Bugatti Fan

I have a Brown & Sharpe combination set bought when I was an apprentice back in the 60's. Still use it frequently. Quality lasts. Misutoyo measuring tools are excellent too having used their in the past. I would like to mention two British manjfacturers who also make high quality measuring tools and been around for years. Moore & Wright. Rabone Chesterman. Some of their micrometers, callipers , rules etc still reside in my tool box from.say back. I also have a small vernier that was made by a Swedish company named Eskilstuna bought as an apprentice. Really nice tool that I tend to use more than anything else. Not heard of the Swedish company in years so do not know if they still exist or not, or trade under another name. Way back I think that one of my tutors at technical college used a German made Mauser vernier.

Nice to see a die cast being upgraded. No doubt you will work your inimitable normal magic on this one Mark! You didn't mention the scale of the model or the manufacturer. The only plastic kit of one that I can remember is the 1/32nd scale Airfix kit from way back. The TR4 is a !lovely looking sports car and a friend of mine happens to own one.

Starrett. Now that's a name I remember from the past John. Good quality measuring/inspection tooling. An American company who I think had a manufacturing facility this side of the pond in Scotland. Will have to check them out.

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.