Bugatti Fan

Further to my last post, a picture of the Merlin Engined Custom Rolls lookalike. For those who are not into aircraft the Rolls Royce Merlin Engine powered versions of the Supermarine Spitfire and North American Mustang P51D.

Could be right Gary. If the tooling has not been scrapped there might be a chance of Atlantis getting it. Who knows?

Cool build !

Nice project. Wonder if Revell might repop this one to go with their own kit ?

Lovely restoration.

Great to see all those pre war cars in action ! All credit to the owners taking part in meetings like this where we can all get to see them.

Easy to criticise Scalemates. But if it relies on voluntary contributions for information about timelines of when kits were issued, in many cases from way back when, then discrepancies will occur. Criticism is easy. Contribution takes a bit more effort. To put this into perspective, at least someone has taken the time and effort to create the Scalemates database. It's not always correct, granted. But I would prefer it to be there to refer to regardless of some of its shortcomings than not to have it at all. Those folk who contribute do so to help others with the best will in the world. If they happen to get it wrong (to err is human by the way) and get regarded as dumb is a bit disingenuous. It would be a pity it folks hesitate to contribute anything out of fear of being considered dumb !

I like the Harlequin pick up truck on the front cover. No doubt inspired by the VW Polo Harlequin car from a few years back.

Geopolitics, tarriffs, shipping costs, local and import taxes unfortunately all have a bearing on the cost to the end consumer and we just have to live with it. As far as rip offs go, the wooden ship model market has been affected most badly by illegal copying of products as they predominately use laser cut wood and photo etched metal parts that are so much easier to counterfeit then plastic or diecast kits.

Still not a lot !

Still not a lot !

OK. No problem Mike. Reading your posts I thought that you were seriously looking for some replacement decala. Anyway, you can always refer back to my suggestions of you change your mind at some time in the future.

Makes sense of that old statement. 'All the gear and no Idea!'

A Crazy conversion of that Silver Shadow and very well executed. Back in the 70's I think a UK customiser built a one off road going custom car with fibre glass body and stuck a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow grille on it. Not only that. But wait for it ! The power plant, a Rolls Royce Merlin aircraft engine ! My neighbour had a Silver Shadow and I got to drive it to a local motor show where he was displaying a couple of his cars. Quite an experience. All that expansive Connolly leather interior, walnut veneered dashboard and that Flying Lady Mascot out front. Smooth and almost silent.

Like Bill has said, it is generally lack of proper regular servicing that lets many cheap cars down. Bought on the cheap and ran on the cheap unfortunately. I had one of the original tiny little Fiat 500's back in the 70's. Dead easy to maintain and dead cheap to run. Only drawback was the poor old thing succumbed to rust like a vampire doused in holy water! Lovely little cult car now though, and restored versions fetching high prices, especially the Abarth equipped ones. Don't know about the States but in the UK there is an acronym for FIAT. 'Fix it again tomorrow'. A bit unfair I think.

The Yugos pictured so far on here appear to be of the original body shape. I think that they started to produce their latest model that looked a bit like a Fiat Uno just before the civil war broke out in Yugoslavia.

Not a lot.

Not a lot.

Wouldn't it be nice if Atlantis got hold of those Renwal moulds for the Virgil Exner Revivals. Not holding out much hope though as the moulds in all probability might have been scrapped years ago. Likewise those 1/24th scale Merit racing car kits from the 1960s. The moulds were sold to a company in Italy, but as far as I know we're never released again. The surviving Alfa Romeo and Talbot Lago moulds from Merit went to SMER in the Czech Republic. Not sure what happened to them since. Someone mentioned Atlantis ?

Quite a versatile old kit, but showing its age though. I quite like vintage stock commercials like Jon's with the pumpkins.

What scale is it Mike? Is it one of the original 1/72nd scale Airfix or Frog kits? Or is it one of the larger kits in resin? I was only looking at the real thing a week last Sunday when I attended a model show at the Shuttleworth Museum where it resides just 5 miles from where I live. It might be worth contacting the museum to find out the actual style of lettering on the aircraft, work out the actual sizes required for your model and get a specialist in making bespoke waterside transfers/decals to print them up for you. You saved the tailplane number so what you need now will all be just white.I If your model is 1/72nd scale it might be worth contacting IPMS UK who have a decal bank. A bit of a long shot, but who knows? HTH

Life of Brian. Brilliant film ! 'What did the Romans do for us?'

Back in the day I think that someone wanted to buy the ship and convert it to a cruise ship. I read somewhere that there was a military reason for the sale being blocked. It may have been something to do with the specification involved and so it languished and deteriorated too much over the years. A sad end to this Blue Riband Atlantic Record Breaker. Maybe someone will make a 1/350th scale kit ? I'm not holding my breath !

Health an Safety Regulations, don't you just love them. i'm sure that they were devised to guide the stupid! As for over protective parenting, a sure fire way to produce risk averse snowflakes. Are we not in danger of convincing ourselves that the risks to our kids is more perceived than real? It's ok for kids to run around and get a few grazes to their knees every now and again believe it or not. They are in more danger surfing the net unsupervised than running around outside.

Brian, you could try a complete restoration job on that chassis that your dad bought you for Christmas all those years ago. What with all the finishing goodies we are all used to that were not around when that chassis kit was produced should be an interesting project. Matt, same suggestion about your part built kit. It's the sort of thing that the International Model Car Builders Museum in Sandy, Utah might be interested in as their display is about the development of the hobby. Unless they have one already of course .