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Posted

After finishing the two car set of Cougar II and Bordinat Cobra, my attention wondered over to the US Airfix Maserati Bora I did probably 20 years ago. I was reminded of its cousin; the Boomerang concept car of 1971, and decided to pull mine out of mothballs to give it a go. I started with a complete and unstarted kit circa 1980.

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As with most of these electric motor capable kits, this one was rudimentary underneath, had a battery compartment, steerable wheels, and no opening parts or engine. Call it a curbside kit, if you will. I started with the interior, and did my best to approximate the chocolate brown tones of the leather seats, gold hue of the dash, and for the first time - gave flocking a go to reproduce the gray carpeting.

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The frame and rolling bits went on easily enough, and I spent the bulk of my time on straightening the body. The biggest issue was a pronounced dip in the roofline where the passenger side A pillar had taken a warp. A little loving with a hair dryer, and the problem was no more. There was little in the way of flashing or sink marks, thus I moved straight on to primer and Tamiya TS-58 (this is quickly becoming one of my most favorite colors!). The windows were masked for black surrounds, and the rest of the build was very straightforward and what I would consider an OOB build. The only conceit was wipers stolen from a Shelby GT500 PE set. From start to finish - this whole build was done in one weekend. Let me know what you think:

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And because of the family lineage, I have thrown in some photos with my aged Bora beside the Boomerang. If nothing else, they are the same scale and made by the same company - thus make an interesting contrast of two styles based on the same underpinnings.

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  • Like 7
Posted
9 hours ago, Mittagskind said:

These both look great, very nice.

 

4 hours ago, atomicholiday said:

Wow!   Looks terrific.   Fantastic job on a rarely seen kit. 

 

3 hours ago, H.A.K said:

Holy smokes. Thats slick looking. Thats a super clean build. Very nice.

Thank you all for your kind words. Isn't it funny how building a model you once did as a kid can be such fun? :) 

  • Like 2
Posted
2 hours ago, Jim B said:

Great build.  Interesting looking car.  Sort of look like a cross between an ax head and a greenhouse.

Thank you Jim. In this case, it is all the more interesting because both cars were designed by the same person -  Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, karbuildr said:

I don't think I've ever seen a build of this kit and yours knocked it out of the park. Great color choice. Very well done.

Thank you David. Now I have to decide if I want to redo the Merak my son and I did 15 years ago to add to this Maserati collection, or just clean it up and leave it in its "as raced" condition since it has sentimental value for me :).  One thing I'd have to figure out is how to clean the body without damaging the brittle decals...

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Edited by ea0863
  • Like 1
Posted
On 8/1/2023 at 8:36 PM, ea0863 said:

Thank you David. Now I have to decide if I want to redo the Merak my son and I did 15 years ago to add to this Maserati collection, or just clean it up and leave it in its "as raced" condition since it has sentimental value for me :).  One thing I'd have to figure out is how to clean the body without damaging the brittle decals...

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I get it. I have a few builds as well that I've wanted to redo but like you, they have sentimental value in their original configuration. So I've hesitated and they remain untouched. 

Posted

Cool build! I love those 70s concept cars. Such cool innovation and radical design elements. You have done a nice job on this one, and the Bora is really cool, too. I need to get one of those.

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Wow. I love the 70s wedge styling. I don’t think I’ve seen one of these built up. It looks great and so does the Bora. 

  • Thanks 1

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