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Nice kit, nice work, I've always been bugged by it being 1/25 scale instead of the international industry standard 1/24 for subjects like this. Revell USA did a lot of that nonsense

I also vote for Rosso Fiorano. It's much nicer than Rosso Corsa. Blue NART would be nice too. I saw an F355 this weekend in a blue that I've never seen before, it was a medium irridescent cobalt blue with a slight violet pearl flop in direct light, it was called Azzuro Monaco. I need to get some of that paint for something, it was a beautiful color; subtle but bold, and not the "expected" shade of blue. Blue TDF would be nice too. Beware of chassis fit, especially at the back. Also the fit of the interior around the back, there's some problems with the package shelf hitting the recessed window channel. Hood hinge is also problematic for allowing the hood to fit snugly. Many hoods are warped. Will be nice to see this version; I took the easy way out and just painted the top center black and kept the seats with the stock configuration. Now that you can get online to Ferrari's configurator, you can create the exact scheme you want to see on your (model or car).

McLarens are rare; I've seen a handful, most of them the year I saw them race at Sebring, but I've seen a couple of the street cars as well. The pearl orange one that's been seen in some magazines was at a local dealership a few years ago sitting next to an Enzo. I didn't even look at the Enzo that day. I've seen a small handful of Enzos, and a trio of FXX's at Road Atlanta. This weekend at Caffeine & Octane here the orange Ford GTX1 prototype was on display, the one that's selling for or sold for about a half million $$. I've seen it once before. Killer car...and there was a yellow Lusso w/race livery that must be new in Atlanta; it was previously owned by someone in the Netherlands. But Atlanta can't hold a candle to SoCal for interesting/rare cars per capita. We only get the big Caffeine & Octane show once a month, you have it every single weekend.

What? You live in SoCal. If you don't see them on your daily commute, you're doing it wrong

I think it's pretty awesome when a scratch builder adds their own mold lines and ejector pin marks just to throw people off...

One of my best friends was a major rotorhead; he worked here in Atlanta for Jim Downing, I even got to ride w/him in Jim's '67 Cosmo Sport one time...nobody on the road had a clue how rare it was. My friend owned a bunch of RX3 SP's over the years, and I'm going to eventually do an SP conversion of Fujimi's kit. His last SP was sold and shipped to PR. Seems PR and New Zealand are the two world hubs of vintage rotaries. Anyway, here's the RX7. Was a fun OOB kind of build; guess it's been 10 or 12 years since I built it.

Nice progress; I have one of the Tamiya RX7's w/the rotor wheels in my "built decades ago" stash, never got the 1st version (green one on the box) since it was rather toylike. I like the Monogram kit; the shape may not be quite as dead-on as Tamiya's, but if you do a nice job finishing the model it becomes a non-issue. I realized that after I had someone commission me to build the Monogram kit; I ended up building two of them side-by-side, so I could keep one for myself. I have the RX7 cafe racer as a parts kit and found a mint/unbuilt this past year, had terrible time finding them for a few years. It's a real shame that you can't build the "real" Racing Beat car from it; they did the basic graphics but the body kit is quite different. Guess they weren't going to spring for a new body, so went with separate flares instead. Oh well... I may end up robbing the parts kit for outfitting a Fujimi RX3 w/an opening hood and full engine.

The Revell ones look fine, but I was just thinking aloud about what I'd seen somewhere that it was AMT and not Revell doing the 2010/2011 Corvette promos. Wish I could remember the source. If they're Revell that's a good thing. If they're AMT, I'm afraid the wheels will be at least 1 or likely 2 scale inches too small in diameter. Like their Challenger SRT-8 rolling on 18's

Are there any photos out there of these promos? Seems I remember they're not Revell but AMT? Would that mean seriously undersized wheels/tires?

That's how mine will be built. ACR's with red stripes: Or no stripe, but w/black 2 tone: A yellow one, with or without red stripe, would be cool:

And yesterday while out at lunch I had the pleasure of seeing a gorgeous metallic green '51 Hudson Hornet coupe make a left turn onto the street I was driving, and passed me. Looked like a brand-new car A question about the chassis bracing: I was showing the photos online to another builder last night who is familiar with these cars, I believe he still has one somewhere on his property. While drooling over the photos of all the details, he commented that the quantity of bracing underneath looked to him to be from a convertible. Therefore my conjecture is that this is a good sign that a convertible is planned from this tooling?

