Bugatti Fan

Joe, regarding me looking back with a jaundiced eye, you are quite correct. I have been building kits since the late 50s when I was at school. Seen a lot come and go, good, bad and indifferent over the years Some older kits were quite nice. Yes I have come to expect better quality and got used to better kits to build. Things have moved on and my observation about many old Aurora kits was subjective rather than unfair. One must remember the mass market those old kits were aimed at in their day. Today's market is very different and modellers these days rightly expect both accuracy and good assembly as a norm. Put it another way. Would anyone be satisfied with an old black and white TV when you can now have Ultra High Definition?

From what I can remember of the Aurora kits the ones I came across were not very good. For example embossed national insignia on aircraft kits. How were you expected to get a decal to stay down on them goodness knows. Did they make a Maserati 2300 kit along with another and the moulds are now in Revellogram's hands? We look back in nostalgia at some of these old kits with rose tinted spectacles sometimes when in reality most are best forgotten.

A neighbour of mine had a Fiat Saloon with similar body style to the Abarth but in Orange with black interior. Looked good in that colour scheme. I quite liked the square (ish) body styling of that period.

It is only plastic after all. Consider this...….rarity? Only of value if you are intending to use kits for trade or as collectables If If you want to build and or convert it, go ahead and enjoy it. Sometimes we forget what the kits were originally designed for!

In a post in section 1 of this thread, Snake mentioned that he had the Pyro 1/48th scale Gloster Gladiator kit and said that people speak highly of it. The Gladiator kit actually originated over here in the UK and was part of a small range of inter war aircraft kits made by a company named Impact. I think that a Hawker Fury, a Bristol Bulldog and a Fairey Flycatcher were the other three. They may have made some pioneer aviation subject as well. They were not in production foe very long before the moulds were shipped to the Pyro Company. The quality of those kits was very good and would stand up well against more currently made kits. It would be interesting to see who has those moulds now.

If Tamiya made a 57 Chevy Bel Air in 1/24th or really big in 1/12th with their quality it would make a very popular kit. There are too many kits of this car from clapped out moulds getting re re re re issued.

Pete. I did LOL,you live and learn! I was unaware that "using some T Cut" and "putting the Hoover around" were not terms in general use in the US. So please then let me explain it to our American friends. Us Brits refer to any mild commercial polishing liquid for restoring a dull finish on a car as "T Cut". It was first brought on to the market by a company named Car Plan in the UK, so the name T Cut became a generic term for this sort of product over here regardless of make. OK, you all are familiar with the name Hoover as a brand of vacuum cleaner. I really don't know how the Hoover name became a generic term for a vacuum cleaner in the UK. The expression "put the Hoover around" has been used over here for as long as I can remember regardless of what make the vacuum cleaner is. HTH.

ACA, ACC, AC? It is all just Superglue to me! Just like the generic terms such as T Cut for polishing up dull paintwork on cars, and most vacuum cleaners being referred to as the Hoover.

Tom, there is nothing wrong in your approach. Like you said it is a hobby after all. Regardless of whether anyone goes the hand skills route like yourself or partly uses machinery like me is irrelevant as long as we all enjoy what we are doing. Having done some scratch builds I tend to use machinery simply because it often takes the hard work out of making some things accurately that could also be done by hand and take a lot longer to get right. It really comes down to any modellers personal approach and of course their budget.

For the ultimate multi medium GT40 kit have a look at Creative Miniature Associates website.

Justin, you are quite right about everyone having different levels of experience and budgets, and both will influence each person's approach. There will be many who have little or no machining experience so not only will they have a learning curve to go through but also need good information about any contemplated machine purchase. On the other hand people like myself who have trained and worked in engineering machine shops pretty much know what we will need having that experience, but even so our budgets can differ considerably and influence what we can afford to buy. I will have to have a look at Joe Martin's table top machining guide. Looks to be an interesting read.

Gary, there is nothing wrong with 'old school' techniques at all. Basically like any other method, no matter how sophisticated it is after all a means to an end. Your Bugatti T57 stalled project. Don't let the fact that LMM and Renaissance have kitted this in resin put you off as you already appear to have the body well sculpted. I think that you can buy sets of wheels in photo etched from either company. Justin, you have made a good point about most probably getting their first experience of machining by using lathes at school or college. My very first experience was a wood turning lathe at school when I was 13.

