Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior. Latest off my bench.
Bowing to popular requests, I’m beginning a series of occasional posts on my models. I’ve been reading and commenting at CC for eight years, so no need for much of a biography. I think you know me.
From the outset, I don’t claim to be an expert. Others know a lot more than me. I don’t claim my models are great; I have seen far better at the occasional show I’ve been to. I’ve also seen worse. I don’t build for competition, just do what takes my fancy. I don’t follow trends, just do my own thing. And I’m rather shy by nature; apart from my Facebook friends, this is the first time I’ve gone public about my hobby.
A series of posts, you say? Yes, because there are way too many to cover in a single post. Don’t ask: even I don’t know how many, but I have been building for nigh-on sixty years. Not so many when the children were young, but I still grabbed an hour here and there. Now that I’m retired, I have plenty of time, and it seems there are more interesting kits than ever.
Land Rover. Challenging but so realistic.
Although born in rural Australia, I grew up in inner-suburban Melbourne. The story begins in 1965, when Mother took me to the toy shop to see what I wanted for a combined birthday/Christmas present (2 weeks apart, y’see). I saw a 1/25 scale AMT Mustang kit and decided that’s what I wanted. Yes, even a kid in Australia had heard of the Mustang and knew it was something special. Mother had her doubts, but gave in to pressure and bought it for me. (Yes, we were poor that year)
The box looked so exciting. There was a choice of ways to build it. There were so many optional parts, to build a stock, custom (what?), Mustang show car (concept car, we’d say now) or faux racing version. I did a kind of mix and match, and mixed and matched it some more over the following years! No photos survive of my first experiment in car modeling, but years later I bought another replacement kit. It’s still hard to decide which version to build!
Mustang kit, bought ten years back. Maybe next year?
I remember going with my father one day to visit a business acquaintance. He had a son about my age, so we went off together. His room was amazing. He had all these model planes hanging from the ceiling – it looked great. He told me all about them, but I wasn’t really listening. I remember him saying they did model cars. I remembered my Mustang. Model cars……
I started building the smaller Airfix cars. They were readily available, and at 66 cents for the bagged kits, more affordable. I slowly worked my way through most of the cheaper ones. Now that I look back, I see globs of glue obscuring detail, wheels that aren’t on straight, crooked paint lines, and weird colour combinations, but I was trying.
Aston Martin DB6. The only early Airfix one I’ll own up to!
I should mention at this point that in the 1960s Australia had stronger ties to Britain. Airfix kits and Humbrol paints were more widely available than American kits and paints. Japanese kits were starting to become available (as we shall see…), but tended to be either rare and expensive (Tamiya, Kogure, Nakamura, Bandai) or toylike and outright strange. I always wanted my cars to look as much like the real thing as possible.
My mother had been a photo retoucher and hand colourer after the war, until colour film became widely used. She’d use pencils and fine brushes to alter fine details on photo negatives. She taught me a lot about brush care and the use of colour – what goes with what. I think with her it was more instinctive than just following theory, as we often seemed to find exceptions that theoretically shouldn’t work but somehow did. I wasn’t aware my use of colour was anything special until I started looking around modeling groups on the internet.
’69 GTO. ‘Blue and green should never be seen without a colour in between’, said Grandma. Chrome is a colour, isn’t it?
Then about 1970 I revisited the larger scale. By then the local toyshop had closed, so I had to travel further afield to get kits. In Melbourne this would have meant catching a tram or bus – but that would give me less to spend when I got there. So I walked. I’d leave home at about 8 am, buy a kit when the shops opened before it got busy, be home soon after 10, and spend most of Saturday building. Homework? What homework?
Ford GT40. I knew it was a famous race car, so I had to get it. This is the 1969 IMC kit, nowadays regarded as near-unbuildable. Fourteen-year-old me would like a word with those armchair experts.
Models opened me up to American culture, and how different it was from my country. I read the local car magazines, so I knew it wasn’t just my part of the country that differed. The few American cars I saw seemed so huge; big Chevys, Pontiacs (really Canadian Cheviacs), Fords, and Dodges (which I later found out were really Plymouths).
