Bugatti Fan

Best keep the Dremel tool under the bench in case you get tempted ! Lol.

At least your model will not rust Kaci !

Nice to see this model kit being built again after a long hiatus. Will be following this build. The real car was a really nice looking machine, but seem to remember them being a bit prone to rust.

The debates, arguements, advice, comparisons can go on ad infinitum about primer application. It is good to seek advice for a bit of guidance, but it can be a bit conflicting depending on other model makers own experiences. But at the end of the day we all find out what works best for us by making mistakes and learning by experience. Lost count of the times I have screwed up a primer/paint job and had to start over again! Par for the course unfortunately.

Generally it is the surface of the bare plastic, resin, metal or whatever that needs 'keying' to take the shine off it more than the primer itself. Primers vary quite a bit regarding smoothness of feel once dry. Some feel quite smooth to the touch and on others you can feel a very slight surface 'texture' for want of a different word. So it is a matter of the user to determine whether the primer needs any further rubbing down or not. My own method that works for me is it it feels smooth enough I leave it alone. If slightly rough to the touch I give it a very light rubbing with a fine grade of wet and dry paper used dry. Once smooth enough I simply dust the item off with large a soft cosmetic brush purloined from my other half that is used for blusher application. Seems to work OK for me and saves all that wet sanding work that some others have suggested in this thread. There is no right or wrong way with using primer. Just what works best for each of us as individuals. Incidentally, a blusher brush is absolutely ideal for dusting finished models being very soft it can be worked around some quite awkward places without damaging fragile details.

Fixing together with screws appears to be the Achilles Heel with many of those big 1/8th scale hybrid die cast and plastic kits as they often can get compromised as a result of having to facilitate this type of assembly in the design. Acceptable to many builders within the market being aimed at, but not unfortunately to the more fastidious exacting model builder.

Some interesting items being featured in this thread following on to my original post. Keep 'em coming guys. Great to hear about things that work really well for each of us.

Interesting product. Looking at the rectangular shaped box in the photo, does it have two bottles in it. The chrome finish itself in one and clear sealant in another. Ron, could you elaborate further with a step by step tutorial on how you used this product? Looks very realistic.

No point in buying anything different Aaron if your Sherline Lathe and Mill are adequate for what you do. I don't have Sherline machines myself but know from reputation that they are well made. If I were looking for a new micro lathe and mill now, I would certainly be looking at Sherline as they have a UK agent/sales outlet.

You have made some very salient criticisms of this kit being familiar with the real vehicle Michael. It must be really disappointing having spent a considerable amount of money on that kit. Considering the cost in 1/8th scale you should expect a model that is highly detailed and accurate.

It's not one of those flash prone Hubley die casts Sid. This Wills Finecast Type 59 Bugatti kit is in white metal with full engine detail. I have one to build and it looks a nice kit considering its 60's heritage. The wheels though would be better if replaced with photo etched items made by Le Mans Miniatures. Attached a tribute photograph of this kit built by the late Martin Swire where he used the LMM photo etched wheels

Your little Unimat and your Sherline are both quite nice quality benchtop machines Bill. If they do what you want, that is all that matters.

Not heard of the Sakai machines. Looks a nice bit of kit. I take it that the 3100 bucks is for the larger ML360 machine brand new. There are probably a number of similar sized new lathes on the market for a lot less. Out of curiosity I will be having a look at the Sakai ML210 that you also mentioned Aaron. Always interested in looking at desktop machines about the size of my little Unimat 4.

That old Minicraft (originally Hubley) Rolls Royce kit really is poorly moulded. So using it for making a custom car is not exactly sacrilege ! This looks like a fun build to follow ! Pity the kit was not a lot better as there are no other kits of this particular car in 1/24th scale. I think that Danbury Mint did a collectable die cast Silver Cloud. There is a modeller I believe who has been dabbling with both kit and die cast to make something accurate. Thought about getting 2 and do a cut and shut to make John Lennon's psychedelic limmo. Too much hard work !