Raymond, I looked at that fantastic precision milling and drilling machine. Very impressive. Very expensive also I would imagine if you could locate one. Pat on Ontario, I looked at the Taig Machines website and used their UK distributor link. As I suspected the Peatol name came up so it is one and the same machine. I used to think that the machine was UK made and marketed abroad under the Taig brand, or alternatively manufactured in the UK under licence..The site shows the USA manufacturing facility..Looking at the machine itself and it's accessories it appears to be of very high quality. Some of the unique features of the tail stock look very different to the Unimat and Sherline's more conventional ones. There is a company named Warco in the UK that supplies Chinese made machinery to schools erc. But I do not know if they have any miniature lathes or mills for sale.

Pat (Landman in Ontario) your Taig lathe looks incredibly very much like the Peatol Miniature lathe that I mentioned in an earlier post. Could it be the self same machine under a different brand name? Last time I saw one was at a Model Engineering Exhibition about 20 odd years ago and if my memory serves me correctly you had to buy the basic machine and add things like the motor etc. Justin in Montreal, I think that most people go the lathe route first simply because it seems the logical place to start only having 2 axes X longitudinal and Y front to back. A milling machine has a Z axis (vertical) also to contend with. Having said that it very much depends on what sort of things one wants to make from the outset that will determine which machine to go for. As modellers there are many different small machines available to us like miniature lathes. milling machines, circular saws. fretsaws. wood lathes. routers, thicknessers etc. Have a look on Proxxon's website to get an idea of their awesome large range available. Having mentioned Proxxon before, and before somebody asks, I have no connection with that company. It is just that they have a very comprehensive range of miniature machine tools especially designed with model makers in mind. Don't take my word for it. Just have a look for yourself. Dremel also have a range of accessories to make their tools more adaptable. One that comes to mind is an adapter to make the Dremel tool into a miniature router, so some of theirs may be worth a look if you already have a Dremel. Their tools seem to come and go over here in the UK. but I understand that they are a mainstay hobby power tool and very popular in the US. I bought one some time a go over here and it is a good bit of kit.

Checked my tablet (Amazon Kindle Fire) but could not find an option amongst the settings to disable the auto correct. I will just have to be a bit more attentive when posting. With regard to small(ish) lathes there are two companies in the UK who have supplied machines to the educational sector for many years. Boxford and Denford. They still supply machines to education, mainly CNC machines now. But back in the early days technical colleges and schools used their conventional machines. I can remember using Boxford bench top lathes at Tech College when I was an apprentice way back in the 60's. There must be a number of these machines around second hand it anyone wants something a bit bigger than a Sherline or Unimat 4. Boxford I believe still hold spares for all of their old machines, and possibly Denford also. Another machine that comes to mind is the Myford lathe. Very popular with model engineers. And also the Colchester Student Lathe. Both of these are excellent machines and are free standing units.

Edit worked on my original as you suggested Pete. Thanks for that. Thought that posts could not be edited once committed and left for a day or so. I will check out my tablet and see if I can disable the auto correct check function on it.

Please excuse the typo in my last post. Hailstorm should read tail stock. Thought that I had edited it. Must have forgot to save the edit. Hope it makes more sense now. My tablet has a habit of auto changing words unlike my PC.

I saw a short video showing a turret attachment being used on a Sherline lathe. Great for repetitive work as it effectively converted the little Sherline into a capstan lathe by replacing the tail stock with this device. Furthermore the machine had an extra tool holder at the back of the cross slide with an inverted tool to allow for the direction of rotation. Does the little Sherline not have a reverse rotation gear built in? If not it will be similar to my little Unimat only being able to rotate in one direction.

Like Pete with his Sherline. I have bought accessories for my little Unimat lathe as and when I needed them. It is surprising how soon your kit starts to get a bit more comprehensive as time goes on. Incidentally, Pete, thanks for putting my straight about Sherline making Metric versions of their machines as other readers of these posts might be considering buying a Sherlineif available in metric. Michael from Montreal. You mentioned in your post about considering a micro milling machine. Have a good look at the Proxxon website as I am pretty sure that they make a very small mill that may suit your needs, and be a lot less expensive than watch makers machinery. As I have mentioned before Proxxon make a fantastic range of small model making machines and hand tools. I have one of their swivel vices that is similar to a Panavice and it is a good piece of kit that I use often.

in the UK Halfords White, Grey and Red Oxide primers are very good. Have used them on many models with various manufacturers top coats without any problems. Could possibly use their matt black as a primer also.

