Collector_felix

Awesome work! Love the weathering you added too. Moving on to my next addition which continues within the engine bay. I thought the overall look was OK but it seemed to be lacking something. I got hold of some scale ecto 1 accurate water slide decals from ebay. I may have some in the wrong place but I think they add just a little bit more interest under the hood. I also picked out a few details such as nuts with a bit of chrome. I also wired the distributor cap to the correct firing sequence which was simply putting the wires on in the correct order. Pic 1 shows the decal sheet I purchased Pic 2 & 3 show the air and oil filter decals in place Pic 4 shows the power generator decal and some of the connectors I painted shrome Pic 5 is a top view of the engine, I added a silver ring to the air filter and painted the wing nut on it silver Pic 6 is a rear view of the engine, showing the distributor cap correctly wired firing sequence Pic 7 & 8 show the engine finally installed with other decals dotted about. I also picked out 'oil' on the cap of the oil tank with silver and added a dark wash to the fuel regulator/filter to dull down the bright look it had.

The next little upgrades I made was really simple and came when we started working on the engine. I wasn't happy at how the spark plugs looked - just plain black little sticks. I simply painted them white to look like the white ceramic part of a real spark plug, I also painted the nut at the bottom chrome to look like a nut. I think they look much better now. I also added some yellow paint to the handles of the 2 dip sticks and finished off with adding some small 2mm acorn nuts on the cam covers to hide the visible screw heads. Really happy with the look. Pic 1 shows the standard spark plugs Pic 2 is painting them up Pic 3, 4 & 5 shows them fitted in place along with my other additions

Hi, thanks for looking in! This is not a build log of my ecto 1 as such, more a list of the modifications I make along the way as I attempt.to make things a bit more accurate or look better than what is supplied. I will however drop some shots here and there with overall progress of the build. So, first up right off the bat was to replace the vents on the hood in the very 1st pack. The supplied vents don't have the correct amount of louvres and horrible visible screws which doesn't look right. I purchased these replacements from mikelanemods.com. 1st is an image of the supplied vents fitted to the hood 2nd is the replacement vents available from Mike Lane 3rd and 4th is the replacements fitted in place, they simply stick straight on with supplied double sided tape, fitting instructions are included 5th and 6th is a comparisson between the 2 versions. I was unfortunate enough to need a replacement hood due the the original one arriving with damage, however this enabled me to get the direct comparisson shots.

Totally get that, I just wanted to take the plastic sheen from it really. It did see service so would have had a bit of dirt and rust showing here and there. Getting battered by the waves. I'm not too fussed on accuracy really, after all, I've not bothered adding the symbols to the fore and aft deck nor continuing the black and white stripes on the superstructure so it's all wrong anyway.

Your welcome. Not many people know that cyanacrolite glue is actually a 2 part glue with the activator bieng water (although there are other chemistries that use solvents for one reason or another, hence why some smell really strong - loctite gives me headache). Generally there is enough water present in the atmosphere/surface as moisture to cause the glue to harden. This also explains why 'blowing/breathing' on it also increases curing times - basically adding extra moisture from your breath! Also the reason it's important to keep the cap on the container, if too much moisture gets in the glue will set and harden. Good quality manufacturers will use hermetically sealed bottles to prevent any moisture getting in whilst not in use - again, explains why sometimes you come back to your glue to find it's gone hard in the bottle.....Things we take for granted but don't actually understand how it works.....!

I use superglue, but I buy a low odour, low bloom cyanacrolite (super glue) such as this https://www.adhesivedispensers.co.uk/GB4303.htm many others are available, just have a search on google most off the shelf super glues (such as loctite or gorilla glue to name a few) either smell really bad which is not good for you with the solvents, and/or leave a white powdery type residue surrounding the area which can look unsightly and worst case cause damage. This is known as 'bloom' and is a result of the curing process of the glue. As the solvents dissipate they react with moisture in the air and fall back down onto surrounding surfaces and etch into the surface leaving the white marks.

So I recently commissioned this lovely little display plaque to go with my model of the snake. It arrived today and im really happy with how it came out! Just thought I would share it here!

Pretty sure IXO collections ship worldwide. I have seen a few people around the world building it

Awesome, glad to hear its all working for you now - simply screwed a bit too tight. It's often just a process of elimination to narrow down the problem.

