Zoom Zoom

Lookin' good there Dave; with a good dose of TLC it can result in a great model. Glad to see you ditched the offroad tires! Someone on another board just did a really nice build of the Protar but they left the tires as-is, and the wheels stuck out too far. Thin out the upper door frame, get the stance right, and the rest should take care of itself. I have the Protar, Gunze, Italeri and Fujimi GTO's. Just got the Fujimi today; it's a real sweetheart that will get built long before the others. They pretty much nailed it. Fujimi is kicking butt lately.

There's already a lot of C/F on the glass top's frame; if you C/F the hood you might think also about doing the w/s frame to tie the front end of the car w/the roof. Maybe even the part of the decklid area. Interior in black w/the orange for contrast (and some C/F too) would look good; just think "Lamborghini" kind of color schemes and it should work out. Ferrari will do almost anything custom, so your model isn't quite as outrageous as you might think Looks great so far, I loved building mine. Just watch out for the front ride height, easy to lower it by just whittling down the axle stubs so you can glue the wheels in a lowered position.

Great Fauxrarri! Those wheels do look great on it. Hmmmm...wire wheels on a C3 'Vette...hmmmmm....

Sometimes it takes a "simplification" of complications to move a project from the back-burner to the front. My recent "Nismagnum" went from sitting on the sidelines for a year and a half to built because of three ingredients: a good friend recently finished a custom NISMO R35 GTR based on the all-new Tamiya kit (he's done a whole series of custom NISMO models), I collaborated w/him and another good friend at a modelpalooza about my Nismagnum and decided to glue the hood shut and not worry over what engine to use! In the downtime I also finally warmed up to the round taillights which at first screamed "Cobalt" instead of Skyline. Made all the difference in the world. In a few weeks it was done and it's one of my favorite builds! I have a vintage Astro I showcar that's been sitting for a long time; I finally figured out how to properly hinge the body so it will open (I don't want to simplify it that much that the body is only closed, it's too "unique" not to work, the engine cover/canopy opens and brings the seats up with it), but now have to tighten up the join area between the canopy and the body. Kinda fiddly...if it was easier, it would have been done over a year ago! It's a fairly simple kit otherwise. So yeah...it happens to all of us in one way or another. I like to "marathon build", and if something isn't working, that project often goes unloved for a really long time...if it ever gets revisited.

I would be surprised if half of what they announced ever makes it to the shelves.

Agreed! Though I do know exactly what it is

Welly 1/24 scale Lotus Elise. Very hard to find in the US, and really wish there were plastic kits of the Elise/Exige. Haven't gotten one yet, but there's a new company called "Mondo Models" that's doing some interesting 1/24 scale subjects like the new Maserati Gran Turismo coupe; another subject I'd love to build from plastic.

Looks just like I remember them! Nice work

I like those old 4 door Corvairs (and there are plenty of coupe models out there ). I restored one about 22 years ago, and it could stand some re-work now that my skills are a lot better. Looks like a challenge, but that's not an issue as you've done plenty of work like this.

That's gorgeous...is this the same basic model that Model King is supposed to have out soon?

I used the Plastruct Bondene; white label w/orange letters, I didn't sand it, once applied I let it dry and applied primer...I let the primer take the sanding. Some of the liquid glues evaporate very rapidly, even on the brush.

Cool idea, came out nice. Looks like there's more than just B pillars missing. I do believe I see shorter A pillars too

Do you use that primer sealer before or after the first coat of primer? I tried it a couple times on raw plastic and it ate it alive; very toxic to the surface. Somewhere I was told it's fine to use over other primer. It's great on resin or diecast. I really am impressed w/the liquid styrene fix; I just shot a car in automotive paints, I had to blocksand a significant amount of material away on the C pillars and along the mold lines, and I didn't have any crazing from the Plastikote primer nor the MCW lacquer. Had I not sealed those sanded areas, the areas I sanded would have ghosted and perhaps crazed a bit. So I've used automotive sealers (MCW and Variprime), Zinsser B-I-N, and now the liquid styrene cement. The only one I haven't rried yet is Future. I used to use Floquil Barrier, back in the days it was available. I prefer using the least toxic stuff I can find; Variprime is really nasty stuff...and it didn't work particularly well for me. MCW and Zinsser and the liquid cement all worked just fine.

I think it is too! I think they called that one the "classic". At least it's not a Mitsuoka

Awesome sleeper Love it!

That's about the only one of those vans I really like. The Dodge styling works, the VW styling looks too contrived.

Harry, are you sure they come from Subaru that way? I can't imagine VW letting their licensing arm allow Subaru to build pseudo-VW's like that, especially w/a VW logo.. The Japanese do a lot of customizing. Edit: Found the website of the company that makes them. Definitely not coming from Subaru. VW Bus Replica on Kei Car I found a few listings for them for sale, and they're listed as aftermarket. Only the Kei Car website (where I guess you got the image) seems to say they were factory, but that website doesn't convince me just because they claim it. Automakers are very protective of their trademarks, especially VW.

The ghosting isn't the filler, it's the plastic reacting with the thinners in the paint, it swells up slightly, so the ghosting is from areas not affected by the thinners. I just tried the method mentioned above; where I sanded the mold lines smooth I brushed on liquid styrene cement. I then primed the body with automotive primer and there was no ghosting of the areas I sanded. If you want the ghosting to stop on the model you are working on you need to apply a sealer over the affected areas.

I think the fact that it's a 4 door makes it extra cool Nice work!

Well isn't that ironic? A Mustang with a rotary With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth when The Fast And The Furious/Tokyo Drift came out with a Nissan Skyline SR20DET blown straight six, you'd have thought that the world was ending. Considering how many Mustangs came from the factory with inline sixes, I think the Nissan engine was pretty appropriate! Far more appropriate than the thirsty and torqueless wonder of a rotary

Before I saw that sticker I figured it was a rotary based on it's size and being so far back in the engine compartment (that crazy fan shroud filling the gap), but it's no Mazda. Probably a GM car of some sort; smaller chance that it's a Ford. Probably a Vega or Monza.

I couldn't leave well enough alone. I've added a roof rack, Thule luggage container, and Trek mountain bike. My Fujimi "garage and tools" detail set finally sees the light of day. Painted to match the NISMAGNUM. Getting to the fun at warp speed Clark Griswold would be envious of this one. This is even better than the Antartic Blue Super Sports Wagon with C.B. and optional rally fun pack that he didn't get Now, will someone do the Wagon Queen Family Truckster in resin so I can put them side by side?

Actually there have been R34 conversions to Nissan Stagea wagons, but that's not nearly as cool looking as a Magnum. Like this: Nissan Stagea/GTR wagon conversion My evil twin is working on a Magnum stock car; a full-fledged modern stock car chassis w/Magnum body. There's a perfectly good reason, but I'm not going to give away the farm

If there were kits of FJ Cruisers and the Prius, I could really have some fun