Pete, the Bugatti engines you are making are superb. I have a feeling that on another thread where we conversed you mentioned that they were to replace the engines in the Fisher 1/24 Bugatti 100 aeroplane resin kit. I was going to approach Paul Fisher about some extra engine castings but learnt about the disastrous forest fire that destroyed his house and business in Paradise CA. I hope that he can recover the business eventually, but as for losing all those precious family items. Sadly irreplaceable. As other posters said in this thread they will not consider buying a lathe but will find other ways around making things by fabrication methods rather than machining. My scratch builds are 90 per cent fabrication although I find a lathe and milling machine come into their own for making certain things. Every one has their own way of doing things that works best for them and there is nothing wrong with any approach to scratch building. The main thing is to get fun out of making all your own parts and learn about using different materials and modelling methods along the journey. Having said that, there is a lot of challenge in super detailing or modifying a kit with parts you make yourself, and by doing this type of work a lot of transferable skills will probably be learnt and mastered before doing a scratch build. The only reason I started to scratch build was because there are certain subjects that I like that will never be kitted. Once I got going it was not as daunting as I first feared. It was just getting my head around a different way of doing things like preparing my own drawings from research if none are available, and basically, scratch building is making your own kit to eventually build but without instructions!

The Sherline history is interesting. I read about how the company was formed originally in Oz. I had a brochure of theirs some time ago from a UK distributor, but not heard anything of them being available in the UK over recent years. I guess they are not being marketed in the UK at present. If they do not make metric machines there is probably very little demand on this side of the pond! I must admit that I am a little surprised that the US is still using the inch system after all these years. The UK went over to Metric in the early 70s. The funny thing was that in the early days many of the 'metric' drawings were simply converted from imperial, and phased out as new products were actually designed in metric. I was brought up on Feet and Inches but now find metric so much easier to use. We also at about the same time decimalised our currency from pounds, shillings and pence to the present system of 100 pence to the pound. The old system was so cumbersome with twenty shillings to the pound and twelve pence to the shilling equating to 240 old pence to the pound! The Cowells machine is probably a rarity in the States and tends to be favoured by model engineers rather than general modellers in the UK. There are a couple of other machines that come to mind. The Peatol Lathe where you buy the basic unit and add your own motor and accessories etc. There was also a little Japanese made lathe named a Toyo, but I think that this is no longer in production. There is a company named Clarke who makes small lathes and milling machines. My mill is a Clarke machine and is pretty good for what I use it for. Great for machining engine blocks etc. from Perspex, brass or aluminium plus guaranteed squareness. There is a company in the UK named Penny Farthing Machines who specialise in small second hand machines, particularly watchmakers lathes. Their site is very interesting and has some unusual equipment on it. I looked on the Sherline site and watched a video where the machine had a turret fitted and an additional tool on a back tool post also being used. Great for repetitive work when set up. I made a 4 way tool post for my Unimat that saves a lot of tool changing. Unless industry trained there will be a bit of a learning curve to go through if new to machining, but enjoy what you are doing as you get a feel for the different materials you will be working on and the tools you will be using. Scratch building is very rewarding compared to building from a kit. Having said that, however, many kits can be greatly improved upon or converted with scratch built or machined items. It is a case of lateral thinking as opposed to building and finishing a kit with after market items, have a go at making them yourself. Scratch building is not as hard as it seems. One tends to get blown away when looking at a scratch built model that is well made and finished. You just have to develop a different mind set from kit building and be prepared for mistakes and scrappages along the way. It is just part of the learning process as is the research and preparation of drawings to work to if none are available...………….Scratch building takes a long time, so enjoy the journey. If the enthusiasm wanes sometimes (and it does) I break away from it for a little while, knock up an easy kit so I can see something finished fast, and come back to the scratch build.

I guess the Alpha Resins Bugatti Vision will be a similar kit in build to their Chiron?

There is one Silver Ghost kit that I can think of in 1/24th scale. It is a white metal kit by South Eastern Finecast (ex Wills Finecast) in the UK. It depicts the Silver Ghost in the UK National Motor Museum at Beaulieu near Southampton in the UK.

Nice to see the model depicting its original colour scheme and wheel centres as original. The original car car as presently displayed in a museum was restored by Charles Chayne and the colour was changed to an overall cream colour with dark green lining.