any pics from Shizuoka yet?

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

I just compared my Gunze Hi-tech 250 GTO vs. my Italeri and my Protar GTO's. None of them are right! They all suck!!

I honestly don't see why the uproar over the Protar; it has a lot of really nice detail for the modeler-the wheels are a work of art (the tires ar hideous though). Hood/decklid/doors all open, and w/careful assembly will give you a fantastic detailed kit. The back end shape is a bit suspect and the body is narrower than the other two (but seems to look good compared to the 1:1 except for the questionable rear end), the Italeri door frames are completely squared off and look wrong and the Gunze rear fender openings look oversized/long/squared off, so any one of them needs some massaging to meet a particular modeler's desire to capture a look. The Italeri kit details are a bit simplified, the Gunze kit has a hood that you have to cut open (and also source an engine; it doesn't have one ) and a bunch of miserable white metal to deal with (I personally hate the stuff). Someone mentioned the Protar door frames; on my kit there's a web of material that looks like it can be removed from the frames that will make them look correct; it seems the side glass will still fit w/o it.

I was lucky w/my GTO purchases; I don't need the reissue. I got my Testors/Italeri kit for $8 at a Nashville swap meet a few years back, my Gunze and Protar kits came from a Michigan hobby shop (Dean's Hobby Stop) for about $35 for the pair when I visited them IIRC. I knew they were a bargain when I snapped them up. I had waited until after all of them were OOP to buy any of them

I just noticed something on my Gunze kit; the boxart depicts a car w/2 vertical front fender vents, the kit body has three It's also the only one of the styrene kits to have the front lower valance molded to the body. Somehow I think the best combo would be the Gunze w/some Protar parts (or better yet a Replicas and Miniatures of MD engine) and you'll have some good parts box leftovers

[Exotics_Builder]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

I just compared my Gunze Hi-tech 250 GTO vs. my Italeri and my Protar GTO's. None of them are right! They all suck!!
...
Somehow I think the best combo would be the Gunze w/some Protar parts (or better yet a Replicas and Miniatures of MD engine) and you'll have some good parts box leftovers

I can't agree with you more on the Protar detail. The engine is the best plastic Colombo I've seen. I was actually looking at using the Protar kit and adapting parts of the Gunze body to it.

Right now, I'm trying to get back at my Tamiya 360 Modena Spyder and Fujimi EM 246 GTS (original issue) and clear them off the bench.

But to show how eclectic my building has become lately, I've also got a Mini Cooper Works (LH drive), Ducati 916 Senna, and a 56 Chevy Del Ray also sitting on the bench. Now to get back and get something finished!!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by Exotics_Builder

I can't agree with you more on the Protar detail. The engine is the best plastic Colombo I've seen. I was actually looking at using the Protar kit and adapting parts of the Gunze body to it.

Right now, I'm trying to get back at my Tamiya 360 Modena Spyder and Fujimi EM 246 GTS (original issue) and clear them off the bench.

But to show how eclectic my building has become lately, I've also got a Mini Cooper Works (LH drive), Ducati 916 Senna, and a 56 Chevy Del Ray also sitting on the bench. Now to get back and get something finished!!

I know exactly how that is; my taste is too eclectic and I have way too much modeler's ADD short-circuiting my brain

I just finished a Revell Ferrari Superamerica for a magazine review (nice kit actually), a race-weathered Fujimi GT40 Mk I '69 LeMans winner for my book, I'm working on an AMT custom '57 Chrysler 300 w/a Winfield-style faded paintjob for the book, a Monogram Cobra 427 S/C, original AMT Corvair Astro I w/the trick opening cockpit, Donohue's winning IROC Porsche from Daytona, I've primed/prepped a Profil 24 Jaguar E Type Lightweight low-drag coupe for our LeMans palooza next month (to be built during the race), I have promised to build a '57 Chevy Black Widow (AAM w/some trick custom parts another ACME member has made) this year as well, and I'm also supposed to build an FXX w/some friends this year. And help w/body parts and paint on a one-off 1/12 IROC Porsche for Rennsport Reunion III in November. Whew. It's killing me that I haven't built the new Fujimi, Mazda MX-5, Porsche Cayman S and the F430 Challenge car that I started last summer Some builders whine that there aren't enough good models coming out. I whine that there are too many good ones for me to keep up with!

[MPWR]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

Some builders whine that there aren't enough good models coming out. I whine that there are too many good ones for me to keep up with!

I don't care what comes out- there have simply been too many good kits made for me to ever catch up!