Started 23/07/2005 - Completed 02/08/2005

In Progress 31/07/2005

I started by removing the chrome from the wheels by soaking them in diluted bleach. I then primed them and used Alclad Chrome, with the centres sparyed with a mixture of Alclad Steel and Jet Exhaust. The items that are called out in the instructions to be silver were sprayed with Alclad Aluminium. These areas were then masked off and the remainder were sprayed with Humbrol Semi Gloss Black, #85. The instrument decals were applied using Klear. The seat belts were cut from Tamiya Tape and sprayed black, the PE buckles added, then stuck to the seats. The assembly went extemely well with the only problem being the braces on the fuel tanks. When attached they tend to push the tanks down.

03/08/2005

The next stage was to prepare the body shell. I sprayed Alclad II Grey Primer, then used a Tamiya TS-14 spraycan to mist several light coats of Black. Application of the decals came next. This was a major PITA, as they were over ten years old and on just about every decal the backing paper had what looked like water damage. This meant resoaking the decals to get them to seperate them from the backing paper. Once they were on, I cleaned up the solutions and adhesive and sprayed a few coats of Klear to seal it all in.

Adding the clear parts went OK, just adding some Tamiya Clear Orange and Red to the indicators and brake lights. Then came the fitting of the shell to chassis. A very difficult task, and in the process I managed to crack the steering linkage attachment on the left front; broke and lost to the "Carpet Monster", the brace between the fuel tanks, and the rear view mirror.

The final steps were to add the remaining windows, the Photo etched mesh and hood straps. Supplied with the kit are dry transfers for the tyre markings but due to the age of these I could not get them to seperate from the backing paper.

Overall, considering the age of the kit, a very nice and quick build.