By William Chan
Minardi was one of the F1 privateer teams that had never won any grand prix and they were often missed because most of the attention are put on big name teams. Although the team often run with limited budget, Minardi team's strong determination made them on the F1 grid for almost 15 years. None of the major model manufacturers makes Minardi F1. So far I only see Modelers' M198, Club M's M197, Wolf's PS-01 and AMC M193. I found that M193 shape is pretty close to Lotus 107B and McLaren MP4/8. So I bought an AMC M193 decal and tried out the conversion. After more than 15 months of on and off building, the car is finally completed. The result is not perfect, but I am still satisfied with the result. I like to thank my friend Todd for providing me the AMC M193 instruction sheet, so that I have better idea where to place the decal logo, and Johnson Tang for providing me tips of using Gunze lacquer clear coat.
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By Fabrice Marechal
This project is the result of a request a Dutch collector made me. They sent me the Tamiya kit, an Aber PE dashboard , new wheels, several accessories not necessarily useful and a booklet that shows the differences between a DBS and a DBS Ultimate Edition one.
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By Mark Laird
For years I wanted to build the 1/12 Bandai STP Turbine car. It is very unique piece of Indianapolis history, but the price that they were bringing was just more than I was willing to spend. I was lucky enough to find a complete kit on eBay for 200 US dollars. It was a “Buy it Now”, so I purchased it, and waited for it to arrive.
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By Mario Covalski
Chevron presented us some time ago a conversion kit, that allows us to transform the Tamiya's 1/12 Tyrrell P34 1/12 scale in its 1977 homonym. In this note I will describe which were the problems I found in building this complicated and compound kit, and the way I solved them.
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By Fabrice Marechal
Revell have going on offering Super cars and luxury reproductions in 1/24 scale, this article will be about the Porsche Panamera Turbo. I’ll not extend in a complete kit review , however every time I open a Revell box, the first things I examine are: the bodywork, the brakes and wheels. For these last ones, it must be recognized that Revell have improved them. The wheels size is correct and not undersized as it happened at times, besides they are molded in a single part. What still doesn’t’ like me is the chromed they’re provided with, lack of realism and adds extra work to the modeller. Unfortunately, the brakes are not well represented. This tutorial aims at showing with images the steps I followed to correct the problems and get the finished model.
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By Mario Covalski
In May 2001 I wrote a brief preview on the Protar's 1/12 Alfa Romeo 179. This wonderful Formula One was one of the few cars in modern F1 history which chassis and engine were the same brand. Is this model really difficult? This is the key question for this model, and the answer is NO. If it were a Tamiya model, that is to say the same matrix but injected with Tamiya plastic and having the quality control of this huge Japanese company, I would say that this is one of the most delicious models I have ever built. Unfortunately, it has some flaws, mainly due to its poor quality than to the work of the Protar craftsmen.
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By Mario Covalski
This article aims at leading the reader through the assembly process of a Tamiya Datsun 240Z in 1/12 scale. On next pages, I’ll explain the different techniques I used for the construction of the models, and though some of them are obsolete, they’re still very useful for beginners. Although this article is focused to novices, I think that even will be useful for advanced modelers to take ideas and several recommendations, if they have not built this kit yet.
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By Martin Klein
The Model Factory Hiro kit is a full detail all metal version and most parts are packed in a plastic box so that they are not damaged during transport. MFH recently increased the price significantly but after inspecting the content of the kit I think the kit is definitely worth the money. The M2 is the last of the ’84 versions that has been released by MFH and so many parts are carried over from the early versions. The M2 was only raced in the last 3 races of the season in Italy (Monza), European GP (Nürburgring) and Portugal (Estoril). With the kit you can build the Monza version. (For the races in Portugal and at the Nürburgring the front wing was changed from the delta shape to a square version similar to the one used the following year on the 156/85)
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By Omoto Kouzi
This is an outstanding work from our friend Omoto Kouzi. We hope you enjoy the pictures and encourage you to build a Tamiya McLaren 4/6. We have a tutorials about the kit, not so detailed but good guide enough for newcomers.
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By Fabrice Marechal
When I assembled the Mirage IIIC, I used several products from Ammo Mig. Though I was very satisfied with the result, I decided to use AK Interactive products for the 918 to have a different experience. Certainly Revell have improved the wheels quality and their design but improvements don’t always mean accuracy and I have my doubts about size accuracy of wheels, so I replaced them with the Plamoz ones. I invite you to follow this Porsche model build where I only made two changes in the body to get the result you see here.
