new hobby | new opportunities

 

New year, new beginning.

In fact just empty words because the new beginning were back in 2024 when I grabbed my first big scale RC.  It was a Traxxas Big Foot, an RC car that looks like the RC s from my childhood. It delivers fun continuously and more than this, it offers the opportunity to think. You see what it does, you think what its need to do or what you want to do. After this exercise you’ll modify and tune the thing. This is called “upgrading”. And this is the entrance in the rabbit hole of the RC’s. Because it means money expensed and somehow an addiction. Even I do not consider having a hobby meaning you are addicted.

    But honestly, the pleasure of playing RC’s was born back in 2023 when I had my very first RC car : Traxxas TRX4M Land Rover Defender. Now it is the most modified from my collection but not necessarily the best performer. What I am share of is that is the most realistic in the entire collection (in spite of the lack of the interior reproduction).

    So, already I can talk about the two fields of the hobby I am involved in : the micro crawlers and the bashing cars (off road or on roads, we’ll see this later on)

    After the Big Foot I wanted speed and durability and it was the Rustler which I modded for street bashing and speed runs. A lot of technical accessories and esteticaly ones. The Rusty, The Beast, as a friend call it, is now my RC car that I never sell. It will remain in collection no matter what.

    And for the and of the 2024, needing a fancy RC for car lots playing, I added a hot rod to the collection. This is for street playing. Destination : drift car - parts are already on my workbench waiting for mounting on the modest. An power upgrade is not excluded but first I have to find its limits as stock power package.

    Alongside of collecting diecast cars (not so many acquisitions in 2024) those are the milestones of my new hobby along the one already presented on this blog. The passion for scale models remains and I am proud of my scale model collection. I will always enrich with the greatest models I consider.

    About the differences between the RC cars and the scale models we will talk later. In my opinion it is an interesting subject and there are a way to mix them but, at least for instance, I do not agree this mix because of the…. (I’ll explain later because it’s interesting  and I plan to read an entire article on this subject).

    New year, new beginning, promises and so on, better me… bla bla bla. I am sure nothing will change, the same hobbys and the same hunger of satisfying the passion of the scale models no matter what kind of.

    Creating custom scale models allowed you to be creative to feed your abilities of manufacturing tiny things in you tiny world of yourself. Sometimes this helps me passing by difficult moments, but this is another story… and sad stories are not ment to be here.

    So, no promisses for the beginning of the year, let’s see what time brings to us and face no matter what it will be.

vette C8 | short review & mod description

There is long time since I modified a budget model car. 

After detailing a G-Class from Minichamps, a Vette C4 from AutoArt and several other premium models, I returned at the pleasure of turning a budget diecast modelcar into a collection custom model.

Long story short. I felled in love with a Corvette C8 by Maisto. It was love at first sight. After I unboxed it, I was not disappointed.

The paint is very glossy (nice surprise) but also very thick. That's bad surprise because every panel gap is almost invisible (bumper / fender, roof panel gaps and so on). A nice surprise also is the fact that the panel gaps are very small comparing with what we expect from a 35€ 36o° open diecast model car. Maisto made something on that and they did it well. Congrats for this!

The interior is somehow basic. There are no different textures on the elements apart of carbon fiber traditional relief shape. The gap lines in interior are also bad represented. You have to guess them more than see them. On the other hand, we have all we need at the interior for making a decent representation : buttons tampography, instrument panels decals and little other details.

But overall I find this model a very good base for making a custom model, so I did it.

For instance no new rims but it is forecasted in the near future.

The list of mods, not all of them below

- stance

-chromed lip for rims

-black tinted engine hood window

-lateral air intakes detailed

-tan leather interior

-dash board detailed

-textile seat belts & realistic boucle

-carpeted interior

-side windows semi raised (HW Elite style)

-number plate for rear

Lock-down Works | Ford T | easy restoration part 3

Hello friend of modelling. Staying at home has a lot of advantages. First of all gives you the opportunity to be close to your loved persons and, in the same time, generates a lot of free time. Use this context to feed your soul. For me is a welcomed time for modeling. Far away from daily needs, obliged to stay home, I find a lot of free time for my models. Satisfaction guaranteed!