Living around the corner from the synagogue I would often see some on Saturday. It was hard to imagine a world where cars this size were the norm. But the early-seventies styling really grabbed me. Especially intermediate Mopars.
’71 Charger. Did this one two years ago. No, they didn’t do purple seat inserts. Lowered with alloys from another car.
Next time: Leaving American models for Japanese kits (for the first time).
An excellent article Peter.I think you and I will have to sit down around at the Shed and have a bit of a chat, I might learn something
Any time, mate.
Wonderful topic and writing!
Thank you Bill.
More, more, more! please. I spent countless hours as a child holed up in the basement building model cars. Built a few more right after college when I had some free time again. About to go on a short vacation where I’ll be in a mountain cabin for several days. Might be time to build another one.
Oh there will be plenty more! Until the editors get tired of them. 🙂
Peter, I was really psyched to learn you were doing these posts, and it’s so great to learn about the genesis of your model-building adventures. And I’m sorry about your joint birthday-Christmas present situation.
What a great hobby, and your attention to detail always shines through in the examples you’ve shared. Thank you for doing this!
As a fellow winter birthday celebrant, I empathize with Peter over the joint birthday-Christmas situation. That topic came up often as a kid, and I knew I was being cheated – mom’s assurances of such a combined present being “extra special” had little effect on me because I knew that if my birthday was in May, that would never be a consideration.
But yet I survived. And laugh about it now.
Yep, it’s tough when you’re a kid, and you have to wait 50 weeks between presents. But try telling a grownup that!
I too have a birthday within a few days of Christmas and received many joint birthday-Christmas presents growing up. What galled me is that my brother, whose birthday is at the beginning of December, never had to suffer such indignities.
One friend whose birthday is on Christmas Day found the ideal workaround to this problem: right after turning age 21, he began to celebrate his birthday on June 25 in order to get some separation from the holiday craziness. His now-wife, who made the suggestion all those years ago, tells me it’s perhaps the greatest gift she could ever have given him.
On models, I admire the author’s willingness to share his joy and the evident care in the assemblage of such as diverse collection. I too was an enthusiastic model-builder when in my early teens in the mid-1970s and had a couple of the same models displayed in CC comments over the years. My less than-perfect efforts still gave me great satisfaction with the final product, so I understand Peter’s pride in his work. Unfortunately, my collection disappeared in a basement flood at my parent’s house many years ago.
Thank you, William. What a brilliant suggestion, celebrating the birthday six months ‘out of phase’. Of course the older we get, the less important these things become, but to a child it was tough getting one present for the two.
Thank you, Joseph. There’s a lot to show, and a lot to tell. It’s comments like yours that made me realize I had something worth writing about.
Great article! Growing up in The Bronx, New York, we had model shops aa toy shops selling models. Popular when I was a tyke were the antique models from Revell. I wish that I had kept those cars. They cost a dollar a kit. When you consider that fuel was 20 cents a gallon, these kits were not cheap. I look forward to seeing more of your models. In The Bronx, one need not have lived near a synagogue to see large cars. Everyone wanted them. Large cars came in affordable models, such as stripped down versions, and upscale cars some of which by 1953 (1951 for Chryslers) offered factory air conditioning, let alone power options. Useless information: The 1915 Scripps-Booth offered electric door locks. Look forward to more of your essays!
For some reason, Jews in Melbourne seemed to be attracted to American cars, more so than your average Australian. Rather then parking outside the synagogue (as driving on the Sabbath equated to work, I guess), they’d park these big beasts around the corner, in my street. Did I mention I lived just across the road from the rabbi? Oops! 🙂
Nice, thank you for sharing your hobby .
-Nate
I can remember when model kits could widely be found in toy shops and confectioners/tobacconists as well as modelshops and Airfix kits in polythene bags for two bob in Woolworths. Lots of fun and frustration, dripped paint and gluey finger marks, but a great introduction to modelling. I’m looking forward to this series.
Two bob! Makes me wonder how high the import duties were. Thanks Bernard.
It’s wonderful to read a background of your hobby, since I’ve seen so many examples here over the year. It’s fascinating to look back on a lifetime hobby and reminisce about how it all began – who could have guessed that a simple scale model in 1965 would lead to a lifelong pursuit? It reminds me of my interest in license plates, which started in 1982 when a buddy of mine found a pair of old license plates in someone’s trash can and gave me one of them – I’ve been a license plate collector since that day.
