World in miniature.

I used to do lots as a kid but not so much nowadays until my workmate gave me his unfinished Tamiya R/C KingTiger. Really enjoyed finishing it off and then having a go at weathering which i've never done before.

Conversions are fun , you end up with something a little more unusual. i bought a couple of these cheap plastic/die cast friction buses for not a lot , this was the first i converted (alongside a standard one).


on this one i kept the original chassis and grafted the tail end of a lotus 72 chassis and home brewed the front end. this let me keep the majority of the interior. its very very low and very very slow and very very noisy , so its just like the real deal!




i think its pretty cool


.......but not as cool as #2..... that will wait for another post!

Never would though...

Since having the 1275GT scalextric set as a kid i've had a real soft spot for the old mini clubmans. The red shell on this one came to me in an ebay job lot and had obviously been stood on as the shell was split right up the middle , the arches had also been chewed off by the look of it.



as this was going to be another ultra low rider there was no other option than a custom scratch built chassis. the motor actually became a structural part of the chassis and i milled out another set of the ferrari rims (as on the white one) and used stick on door buffers to replicate hubcaps.



i certainly achieved low! in a straight line its pretty nippy but with such a phenomenally narrow track its not the most stable in the twisties...buts its not all about that.

apologies to mr busby but i do seem to have hogged his thread even though i said i wouldn't. it was only when i started trawling through my files that i realised that pretty much all my slot build fitted the brief of modified classics , the joy of 1:32 is that if you don't get it right it wont kill you or your bank account! (the garage can be smaller too!).

a quick build that came along was a BMW M1. complete body wise , barring rear spoiler , its was ripe for a simple road going make-over. a few minor repairs , lose the flash marks on the body , define the shut lines and a drop of paint. other than that , a set of chrome rims from a 996 and a non helmeted head and it was good to go. quite pleased with the result but at some point i might revisit it and tweak the stance just a fraction to get the wheels as tight to the arch lips as i can.

Monogram kits were ok but i prefered Tamiya and Fujimi , both for their range and quality.

it makes no difference if its full scale or small scale , sometimes you need minor diversions to stop you going crazy over your main project. i would normally have 2 or 3 other things on the go at any one time that i could pick up and put down while i was waiting for stuff to dry or even just wait for inspiration!

even though it ran like a champ , this motor just wasn't cutting the mustard!



even a quick strip/clean/service/reassemble leaves you with a nice quick result.



XR3 that will eventually become a RS turbo , not seen one of those done before.



and a Sierra Cosworth that i want to try and actually make look like a Cosworth , i think Scalextric employed Ray Charles to design this one!



this resin 2002 looked ok in the ebay listing but i think had been painted in enamel with a yard broom. it didn't improve much once stripped with lots of chips and air bubbles all over....buuuut it will be a pretty thing once straightened out!




this last one turned into a biggie itself , another scalextric shell that always bugged me , their take on the 911. now there are plenty of more accurate models on the market (and i have some) but wheres the fun in not having a go at improving something that looks like a pigs ball-bag?!

i present the accused.

roughing out the worst aspects , wheelbase and arch placement.

choppy choppy...sticky sticky




fill , file , trim.




looked better for a lick of primer , still plenty to do....

Some serious model making skills there - nice work.

Can I ask what you use to remove the paint from the plastic and resin bodies without melting them?