Bugatti Fan

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.

Pete, you asked about the Unimat 1 modular machine. Yes I do own one. It was my first machine purchase. Basically it does consist of square section aluminium extensions with T slots on each side. The modules are clamped together internally with special T bolts and a rigidity plate bolted on externally to keep the extensions aligned with one another. As an engineer myself I could see that it had a lot of limitations, but for someone wanting something versatile and reasonably inexpensive it made a good starting point for working on lighter materials despite its size limitations. It cannot machine to the very fine accuracy of my Unimat 4 however, but it is versatile as a small modular bit of kit. My Unimat 4 is a nice machine although Emco Maier were getting them made in Taiwan from the model 4 onwards. The earlier ones were Austrian made. Even the 4 has its size limitations, but since I have acquired an Emco Unimat 8, altogether a much bigger machine plus a bench top milling machine. I have seen the Sherline machines and they are very good quality machines. Proxxon of Germany has a lovely and comprehensive range of model making machines that are also of excellent quality. The ultimate miniature lathe is made by Cowells. Very expensive but of tool room quality.

The Sherline equipment is good but a bit pricey for many. However, there is an inexpensive alternative, a Unimat 1 modular machine that can fulfil most modeller's needs for machining plastics, wood and softer metals like aluminium, copper or brass. The set allows different configurations of machine to be made from the same modular set, and extra accessories can be bought and added as time goes on. It is an ideal piece of kit for most of the sort of stuff we do in lighter materials. Look it up on the internet and you will get some idea of the versatility of it although quite a small machine set.

Matt, Have you looked at Hiroboy;s UK site for the Bentley kit?

The GT40 has been well served of late with the DeAgostini Die Cast in 1/8th scale. In plastic by Trumpeter and Meng in 1/12th scale, and also a very expensive incredibly detailed multi medium kit in development by Marshall Buck of CMA (Creative Miniature Associates) again in 1/12 scale.

As Tom has shown, one has to be imaginative and try to perceive what can be made from all sorts of odds and ends.

You are right Jim. A lot of the fun is in the figuring out how to do things and what you can make or adapt. I have used all sorts of things like domestic plastic pipe , moulded shapes from packaging, odd bits of hardwood, discarded kids toys etc.

Mikr, I will have to look for one of these kits. In 48th scale it will be a fairly small model I guess about 6 or 7 inches long. Just out of interest, there is a Spanish company named OCCRE that make a multi medium kit of a SF Cable Car in 24th scale. It is part of a series of tram kits they make.

You are quite right Trevor. There is a big sense of satisfaction when you build a model having made every part yourself. It is both fun and frustration having to bin parts that you get wrong and have to remake, but very pleasing when you get them right!

Thanks for the feedback Trevor! I had a look at the site you recommended the T50 wheels certainly look good.

I seem to remember that they were the original manufacturers of a San Francisco Cable Car as well.

Scott, the coach I was on stopped off a couple of times right next to the Rocky Mountaineer train. One of my ambitions is to take the CP across Canada and also do the Rockies train. We will see!

Muncie, the Airfix Veyron Tyres are quite good. The wheels outer detailing is also very good except that the backs are hollow but not noticeable when the model is built. I took advantage of this to model disc brakes a!l round on it. I detailed up the interior myself but as another poster suggested a die cast might be cannibalised for this purpose.

Scott, I too have been drooling over that new MFH T35. £525 here in the UK.... Don't know what the Canadian Dollar price would be though, A few years back I did a 2 week coach tour in your neck of the woods out from Vancouver in a big loop to Jasper in the Rockies and back via the Inland Passage to Vancouver Island and had a little time in Victoria. You certainly live in a nice part of the world!