Being someone lacking in artistic skills, I’ve always deeply admired folks who could make models like you do. The best model I made as a kid looked far worse than your Aston-Martin example – and it was already pre-painted! That particular model was a Lancia Aurelia, and I kept it for many years because it actually looked decent from across the room.
That Land Rover here is particularly great looking – whatever challenges involved certainly paid off with that one!
Thanks Eric. A Lancia Aurelia model – I’ve not come across that.
The main problem with the Land Rover was understanding the instructions, there were several points at which the way things fitted together were not clear.
Here are some plates for you. I came across these on a closed gas station in outback Western Australia. One of six photos I took.
Wow – great plate collection! Several in there I’ve never seen before, such as the Western Australia dealer plate – which looks unusually large. Also the Mariana Islands plate is a good find too.
I used to have a Victoria license plate that I’d picked up somewhere along the way – it was my only Australian plate, but I gave it away a few years ago to a kid in my neighborhood who was just starting to collect license plates himself.
More…
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Thanks! These were great to look at this morning! Someone spent a whole lot of time amassing these.
Nice models! I so wish I had the ability/patience to build a beautiful model car. But the gluing is hard and then the most difficult part is the paint. Trying to get it to look smooth.
Thanks. As with so many things in life, it takes good advice when you’re learning and practice. This was one thing I persevered with.
What a great post, and I’m glad you’ve taken the plunge and are starting to write about your models.
When I was a kid, I was an avid model-builder. I recall proudly listing “building models” as a hobby, pretty much my only one. Listing ones hobbies was something that seemed to be called for at the start of each school year. “Hobbies” apparently constituted a major component of a kid’s identify back in the 1960s; or at least that’s how it seemed to me. This was particularly the case with a kid who wound up in a new school every few years and had to explain himself all over again to a whole new group of peers. Constantly.
Anyhow, despite the fact that I dredged up “building models” as my hobby, I was in fact pretty awful at it. I just could never build something that didn’t have fingerprints embedded in the glue or paint. Decals were never straight. Paint never existed without brush marks that were larger than any of the underlying detail. Flash forward to the present day where I have no problem with any underlying mechanics (or construction), but give me a can of spray paint, a gallon of paint and a roller, or a touch-up pen and whatever I touch immediately looks like the finish was applied by angry monkeys.
So, I very much admire the work of someone who’s actually good at the details of model building! I can’t wait to read more about your work.
With the painting, a lot of it comes down to materials used. Good quality paint (I still use Humbrol a lot, probably the most widely-available model paint here) and soft artist-quality brushes – more expensive than what’s often sold in toy stores. Even as a teen I could feel the difference in the brush; whether the paint flowed or dragged. And that difference showed in the finished model.
Thank you, Jeff. Plenty more to come. Next episode in a few weeks.
Nice models seeing the rest of your collection will be good I like the Landrover except for the spare wheel placement on the safari top few humans could lift it to put it there and the roof would not withstand the weight.
Yep, Revell have copped quite a bit of flak on model forums over that. Even a standard size rim would be too heavy to lift up there without risking a hernia. Here’s a better one for you! 🙂
Thanks Peter for posting the feature it brought back memories of the many model cars I built from the mid-sixties through the seventies.
I’m sure I built up to 300 model cars from kits or rebuilt cars I bought or swapped. Automobiles, trucks and buses always fascinated me and there was something about painting and building 1/25th scale that really appealed to me. I did build a large StingRay model (1964?), a Cobra and Mustang coupe. Those were with me for decades until we had to downsize in 2021 to move into our garage suite.
Other models were sold after the death of my father when I sold my parent’s home and had to de-junk and sell off furniture and other items. Model cars that I really enjoyed building or were rare (like the 65 Mustang Promo) were kept along with a few unbuilt kits. I also held onto the Gemini capsule model that I bought in 1966. That kit was expensive and I being a space geek, I pleaded for my father to buy it at a popular hobby store. The Gemini capsule will be restored this winter as a grandson has been urging me to do.
I might also build a couple of the unbuilt kits stored downstairs.
