- BODY: Custom made resin kit
- WHEELS: Vincent
- TIRES: Road Race Replicas
This is one of only a handful of resin kits I’ve bought. Although some privateers out there are doing their best to make some interesting bodies for T-jets, several of these haven’t worked out too well, as the bodies tend to be quite fragile. Originally I had a pair of Jaguar E-Type coupes which were based on the Matchbox model from the 1960’s (#32 in the series). They were in my fleet for a while, but both eventually broke after crashes, leaving them in the junkyard. I also tried a 1967 Buick Skylark GS, but that one I ruined myself when I tried to drill the posts for the screws, since they were so easy to shatter that even with the smallest drill bit I had and a lot of patience, I was still unable to complete it successfully. This Alfa Romeo came in a more finished state, with the posts already drilled and the base coat of paint already applied, leaving me to do only the detail paint and decal work and assembly and apply a final clearcoat. So far, this one has held together well!
The advantage of the resin bodies is that they are quite light, and thus you can get some great speed out of them. This Alfa is no exception, being an extremely fast car riding on a new light brown Ultra G chassis and fitted with Vincent wheels. Although a crash made an unfortunate gouge in the roof decal early on, it still looks good, showing that at scale and on resin, a good thick coating of enamel paint does more than just look pretty; it helps protect the car, too!
Overall its hard for me to recommend resin kits in general because I’ve had mixed results with their longevity, and I’ve seen some variance in the quality of the castings, with many having some fairly major imperfections. Yet, if you can find a good one like this, it may the only way you’re going to get a model of that unusual car you really want in your fleet. To that end, I’ll share a link to the ebay page for the seller with the moniker of “taillights_fade” in hopes that it might drive some business to him and help him expand his already impressive line of products. If you’re looking for an usual body for your T-jets, this is a great place to start! This guy makes good quality stuff and deserves the support of the hobby, and his prices are very reasonable on top of it all!
All great information and sorry to hear about that Skylark, I remember when you got it.