So, I am happy to present you the first model I finished two weeks ago, just one week after restrictions imposed by the government. I am also happy to let you know that there are several models in work and several models ready for inspection.

But let’s go back to our T Model presented in the two previous post. A lot of details done, an imperfect paint and as the result, one of the most beautiful model I ever done. I love so much this tiny black bug. The look I archived on this model is an daily use classic car : a little bit of rust here and there, shiny black paint and some dirty under-body. I’ll let you see what I mean. Enjoy the ride!

Lock-down Works | Ford T | easy restoration part 1

Hello friends,

After a long time I decided to build a plastic kit.

Unfortunately, the social context - the COVID - 19 pandemic generates a lot of free time.

So, I said to take this advantage. I looked very analytically at the stack I had behind the living room door and chose this kit from ICM.

It is a Ford T model 1913, a brass era car, beautifully shaped and very interesting. About Ford T there make no sense to write any word because everybody has his own story about. Some of us saw one, in a museum or at a "Concour d'elegance", or heard somebody talking about a T, or I don't know what. he truth is that car is a rliving legend and it is still so present in our lives.

But I can say few words about the ICM kit:

It consists of several gray plastic frames, one transparent plastic and one cream plastic covered with a layer of gold finish.

The gold finish frame wants to be brass, the car belonging to "brass era". At a first look, the gold plated pieces the aspect seems to be "Chinese toy". Doesn't matter, I told myself. I'll correct this thing. Unfortunately, that "chrome" layer is the worst coating I could see in my entire modeling life. It peels off at the slightest aggression! 

More: the gold coating is insensitive to any stripper! Pfff ... The solution is patience and cutter blade and practically I had to peel off the pieces and repainting after with MIG old brass.

Here is something to discuss because the manufacturer proposes, in my opinion, too much brass on the car. Many brass parts will be painted black or, which is a plus, because we replace that nasty golden brass.

Now honestly I'm not sure how an original car looks like ... The references I will take into account are some restored T's that I personally like how they look.

Well, over all ipression about this KIT is that we are talking about quality Zero burrs and precise shapes (not like Tamiya but ...) which favors a "fast forward" assembly especially if you want to uild this kit out of the box

So let's start!

first of all, I will not respect the assembly order proposed by the manufacturer. You will see how I will proceed to assembly this tiny car.

So, that's all till now.

Next days I'll have to show you the assembly and the painting of the kit.

See you soon

Chevrolet C30 | Z- ed

In 1960 Chevrolet introduces a new body design for their light pick-ups. The new design has had many “premieres”. First of all, a ladder frame which allows to the cabin to sit lower. Independent front suspension. The 1960, 1961 and 1963 has used a torsion bar but in 1963 was introduced a coil spring for the front suspension. This type of suspension give a car-like ride in a truck. Also we have to mention that 1960 meant the milestone for the changing of the designation system. They passed from “100, 3200 and 3600 to 10, 20 and 30 respectively for ½, ¾ or 1 tone of load.

Engines included the base GMC 305 cu in V6 135 hp till 283 cu in V8 185hp, but also a 6 straight 261 cu in 150hp.

The model I present has as starting base the Chevy C30 Apache from James Bond Car series at 1/43.

The chassis has been “Z”-ed just after the cabin and the rear axle was replaced by a truck one. All those heights has been calculated to have a ground clearance… in-existent.

The Flat bed is scratch built, the gas barrels are from a Tamiya 1/48th lit and the support for this barrels is also scratch built.

The tail lights are custom made from transparent sprues, turned and polished in order to give them back the crystal clear look.

Hoping you like it more than me, let’s enjoy the ride.