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Apr
28
1938 Sparks-Thorne Little Six racecar with six wheels [Tyrell P34]
The first Tamiya catalogue I had as an aspiring young scale modeler, featured a Tyrell P34 Formula 1 racecar with six wheels on the cover page. Needless to say that I was fascinated by the weird looks. Back then at the age of nine and with easy access to information on the internet decades away, I didn’t know why they came up with the idea of adding an axle. I just loved it because it was quirky and stood out from the other F1 cars of the time.
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Apr
25
Bentley Continental SC Sedanca Coupé
Tastefully modifying the Bentley S1 Continental by Mulliner was very rewarding and I wanted to create a more modern customized Bentley in a similar style.
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Apr
19
Jaguar XJ-S Notchback Hot Rod
Building the Hasegawa Jaguar XJ-S kit in 1:24 scale, I noticed that it is virtually impossible to lower the car properly without modifying the wheel arches. Bolt-on overfender are always an option, but it didn’t feel right with the lines of this classy coupé. Instead of cutting up the body of the plastic model, I put it back into the box and switched to Adobe Photoshop. After many failed attempts to relocate the wheel arches, I decided to hotrod the sled just for fun. This is entirely fictional for now, but could be done in reality. XJ-S prices are low and it isn’t exactly a rare car nobody dares to cut apart and weld back together in a different way.
The frame was extended to get the proportions right and to make it less butt-heavy than the stock design, I reshaped the C-pillars. Inspiration for this mod came, believe it or not, from the foxbody Mustang notchback. I think it improves the proportions of the car, but at the same time takes away one of the design quirks that make the XJ-S so unique and instantly recognizable. In order to keep with the classic hot rod theme, I didn’t use the Jaguar V12, but added four cylinders to a Ford V8 just for the heck of it. Open headers should provide an adequate soundtrack to match the visual impact.