Building model cars helped me appreciate the mechanical and design aspects of motor vehicles and led me to develop my own mechanical skills.
Thank you Garry. You’re so right about building models helping you appreciate the mechanical and design aspects, I found this too.
That large scale Corvette you mention sounds like the MPC 1/16 scale 1963 – that’s been around a long time.
What wonderful candidates for some forced-perspective photography, as we have seen several times through the years displayed here and on other websites. I admire people with the skill and artistic ability to do what you do. Please keep sharing with the rest of us, who can only look but can’t do!
Oh, thank you. I’ll keep sharing. Photography isn’t my strong suit, but I’ve seen some incredible work some modellers do.
The moment many of us have been waiting for. 🙂 As an illustrator and web designer, with graphic design training, I thoroughly appreciate, and enjoy your great talent, hard work, and intense craftsmanship. Just remarkable museum-quality modelling, that happily must bring you much satisfaction.
Have always appreciated your intelligent thoughts here, and an excellent eye for distinguishing good design. And a refreshing grounded perspective. You are a great asset to this site Peter! Thank you.
Thank you, Daniel. Your insightful comments have made me appreciate how good some of my models are. I’ll admit I’m my own worst critic, same as with my fiction writing (another hobby). I went through a stage of wanting to be a car designer, then a professional model builder (boy did I cop it from Dad after I said that!), and wound up in some totally non-artistic jobs, but kept the hobby simmering away in the background.
You would have made a strong designer. Creative and rational. Glad you can fulfill your design dreams in modelling, and here at CC. Thank you again for sharing your talents, and great work here. Much appreciated!
Peter – you had me fully engrossed and then the article ended! In addition to building models, you are also good at cliffhangers.
Thank you for undertaking this series, no matter how frequently you post something. Like Jeff Sun, my attempts to build models generally yielded an outcome that was not harmonious with the intent.
I am anxious to see and hear more about your model cars.
Jason, I didn’t intend a cliffhanger. Not this time, anyway, 🙂 Rich guided me as to length, and that kind of told only part of the story. It seemed natural (to me, anyway) to cut it here where there was a definite turn in my interests, as we will see next time. I’m not going to keep going chronologically, as that could get stale (trust me), but will group them by subject matter.
I fully understand about the need to end it somewhere. Plus you built suspense, which is always good.
Peter,
I have seen your posts at Spotlight Hobbies (an online hobby shop dealing solely with model cars) and appreciate your craftsmanship. I too build models, cars, airplanes, tanks, and the odd ship or spacecraft. I build street and racing cars and this year built a model of my 1:1 2018 Dodge Challenger from the AMT 2009 Challenger kit. (My car has the “blackout” package with no chrome at all)
(My kingdom for an accurate 2014-2023 front and rear clip and interior conversion!)
I am interested in reading about and seeing more of your work.
Well, hang around and you’ll see more, mmack! 🙂 I struggle with keyboards and computers these days, so I’m not on the SH board though I have a look from time to time.
My builds are mostly cars and trucks but every few years I’ll break out and do something else. Like a locomotive, cable car, mining pump steam engine, TARDIS, paddle steamer…. I keep meaning to build the MIllennium Falcon. One day…!
I have always been amazed and have enjoyed seeing the number and variety of models you have shown in the comments, great to turn your hobby into actual articles.
I built a few models as a young adult with varying degrees of success, none have survived.
I have a Revell Peterbilt kit I recently brought from Aldi, I couldn’t resist it at the price, but sometimes I wonder if it will ever get built !!!
Thank you. The next instalment has more pics, and some pretty funky stuff.
Ah yes, those Aldi kits. Great price – they always sell out fast – and I know how tricky that Pete kit is!
Last time I built a model was a 1969 Charger, about 3-4 years ago. I realized how out of practice I had become at model building. I always preferred AMT, which this one was, but it was a skill level 5, and not all the positioning of components, e.g. the firewall, was clearly given in the exploded diagrams. Anyway it turned out great.
You are a much better painter than me. Nice work you have done, beautiful in fact.
Here’s a ’69 Charger for you, Lee. This one’s the Revell kit, which has better parts fit than the AMT (and is some forty-odd years newer, so it should). Built this as a replica of Richard Hammond’s (UK Top Gear) car.