Currently half way through the 1967 ford gt40 from de agostini and would love someone to produce the 67' ferrari 330 p3 from the same le mans race. In 1:8 scale with all the bells amd whistles - working lights, metal body/chassis etc, high quality details and materials. The very cars Ford wanted to beat at the le mans 24 hrs race, this is gorgous looking car. The 2 together would look really impressive too

Ixo collections have a Peugeot 208 gti that looks good and soon rumoured to be starting a porche 917k race car from le mans. Model space have lots of models but you probably already know of them as they're a division of de agostini, similar to their new fan home sub company. Also hero collector as part of eaglemoss that are currently producing the ghostbusters ecto 1. Another great company that produces some of the best kits is pocher, but they're usually mega money if your even lucky enough to find a complete kit as the last one they produced was several years ago now as a lamborghini aventador, some kits on ebay. There is also altaya which is the French side of de agostini. Probably lots of others I have missed out aswell

I have been weathering mine as I have built it it, I weather each deck section how I want, then I out it to the previous deck and then do another weather pass along the joint to bend the 2 sections together. Spot the open door in the 3rd picture! It has a pretty good build sequence and your not left with tonnes of bits waiting to be assembled. This is mine upto 102. I still need to work on the rear portion from the funnel rearward when time allows

Probably worth taking things apart, check the gears in the gearbox are meshing correctly, check the anchor chains are correctly attached to the spools, check the gear on the limit switch is set correctly (it could be pushing the switch the wrong way), and finally if you have the test circuit for just the motor, check that out on its own. There could be a possibility the motors just doesn't work, or it could be that you screwed the gear box too tightly to prevent the gears turning.

Yeah the version been offered is a traditional wood built style kit. So the entire Hull will need building, lots of tools required beyond a screwdriver - saw, mitre block, pin pusher, small hammer, marking and other cutting tools, quite probably plank benders, lots of sanding will be needed, then masking, painting........ A lot of work involved and great for those who enjoy model ship building in the traditional sense, or anyone who may wish to get into this type of building without been faced with a full kit all at once that can be extremely daunting. It won't be plastic and metal with pre painted parts that just screw together that's for sure. I suspect there will be some pre painted parts and plenty of PE for detail parts similar to the bismarck though. It does have lights too so a bit of electrical work. Not sure if it has motors for the propellers or anything. Thats what I gather about it so far .

Thanks guys! I simply used a light brown wash from humbrol. Slapped it all over, then wipe down and keep building up till I was happy. Also done it all over the structure and things too to look a bit rusty. Just using imagination, so like where walkways and things are it's a bit cleaner and around guns, structure and fences etc its a bit darker. I also used a black sharpie to add emails here and there such as all the portholes and things.

I'll be honest. I'm upto stage 102 on the hachette build, and whilst yet it has been a long slog, sometimes some deliveries have literally taken me several hours to put together. There is TONNES of really fiddly and tiny photo etch details, lots of gears and mechanical parts to assemble too.

Thought I would share a few more pictures. Complete to stage 102. Need to catch up on a bit of weathering though. Its massive!

The thigh and chest plates are all plastic. Only metal is the head, upper arms and chest frame. 85% of the model is plastic and different colours, shades and finishes.

Did you check when you fitted the brake pedals that the peg on the brake went through the small hole in the body to actually press the button switch? I found with mine that it was clogged with the flocking material so I opened the hole up a little bit to ensure the peg on the pedal contacted the switch properly

Unfortunately yes they are. These are some photos of the hachette build which is the same model agora are re selling. I have no idea why they they chose this design

Thats excellent news! Glad my suggestions helped. I agree this shouldn't have to be done but at least it was a relatively simple fix and saves you lots of frustration and waiting to finish.

Both my front and rear screen have a few fine marks and blemishes that you can see if you hold it up to the light, they wasn't noticeable once fitted to my model so I just went with it. I have also read a lot of people having similar issues with the de agostini mustang build amd a presume most of the parts here are from the same factory? You could try polishing it with a fine compound such a jewelers rouge or silver polish or something and see if it improves at all? I totally agree that these marks are caused before the part is packed in the plant as they are securely packaged in sealed plastic blister type boxes as opposed to just a bag

Hopefully they're working on opening a distribution centre somewhere in the EU. That would be the ideal situation. Its not fair for people to have to start paying am extra tax on something that was unknown at the beginning. Fingers crossed you guys hear something soon

We don't have nbc in the uk so I was watching over YouTube. It didn't fetch as much as I thought it would tbf but was certainly an exciting auction lot. The Plymouth superbird (Road runner) was a good one and went for a fair bit more than top estimate. Heck that whole auction day was packed with million dollar cars! What an event.

Finished my super snake build today. Ots been a year in the making and I loved the whole thing. Here are some shots of my finished model. I will take some outside 'street' pictures when the weather is a bit better