Bugatti Fan

Trevor, not knowing if you will be new to machining or not when ready to go ahead, I would suggest that you obtain a copy of Joe Martin's book about miniature machining. It will be on the Sherline website. Having been in engineering all my life I still found the book to be fascinating, showing many examples of miniature engineering work.

Looked up the Taig machines and discovered that they were (are) sold as Peatol in the UK, in which case I have heard of them. I believe that they were marketed as quite basic machines without a motor that needed to be sourced elsewhere. In fact I think that I did see them at the Model Engineering Exhibition a number of years back, so they have been around for quite some time now.

Two very nice retro classic sports car designs.

Not heard of the Taig brand over here in England Trevor. Will have to look at their website as it sounds like another capable little machine.

Whenever I look a car junkyard pictures makes me think that every one of those cars used to be probably someone's pride and joy that got washed and polished each weekend !

That Jo Han kit was is bit of a challenge to take on even for a experienced modeller. Lots of small parts that may have got a bit brittle with age considering the kit is probably about 50 years old or more. I would suggest you look at the snap together kits by Lindberg and Revell as a starting point. The kits are aimed at beginners, but are quite well detailed enough to satisfy someone starting out and wanting to take up the hobby a bit more seriously. Not too expensive generally. Avoid the Airfix snap together kits as they go together Lego fashion aimed at kids to put together fast. They go together well but do not have the finesse of the Revell of Lindberg kits that are more conventional in construction like most kits.

Sher!ine comes to mind as being a really well built miniature lathe, currently in production and with a good range of accessories. American manufactured. Proxxon also makes a very high quality miniature lathe and accessories also currently in production. They also make many other miniature power tools for model making. Austrian manufactured. Unimat. Sadly stopped production of their excellent little machines and huge range of accessories for the.a few years back. At one time regarded as a benchmark miniature machine tool, made in Austria. Not known why they ceased production, but not too difficult to obtain their machines and accessories on the second hand market. I have a Unimat 4 that I bought new some time ago and can attest that it is a fine little machine. Cowells. A British made miniature machine that is regarded as the Rolls Royce of miniature machines by many with a price to reflect the very high quality. There are a number of other miniature lathes from less we!l known that have been available over the years that crop up second hand now and again. Peatol and Toyo are two names that I can remember having seen in the past. Important. One has to remember that lathes are generally sold as a basic machine and one needs to buy accessories on as well as the machine to do certain different things on it. So one will have to consider what it will be used for and if any accessories at extra cost needs to be considered.

Interesting feedback Brian. Thanks for that information. It is generally believed that the model car scale 1/43rd is compatible with 'O' gauge. Until I read the last line of your post I was unaware that European 'O' gauge is actually 1/45th scale. What scale is 'O'gauge in America? Is that 1/43rd of something slightly different again?

Thanks for model scale chart link Pete. Very useful refetence.

Pyro. I liked their old classic ships kits too! Some quite unique to Pyro.

Thanks for the further feedback Mark and Jim. That explains the 1/22nd scale being chosen by Artesania Latina. It's just that I thought it strange not to have been 1/24th being more compatible with many car and truck kits. Occre, a Spanish company making wooden tram kits do theirs in 1/24th scale that also made me wonder why AL chose 1/22nd. Not being a rail modeller please excuse my ignorance, but what does LGB mean? I am well on with the model, but being mainly sold and metal has taken me out of my comfort zone and learning a number of new building and finishing techniques along the way.

I have had the Daytona Coupe in my stash for ages. Must get around to build it. Really looks nice in the box.

Mike. Why not just bring it to Dave Ambrose's attention by a PM? As he looks after this site he will probably be the best person to sort this out instead of relying on other posters advice.

Classical Gas. Another great! Thanks for reminding us of that one Pete. Something else comes to mind in the way of memorable themes. Nivram played by the Shadows on their very first album. Also Staccato's theme from the old Johnny Staccato TV series that starred John Cassavetes. Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene is an outstanding synthesizer composition that he played love at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony. I quite like listening to many film themes and find programmes about the composers and how they write music scores for films fasconating. We are all familiar with the Star Wars and Jurassic Park compositions. Lalo Schiffrin's updated theme for the Mission Impossible films taken from the old TV series is a really notable piece. Horner's compositions for Titanic are well with listening to. Also Chariots of Fire by Vangelis is quite a haunting theme. Another favourite of mine in the Pirates of the Caribbean theme.

Kit boxes are designed to be bought off a shelf in a shop, not to survive the rigours of shipping. If we keep accepting i items in damaged boxes it will keep on happening. Maybe manufacturers should seriously look at the thickness of their own packaging in view of the way many sellers just either stick a label on the kit box for shipping or slip it info a flimsy bag.I If manufacturers don't want to do that, maybe placing a fragile, this item needs to be boxed for individual shipping warning as part of the printed box design.