Faust

Yeah, I think I've seen where CCC made something like 6, or maybe 8, of the Americas. I think 4 or so are left alive now. I just can't get over how long it is. I mean, a Panamera does the same thing (just as sexily) but with less ridiculous length! I can't see any reason to go the route they did, other than wanting the T-roof thing, and that's a silly reason, if you ask me!

If you believe that too much is never enough, then you can probably understand what GM was thinking when they let California Custom Coach create what is perhaps the most excessive Corvette of all time, the four-door Corvette America! The idea was to create a four-door, four-seater Corvette that would, uh, well, I don’t know what. It would be long, and expensive, and not really compete with any other sporty car since it was slow. Does that work? Beacause I love the losers, the odd and forgotten, I clearly have a super-big love of this weirdo. I mean, it’s a FOUR-DOOR Corvette!!! Ho

I was really excited to get that Tamiya Sierra, and was really intrigued to see how a Japanese kit’s engine went together. So, it should come as no surprise that I ripped into the kit pretty hard and fast once I got into it. The pressures of work may slow me down some after this, but I was able to make some good headway on the Sierra, and wanted to share it. The engine is nice, and the chassis on this thing is even nicer! It’s like a smaller version of my G8’s chassis (I’ve been under that car enough times to know) in a lot of ways. This was one kit where what you don’t see is sadl

See, I think they're hot-looking. The didn't sell worth beans though, no. I've not seen one on the roads since about 1990.

Yeah, that's a great way to put it... they're like Grilled Cheese sandwiches. They're not what you feed your inlaws when you're trying to impress, but they're great for just kickin' back. I seriously am tired of some of the lame-arsed box art we're getting lately. Fix this stuff up, and let's have some action, grit and excitement back!

Let’s face it. Most of the cars in the early 1980s were pretty sad. Hey were either little econobeaters or gutless throwbacks to a better time, simply shambling sadly to their graves and awaiting replacement by smaller, less interesting cars. This is what I was surrounded with when I was growing up; the last messy bit of the Automotive Dark Ages. However, there are a few cars from the mid-‘80s that were pretty cool, and some that were actually innovative in terms of both styling and execution. So many cars wanted to pretend to be European, but most just assumed being small and ugly

There are kits we all want because we think they’re amazing from an engineering standpoint. You know the kind, they’re big, impressive and the box is packed so full of styrene that you can’t even figure out how to get it all back in there. Sometimes, it’s a subject we’ve always wanted, sometimes, it’s just because we can’t resist the lure of something so impressive. There are lots of kits like that. However, I’m sure most of us also have kits that we’ve wanted just because they look fun. Maybe they’re funky, or different, or classic; there can be a million reasons why a specific ki

Just knowing what’s going on in a battle can make the difference between victory and defeat, literally life or death. Because of that, finding out what the enemy is up to, and making sure you apply your resources in the best way possible, has always been an important part of warfare. With the maturation of aircraft as viable spotting and recon platforms during the 20th century, the art of battlefield recon rose (sometimes literally) to new heights. However, not every important machine was a high-tech wonder, festooned with cameras and other sensors. Some were more workaday planes;

No, I'm not a truck guy either. But a customized minitruck from the '70s WITH crazy UFO decals is pretty cool. Add to that they all have rusted away long ago (well, most of them at least) and it's an everyday loser car as well! I can't resist that! 🙂

Sometimes, it’s fun to go a little wild and crazy. Real car owners have been doing it for ages, and model kit companies were generally not too far behind when it came to customizing trends. When something became cool on the street, it was typical for the model companies to start producing kits in the same vein, whether that meant modifying existing kits or just issuing new ones that were already customized or could be. A perfect example of this was the mini-truck customization phase that was big in the mid-‘70s and lasted until the early ‘80s. The vannin’ craze and the show rod wor

Wow, they have these at Hobby Town? Sadly, here in Canada, we don't have any big Hobby Store chains, just small shops. Good in a way, bad in a way. From what I've seen, I'd say get this kit if you want to - it looks pretty epic!

