient, it will be back. Floquil makes some nice figure primers, you can use those. Gunze/Mr. Hobby makes great hobby primers Mr. Surfacer 500, 1000, 1200, some in bottles, some in spray cans. I have been using a jar of Mr. Surfacer 1000 and love it. Thinned w/Mr. Color Thinner (same basic stuff as Tamiya lacquer thinner), it goes on smoother than Tamiya primer from a spray can....so even though I'll be able to soon restock on the Tamiya spray bombs, I will be using them less now that I'm so happy w/the Mr. Hobby alternatives. Haven't seen Plastikote primer in ages. Don't really miss it.

No kits whatsoever. However if you search around, you'll find many 1/24 diecast models of modern BMW's. The ones by Welly are the best, and consider any diecast a "blank canvas" to work with.

A website in the UK lets you make your own here

Oh, okay, it hasn't had anything posted since 1PM and seems down again. I still get the "new posts" page but can't open anything.

The SA site is working fine for me. It was down last night or earlier today. In the meantime:

I got my "newest" and improved sheet in March of 2010 and the vendor told me at the same show this year that even ordering straight from BMF that it seemed that they weren't always consistent. I've used not quite half of that new sheet and in the meantime it has begun to wrinkle on the backing sheet, but it still works well and has not exhibited any signs of cracking. The previous sheet of "batch 1 new and improved" that I had was worthless. BMF should have changed something about the packaging to know what production batch it is...or they've had more issues in subsequent production runs. My only suggestion would be to complain, get fresh product, and learn how to make your own from thin/generic kitchen foil and Microscale foil adhesive.

My Falcon arrived today. Compared it to my original (built nicely by somebody) '65. The model is a headscratcher, for sure. So much promise...so many oddities. It is what it is. I'm reading up on the Japanese website (thanks to Google Translate) where the black one was built, looking at photos of real Falcons. No doubt that it will look decent and should be a fun build...but I'm not under any delusions, I really wish they'd have sweat the details more. Photos on the Japanse website of the convertible shows the "Falcon" lettering on the decklid that is missing on the HT. The CV has a more basic steering wheel, more basic air cleaner, a bench seat, and some bigger tires for the optional 5 spoke wheels. For those complaining about the stock exhaust...just use the custom dual exhaust. It looks much better and much more believable as an exhaust system. It's no more "wrong" than the stock setup.

No, they didn't miss them, they're just "scaled more appropriately". Not sure if there are any missing between the trunk lid and roof...

Now that got my attention! More...more!

I just happened upon the convertible kit and instructions (the HT is there as well) at a well-known Japanese online hobby shop; nice that the CV and HT have their own side panels, nice to see an uptop in the CV too. Looks like whitewalls are up to the builder...no inserts, no decals.

Thanks! Actually my wheels are a mad-scientist concoction of Alclad colors mixed/matched, recoated, revised, and coated w/Tamiya smoke; and as you know I'm still second-guessing the look. They do look great, but on my pearl white car I think I could have done better with either straight gloss black, or straight Alclad stainless steel on the wheels. For Lownslow's model, I think straight gloss black would be perfect. My "I have no idea how I'd match them again" colored wheels would look better on his car than on my white car It is nice to know Tamiya did not simplify the drivetrain on this one, it is fully detailed to the level that a lot of people would have wanted the Aston Martin to be done. And yet so much of this awesome mechanical stuff is fairly well buried from view once it is all put together. You can put the engine/drivetrain/suspension together with the wheels and put that assembly under anything. Only the pricetag of doing such would be the greatest hurdle.

I see everything everyone else sees, maybe more, but how it affects me is a personal thing, as it is for everyone else. So much negative energy swirling about, I like to keep it positive like your idea of steering towards how to improve what you have. I see a pretty neat Falcon with potential, others seem to focus on details that drive them nuts so they have a hard time seeing what others see as good. I see a model that looks a whole lot better to my eyes than their Bonneville HT or Nova CV, that's for sure. Maybe I'd be less objective if Trumpeter had done something more (personally) grail-worthy. I went from a somewhat bored observer to accepting a review sample to build because of all this controversy I've railed enough on Trumpeter's previous models, still haven't built one

I don't think the issue here is what people have found wrong, as much as how many times and how many places they've gone over and over and over and over it to death, the horse isn't beaten it's now a soup-like puree. I don't get why so much energy is being spent on this. It is what it is. Buy it if you want, don't buy it if you don't. Gregg's "thanks" comment is being completely ignored by the horse-puree folks. There are no gold stars for anyone's forehead over what else you can find "wrong" with the model. When I saw the beautiful black model, I saw a lot more "right" in it than some will ever give it credit. The amount of obsession over this kit is...

No, but I drove through there Saturday and yesterday as I was in Brookville visiting relatives this weekend There's an empty hobby shop on Main Street in Brookville just dying for someone to resurrect.

At what point does a discussion/critique go from just that, to a case study in OC(D) behavior? At what point does making observations over and over and over again become the entertainment value of modeling, vs. actually building and enjoying the hobby from that perspective? It is one thing to have a good discussion, but how much leftover horse puree can people handle? The new kit looks like fun. Compared the photos to a nicely built 65 in my collection, I just don't see why so much fuss and drama about the new kit. Yeah, a few gaffes. Nothing terrible. It's Trumpeter, it is what it is, they are what they are, life goes on. The original kit looks nice, but itself is very crude and inaccurate in many ways. Someone built the one I have very nicely and had fun with it. Others will do the same w/the new kit. It's only a Falcon.

I know exactly how you must feel. Looks like fun.

Well, if it helps any...Tamiya's DBS tires are too large to begin with. They should be much lower profile. If you can snag some Pegasus Michelin Pilots, the tires used in Tamiya 350Z kits, they will stretch nicely over many different 19" and 20" wheels. I know Scale Dreams carries them, they come in two different sizes and one package has both sizes. Also the HD DBS wheels I have are the "female" configuration while Tamiya uses "male" wheels w/a pin. What in the world would make Hobby Design do this is beyond me