64Comet404

Since I couldn't find Tamiya's ABS cement locally, I went with Chuck's suggestion and bought some Plastruct Bondene. It works great on the kit plastic. One warning to builders about the ABS-once it's bonded, it doesn't want to let go. I messed up on the location of the rear shocks (parts A4 and A5), and mounted them so the arms were parallel to the end of the chassis. Doing this caused a fit issue when installing the rear axle assembly. Go by the drawing in the instructions, and it will work. As for the ABS plastic, I wonder if Toyota may be considering putting these out as dealer promos. Mold the body and frame in black, and assemble them at their plant in the Phillipines, and you would have a desk ornament strong enough to handle the occasional snatch and smash from a customer's kid. Just a thought.

Just picked mine up today at the LHS. One interesting feature of the kit is that the body and interior trees are molded in polystyrene, while the chassis and chrome trees are molded in ABS. I'm sure Tamiya had a good reason for engineering it this way, but it's inconvenient- I wanted to start building it, and now need to purchase some cement for ABS plastic.

The protruding headlights are the result of AMT/Ertl reworking the tooling back to stock in the mid-1980's (it had been changed into a Modified Stocker, with blanked-out headlights, back in the early '70s). I agree with the other posters; the Modelhaus bumpers are the best way to go.

The 300SL landed at my local shop today, so if it isn't in the USA yet, it should be in stores very soon. Great looking kit; now to decide on the paint scheme.

Tamiya TS-58 Light Pearl Blue would be the closest in Tamiya spray. IIRC, the original finish was Nassau Blue, so the colour is available in Testors lacquer.

There used to be a stock-bodied 510 4-door available from Hasegawa many years ago. I had considered grafting the wheel arches from this kit onto the Revell version for a stock two-door, but never went through with it. I had also considered dumping the Revell chassis underneath the Hasegawa body, but I would have had to extend the wheelbase for the conversion to work. Oh, well...

I have just started my build of the early Pantera (kit #RS-68). It's a simple build, but there are a few things to watch out for: 1. Those hood vents (cribbed right off a Mercedes C-111) didn't show up until later versions. It took a few rounds of filling and block sanding to get things level. The next coat of primer should have everything hidden. 2. The front and rear pans have the seams set up for the matt black on the later GTS versions. For an early car, there are seams very close to the turn signals, and they are not there on the real car. Be careful when sanding. 3. If Fujimi could call it a DeTomaso Pantera on the box, why couldn't they give us the lettering for the rear panel, or the emblems for the wheels? 4. The painting guide shows the scheme for an early GTS. Break out the Alclad for the bumpers. This should not be taken as a flame on the kit, because the basic shapes are there. Unfortunately, Fujimi has tried to provide several versons of the car from one basic tool. Get plenty of reference pics, and be prepared for some modelling, and you should be set.

It will be nice to have the kit back, especially if the molds get cleaned up. The Halibrands will be great to have back, too. The only issues I have had (apart from broken windshield frames) is the thickness of some of the chrome parts. The headlight bezels need to be replaced with less prominent pieces, and the grille surround needs some massaging. IIRC, the fastback roof was based on the unit from the Cougar II show car (Cobra chassis with new body).

I built this one many years ago.The ony issue I had with it was the roof to body joint; it still pops off without warning. Otherwise, a nice kit to have in the collection.

Looks great Gregg. I have been waiting for a good kit of the early Pantera for a while (never liked the later ones with wings and flares).

Hey Oldscool, The peaks on the 57 Mercury had to be big, since there were two different lighting styles available; single 7" or dual 5" headlights. It all depended on the laws in your jurisdiction.

What modifications did you have to make, Bill? I picked up the decals from VRM a few years ago, but I haven't started the build yet. Larry, The 275 is nice, but I want them to reissue the NART spyder. That is one sexy lookingbeast, IMHO.

I have seen a couple of the old Italeri kits recently under Academy boxing, without using the Ferrari name. Examples include the Testa Rossa and the 250GT California. Hopefully we will see more of these kits return to the shelves soon.