Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

6 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

How do you find the time!  

 

No work and a very understanding Mrs. Haven't done a lot in the last year but since the lockdown I've spent about 5-7 hours a day playing with toy cars working on die casts

[egg]

I did one of these last year, and the model supplies replacement door took a lot of fettling work. This is another model, and another door, it has gone straight in, so should be a straightforward repaint.

[Spottedlaurel]

I've been making progress today, it's going well so far:

1:20 Nichimo Nissan Skyline C211 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[bunglebus]

10 hours ago, egg said:

I did one of these last year, and the model supplies replacement door took a lot of fettling work. This is another model, and another door, it has gone straight in, so should be a straightforward repaint.

Is the door from Steve Flowers? They're closed but I'm pondering on ordering a few bits but their website is a bit archaic. Couldn't find anything about postage costs

[egg]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Is the door from Steve Flowers? They're closed but I'm pondering on ordering a few bits but their website is a bit archaic. Couldn't find anything about postage costs

Yes, bought last year before all this kicked off. Postage is £3 for orders under £10 and £5 for orders over £10. I normally find it easiest to 'phone in my order (when they are open!).

[bunglebus]

Cheers. Not bought replacement parts before but I've ended up with three Cadillac ambulances with broken glass, so fragile.

Not found anywhere doing decent superfast or Superkings/Speed Kings bits yet, someone needs to crank out some engines and other stuff that always goes missing.

[flat4alfa]

I'm well overdue wanting to learn making repro items

@garethj has explained the pitfalls and expense of 3D printing excellently, so I think I'll go the old mucky route with resin moulding.   Because I mainly want the things to run around a slot car track, I do need strength over aesthetics.  And of course being broke at the moment and have no access to CAD gear

[Spottedlaurel]

Exciting times out in the shed! Skyline engine installed and various other parts getting their final paint and then being glued together.

I love this point in building a kit, when the sprues reduce in quantity and there's just a series of subassemblies to put together.

[Zie]

Well who wants another *thrilling* installment of dusty models from forgotten cabinets. 

Tonight a 1/18 Ford Falcon XD racer made by Biante. I had to import this One from Oz but I absolutely love it, very well made and looks like a Granada on steroids. 

[flat4alfa]

Forgot to mention:  'Good Friday Market Blokey, hope you are well'

[bunglebus]

I chickened out of chequer painting the gasser roof (for now) and went with purple instead

 

20200410_155642 by RS, on Flickr

20200410_155631 by RS, on Flickr

20200410_155755 by RS, on Flickr

 

The Moon wagon is done, not exactly sure about this. Leaving everything colour coded makes it look a bit crap

 

20200410_160846 by RS, on Flickr

20200410_160828 by RS, on Flickr

20200410_160815 by RS, on Flickr

 

Plenty more in the pipeline, made these deep dish wheels yonks ago but they aren't the easiest to squeeze under a car

 

20200410_150316 by RS, on Flickr

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, Zie said:

Tonight a 1/18 Ford Falcon XD racer made by Biante. I had to import this One from Oz but I absolutely love it, very well made and looks like a Granada on steroids. 

I suppose you know, but that's modelled on a famous XD Falcon that one.  Competed in the 1981 James Hardie 1000 as a privateer for the (you guessed it) Australian Army Reserves

'Pete' Geoghegan was a top driver in the 60s and 70s; won the Bathurst 1000 in 1973 driving the Ford works Falcons

RIP

[flat4alfa]

39 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

The Moon wagon is done, not exactly sure about this. Leaving everything colour coded makes it look a bit crap

Fixed

[bunglebus]

Yeah It does need slamming. Doesn't help having big wheels. Might fit smaller ones and machine the "moon discs" down to fit

[Spottedlaurel]

State of play at the end of today:

Even the door cards comprise three separate pieces, with individual mouldings for the door pull and pocket. They've also moulded in the two door handles (one for the rear passenger) and red warning light.