Interesting build. The newer Hornby/Airfix Pocher brand is in a different place quality wise compared to those old Rivarossi Pochers from back in the 70's and 80's. Surprised to learn that there is no printed set of instructions. When you buy kits costing that sort of money I would expect a set of printed instructions to be included. It was mentioned that there was little out there with regard to reviews and so forth, but this is probably because the kit is pretty new right now. More will come to light as time goes on I guess.

I bought a multi medium kit last year mainly in wood that demands a lot of accurate cutting and drilling. I already had a bench drilling machine so accurate drilling was already taken care of. My son and daughter asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Having seen a Micro Table Top Circular Saw being used in a forum thread I prompted me to put it on my list and suggested that they buy it between them as a combined present. That little saw has been in constant use since I got it. Absolutely brilliant for cutting things accurately and repeatedly. One of the best tools I have to hand besides my little Unimat 4 lathe regarding usage.

A real blast from the past. Nice build. Those ancient kits have quite a bit of potential with current modelling products used on them.

Thanks for moving this to where it should be Mike.

A difficult one as moulded on wiring and piping detail will never quite look right. It's one of those situations where we can learn a lot from our figure modelling brethren with regard to highlighting and fine shadow effects. One could possibly take a sharp pointed tool to slightly underscore each line and wire, but would need a dead steady hand to pull this off before painting those details. Very tedious to so and it would probably be easier to remove all the details and replace with real wire as Steve G suggested in his post.

Apologies guys. My mistake. Should have placed this in the racing / road racing competition cars thread.

MG Metro 6R4 model made from grafting resin parts cut from the old MRM kit and refitting onto a more accurately shaped Burago die cast Metro body. Both purport to be 1/24th scale but in reality are nearer to 1/20th scale. A year after building this, guess what? Belkits bring their 6R4 kit out that is actually 1/24th scale. Ahh well that's life!

We all buy those little items that we think that we will use one day. I have bought items on impulse that have sat in the tool box drawers sometimes for years on end unused. Just when you start to think 'I'll never use that!' It becomes the perfect tool to fall back on to do a particular job.

One can only answer the OP of they happen to have those two particular airbrushes to do a direct comparison. A very unlikely scenario. Difficult to advise o what airbrush to use as this is such an emotive subject. Badger, Iwata, Paasche, Harder and Steenbeck. All very good airbrushes that have their faithful adherants. There are others of course. To be honest most recommendations about a particular brand come from probably outright familiarity with one type usually that the user has come to love over the years. We all have our particular biases when it comes to this sort of thing. Any good quality, and I emphasise quality, airbrush will serve well if looked after. One has to make a decision about what one from a range will suit best the type of work that will be required of it. For example a very expensive double action airbrush will be well over the top to lash out on it one intends to just spray overall colour. Horses for courses. Just buy the best quality brand for the job intended and steer well away from those very cheapo airbrushes of dubious origin is what I would recommend.

Finishing auto models ! It depends on how 'driven' you are, it you will excuse the pun. Over the years my psyche has changed with regard to building models. I used to have fortunately a manageable number of incomplete models sat on the I'll finish it some day lack of motivation shelf. Then I began to realise that unless I change my butterfly mindset with regard to finishing models I would end up with just boxes of part built kits worth next to nothing just sat there. So I set about completing them as a target before doing anything else, accomplished that and sold off many complete kits that realistically I would probably never get around to building. So what do I do now? I tend to look at larger scale stuff and build something that really interests me and seek challenging kits and stick at the one project until it is finished. Over the last few years though I have gone over to the dark side of scratch building subjects that in no way would ever be kitted. Very satisfying in the long term, but definitely not for the model maker that likes to see a quick result of simply not have the time for extended model building projects. However, it does not really matter what sort of model maker you are as long as you get pleasure out of the hobby as it gives great enjoyment and probably good as a therapy towards health and well being.

PetevI think you might be getting confused a bit about that modular Unimat being similar to Proxxon machines as to my knowledge they do not make anything like the Unimat I modular tool. Proxxon make top quality miniature machines more like the Shsrline and the now defunct Unimats 3&4. Take a look at their website as they make a very good range of power tools for model makers besides the lathes and milling machines.