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By Antonio Busciglio
The car I wanted to build is the Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari 2007 in the splendid livery that was used in the second part of the season, where the Ferrari fluo red used in the previous races (and years) was replaced by a stunning, very characteristic (sort of) candy metallic red.
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By Guy Golsteyn
Since it has become a bit quiet at Tamiya headquarters regarding the launch of new 1:20 F1 models, it is nice to see that manufacturers like Fujimi and Hasegawa have picked up the gauntlet releasing new F1 models on a regular base. The Hasegawa kit we will be using here is very well detailed, which means it is possible to build a fine, beautiful looking model building it 'straight from the box’.
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By Fabrice Marechal
For this article Ebbro provided me a test-shoot that’s to say a test of an injection mold, and there were no references about the year this DS model represented belonged to, so I started to look around the net for pictures that could help me. Looking at the body carefully and comparing with several photos, it was obvious that I had to make sure about certain points.
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By Fabrice Marechal
This article aims at sharing my model construction which was built out of the box adding a personal touch, removing the chrome from plastic parts that look so unreal, and some details that advanced modelers will be able to reproduce.
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By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
On several occasions, when surfing around HLJ, I saw the Greedy 9 on sale. To be honest, the tuning aspect of the art box showing this magnificent green Mazda RX-7, tempted me more than once, but it didn’t get me very excited cause in the short description of the kit, I realized that this is one of those models which doesn’t feature a detailed engine, and this is exactly, what I like, to get detailed engines. But, in the end, that tempting picture of the box really convinced me, thus I ordered it.
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By Antonio Busciglio
One of the most attractive aspects of modelling, in my opinion, is the detailing of mechanical parts, especially for old cars like this. So with this article I’ll share with the reader the work done in the nice Hasegawa Ferrari 312T2 1976 kit. The built model represents the car which Niki Lauda won the GP of Monaco with, over Scheckter and Depailler.
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By Andreas Rousounelis
The Range Rover is a 4x4 luxury British that first entered production in 1970, and is currently at its fourth generation. The Revell kit depicts the first generation 5-door version. In the following sentences I will share my experience building the kit and some modes I made to improve it, I hope they will be useful for others.
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By Edgardo Azzollini
The model represents the Ferrari 312/69 (0019), drove by Chris Amon (NZ), Monaco 1969, 1st practice on Thursday, May 15th 1969. This article has been written following the kit Instructions, showing pictures of each step, and it aims to be a guide for others that want to follow the same way.
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By Guy Golsteyn
Before opening the box, I advise you to take some time to admire the beautiful artwork decorating the box. True artists produce time after time gorgeous illustrations at the Tamiya factory, reflecting a perfect image of how beautiful a model you will find inside. On condition that you are willing to invest some time and effort of course. And to help you I will try to guide you through the building process to achieve this goal.
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By Juan Layos Pantoja
This is one of those kits resting on our shelves which for one reason or another, we’ve never built and perhaps one day, not knowing why, one decides to get down to work! Let me mention that it was not a straightforward kit to build, besides of being an old one, some parts don’t fit properly as it use to happen with some Tamiya kits, especially with regard to the hood which needed to be dry fitted prior to the paint body work and subsequently.
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By Guy Golsteyn
I intended to build this Ducati almost “out of box”, meaning that I won't execute any sophisticated conversions or intensive super detailing. First of all this kit is already pretty good detailed, in spite of its age, and furthermore it's not a racebike, but a classic streetbike from the ‘80s that has never heard of carbon fiber or electronic devices. The only exceptions I will allow myself are the wiring which I will replace by thinner wires to add some realism, and the joint screws at the cowling exterior...
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By Fabrice Marechal
The LaFerrari accelerates from 0-100 km/h in less than 3 seconds and has a top speed exceeding 350 kilometres per hour (220 mph). 499 copies will be produced and sold for an astronomical price more than one million euros, clearly not within everyone’s reach. So, take advantage of this opportunity Tamiya gives us to start building our own LaFerrari…at quite a considerable price…
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By Guy Golsteyn
To be able to execute this conversion I needed a 1/24 Tamiya Porsche 936 as a base. The question was: which one? Tamiya has two kits available: the 1977 Porsche 936 and the 1978 Porsche 936. More research learned me that the Porsche 908/80 in fact turns out to be a mixture of both models. The overall shape of the Porsche 908/80 comes closest to the 1977 Porsche 936, with the high side wings holding a large rear spoiler. But behind the air scoop of the 1977 Porsche are four air intakes which are not present on the 908/80. The central air intake, escorted by two air intakes to both sides and covered by some protective mesh caps are identical as shown on the 1978 model. So I decided to use the 1977 model as a base on which I made the 1978 adaptations. Finally I could start modeling!