Belated thank you.
How wondrous, Fr Pete! (Say, what DID your parishoners make of this, um, slightly ungodly devotion back in the day? And did you ever rush from one devotion to the other, and get stuck to, say, a vestment, or, indeed, a parishoner?)
What genuine skills you have.
As for that early Aston, which could now pass muster as barn-found, I wouldn’t judge yourself too harshly. Rather resembles many an Australian-made real car from the ’70’s in fit and finish, and the makers of those were never less than fulsome in praise of themselves.
I tried the model gig a few times as a kid, but alas, I lacked the eyesight. And the patience. And the artistic sensibility, and frankly, any measurable skill whatsoever, which inevitably resulted in lurid green Mercedes 540k’s or entire Maserati 3500 door assemblies forming a near-permanent relationship with my right index finger. I blame it all on the glue fumes myself.
Your vignette of Melbourne 50 or 60 years ago is vivid to me. We were simply nowhere near as wealthy a country then: a model car kit – at a large, tariff-inflated price – was plenty for a Chrissie present, especially if money was a bit scarce in the family. (Also accounting for the fact that my ineptitude at building those few models was frowned upon because confused with my other natural skill for breaking things, but I digress).
More please. I very much doubt anyone will get tired of posts from your Schlumpf in Lilliput collection.
Generally speaking, they didn’t know as it was a day-off or after-hours activity. I was always very particular about keeping my hobby out of ‘working hours’.
As for the Aston, well I did find it in my shed/barn earlier this year after not having seen it for about fifty years! And unfortunately you’re quite right about locally-buiot cars’ fit and finish back then. .
I too have been known to paint things in strange colours. And find strange markings. This may not be a green 540K, but how about a pink 230G?.
Hehehe! And why ever not? Appears to belong to Flaky Barbie.
A fun read and I’m looking forward to future installments. When I started building models the AMT 3-in-1 kits were $1.49 US plus tax, maybe $1.53?? Matchbox cars were $0.49 plus tax. We used pennies a lot back then. I bought many of them (both Matchbox and AMT) at our local “dime store”, which I was allowed to walk to after about age 6. They always stocked all 75 Matchoxes but only 5 or 10 3-in-1 kits plus a few Monogram, Revell and Lindbergh models. Plus sewing notions, hardware, candy, toilet paper, socks and underwear etc etc. My allowance was 25 cents a week so with the sales tax, it took a while to get a model. Sometimes my patience for saving up ran out, and I’d get a Matchbox instead, especially if there was a new one. The first two kits I recall buying were a ‘62 Pontiac and ‘63 Galaxie. I took the Galaxie to school to show off after I’d finished it, and the class bully smashed it. My older sister beat him up. At least that’s how I remember it. I still have a soft spot for the ‘63 Galaxie hardtops.
Wow, were all your prices plus tax? Here all the tax is included in the price. That must’ve been hard when you were a kid, trying to do the mental math to see if you could afford something.
I remember AMT and Revell kits as ‘cheap’ as $3.50 when I started; a can of Humbrol enamel was 35 cents. A much bigger can of enamel from the hardware store was 50 cents, but it took a lot longer to dry and wasn’t as smooth.
I only ever took models to school once, when I gave a talk in high school on car design from 1930 to 1960, and had four or five models to illustrate my points. I think even the bullies were impressed, and the ‘class cutie’ seemed stunned whn I told her I’d made them.
Here’s a ’63 Galaxie for you.
Always good to hear from another modeller. I started in ’65 with planes, and worked my way through most of Airfix’s 1/72 WW 2 planes.
Come the early ’70s, I discovered cars, built a lots of Airfix 1/32 cars then 1/24th cars.
Fast forward to now and there’s 300 odd cars (all GM) in cabinets. This ’62 Electra converible is a Ebay restoration.
Lovely job on that Electra, Chris.
What a great theme.
I used to build as a kid (the AMT 1/25 trucks became a favo(u)rite) and have done a few since.
I am exceedingly jealous of your plum crazy Charger – I’ve lost the knack and cannot paint metallics without dragging.
And with rattle cans, I always put too much on.
