The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Hi all this is my first post on here. I started this Christmas (was a chrissy present from my missus) I've built this mammoth kit before and loved it so decided to build it again only this time as a cabriolet (assuming my skills are upto it) I will post some pics of my first build along side this as it was the polar opposite of this build which will be shiney well looked after and clean, the last build was as a dilapidated banger (tbh I liked that and thought the aging added a lot more interest)
Let me first say this is an incredible kit with over a thousand parts and I would recommend it to anyone (although I have to say it's not a beginners kit) the only downside is the instructions, they are utterly awful but the parts fit is incredible and I can't see how it would be possible to add more detail to a kit.
Here is where I am upto now.




Here is the engine and cradle on my last build ( the engine is the correct colour on that one as the new build will be a custom paint job)

Very nice the engine looks suitably oily

very good like the rust on the cross member and the oil stains on the engine very well done can`t wait to see more of this build

Love the way you're building this, as a car in use, warts and all and not a pristine show car.

Hi all, well I've done it, the roofs gone (hope I can make the canvas roof for it.






I'm going to use the cut out roof as a template for making the ribs for the canvas part.

That's another very neat cut. What method do you use?

On the roof I used a dremel with a cutting disc on the corvette doors I used the back of a craft knife blade very gently at first then as the groove gets deeper I press harder (the corners are the hardest bit but don't be tempted to go to quickly as one slip and it will take far longer to remove the resulting scratch.

very neatly done this is coming along nicely

Hi all here is the framework for the canvas roof (the nuts and bolts won't stay the final version will have a plastic pin) I may try a version using piano wire as the copper wire is very soft, it may stiffen up a bit when the canvas is stitched to it (that I think is going to be a nightmare, not known for my sewing skills)
Need to make a couple of of ribs for the middle section.

coming along nicely piano wire might be better as it is not soft like copper but copper is easier to work good job so far

Very nice bit of work

Hi all here is another update on this.
From my experience of building this kit before it is critical that this piece is glued totally square and true if you don't want bonnet fitting problems.
As you can see from the pics with a little effort you can get a perfect fit.





On my first build this part was out only by about a half a mill and when I fitted the bonnet there was a 5 mil gap at the top which I could not get rid of, after days of investigation scratching my head and swearing it turned out this was the problem, of course I had got a lot further on in the build and it caused me a lot of problems to sort it out.

Very interesting build.

Very cool. I suspect you shall have to build a 1/8 scale garage to keep it in as well.

coming along very nicely