One day soon it will join this lot, hopefully not in the WIP/scrap pile at the back:

[bunglebus]

They grey primer 55 Chevy needs to be next on the list!

[Spottedlaurel]

8 hours ago, bunglebus said:

They grey primer 55 Chevy needs to be next on the list!

That one's been 'in progress' for about 25 years now I think (I can remember working on it at my second rented house in Ipswich, and the Monogram kit was bought at Galaxy Models in town) . It's a loose replica of the '55 in Two Lane Blacktop, one of my favourite films.

Creating the flip front and adding a central pillar so it wasn't a hardtop was a challenge, although I think that is largely sorted, but at some point it's picked up damage on a rear pillar and that needs to be repaired.

There are another two very long-term projects dating back to the '90s I need to get on with.

One is a Monogram Maserati 3500 GT. This has ended up with a V8 poking up through the bonnet, some bodywork smoothing and opening-up of the arches to take fatter wire wheels. My idea was after 20 years of being used and abused in California the original engine went pop and this what a sympathetic hot rod shop did to keep it on the road.

Unfortunately I don't think after that long the paint I've got is any good, and there are still some panels that need to be sprayed, so I'm going to have to redo the whole thing

The other is a hearse conversion of the Ghostbusters ambulance, but I broke the front screen on it, which was a little frustrating after I'd applied a lot of foil on the brightwork. I think it's now going to end up as a banger (520 Derek Caton "The Undertaker" seems rather appropriate).

Only picture I can find:

The Purple Velvet '57 did get finished and came out really well (accepting the stupidity of its concept).

The Corvette was something a friend started when we shared a house in the early '90s. I've got as far as stripping the brush-painted Humbrol paint off it.

When I started buying and building my own kits in the mid '80s my favoured brands were Tamiya and Monogram, they were cheaply and readily available in local toy and model shops (we even had a model shop in Sudbury). I churned them out then far quicker than I can hope to now.  I've noticed 14-year old SL Junior is getting on with a fairly detailed Ferrari kit much quicker than I would do now.

While I'm digging around through old photos......

AMT Joker car, with bits from a '57 Chevy and wheels off a NASCAR Buick. Got another one of these and the peculiar coupe version to do someday.

Cherry from the Doyusha Nostalgic Hero range, which promises a lot in terms of interesting subjects that aren't produced by other kit makers, but are generally not great kits. 

All by Monogram. Paint on the Talledega was a nightmare. The Buick (Purple Velvet again!) and Plymouth worked out nicely.

Maybe the case with the Buick as well, but I did this one before I'd got hold of any Bare Metal Foil, so all the window and panel trims were applied by brush and Humbrol silver paint. I was doing some lettering on the Skyline yesterday, certainly not as good as above....

This Fairlady Roadster got painfully close to being finished, it looked great on those wheels from a Monogram Datsun 280Z. For a Fujimi kit it has particularly good engine and chassis/suspension detail. Unfortunately my daughter knocked it off the table one day, and although the shell didn't break some paint got damaged and I'm not sure how to repair it with stripping it right back.

There are one or two others I've started and that have then stalled for whatever reason. Other kits were bought in that state, as it was the only way of getting hold of them at a sensible price. There were also the four models that I took to a show then suffered in the heat, I was gutted.....

Model car mishap by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Don't leave plastic kits in direct sunshine on a dashboard! I do at last have replacement kits to re-do all of them, the Toyota in particular took a bit of finding. I'm hoping I can re-use some of the interior and suspension parts when I get round to doing them.

[Austat]

On 4/9/2020 at 11:30 PM, Skizzer said:

How's the Matra Rancho project going by the way?

[Skizzer]

1 hour ago, Austat said:

How's the Matra Rancho project going by the way?

Not getting much traction, sadly. 

I’ve fixed the welder and bought some discs for the grinder ready to make a start on some metalwork, but other things have got ahead of it in the queue.