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By Mario Covalski
One of the biggest challenges for a modeler who builds motorcycles in 1/12 scale, is to modify a wire wheel and make it look realistic; specially without having to buy an aftermarket kit. Anyway, there are no kits for this kind of modification (except for one of the Acu-stion for the Tamiya XV1600 kit), so it's not possible to get one. So any modeler attempting to do this task must rely in his/her ability in order, to get a good result.
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By Fabrice Marechal
ABT Sportsline is a motor racing and auto tuning company based in Kempten im Allgäu, Germany. ABT mainly deals with Audi, and the related primary Volkswagen Group brands - Volkswagen, Škoda, and SEAT. It was clear that ABT would not be satisfied just by preparing the new Golf but they would give to the Volkswagen Golf GTI a special treatment as the king of the compacts deserve.
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By Mario Covalski
For those who are motorcycles´ lovers, every Tamiya´s new release is full of expectations …and excitement. The Hayabusa Yoshimura couldn't be the exception, after the success, her "sister", the factory version, had. The goal of this article, is to make comments step by step with photos of the parts and assemblies about some modifications or additions which I'm sure, will be useful, specially for beginners.
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By Guy Golsteyn
It has been a while since I last built a rally car model in 1/24 scale. Well, I will not tease the rally fans any longer and get to work: I decided to use a CBCom transkit to convert a Ford Escort group A into a Ford Escort WRC. I'm talking about the Ford Escort used by Belgian rally drivers Patrick Snijers and Dany Colebunders during the 1997 Circuit des Ardennes Rally which unfortunately they didn't finish.
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By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
First of all, it’s necessary to take a look inside the box to be sure if the content is complete and in perfect conditions. One of the most common and discouraging problems is that once the project has started, we can find out that there are broken or missing parts.
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By Mario Covalski
Three years ago I bought Chevron's conversion trilogy for the Ferrari 312T to T2 '77, the Tyrrell '76 to '77, and the M23 '74 to '76.
Within a year, I built the two first kits and let the McLaren for the "proper" moment (inspiration, motivation, etc.).
A few months ago I had the opportunity to convince a Japanese modeler, Mr. Kenji Yagi, to translate a few pages of the instruction manual for me. This translation is available with the PDF version of this tutorial.
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By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
There are many Harley Davidson kits available from different manufacturers, but without any doubt Tamiya have produced the best versions. I refer to model kits, comprising a lot of parts, which were developed with a high level of detail and match the original models. And if that were not enough, in 1/6 scale. The Tamiya's Harley(s) were born at the beginning of the 70s, time when large scale models were preferred by hobby modelers. Nevertheless, the design of those models was adapted to the demands and techniques of those times and of course, they are completely different from nowadays assembling techniques. This means that today modelers will have to face certain obstacles at the time of giving the model a realistic look.
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By Guy Golsteyn
I have been collecting all the 1:20 Tamiya F1 kits since Tamiya started producing them back in 1978, but the McLaren M23 was missing from my collection because I had the clever idea to trade the finished model for a bow and arrows once I finished it. So I have been looking for it since ages, until I discovered Ebay some 25 years later. I paid quite a high price to complete my collection with the one missing kit, but it was the very last that I needed, so what the heck.
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By Mario Covalski
In 1993 I had in my hands the 1/12 Ligier kit by Heller; I was about to buy it but the decal sheets were too old and in bad condition. Since that moment, I've always had in my mind the idea of building a model of the JS11 (which impressed me when I saw it in 1979), and detail it as much as possible, because these Heller kits are really poor in quality and inaccurate. So, a few months ago, while I was talking with an importer, I saw the box in his office and the idea came back back to my mind. Needless to say that a few hours later I was examining the kit in my house.