I’m too blind/trembly now to complete the tracks on a Borgward tank and gave up at that point…
I feel for you Nick. I’m just waiting till the cataracts get bad enough for surgery. Meanwhile I do what I can.
As regards the rattle cans, the trick is to build up the colour in partial layers, ‘misting’ it on, not to try for an even coat over the entire body in one pass; that will never work. Yesterday I was painting a Duesenberg. Three light partial mist coats of primer to cover the body, half an hour to dry between each coat. I waited several hours, then applied four similarly-light coats of colour. Today I’ll go check whether the colour is even, or needs some additional touch-up.
Here’s another view of that Charger.
Thanks – lovely car.
Good tips, too – impatience is my middle name and I think I’m painting a 1:1. Also, the problems of putting on too much OEM paint is that it slightly melts the plastic and comes out wrinkly. Tamiya rattle cans are better for kits, but the wrong colo(u)rs.
My father brought back a lovely 1:16 (IIRC) die-cast kit of an SJ from the ‘States. Kind of got me a bit hooked on Duesies. And Cords…
Ah yes, you come to painting a model after being used to doing full-size bodywork. You’re aiming at a much smaller target, so you need much less paint. It does require a different technique, but if nobody tells you… 🙁
OEM paints often have a hotter solvent base than hobby paints, and do need the plastic to be primed first. I had a few ‘accidents’ in the early days.
Here’s how that Duesie turned out. I just sat the body in place over the chassis for the pic. It’s two slightly different shades of red.
Thank you so much for this post, Pete-san! Looking forward to the rest of the journey, especially the JDM stuff which you seem to have an endless supply of in your cabinets…
I must say I’m both envious and admiring of your persistence and talent for this demanding hobby. I never had the patience (nor the skill) for models, though I did try building a few when I was about ten. I vivdly recall attempting to put together a 1950 Ford sedan and getting mightily frustrated with it. Drawing cars was much more my thing, in the end, though that’s also a long abandoned pass-time.
Thank you, Professor. Here’s a sneak preview of some of those JDM goodies.
Peter: As one of the many agitators requesting/demanding posts on your models, I am REALLY looking forward to each post; regardless of how many that may be! I, too, assembled model cars, and like you, I strove for accuracyand unusual color combos. My model kits of choice in the mid 60’s were AMT, Jo-Han, Revell, and Monogram. Jo-Han propduced some of the ost realsitic features in their kits, Monogram was what I got in desperation, if I couldn’t find the particular model in any of the other brands. Testor’s was the spray paint & brush paint of choice, which enabled me to turn out some really nice paint jobs, which were the envy of my friends. (My best efforts PALE in comparison to yours, however!) Model building gave me a background to be able to work on/repair the real cars that followed. I still have a few of my models stashed away somewhere in attic storage, I think. Thanks again for opening this window into your life! 🙂
And thank you, Moparman. Johan are generally regarded to have had the most accurate bodies, although chassis detail wasn’t always so good, unless we’re talking about their classics, or the Chrysler Turbine Car. All of the companies seem to have had their ups and downs over time, perhaps none so spectacularly as AMT.
Hi Peter, I’m a tad late here, but add me to the list of readers who’s loved your comments with models for years, and am now looking so forward to your posts!
I tried model building as a teen in the 1980s, but couldn’t afford all the paints etc and I was never happy with my results, so I switched to buying ready-made diecast models instead and disassembling/reassembling them and modifying them lightly (usually using a fine-tip black marker pen to emphasise details or character lines!).
My favourite diecast manufacturers were the 1:25 Polistil and Bburago ranges – I still have my Bburago Rolls Royce Carmargue and my Polistil Rolls Royce Silver Cloud SIII, Jag XJ6 SII police car, and Land Rover 109 Safari. The Polistil Landie is excellent, but nowhere near the realism of your fantastic one!
Thanks! That Landie is a Revell kit from about three years back, so plenty of detail, though on some parts (transmission, transfer case) it was suspiciously absent – only noticeable because the rest of the kit was so good.
I bought and detailed some of those Bburago and Polistil diecasts too.
I can’t say I remember when I began plastic cars modeling, maybe the late 1950’s ? .
Always fun but I never could really do decent painting .