Technically my shed is out of bounds under lockdown - it’s a couple of miles away from home. However, I had to visit it yesterday to sort out my office chair - essential to home working - so I guess I can do a bit of car fettling while I’m there.

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Don't leave plastic kits in direct sunshine on a dashboard! I do at last have replacement kits to re-do all of them, the Toyota in particular took a bit of finding. I'm hoping I can re-use some of the interior and suspension parts when I get round to doing them.

The warped shells can find a good home here if possible.   I take it all are 1:24 apart from the Honda City?

[Spottedlaurel]

6 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

The warped shells can find a good home here if possible.   I take it all are 1:24 apart from the Honda City?

That's 1:24 too.

Tamiya 1:24 Honda City GG by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I'm terrible about getting rid of things, so I guess they'll get stripped of anything useful and then sit in a virtual scrapyard.

At some point I will have a sort through my spare diecasts, as promised several weeks ago.

Is Carrera slot car/track of any use?

[bunglebus]

Looks like a good excuse for a scrapyard diorama if you ask me

[flat4alfa]

15 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

That's 1:24 too.

Is Carrera slot car/track of any use?

Looks a good size up, compared to the R30 Skyline...  How long and wide is the Skyline?

 

Is it Carrera Go (1;43-ish)

or Carrera Evolution (1:32) ?

[junkyarddog]

I picked up these plastic curiosities last year,then forgot about them.

Corgi SLAM BAM SAM!!

No parts missing, and they are in surprisingly good condition considering!

Bit of damage to the roof where the control wire has melted a track into them,probably just from sitting wrapped up in the box.

They still work too.

[Spottedlaurel]

29 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Looks a good size up, compared to the R30 Skyline...  How long and wide is the Skyline?

 

Is it Carrera Go (1;43-ish)

or Carrera Evolution (1:32) ?

Evolution in that case, the cars are about the same size as Scalextric. From memory the set I have has a couple of 1950s historic racers with it.

Here is the City in earlier days...

1:24 Skyline GTE-S and inspiration by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I don't believe these Hondas were a Kei car, so they are a little bigger than you'd imagine. I have a 1:24 Today and that is quite diddy.

[flat4alfa]

45 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Corgi SLAM BAM SAM!!

 

 

Crikey that’s a blast from the last. I’d forgotten I had a similar set with two US cars. Probably one of the US brands. I wo see what happened to it...  though I have a feeling most of the parts got lost and Mum threw it out when I wasn’t looking

[flat4alfa]

51 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Evolution in that case, the cars are about the same size as Scalextric

 

I don't believe these Hondas were a Kei car, so they are a little bigger than you'd imagine.

Evolution, yes interested in what the set is (though not right now I’m stuck on furlough with hefty bills to pay) 

Still looks massive next to the Skyline...  it’s as if the Skyline is undersized and why I was asking dimensions as it might just fit into a slot car lane at a push

I had always thought it was Kei but you’re right it doesn’t comply with the regs. Either way City couldn’t fit 7 blokes from Camden Town in though.... they had to ride the City moped instead! “HONDA HONDA HONDA HONDA !“

[bunglebus]

Had a play with a few different colours

 

20200411_134313 by RS, on Flickr

20200411_134248 by RS, on Flickr

20200411_175846 by RS, on Flickr

20200411_175840 by RS, on Flickr

 

Merc looks good in black with a healthy dose of lowering

 

20200411_175741 by RS, on Flickr

20200411_175748 by RS, on Flickr

20200411_175753 by RS, on Flickr

[Zie]

On tonight's episode of models over house work is a long term project of mine.

When I ended up with a 1/18 Escort Cosworth made of plastic and a mk3 Escort cab, the inner Max Power came out as did the dremel. I have a RS Turbo engine and interior for it but having trouble getting the front end right. 

Unfortunately lost the build pics as the forum I was on died. 

[bunglebus]

So a Maxy P Escort cab with a Cosworth body kit? Very 90s!