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I look forward to seeing this built; not many have ever been finished. I have the street version, to build someday... I built the stock XJS when it came out...I don't remember it being particularly problematical, but that was many years ago.

When he told me it was $31 and change for the three models, I though that was just for shipping. Turns out that was the total. These models are only £4.99 from Antics. That's ~ $7 at today's exchange rate. I halfway expect when he gets his credit card bill that I'll have to cough up more $. Quality-wise only it's well worth 2-3 times what we paid, and that's what most go for on Feebay and through other websites.

I build models for the visual design aspect; much of the time I could care less if it's "accurate" underneath. As long as it looks good, sits good, and has that certain "something", I have no problem "cheating" to get the look I'm after. I'm perfectly happy with a great, simple curbside. I build my models to look good all closed up. While I love doing bodywork and custom designs or the very occasional "beater", I'm not interested in building super-detailed replicas or "World of Wheels" kinds of displays with everything open and easy access to all the little mechanical aspects. Not that there's anything wrong with that In fact I love seeing other people build them so we can all enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor. I enjoy seeing all facets of model detailing from various builders. I build for me, they build for them, we all have our own particular "styles" and we're all happy. Well...most of us, at least

Sometimes a holy grail doesn't get offered as a kit. Sometimes they're dirt cheap. This was both; a beautiful 1/24 scale diecast model of a Citroen DS19 (from the UK from a place called Antics-model was about $11, that includes shipping; a friend and I combined orders. You can also find these models on Ebay, mostly from the UK or Italy). It's part of a large line of 1/24 diecast European cars being done by Quattroruote magazine; they're packaged in cheap vacuum formed containers attached to the magazine. Wish they sold 'em on this side of the ocean... I've been intrigued with these cars ever since I was a kid, friends of our family owned one. Rode like a dream, amazingly smooth/quiet, very leisurely acceleration but also very fuel efficient (this was in the early to mid-70's). This is one of the iconic cars of the previous century. The DS, which stands for "the goddess", which is what these cars were called. Some think it's a cockroach on wheels. You can lift a wheel from the hydro-pneumatic suspension to change a tire w/o a jack. You may have seen some amazing chase scenes with these cars driving around on 3 wheels. This car was sold for 20 years from 1955-1975 and was anything but conventional. It's nicely detailed, opening doors/hood/trunk; decent engine/underhood detail with a spare tire and upper engine/intake detail. Hard to see inside hood/trunk as they don't open very far. Nice paint too. I might repaint it someday, or if I luck into another one I would repaint one to a lighter color. I can't wait to get the BMW 1600 (aka 2002), Fiat X1/9, and others on the list of upcoming models...we'll never see them as kits so this is the next best thing.

I thought it was a model at first; wheels and tires looked suspect, the brass grille looked "too good". Later I stumbled onto photos of the real car. Before I voted I won't divulge more. Harry might have me eradicated, Chicago style

Nice save

Nice work . This is one of my favorite kits; one of Monogram's old curbside sports car classics...very few parts, but just enough to look great when finished (like a lot of very expensive resin kits). Yes, you should do one in "non red" I built my first one in metallic blue. I have the race version being done as a custom (I've molded in the flares) and it will be yellow. I also got a bargain on a Revell AG reissue (thankfully molded in white), and it will eventually be painted white. The 308 is my favorite V8 Ferrari design.

The body stripped easily with one shot of Easy Off. The interior (seats/dash brush painted w/thick gloss black) did not. Easy Off didn't do a lot after 1 application. I tried Dawn Power Dissolve. It didn't. I dunked the dash in 99% alcohol. After a hiccup or two, it was clear that it did nothing. I brushed on a couple coats of Polly S Easy Lift Off. Might as well have been olive oil. Zero, zip, nada . So the seats and dash got 3 more applications of Easy Off. It worked okay enough, and the restored interior will be black.

Get it at Strada Sports Model Car Garage has a very small set of PE as well Cooper Works (LHD) Cooper Works (RHD) I have the "Stella Bridger" version; it's the full-boat JCW version w/LHD and the sunroof. It's been partially painted for years, still unfinished. I don't think there are any aftermarket body kits for Coopers. You are on your own if you want anything beyond the JCW versions. Scale Auto Style didn't do the Cooper, and they're completely out of business anyway.