Then I discovered HUBLEY ‘METAL MODEL’ kits, wow I swooned and tried hard to get them all .
I hope an article / thread about them will appear here .
I am really enjoying all the pictures .
-Nate
I have only built a couple of metal kits, but not one of those. I’ve only seen them twice, and never bought one. Sorry, Nate.
Little late to the party, but I’m very happy to see you undertaking this look into your scale model world. You have obviously taken it to a very high level.
I was of course attracted to models and attempted a few, but my results were pitiful, and they ended up going up in flames in “crashes” in the driveway my older brother and I staged. He turned me on to the idea that these burned very well (with a bit of accelerant to get things going quickly, and maybe he was sending me a message as well, since he didn’t burn his models!
Thanks, Paul.
Wow, you take the model craft to a whole new level. These are awesome to see – you put so much care and attention into them. Very inspiring – I’ve tried but never had this level of success. Great to see the interesting cross-section of vehicle models.
Thanks Bart. I must point out that if you were to go to a state-level IPMS (International Plastic Modeler’s Society) event you would be absolutely blown away by what some guys can do. Some of the stuff I have seen is just beyond my abilities. Equally, I’ve seen the occasional gaffe on an otherwise amazing model that had me wondering how the builder overlooked that. I just hold my tongue.
Over the installments to come we’ll see even more variety.
One of my bugbears with Humbrol was that by the time it had dried, it’d be full of dust fallout and one cannot cut it easily. At least acrylic is quick.
I still have a 1:12 Ferrari 275 GTB, which I brush-painted when I still had the knack. The trick was to thin it excessively so that it all flowed together and self-levelled. Of course, red is very translucent, so it helped that the body was moulded in it too!
Good point, Nick. Humbrol used to dry in six hours. Said so on the can. When I was a kid I’d sit the body on a box about two feet away from the gas fire, creating a kind of ‘baked enamel’ finish that was hard in two hours.
They outsourced production offshore, changed the solvents supposedly to comply with EU regs, and now it’s not as good as it used to be, but I still use it for engines and interiors for the sheer variety of colours available. Some hobby shops that cater for the military subject builders have some incredible colours and finishes in acrylic, lacquer and enamel. Brands like Mr. Hobby, AK Interactive, Vallejo, and others.
I know the 275GTB kit you mean, though I don’t have it. Red plastic is fine if that’s the colour you want the model, but it can be a real pain otherwise!
Very late to the party, but what a party it is! Hard to choose, yet my favorite of this chapter is the ’69 GTO. Keep them coming (and building)!
There will be plenty more to see, Johannes.
An interesting side effect of Revell being German-based nowadays is the range of European number plates that come in their kits. The Land Rover above is on Irish plates. For this Audi, I thought of you. 🙂
Good!
Of course I just had to check that plate, alas, no hit…
I did many Ertl (1/25) and Italeri (1/24) kits in the early eighties. American and European tractor units. They took a lot of space, as I also built multiple semi-trailers. Only one trailer, it was coupled to a Scania 142 truck by Italeri.
I now remember the Italeri kits also came with a range of license plate decals from several Euro-countries.
In retrospect, the nicest was a Volvo F12 Globetrotter 4×2 tractor (Italeri), coupled to a tridem-axle semi-trailer with ‘real’ super single tires (Heller). The semi-trailer required a full paint job.
I must of had ten to fifteen of these AMT car models plus many Aurora airplane models as a kid.
Thanks for bringing back some very happy memories!!
Thank you for sharing these. As you might gather from my user name. my primary hobby is railways, in HO scale, so I have a bit of an idea of the skill needed to make these excellent models.
Funny I too am one of those almost Christmas babies, so joint presents were always a thing. Before getting into the trains, I did build a few cars, trucks, planes and ships. I have only kept 2 of them, what I recall is a Monogram 1:24 Bugatti 35B, the one with the standing driver figure, and a Tamiya 1:24 Lamborghini Countach LP400, the one that could be motorized. Both still packed away but this post is making me want to find them. I do have a Revell BRE Datsun 510, an AMT first gen Mustang fastback, and a Tamiya Fit, all ready as retirement projects (which is coming up pretty soon).
Looking forward seeing more of your work!