Matt Bacon

I have a Hoka pair as my running shoes (not the Bondi 9). They have been brilliant for that. I used to get knee and shin pain, but no sign of that with the Hokas. They were the pioneers of the “max cushion” style. BUT… I bought them from a proper running store where they filmed and analysed my stride and foot movements running on a treadmill, and they only recommended shoes that suited the way I already moved. They are very light and comfortable, though of course the cushion effect gets less as you use them. They reckoned I should get 500 miles out of them before it’s noticeable, and 8-900 before they need replacing. I do a bit over 10 miles a week so they are good for 18 months running. I guess walking will pound them less hard, but on the flip side you’ll rack up the miles faster wearing them all day every day. Best bet is to go to a proper running shop and let them help you; you may not be going to run in them, but they’ll still get the sale of the shoes all the same, so they shouldn’t have an issue that you don’t want them for the Boston’s Marathon… best, M.

I must admit, I've never really understood why they are called "single action" and "dual action". In one, either the paint's spraying or it's not. In the other you have control over how much paint is spraying. I've never come across a brush where you can actually modulate the amount of air flowing AND the amount of paint with the trigger. In a "single action" brush it's effectively an on-off switch, and in a dual action brush it's a volume control. There are "preset" mods which effectively turn your dual action brush into a single action, or put a limiter on how far you can pull back the trigger which stops you turning it up to more than four, for example. And I think the answer to your "ideal" @Bainford is the new Harder and Steenbeck "Ultra 2024": https://www.everythingairbrush.com/product/harder-steenbeck-ultra-2024-airbrush/ It sports a clever "preset" system with locked in settings for six stages of painting from priming through to the finest highlights. Nothing you couldn't do with a regular preset handle with infinite adjustment, but just turning the collar to dial in a different point on the spray gun to fine brush continuum repeatably is great for newbies. And frankly, for £90, it's pretty good value for money as a starter airbrush that'll last you the next 20 years... best, M.

Right, I think I've done more or less as much as I can pending the arrival of M. Nuvolari. Let's call this the end of Act 2... The MG badge is made by sizing a picture of the real thing in Photoshop, printing it out on glossy photo paper, and very carefully lifting the top layer of the paper off with a brand new #11 blade before gluing it in place with Formula 560. I also added the radiator overflow with some fine silicone tubing left over from the Meng BMW bike build. I can fit the acetate for the windscreen and aero screens, but once that's done I think that's it until the figure is seated... ...or not. I'm worried about the gap, or lack of it, between the bottom of the steering wheel and the seat... and Nuvolari apparently had the seat raised on wooden blocks for his Ulster TT drive! We shall see when he gets here. best, M.

Very nice.... is that the Immense Miniatures figure? Or someone else's? And is he 1/32 or 1/24? I've got Colin from RS Slot Racing casting me the 1/24 Immense standing body, because he was out of stock... best, M.

I was never quite sure what problem the Aztek was trying to solve, and I had one... I do have a couple of airbrushes with two needle/nozzle sets: my original Iwata HP-BCS from 20 years back with a 0.35 and 0.5mm, and my H&S Evolution with a 0.2 and 0.4mm. The BCS wears the 0.35 99% of the time and the Evolution the 0.2. I guess if I only had the one airbrush I might swap needles more often, but I wouldn't need six! It's almost as if someone decided that paint brush sets come with multiple different sizes and shapes, so an airbrush set should have a bunch of different ones as well. Or they though that the "brush" selections in Photoshop were all different things as opposed to different ways of using the same tool... 😜 best, M.

You wait until the 50HP drivers get hold of the 1064HP 2025 Corvette ZR1... @Brudda is going to have to open a second shop for putting those things back together... best, M.

Google "silicone fidget toy"... you'll find them in various sizes, but they are basically a grid of 1/2" diameter hemispheres which can be "popped" from one side of the sheet to the other. 100 little wells to put small amounts of glue or paint into, and when it's cured/set/solidified you can pop them the other way and 90% of the time the remaining little divot of glue comes straight out... best, M.

