Take a long hard look at these images. Is that a Volvo outside IKEA? Of course it is. What else could it be but a classic Volvo 240 Turbo, modified tastefully and doing its Swedish duty at everyone’s favourite flat-pack emporium? Except this is a 1/24 scale model customised by model maker Martin Aveyard. Set against a backdrop, and then photographed for 176,000 followers on Instagram. It’s fair to say this advertising executive's side hustle is something of a cult.
Aveyard starts with the sort of 1/24 kit that you can buy off the shelves of your local hobby shop. But like a full-size car modifier who’s just bought something basic, that is just the start. The Volvo 240 Turbo is a 1985 German touring car champion, or it was when marketed by the model company Aoshima/Beemax. Aveyard has, of course, customised the race car for the road. "It has really become a creative outlet,” Aveyard says of his hobby, "to try out different ideas and concepts. Getting my first 3D resin printer just opened up the possibilities of what I could do in terms of custom wheels, aerodynamic parts, and other details.”
The Volvo was an early build. And since then there has been everything from a Baja Beetle, photographed in a suitably rugged terrain, to a Lamborghini Countach filling up at Aveyard’s model-sized petrol station. A customised Delorean is barely recognisable and a 1955 Triumph TR2 as entered at Le Mans looks so real that you just want to drive it away on a Sunday meander through country lanes.
Mind you, Martin Aveyard has had his fair share of full size cars to modifiy earlier in his life, reserving particular affection for a 1972 Triumph Spitfire he restored 15 years ago, doing it all himself except for the final paintwork. He stll has it, and naturally, being a modifier isn’t content to let it be. "I would like to convert it to electric,” he says."I’ve seen a lot of people converting old Aston Martins and Jaguar E-Types to electric power, costing a fortune, but I think I could do it for less."
The work that Martin Aveyard has put into his models is beyond painstaking. The photography world class. The cars would be highly desirable in any full size collection - and many is the model collector who has wanted to commission Aveyard to customise personally for them, or to buy an existing model. But: "I’m truly trying to keep this as my hobby. As soon as any money crops up, it is work.” So there is no price to what he does. Mind you, we found the basic Aoshima/Beemax Volvo 240 Turbo kit for £46 - and now all you need is a 3D printer or two and the time and skill and … Perhaps better to savour the results of Martin Aveyard’s extraordinary skills. We’re enjoying it with a full size single estate espresso.
