Bugatti Fan

The thought of trying to read over 9500 previous replies to this thread?

Having mentioned some 1/16 scale kits of old timers by either Aurora of Lindberg, I see someone has put up a picture of a Stanley Steamer. This I think was also kitted in that particular range..

Looking at some of the posts on dioramas got me to thinking about and looking through all the odd bits and pieces that ended up in my spares box and will probably never end up on a car build. Whether it be extras from kits or from conversions. inevitably you end up over the years with just odd parts that you never seem to be able to find a use for. So now i have been thinking seriously about building a vintage workshop diorama whereby after some refinement many of these parts could be included hanging, stacked and just lying around to create atmosphere with maybe one or two cars in for work to be done.

Mark, thanks for correcting my erroneous thinking about the scale of the Revell Big Bad Van being 1/12 instead of 1/16th. Many years since I have seen one over here in the UK. Nice size to practice custom paint jobs with the air brush. The Airfix Wallace and Grommit 'Curse of the Were Rabbit' Van based on the little Austin A35 Van common over here in the sixties scales at 1/12th. I used this to make a custom van to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of IPMS in 2013. MCM ran my article about it some time ago in 2014 I think. I used some of the the customising bits from the Monogram 1/12th scale 57 Chevy that I built stock at the time. The model has since been shipped to the International Model Car Builders Museum in Sandy Utah and is now on permanent exhibition there. That was a nice van model for doing a custom paint job in gold metal flake and Alclad's Blue Candy Colour.

Anybody remember those truly awful car kits from Palmer?

Congratulations to all the car companies bean counters. Apart from screwing up our hobby for what little they would get in royalties from a market much more limited than ready made diecasts, would it really.make any difference to the bottom line in car companies annual revenue?

Forgot to mention seeing the Curved Dash Oldsmobile, this was kitted in 1/16 scale by either Aurora or Lindberg way back when as part of a series of old timers that included a Stutz Bearcat, and a Mercer Raceabout. There were some others in this series that I cannot remember. In 1/32 scale some of the original Airfix car kits were of veteran vintage subjects. Revell made a few as did Gowland and Aurora back in the old days.

Richard, the Cugnot Steam Tractor has been released as a plastic kit way back in the 60's. I think it was in 1/32 scale by a French company (I think)). Now a very rare kit. As you said, some of the veteran cars would make great subjects, but with their limited appeal, I cannot see manufacturers investing large amounts on development and tooling for life that would probably make a loss for them. I too would like to see some veteran and vintage subjects but have to be realistic in my expectations. Like you I would like to see a Mercer Raceabout on 1/24 scale. Certainly a lovely subject. My own desires would be a Bugatti Brescia, or a Type 59 in 1/24 scale, not to mention some of the inter war Alfas, Auto Union and Mercedes racers in 1/24 scale.ICM have taken a brave step with the veteran Benz, having done variations of the Ford T.

I seem to remember Revell producing a 1/12 scale custom van kit named Big Bad Van, and AMY doing one in 1/16 scale. Can anyone confirm?

Guess you are right there Mark. Some people are good, some less so at answering emails.

Unfortunately, bad grammar and spelling seem to be becoming the norm. Even in the media we see crass mistakes time and again. I worked at a school as an Engineering CAD Technician for a few years just before I retired and was quite appalled by the poor spelling skills of some of the teaching staff who were themselves kids when the dumbing down process was in full swing. When I was a school pupil aged 14 to 15 way back in the late 50's one of my projects was to make a coffee table from mahogany complete with mortice and tenon joints. I could not believe how teaching practical workshop skills have almost completely collapsed in the school system here in the UK since then. The poor little mites are becoming more and more risk averse as schools are afraid that the parents will see some ready cash through ambulance chasing lawyers. No wonder we are witnessing a 'Snowflake' generation, great at playing computer games but not doing much else! We have seen less and less vocational education and more being encouraged to go to university (of which there are now far too many as opposed to technical colleges in the UK) and take 'Mickey Mouse' degrees that are of no use to anyone except to keep university lecturers in a job! The engineering and science graduates will be the ones getting highly paid jobs whereas the majority of average arts graduates will end up saying 'Would you like fries with that?'.

Meng's GT40. A snap kit in 1/12th scale? As John McEnroe famously said ' You can not be serious!'

Trumpeter gave us a 1/12th scale GT 40 a couple of years ago, and now Meng are bringing one out as well. If their Ford Pickup in 1/24th scale is anything to go by it should be good. A much less expensive alternative to the ultimate GT40 multi medium kit that Marshall Buck over at CMA (Creative Miniature Associates) is developing. I believe that certain after market suppliers have gone to town with detailing up kits for the Trumpeter GT40.....Wonder if they will retro make for the Meng kit?

AND MENG'S NEW GT40 KIT IS ALMOST UPON US!

Lost track of the number of mistakes I have made on models over the years!!! As long as you learn from them, correct them and move on!

I gather that there is another proposed 'stand alone' contest copy in the offing? Would it not be more feasable to make it one of the subscriber copies whilst trying to catch up on schedule rather than divert resources?

Some time ago I heard that Revell would be making a Land Rover kit this year. At first I thought it would just be a re pop of the old Monogram kit. But No! Revell GMBH have announced recently a brand newly tooled kit of a LWB Land Rover. I looked at their 2 built up models on Revell's PR stand at IPMS UK Scale Modelworld Telford earlier this month. A friend of mine Jim Whalen built up one of their display models and tells me that the kit is very good. I believe that it will be retailing at about £25 here in the UK. Naturally this new kit will have many, many conversion possibilities, and I can forsee after market suppliers already looking at the potential in making the most of this kit.

Not surprised at the price looking at the photo on their website showing some of the parts that will constitute the kit.

Gee Bee can I correct something you said in your post? At Telford the competition area is indeed upstairs away from the main show but it is not restricted just to IPMS members only to view the models. The only time when there is very limited access is for a period when the actual judging takes place on the Saturday. Only the judges and members of the committee running the competition have access to the competition area at that particular time. Outside of this the area is open both to the general public attending and also IPMS members.

Creative Miniature Associates are developing a very highly detailed multi medium kit of the GT 40. Cost wise it will be an arm and a leg but promises to be the very best kit of this car as Marshall Buck of CMA does not compromise on quality ever This promises to be the ultimate GT40 kit for highly experienced modellers looking for not only a highly accurate model but a good investment as well.

A good material that is malleable like the old wine bottle lead is thin sheet pewter. This is available from craft suppliers and normally sold as a material for embossing projects. It is also really good for shaping over compound curves.

Perhaps the proposed 'stand alone' contest issue for February next year could be again utilised as a further subscriber copy rather than resources being diverted. If numerous subsequent contest photos are already 'in the can' so to speak, it may help somewhat to catch up with the backlog with little editing involved?

When I used Isopropyl Alcohol it went through a layer of Automotive Acrylic Grey Primer that had been top coated with Alclad Gloss Black with minimum effort just using kitchen roll.

Isopropyl Alcohol is pretty good for stripping paint fast. But make sure that you protect yourself against the fumes.

Never met Harry in person, but had a number of contacts with him before I drifted away from writing articles for Model Cars Magazine and others at about that time. I found him to be most generous in answering any of.my questions. Shortly before he died he sent me a copy of the book he both wrote and published ' The Evolution of the Automobile In Scale', and I was honoured to be able to review it here in the UK.i The loss of his vast knowledge of the hobby and his layout and publishing skills leave a great void for MCM to fill, as it will be extremely difficult it not impossible for the magazine to replace someone with both model making and professional publishing skill sets combined.