Almost there now... The fenders were a bit of a pain, particularly since the long lower support of both front pieces had broken off over the years in the box. Thank goodness for "instant" epoxy, which meant I only had to hold each one in place for a couple of minutes before it set solid! I was nervous of the headlights, but the mounting locations on the frame and supports on the lights were sharply moulded and a good fit, so in the end each one went on with gel superglue in seconds. It's not too obvious here, but the inner surfaces of the light reflectors are very nicely done, and punching out a 9mm disc of acetate makes for a convincing front lens effect. Decision time, now. As things stand, the scuttle panel in front of the cockpit is not fixed and can be removed. As you can see from the engraved grooves, the windscreen and frame and aeroscreens fit over the top. The original motivation to build this one from the stash was that this was another car driven by Nuvolari back in the day, and I have a spare 1/24 Immense Miniatures head that looks exactly as he did at the Ulster TT in 1933. Unfortunately, on closer inspection I'm lacking a suitable body and arms! Fortunately, that nice Mr Spark at Immense Miniatures is casting up some parts for me, so the driver I need is on his way. The question is, do I pause and leave the scuttle loose and windscreens ready in the wings to make it easier to sit Tazio in the cockpit when he's ready, or press on and get the build completed? He might fit under a fixed dash and wheel, but experience of previous builds in the Roy Cross tribute series suggests that it's a lot easier to get the driver in if you give yourself the maximum wiggle room.... best, M.

So, I promised some details. Everything you see, more or less, is in the box... Supercharger hose (L) and oil reservoir (R) are both separate castings which drop neatly into place. Exhaust wrapped with medical tape standing in for asbestos cloth on the real thing. Although the Bonhams car exhaust is routed over the top of the wheel like many modern historic racers, when Nuvolari drove it, it had a straight-through exhaust like this. Fuel tank filler caps are very nicely detailed and cast out of the box. A few short lengths of wire and some paint add details to the top of the tank. And this is where we are tonight.... best, M

Amazing work, my friend! Is there anything like this in the US? https://www.heritageskillsacademy.co.uk/ The classic and historic industry is taking the risk of losing skills very seriously, and there’s even a category for “apprentice of the year” in the most prestigious historic motoring awards… best, M.

The math don't lie: 4% But, unless you collect only a very specific model of car, when are you likely to see 1/24 and 1/25 models of the same thing side by side in your display cabinet? European and Japanese cars tend to come in 1/24, and US cars (which are generically larger in the first place) come in 1/25. In 25+ years of adult building there are literally only two examples I can think of where my shelves might have the two different scales in close proximity: the Jaguar XK-E (AKA E-Type) where I have a Revell UK (also Revell USA) convertible in 1/25 alongside Heller, Gunze and Revell Germany 1/24 kits; and a 1/24 GTO "The Judge" based on a diecast kit. The latter, incidentally, dwarfs all the other cars it's on a shelf with. Am I tuned-in enough to detect the difference in scale between my Jo-Han Cadillac or AMT Chrysler (1/25) and my Monogram Duesenberg or Packard (1/24)...? No. best, M.

One of the slightly "out of the ordinary" challenges of these excellent white metal kits is to keep them from slumping over the years. Being a mostly-lead alloy, they are quite heavy. That weight is typically borne by a relatively narrow axle inboard of the kingpin or a few square millimetres of wishbone at the outer ends of an independent suspension. Either way, stand them on your shelf for a decade or so and they will sag. My solution is a hefty transparent perspex pillar at the centre of gravity of the car or thereabouts which will bear most of the weight, with the wheels just serving to keep the whole thing straight and level. I start by rolling a chunky cylinder of Blu-Tak (aka Silly Putty), roughly the height between the car floor and the ground, and about 1/2" (1cm) in diameter. Then returning to my suspension and chassis set-up tool (or flat marble cakestand) I put the soft pillar in place under the car, the wheels on the axles, and push it down until it is snug and all four wheels touch the horizontal stone "floor." Pick it up again and release the putty stack, and the putty has been squished to the height you need to support the car. I measure that carefully with a ruler, and cut the perspex rod slightly oversize. The it's a matter of sanding the rod down, square to sandpaper taped to a tile or on a flat metal sanding stick and test fitting, until it sits with the four wheels AND the perspex support on the reference surface. In practice, it's better to get the four wheels on the ground and the pillar not quite touching than have a wheel cocked in the air -- the natural sagging process will take up the slack of the first in a few months or a year, whereas the pillar will keep the whole thing floating in space indefinitely if it's too tall... best, M.