Looks fantastic, but I was pretty surprised that Moebius was doing a new & modern truck; I would have pegged Moebius as the perfect company to do one of the coolest trucks of all time...the Pete & tanker from "Duel"

No thanks. But thanks for the kit photos. One can build an ACR in at least 3 different colors using the kit-supplied red stripes.

Every year MPC re-engraved the previous year's model to update it. So the bodies were modified, interiors modified, etc., but for the most part the tooling was shared and updated every year from 1971 through 1976. It's possible there was new tooling in '73 when they started making the Caprice instead of the Impala.

Looks fantastic Can't believe it's taken '55 years to get a kit of the '55

Looks great, thanks for sharing. Don't rush 'em, get 'em right...

Thanks! These kits are pretty easy, no major problems, but they are a bit crude underhood/underneath vs. more modern kits. For shelf models they're fine.

Yes, 1/24. If it ends up 1/25, I'm going to quit the hobby

You either find them on the internet, illustrate them yourself, or get someone to do the illustrations. There's no "magic pill" simple solution unless you can find those kind of line drawings of the particular cars you are interested on the 'net.

Hard to say. I would bet it won't lower their prices, but their sales will fall off a cliff. Honestly, they've been available for so long I doubt they sell in any serious numbers anymore regardless. I would think most people that had to have them already got theirs. The Gunze kit was overpriced when it was new and even though "high tech" it was weirdly over complex in some areas, but under-detailed in others. If the Academy kit comes in with the Revell-like detail, and they do it right, and they sell it at the expected $30 pricepoint that was mentioned, I'd say it's game over for the expensive resin kits. Then the aftermarket can offer detail-up kits for the Academy kit. Of course this all is just hot air until the Academy kit is on the streets, and then it has to prove its mettle with the buying public.

It's got more in it than alcohol, definitely not the same. If you airbrush the acrylics often, if you can find the Tamiya lacquer thinner, you will probably prefer it. Or Gunze Mr. Color Thinner...both are actually perfect for mixing with the aqueous acrylics and make them flow out of the airbrush like "normal" paint. Someone told me they had heard a Tamiya rep say that the lacquer thinner was developed not as an aid to people who decant their spray cans, but as a product that allowed their acrylics to flow more like lacquer or enamels. From my experience, that is exactly what it does. And it works very well with the decanted sprays (Tamiya and Testors lacquers) too. All I use the X20 thinner anymore for is making paint washes. For airbrushing I use Mr. Color thinner or Tamiya lacquer thinner... My local Hobbytown has the Tamiya lacquer thinner, and I see Mr. Color thinner at a lot of better hobby shops, both are available easily online. They seem identical...though you can get Mr. Color thinner w/a retarder as well, called "Mr. Leveling Thinner", which I believe would be best if you are shooting glossy acrylics. And sometimes in a pinch, regular store-grade lacquer thinner or acetone may work with the Tamiya acrylics as well...I've tried it, sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. A quick test in a cup will tell you. I have no problem at all cleaning my airbrush of Tamiya acrylic w/lacquer thinner or acetone.

I completely understand how you feel, especially in terms of that company and that model. It's still very disappointing to remember them telling us, to our faces, a whole bunch of fictional tales... Add to that the myriad of other subjects "run up the flagpole" by marketing long before engineering lifts a finger, well...I completely understand why you don't trust any of them. My excitement is always tempered by the realization that a lot of kits announced never hit the shelves for a variety of reasons.

I recently was in contact with Ed Sexton, I asked about the Cobra Daytona and he says the model is in good hands with the Academy team and the model is still in the design stage. As mentioned previously, the basic theme is essentially a Revell-like model in design/detail at a competitive price. Sounds good to me; hope to see it sometime next year.

When I see a model with something that I don't like, whatever it may be, from subject matter through a lack of craftsmanship, I just keep my trap shut