New Kits: 2012 Kick Off...

I have never shared (on here) any of the new kits that I add the my ever growing collection. I have enough kits to last me a couple of lifetimes. It's no 1000+ kits like I have seen others have nor should I really call it a collection since I do plan to build them. Lets call them my "Stash" I like to think of it as something to do for when I retire, even if that is no where near to happening... I am lucky to have a wife that accepts me for who I am, a styrene addict.. Now I dont splurge and pay up the ass for kits like my others do. I shop around and look for deals, sometimes I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Some are rare and hard to find, so when a good deal pops up on them, I try to buy it.

It's been discussed on several forums at different times. Is it hoarding, collecting or an addiction?? You be the judge.

My wife got me this one. Weld MKII. Im a Toyota nut, so she knew I would like this one.

Italeri Volvo. Found this one at a swapmeet at a good deal. It has some decent details. I couldn't find much about it online, but I have a buddy working on getting me some intel about it. This one is screaming for a ground scrapping lowereing and some wide, deep offset wheels.

Aoshima AE86 LEVIN. These are a "must have" kits for the AE enthusiast. Great details inside and out. This one comes with Buddy Club P1 wheels and working suspension.

A Bandai CORONA MKII. Now this is a jem in my 1/20 scale finds. This one is brand new and complete. It comes with full engine detail, opening doors and trunk. I got this one from a forum member for a great deal. It still even has the original price tag. 1,200 yen...that would be around 15 bucks, man I wish I was around for that.

Picked this one and the civic from Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair at their montly meet.
My uncle had a chevy van when I was a kid. It did not look like this, but it was pretty nice either way. Im thinking J-tin support van... =)
AMT reissued this kit along with many others. I read great reviews on it and had to get one.

Tamiya Mugen Civic is a reissue. It's a kit I have wanted for quit sometime, but they were going for like 60+ on ebay. Good thing I waited. It's a must have for any race car enthusiast.

These next 5 kits I got from a fellow modeler. killer deal for these, again right place, right time.
Revell 62 Impala. Brand new and still sealed. Nothing real special about it, other than the fact that I got it for more than half the retail price. Low Rider anyone?? Will be the first in over a decade.

Aoshima Blitz R32 4door Skyline. I like this one a lot, especially the driver Ken Nomura. It's been started already, but it's complete. The paint job looks good and the decals have been applied already. All it really needs is clear coat. Am I going to finish whats been started?? I don't think so, but if I change my mind all credits will be appliled properly.

This Revell Golf kit is still intact and complete. Im no Euro guy, but after seeing Raess' Golf builds I felt like adding at least one to my display.

Now these 2 Intergras were out of the box and thrown into a zip lock bag. They are from Revell "Street Tuner" series. They seem to be complete as far as I can tell. One of them is started already, doesn't look too bad either. I had bought this kit when it first came out. I was pretty disappointed with it and well got rid of it, now I have 2...Hey, it was 2 for way more than half the retail price. But what to do, what to do?? Stance? HellaFlush? Drag?

So two things to think about. It's not the end of the month and you have not seen my collection, what comes to mind when you see this?? Hoarder or an addiction to styrene/plastic??

Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for "New Supplies: 2012" and a complete view of my stash.

Builder Spotlight: Raees Amien

After some thinking and wondering, I have came to the conclusion that I have not done a "Spotlight" on Raees. Sure I have featured many of his wonderful builds and have even done a small intro about him, but I have yet to do an actual "Spotlight", well here it is.

Raees hails all the way from Cape Town, South Africa, that is almost 10,000 miles away from Cali, where I live. He has been at the mercy of styrene since the tender age of 8 and has built some great looking models since. He also likes taking long walks by the beach and listening to jazz....ummm nah not really, but he sure loves to put in time on all his builds. Some taking a couple of weeks, with long hours to others that have been on stand by for years. We all have that one or several builds that take more time than usual. So what if OCD kicks in, we'll get back to it. Eventually...

The SPC forum, some emails and the occasional Facebook comments are the ways we communicate to share one of the passions that we have in common and that is model car building. His style of building is one that catches my attention in many ways. From digi-carbon fiber camo pattern on the Amuse R35 Skyline or nicely detailed SR20 under the hood of his silver beauty 510 to the slammed trio of VW golfs, the details are eye catching. The attention to detail in each of his builds are amazing. Plenty of time goes into them to get them that way and the patience he has is something that many need to have in order to build any type of model. It's the key to the door of the this hobby, well time and money is another key factor that come into play, but thats another story..haha.

He has been building models not only for himself, but for others as well. I have featured the finished ones on here and he has more to come in near future. Just recently he finished a VW beetle that was featured on the cover of Speed and Sound Magazine out of South Africa. Not only did he build a scale replica of that beetle on there, but there is an article about Raees himself and his builds in that issue. His builds have caught plenty of attention from many and I can see him getting more in the future. The man has skills for what he does. I have seen plenty come into the hobby only to leave it behind, I can say that Raees is here to stay. now if we can only get ourselfs to finish those unfinished WIP's...