Quick test assembly on the highly sophisticated chassis and suspension test and adjustment rig, aka the "cakestand." Happily, all four wheels sit solidly on the ground from the off, which is perhaps another indication that this one was designed and mastered later on in Auto Kits life: the shape of the parts and the positive interlocking of the chassis components put everything where it needs to be. Details, details next... best, M.

Guess what's been keeping me busy the last couple of days... Auto Kits "Patent Applied for..." method of reproducing wire wheels on period cars is not bad out of the box, but I think you can improve the look a bit. The kit provides a spool of 32SWG wire for the spokes and a neat jig that looks not unlike the spinning top in "Inception" for building the wheels on. The rims are slotted around the circumference, and the hubs have a ledge around each end. The MG hubs, as you can see have a characteristic wide cone base at the inner side of the wheel and narrower cylinder for the outer half. This presents some challenges... To make the wheels, you mount the rim and hub on the jig, lash a good length of wire (18" or so) around the peg under the jig, put the whole thing in a vice or holder to keep it still, and proceed to wrap the wire back and forth across the hub passing over the ledge on the end and working your way around. The outgoing wire goes to the slot one to the left of directly opposite where you started, round one slot to the right and back across the wheel to the slot one to the right of where you started, then round one step to the right, rinse and repeat. Each pair looks like this (-). This is where I part company form the "official" method. Done officially, you end up with 24 spokes on a side, and they are reasonably thick (to see it done their way, check out my Delage build from last year). I decided I wanted more, thinner, spokes to look a bit more realistic. These are done with 36SWG wire, which is about half the diameter of 32SWG, and there's a slight tweak to the wrapping pattern. Instead of coming back across the wheel to the slot one to the right of where I started, I come back to the original slot, and THEN step sideways around the rim. If you look at the rim bottom left, you can see there is wire running round the rim between every slot, rather than every other pair which is what you get if you follow the instructions. Also on the bottom left wheel, which is upside down, you can see that the wire is green. It's insulated PCB wire, and I sort of hoped it would be green enough not to need painting. But as you can see from the others, i did do a blow-over of the green body color because there were too many bits where the paint had come off during the wrapping process. Only on the outside, though... I'm not mad. That wider inner hub makes these wheels much harder to wrap than ones with a cylindrical hub because the wire has to run much further round on the ledge. I had to superglue the interior wiring at several stages through the process, whereas the outer face can be wired completely and glue applied at the end. Now the glue has set, I can trim the loose ends of that are sticking out and put the tires on. best, M.

This is where I was last night: I have spent a lot of time spraying things green, including this main body assembly. Not seen in these picture are wheel rims and hubs, mudguards, lights... Today I got to do some detail painting and unmasking... The brake drums are actually Humbrol Flat Aluminum, and have a more metallic look in real life than in these pictures. Everything else is largely Citadel and AMMO MiG Atomic Metallic colors. I scanned the dials on the instruction sheet, added a few more details and cleaned them up in Photoshop, and added the splashes of color the real thing has to enliven the black and white printed original. I'm pleased with how they turned out. Time to finish the detail painting on the chassis. The main challenge will be the springs, which are a sort of mucky brownish creamy yellow... the whole of each spring seems to be wrapped round and round with oily rope along its length. best, M.

Endeavour is the long-concealed christian name of TV's 1990s Inspector Morse, which became the title of a newer series about the young policeman's early years detecting among the dreaming spires of period Oxford academe.

A couple of cycles of prime, fill, sand, prime and here we are: A little bit of cleanup and detailing required, but the main body is ready to paint, I reckon... Started on painting the detail, mostly to see if i was happy with the main body color. Which I am. It's old-school Humbrol enamel, mostly gloss H3 "Brunswick Green" with 10% (ish) matt Lemon Yellow (M99) to brighten it up a bit. Takes a long time to dry, so I'm looking into some chemical "drier" to speed it up a bit.... best, M.

