One of the web’s oldest and friendliest plastic model car websites, they claim. There are kit reviews, tutorials and a gallery of models.

Technorati tag: Scale Models, Model Cars

I’m about to set up a section of the Scale shop called Small Scale Customs, where I’ll sell cars for model railway layouts. The difference is, I’ll be taking other people’s cars and detailing or customising them. Some of the cars will be ones that occur to me but I’ll also be taking commissions.

The race ready Mini is the third car to be added to SSC’s forecourt, after the Capri and Beetle. I noticed that the little car was all decked out in sponsor’s logos and race numbers but was lacking a roll cage. I drilled the fastening lug out of the chassis and popped it open then fashioned a roll bar, rather than a full cage- I figured if this was an old school rally car I could get away with it, from a paper clip.

Click for a larger picture

Whilst I was in there it seemed right to do a little painting. The distinctive oval speedo was painted white. I would have put decal dials on it if I’d thought to look for any. The switches arrayed under the speedo were painted silver, as was the gear lever. If I do this again I’ll remove the little plastic knobble and replace it with a wire leaver and add a handbrake as well.

One neat little detail in the standard kit was the Recaro style bucket seat for the driver. I painted the plastic tub red and left the padding black. The other seats and the door inlays were painted tan. I guess this was a stock Cooper and the passenger seating stayed. In reality, the rear seat would have been taken out to save weight, but I wasn’t quite ready for that level of scratch building.

Click for a larger picture

With the internal detailing completed I superglued the car back together. External detailing only goes so far as picking out the door handles with silver. I may add a sump guard to hide the hole where I drilled out the attaching lug.

Click for a larger picture

The car’s finish is a bit too shiney for a working race vehicle, but I reckon it’s between rallies and has been spruced up and cleaned ready for its next outing.

The car can be bought for £6 (plus £1 p&p), payment by PayPal.

Technorati tag: Small Scale Customs, 1:72nd Scale

Despite the fact that it can outperform most of the cars that give the Top Gear presenters wet dreams, I don’t think the X1, electric concept car from Wrightspeed, is going to be doing a timed lap piloted by the Stig any time soon. Clarkson couldn’t make any milk float jokes if presented with the truth.

Check out a ride along in this video.

via Jalopnik

Technorati tag: Electric Car, Wrightspeed