Restorations are especially fun This original '69 MPC Pontiac Bonneville HT I got at this past weekend's "spring cleaning" event at our club meeting...same source as the '74 Caprice I got a couple years ago and restored last year, same price (he paid - nothing! He was given a collection of vintage buildups by someone he mountain bikes with, other club members got some of them this past weekend as well; everything we bring to the April meeting is given away/swapped, no cash required ). The original builder didn't do much detail, paint is sprayed but a bit sloppy, he did mask off the roof and parts of the interior. It's enamel so it should strip right off. Best thing is he used glue sparingly-this is no glue bomb! Just like the Caprice it came apart very cleanly. I will have to do some sanding/filling of glue-damage from the window/interior posts under the decklid, also fill a few sink marks, revise a bit of the chrome trim at the base of the A pillars to line up w/the hood. People complain about new models not being perfect. These old annuals weren't exactly perfect either I won't need any parts from the reissued Model King '70. I'll need to dab a little Alclad on the bumpers in a couple places, use a little BMF on them, make the rear bumper filler that's missing (only 2 bucks from Modelhaus but I can make the part in the time it takes me to fill the order). Hopefully I can scrounge some Rally wheels for it (AFAIK wheelcovers in these kits were not correct...). I do have some from Scale Equipment Ltd. for a Firebird. I've got some gold MCW paint that should look good on it, it'll have a black vinyl top and the interior may be white, gold, or black...not sure yet. I'll get started on it by this weekend. I can almost smell the Easy Off

It was a Metro convertible conversion done by Joel Dirnberger. That's the closest anyone has come to offering a Metro/Swift. He started w/a Geo Storm promo but did a ton of work to convert it. Joel Dirnberger's Metro Page He hasn't updated his webpage in over 4 years.

Bravo, this is the toughest one yet I was 95% sure of my initial guess. I was wrong

That is correct; the Trumpeter Nova CV windshield frame is cartoonish in it's extra height (every one I see one built it makes me wince it's so bad); it's not only too tall but the rake appears too vertical as well. Adding an uptop to the model would just magnify the flaws rather than flatter the model. We're talking clown-car proportions. It would be quite a job to fix the Trumpeter windscreen issues and make an uptop for it (done correctly it would be killer since the rest of the Nova is pretty nice). AMT's annual Nova CV windshield height looks perfect.

Having seen the real car when it was located in this area, I can tell you that it's a dark metallic blue. Tamiya TS-51 Telefonica Blue or TS-53 Deep Metallic Blue probably the closest. They are metallic/pearl. They are no harder to spray than a solid color. A black base (Tamiya gloss or semigloss black spray) may be the easiest to shoot the dark metallic over for best coverage. Use TS-13 clear over it. Tamiya makes a dark solid blue if you are afraid of shooting a metallic.

Tamiya finally realized what most modelers know already. The model looks cooler when it sits lower Personally I think they made the right choice w/the stance. Too often models sit too high vs. stock. Too often perfectly in-scale wheels/tires look too small on a model. Other than price and the simplified engine/chassis, Tamiya pretty much nailed the car perfectly. Fujimi's version w/full engine will undoubtedly please those who cannot fathom building something w/o full blown engine detail. And it's still cheaper than Tamiya's kit. It is a great kit.

Ditto

Including Speed Channel themselves. Why in the world they televise their own races long after they've run, and therefore winners being already mentioned by the press, is another patently stupid Speed Channel habit. Are we sure Speed Channel is not owned/run by Bernie and Max? Or is the France family even worse? Last year I pretty much gave up trying to follow the races. They get so little priority on the TV schedule they make the fans seek it out, instead of making the races easy to find and timely. Sigh... I remember the good old days of Speedvision, where you could leave the TV on their channel and be entertained for hours at a time. I can't stand 99% of the ###### on there now.

I'm not holding my breath, that's for sure.

Great idea and execution

1/16 scale is a perfect opportunity to make your glass from sheet butyrate (styrene tends to fog in tighter corners). Well-stocked hobby shops should carry it, .040"-.060" would be ideal, .020" might be okay. Remember, Juha uses it on nearly every kit he does, and he's working 1/25 scale. You can make some easy templates from the current glass. It couldn't hurt to try, the glass will end up a lot more in-scale and clear. It's not necessary to vac-form the glass. Otherwise you will have to sand out the imperfections on the current glass, and carefully polish the glass out w/micromesh sheets and compound, and very likely a final dip in Future to give it supreme gloss. You may even have some scrap sheets of clear lying around that were used for packaging. Even if styrene it might work, or at least you can practice with it.

Don't worry, I only watched a couple laps of the race. Surfing the 'net and telephone calls were far more entertaining

Glad somebody likes it Don't get your hopes up for a Tamiya kit To me they look like some sort of SCCA club racer, not anything close to what I would expect as the pinnacle of racing technology. All that extraneous stuff before didn't help, but the cars looked more purposeful and technical. Now they look dumbed-down. I hope it helps the racing.

Okay, just turned on the replay (and I said I wasn't going to watch)...sheesh, the new cars are fuglier than Daytona Prototypes

I was rooting for the Audi over Peugeot at least as much because to my eyes it's the best looking open-cockpit P1 car ever. That front end looks so good, very aggressive, and the side vent area looks almost like an exoskeleton. Details like the LED lamps front and rear are like icing on the cake. Design-wise it's a knockout. So is the Peugeot, but a bit less so...while I generally like closed-cockpit design, the Peugeot cockpit is just a tad turret-like, though nothing like the hideous turrets seen on Daytona Prototypes that, to my eyes, completely spoil their aesthetic design. Peugeot color scheme looks great. I'm really looking forward to LeMans this year

Very nice