MRRN #40 has an article on the Accurate Miniatures kit and a lot of detail on the versions of the real thing. Be warned, though: their conclusion is that the bdy can't be made to fit the chassis unless you replace all the vinyl hoses with something softer and better-behaved... best, M.

It's really hot (and incidentally a lot tougher and more flexible than regular Tamiya spray; it's intended not to flake off if the R/C body takes a knock and bends). I wouldn't use it on anything that is intended for a styrene plastic model unless I'd tested it with that exact combination of plastic, primer, paint and clear thoroughly beforehand... best, M.

Getting there with gluing together all the bits that are going to be basically green: This one fits together really well, as well as being nicely detailed. I haven't had to "flex" any of the parts significantly to get them to fit into their locations. Test fit of the seats and woollen covers, which looks reasonable. The seats are a grey-green leather, and will be painted separately. The transmission and shift mechanism is nicely detailed as well... Note the separate lever below the main gear stick, and the bolt heads where it attaches to the gearbox. This is also bodywork green, at least in the one in the Bonhams photos, hence putting it in place now. The dash is a step up from the flat panel with raised discs for instruments in the earlier Auto Kits, featuring bezels and relief detail, and gauges printed on the instruction sheet. I might tart these up a bit based on the reference, but they aren't bad at all. best, M.

Made some progress today, though the fact that I've mislaid my 90-second cure epoxy slowed me down! It must be in the workshop somewhere, but can I find it..? A dry fit demonstrated that the parts are pretty accurately-shaped and lock together very positively. A good omen... I think this one is mastered, and possibly designed, by someone different from the Alfa and Delage. I thought to start with that "pigtail" on the radiator cap was a molding artifact, but looking at the Bonhams' pictures it's actually a not bad attempt at the spring clip on the real thing. The cap also has hinge and lock detail, the strap around the bonnet is very nicely detailed and that cut-out in the bottom frame of the radiator takes a corrugated air feed from the blower under the cowl which is molded as a separate part. In fact, there are a couple of "trees" of small add-on parts as well as the more typical separate shocks and lights. The assembly sequence is very well thought through as well. You are working towards having a body assembled so it can be painted body color all in one go -- green in my case. This includes things like attaching the wings and headlights. The body is now all glued, except for the scuttle which you unclip to fit the instrument panel and steering wheel, and give easy access to the cockpit floor to add the transmission, gear shift seats etc.The front fenders had lost their long braces somewhere along the line, so I've pressed some brass rod into service. best, M.

Well, either that IS the Andy Warhol “Art Car” or someone has gone to great lengths to produce an accurate replica… best, M.

That looks absolutely fabulous, Justin. Lovely detail painting. I can see myself sending some funding to Ukraine in the near future… best, M.

This very one: https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/29334/lot/140/1933-mg-magnette-k3-supercharged-sports-racing-two-seater-chassis-no-k3003-see-text-engine-no-r772-ac/ best, M.

Since I have a spare Tazio Nuvolari driver figure and a white metal Auto Kit MG K3 Magnette, it seems almost rude not to build the man and his machine... Particularly since reference is not at all hard to find: https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/29334/lot/140/1933-mg-magnette-k3-supercharged-sports-racing-two-seater-chassis-no-k3003-see-text-engine-no-r772-ac/ So, what do you get in a typical Auto Kit originated kit, now sold by SE Finecast? I think this must be one of the later ones, because it has more fine detail parts (see the "tree" with half a dozen bits on above the front axle and the cast dashboard with holes for all the instruments) than the others I've done. There's a fair bit of straightening out to do, but this one has all the parts, and they are all intact, which is a blessing. Although the body is multipart, the tabs that lock it all together are well engineered and precise and will put everything where it should be. And if I make the main joins with low temperature solder, they will remain tough and a bit flexible to allow fettling. The most important things are to clean up the parts really thoroughly, and test fit and adapt repeatedly until the parts stay together of their own accord before doing any soldering or gluing. The wire spokes for the wheels will need winding, but I have a plan for that of which more later. So, we begin: The floor, firewall and chassis rails are separate parts (the previous owner had stuck the front cowl in place ahead of time -- I don't know why). There's no glue in this picture -- note the neat interlocking tabs at the bottom corners of the firewall and the rear corners of the floor. The journey of a thousand miles, etc... best, M.