If there’s one thing I have a lot of, it’s robots. I grew up in the ‘80s, when Transformers, Voltron and Robotech were the big things. I glommed onto those and never let go. As I got older, and discovered Gundam and the other great mech animes, I was astounded at the number of awesome robots that were available as model kits! Since then, I’ve amassed quite a number of mech kits, and I generally love them all about the same. However, when Flame Toys brought out their “Furai” model kit line, which are models of some of their third-party Transformer designs, there was one that blew me

Spring has sprung, and that means that it’s wet, muddy and generally kinda crappy weather-wise. Add in all the craziness that’s going on in the world, and it might be enough to make you pull the covers back over your head and just wait for better times. However, there’s nothing to brighten a dull day like some good old-school MPC craziness!! In order to brighten everyone’s spririts, and to thank everyone for helping my little site get to 300,000 views, I thought something different should be done over at the Sprue Lagoon. Thus, I decided to put my four MPC Monzas head-to-head and s

Oh, I remember the Estes Honest John! I never had one of those, but I did have a tonne of other model rockets. Darn... those were fun!

During the Cold War, nuclear-tipped, rocket-launched weapons were all the rage. From the towering ICBMs that would end the world to the ridiculous and perilously short-ranged Davy Crockett nuclear mortar, it was expected that all phases of future war would be conducted by some kind of rocket bombardment with mushroom clouds as the end result. A perfect example of one such piece of equipment, and one that falls somewhere between the two aforementioned extremes, was the Honest John. This was a truck launched artillery rocket that could be fielded with both conventional and unconventi

I've noticed that a lot about old biplane box art. The art on the Matchbox Seafox makes that rinky-dink little thing look huge and butch, and the Shark's art makes it look very streamlined and fast, indeed. Of course, in neither case is that true... 🙂 Gotta love the power of perspective!

They say that “everything old is new again” and I think they must have had our current fascination with nostalgia particularly in mind when coming up with that phrase. The good thing about nostalgia is that sometimes it spawns a “do-over”, where whatever is being fondly remembered gets reinvented with the benefit of modern sensibilities and technology. Nowhere is that more apparent, to me at least, than when it comes to toys. The current crop of Transformers toys are almost exclusively re-dos of old classic standbys but with modern, top-notch design and functionality. However, befo

I'm not sure I'd use the word "precision" with it, but hey, you know... maybe they mean the scale is precise? I can't believe the number of times that this thing gets popped!

Well the people have spoken, and the winner in my poll to see what should be reviewed next was the Blackurn Shark, from FROG. This is one of those “Because you demanded it!” moments, and I have to say, I was surprised the Shark came out on top. It was close with the Neiuport and Macchi coming in close second and third, but the mighty Shark won out! Hailing from the 1968 time period, this first-style boxing certainly has he years on its side! So, if you’ like me and love a good classic kit, or you just want to see how it was done in the old days, check out the link below

I've got the 1/35 and 1/72 ICMs.... I guess I'd better get around to getting this 1/24 one too! I love that it's in "real car" scale! God I love those cars. If I could own one "super expensive" car in real life, it would be that. Not a Porsche, Lambo, Ferrari... not a Packard, Rolls or Bugatti... a G4. Beautiful and beastly all at once!

For a lot of people in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter months can be long and draggy. Sunshine is at a premium (if you see it at all), there’s usually cruddy weather and driving isn’t exactly trouble-free. Add to this the inevitable arrival of post-Christmas bills and a return to the “normal” routine, and you’ve got a recipe for some serious doldrums. Thankfully, my friend Alan took it upon himself to send my “January Blahs” packing by doing some packing of his own! In the mail near the end of January I got a surprise load of kits from him! You want to talk about a great way to

There's no glory in a non-stock Pinto! The goal is to remind us all of the travesties that were foisted upon us, so we never let it happen again! 🙂

It is an interesting one, and a good one at that! I would love kits of things like the 2018 Fusion, or a Malibu, or some general stuff. Some of Japanese stuff is "everyday-ish", and some of the MPC stuff can be that way to. I'm loving my Beretta, even though it's a GTU, and I know Revell did pretty much every flavour of '92 Grand Prix (I've got the GTP, but stupidly passed up the base one. D'oh!). As for "everyday", did you check out the Daewoo LeMans on my site? As for normal trucks, there was the Courier (AMT? Revell? Can't recall...) and there's the newly reissued '

If you know me, and/or the Sprue Lagoon, you know that I do have a thing for “loser cars”. However, it’s not just econoboxes and soulless “made-to-be-rented” cars that I love! I am also a fan of the mundane. That means cars that aren’t necessarily bad, and might be kind of exciting, but definitely things that you’d see everyday. They are the car equivalents to the “people in your neighbourhood” that Sesame Street sang about. One vehicle that surely fits this description is the Volvo 850 Turbo Estate wagon. I rather like these cars, and they’re decent, competent and even kind of stylish

Pictures are fixed. Not sure what was wrong. Try it now!