Heres some quick info:
Full Name: Raees Amien
Age: 23
Time Building: Been modeling for 14 years
What Got Him Here?: I started with small aeroplanes
Firts Time?: First modification was cutting a Ferrari testorossa and a plane to make a dragster.
Goals: Now I mainly focus on cars 1/24 scale and 1/12
Favourite build/s: Datsun SSS and KPGC10/Hakosuka

Here are just a few of his builds.

Not only does he have skills in building models, but he also has skills in taking some great looking photos.



All pics were taken by Raees Amien.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this, thanks for stopping by.
Happy Motoring.

OS GIKEN 510 Progress...

Well it's getting closer to being done. just some minor details are needed to get there. I need some oil cooler lines, make some seat belts, steering wheel, some wires and add an extra detail that revell forgot to add. more on that later on.

Here are a few pics of what I have managed to do. first up I made a headliner using bandage tape. then I brushed some citadel "mud" wash for the brown color. the MSD box is on the dash as well. second thing I did was put an underhood liner. I know, the 510's didn't come with them. but hey, its better than seeing those pesky injector marks. the last thing I added was BMF for the window trims. both front and back.

Once I make the seat belts, I'll be able to "marry" the body to the chassis and start on the final details on the outside of the body.

Thanks for stopping by.

AE86 COUPE LOVE

Here are some pics of clean and bad ass AE86 coupes that I found while browsing around and on Club4ag as well.
Enjoy and thanks for looking.

And heres one of my AE coupe

My coupe is currently not running. can't figure out what it is, I miss driving my coupe.

Builder Spot Light: Robin and his SSS 510

Last month I posted a teaser pic of a 510 chillin in the corner of a shop diorama. I also mentioned that Raees Amien was going to take some pics of this Datsun. Well here it is and I gotta say, it looks tastey. for anyone that loves old school J-tin this one does not disappoint. lowered stance, chocolate covered paint job with some old school body tuning can give you a cavity. Robin has done a fantastic job on this build, heres a bit of detail about both Robin and his 510

"I started building kits approximately 9 years ago, it all started with a civic ferio (hasegawa) that my brother bought for me for my birthday (i still have this kit), this also fueled my liking for japanese cars and due to this kit i bought me an actual civic ferio lol.

What inspires me is the japanese car culture and not the hellaflush and american scene but purely what rolls on the streets of japan (gonna go live there one day lol)

As for the kit its a hasegawa bluebird sss...

- sprayed it the datsun brown (dont remember the code)
- ssr sharkstars with hippari tyres
- scratch built front lip/spoiler
- hasegawa rally datsun sss overfenders
- carpets inside
- seat belts with seat belt buckles
- "leathered" the seat (using electrical tape)
- lowered the suspension (wheels still turn left to right)

Thats it basically, awesome kit and i amazed myself with the detail lol."

All pics were taken by Raees Amien for Robin


I just love that old schoo vibe. the color combos are spot on and the paint is just beautifully done. gotta love the JNC (Japanese Nostalgic Car) decal on the window as well. real sublte, but cool

Thanks for stopping buy and have a Happy New Year.

Coming Soon: Builds

Well it's now 2012 and another year for building. 2011 was not really productive for me, with only one build done, about 4 started, one about 96% done and about a dozen added to the collection, O_o  but I plan to chang that up this year, well I hope so.

My plans so far are to finish some builds that I started a while back.
96% shoulda been done already Datsun 510
AE86 N2 Levin
Toyota Corona Mark II Mild Bosozoku Style(not pictrured)
AE86 Levin Drift Coupe(not pictured)
The Dirty Rat Rod

                                     

Wish me luck and stay tuned for more, thanks for stopping by.

The Low Down MK2, Another Commisioned Build..

As I said before Raess has been working on a few comissioned builds and heres another one. this time around its a Golf MK2. slammed down to the ground, so that makes it 2 low down ground scrappers.
this one is a more subtle look to it. porsche mesh wheels get this one rolling around, it's different from the MK1 trio he finish up earlier.

So far this make it 3 MK1's and 1 MK2, all he has left of comissioned builds are a Honda Prelude and a Beetle. I'm sure he would be happy to get those out of his hair soon.

"Another commission build . this was done during the mk1 builds so this progress was a bit slower. none the less it is finally done. This is the second lowest car iv done after the kpgc10 skyline"

Specs of the Low Down:

Kit: Fujimi vw mk2

Tamiya light tan with 2k clear

Ferrari seats

Porsche mesh wheels

 All pics belong to Raees Amien


Thanks for stopping by.