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By Crescenzo Consolato
Since time ago, I had in mind to build this Tamiya kit with a higher level of detail trying to replicate the F189 which ran in the 1989 Portuguese GP. Although it’s widely known that the Tamiya kits come highly detailed offering a very good quality, I had to make several improvements to match this one to this Portuguese GP version. The reason is because this Tamiya kit represents a F189 of the early season.
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By Mario Covalski
This article aims at providing the beginner a complementary guideline, apart from the Tamiya instruction's manual, including photos of a detailed and quality enough model to encourage him/her in what we could call a hard and laborious work.... facing for the first time with a Tamiya's box.....with a 1/12th inside.
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By Martin Klein
The 312T2 Monaco ’76 is Hasegawa’s the first 1/20 Formula 1 kit so I was very curious about the quality. After inspecting all parts the summary from my point of view is that Hasegawa did a magnificent job. All parts are very detailed and will result in a nice model without any modification. On the other hand the level of detail provided gives the opportunity to add more detail and thus realism and this is the path that I am going to follow.
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By Nicolas Perez Fiorentini
The model I built represents the motorcycle in the first five races of the 2004 championship. In this model I added all possible scratchbuilt details, no etched parts, resin ones…etc. In the article below, you will have a clear explanation about how I made and added every new part, cable, electronic box,…etc
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By Mario Covalski
The first Catherham from Tamiya coming to my hands at the end of 1994, was the “Cycle Fender Special” (10202), since the “Super Seven BDR was out of stock, and it was impossible for me to get it from the stores I used to buy kits. From that moment on, my affair with which, I think is the best scale car kit ever produced, began. And here my comment: probably, you have seen better detailed kits, or even superb models limited editions.
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By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
I built this model as per instructions except when I used the Hobby Design detail set and some extra part. This article is devoted to novices so as to help them to build, which is perhaps, their first F1 model.
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By Mario Covalski
This article aims at offering an illustrated guide, with pictures, explaining step by step the tasks that should be done, how to and the reasons, it’s basically a visual guide, based on the construction of two MG models: the 2002 Ferrari and the 2003- GA.
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By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
I built this model under commission for a customer of mine, who asked for a customized sports version, such as the elimination of both bumpers, the hood with forward opening, which allows to show the engine, in addition to other details that will be shown later in the text. As it was a special Mini I decided to write a tutorial including many photos taken during the build and thus share with the reader my experience with this model.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
I built the Miniart kit in a civil version. It is a model started a few years ago and some of the images that show the assembly process, such as the stage where the interior of the vehicle is detailed, have been damaged and it was impossible to recover them. However, the rest of the process is explained in great detail, and it is my pleasure to share the work done with the readers.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
In the racing car world, Alfa Romeo is one of the most legendary and mythical Italian name, and each of its vehicles is synonymous with beauty, style, and racing. Precisely, the Giulia Sprint GTA, is the version which this tutorial is dedicated to. A road car, with sporty and personalized characteristics. This is the kind of car that can be found in various classic vehicle activities today.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
Although it is an old kit, I always wanted to improve it and finally the opportunity came. It is a high quality kit, with good details, and that lends itself to making some improvements. I share in this tutorial, with the modeler who likes this car, the work done offering many pictures of the process and the necessary explanations.
By Andre Pantarotto
I wanted to build the Opel truck, is a model I like very much, but why not to take the opportunity to add other beautiful kit from Revell I had in my stash, so the Porsche tractor was added to this build. There was plenty of room for details and weathering which brought more fun and turned the model in a diorama. This tutorial is to share the steps I followed to get this ready to place in the showcase, so here we go!
By Andre Pantarotto
The Nissan Sunny is a very nice kit from Hasegawa and a pleasure to build, however being a work truck I felt it needed something more. To place in a vignette was the way I found for highlighting this beautiful model.
Editor note: with the PDF tutorial, DOC files are provided for you to print all the small kit boxes. More will be explained later in the text.
By Andre Pantarotto
I used the Moebius kit that represents the Chrysler 300 car that I modified to match the Petty car, and used a decal set from Power Slide. This is a kitbashing project since some parts of another kit (Moebius Models Tim Flock’s 1956 Chrysler 300 kit) were used to make this 1955 Chrysler a racing car.
By Andre Pantarotto
I wanted to build the #12 Ralph Moody car. Moody won four races in 1956 for owner Pete DePaolo. He finished eighth in the final points, with 21 Top-10 finishes in 35 races. He raced the first third of 1957, until Ford and others American automobile manufacturers pulled out of racing.
By Andre Pantarotto
For those who aren't familiar with NASCAR racing, mostly out of USA, Julius Timothy "Tim" Flock was an American stock car racer. He was a two-time NASCAR series champion. Moebiuos offered some time ago the 1952 Hudson “Tim” used two times during 1952, the year he won the session.
By Mark Laird
I got this model back in the 90s for less than 100 US dollars. Although I do not have the “Perfect Parts” detail set for this model, I purchased the Thunder Valley Essentials detail set, which is two photo etched frets, a resin airbox, aluminum funnels, a pack of different pieces of aluminum, clear tubing and shrink tubing....
By Mario Covalski
This is the 1/8 Ford Mustang Shelby GT-500TM 1967 from the Planeta Deagostini Publisher. The model is offered in 100 weekly fascicles, each one includes history and parts to build the model. The model is mostly made of diecast and plastic parts, is heavy as 9 or 10Kg, but lacks of details, mostly in the engine bay area, and some parts are odd represented. So I added lot of them, fuel lines wiring...etc. The body and other diecast parts are already painted, the paint is poor and there is differences between panels as there weren’t painted at the same time.
By Modeler Site
Over the end of the year, we are offering a preview of the articles we were proud to have during 2019. Enjoy them and happy new year.
By Mario Covalski
This is the 1/8 Chevrolet Opala SS 1976 from the Salvat Publisher. It’s basically an Opel Rekord born from the fusion between GM and Opel during the ’70. As far as I know, it was only manufactured under the name Opala in Brazil, in two versions, 4 cylinders and 6 cylinders. It looks like a big car for a 4-cylinder engine but you have to consider that it had 2.5 liters of displacement and 80CV. It was available with two types of engine: 4-cylinder "Iron Duke", and 6-cylinder 250 cubic inches, both derived from the Chevrolet Impala offered in USA. According to its manufacturers, this combination was the one that gave the name to this car, since “Opala” can be presumed as an acronym of the name “Opel Impala”, because the Opala was an Opel, with Impala engine.
By Mario Covalski
This is the 1/8 Ford Falcon 1963 from the Salvat Publisher. The model is provided in 100 weekly fascicles, each one includes history and parts to build the model. The model is mostly made of diecast and plastic parts, is heavy as 9 or 10Kg, but lacks of details, mostly in the engine bay area, and some parts are odd represented. So I added lot of them, fuel lines wiring...etc.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
In this tutorial I’ve made a road vehicle version with own elements of a rally car, and decorated with the Gulf emblems and colors. The kit used to build this model is the Tamiya 1/24 that ran in Monte Carlo rally 1967 (#24048). It’s cheap and is being manufacturing from time to time and can be easily purchased in many online shops
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
The Fiat Abarth 695 ‘esseesse’, classic, is one of the most popular European sport cars in automotive history. Its tiny size and body are among its main identity and attractive features. As was to be expected, Tamiya was one of the brands that offered the icon with Italian accent, creating a simple and funny kit with good details and lot of possibilities for modifications with improvements sets and/or scratch. The version presented in this tutorial is a road car with sport details and customized. It’s a type of vehicle that can be found today in concentrations or classic cars rallies.
By Mario Covalski
By Mark Laird
For years I wanted to build the 1/12 Bandai STP Turbine car. It is very unique piece of Indianapolis history, but the price that they were bringing was just more than I was willing to spend. I was lucky enough to find a complete kit on eBay for 200 US dollars. It was a “Buy it Now”, so I purchased it, and waited for it to arrive.
By Fabrice Marechal
The Porsche 917 is a Paddock kit that is no longer commercially available. It's sometimes available on collector sites such as Modelart111. The body has been completely reworked at the level of the vents, all was perforated. The body was painted with Gulf Gravity Colors blue, the orange decals were then applied and retouched with a brush with X-6 Tamiya orange. The body was then clearcoated with 2-component Zero Paint varnish. Here pictures I have taken during the build.
By Fabrice Marechal
The Ferrari Dino 206 is a Le Phoenix kit which is no longer available commercially and very difficult to find even on collector sites. As the Porsche 917, all air vents have been perforated. The bodywork was first painted in red with DS Colors and blue stripes delimited and painted Gulf blue also from DS Colors. The white lines were made using white decals. The body was then varnished with 2-component DS Colors. Here pictures I have taken during the build.