Bugatti Fan

I looked at the Lego link in an earlier post at their Bugatti Chiron site out of real interest only to be disappointed. Technically it is brilliant, but I would have expected the bodywork to be smooth like the real car on such a huge model. It just looks like Lego and toy like to me, so I will not be in the market for one. Airfix managed to use the Lego like build concept on their 1/24 scale Bugatti quick build kit quite successfully. Admittedly there are less than 40 parts on their kit but at least the body looks good. It has its drawbacks as it is aimed at kids to click together in half an hour and play with. It is a pity they did not make it a proper snap kit like Revell and Lindberg with full interior detail

Perhaps figures added would enhance the diorama. but not all modellers find figure painting techniques easy. If you are good at it, great. But if not. best left alone lest the figures look doll like.

This is a very old thread now, and a lot has happened since 2014 both to the magazine and model shops generally. Model shops are disappearing fast both in the US and the UK. The magazine?.....Well that has gotten its own set of problems since 2014, so we will just have to wait and see what happens long term.

Very nice! Captures the French atmosphere very well in this little diorama, both car and building.

And the Stones keep rolling along!!!!!! Must have out survived just about every other rock group with most of their original members still performing.Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts. Bill Wyman the original bass guitarist (known as the Ghost and played a Vox Phantom Bass Guitar) is still around with another group that he formed after leaving the Stones. Ronnie Wood has been with them a long time now having joined them from the Small Faces after the sad demise of Brian Jones, one of the original members.

Does anybody know where all the old Pyro moulds went to? Have they been acquired by any company with a view to reissuing them? They had quite a substantial range of car kits way back, mostly in 1/32nd scale and a limited few in 1/24th scale.

Scapa Flow is located in the Orkneys. Famous for the German fleet being scuttled there after WW1, and the battleship Royal Oak sunk there by a UBoat during WW2 and lies there as a war grave. The Shetlands are another group of islands lying further North.

Constructive criticism is OK as long as it is done appropriately and one should not be detracted from doing so for fear of political correctness.

They will probably never hit the road. Most likely be trailered to shows or locked away as accruing investments by the super rich. Why the factory is having 1920's replicas made is anyones guess. Looks like a prestige exercise whereby the building will be farmed out to specialist engine, chassis and coach builders. Cannot see them being built at Crewe alongside normal production models.

This is nothing new as there have been quite a number of blower replicas built by specialist car restorers and builders over the years

Criticism is ok as long as it is constructive. Personally, I welcome any valid criticism that might help me improve my models. Unfortunately there are many who's sensitivities are such that they cannot differentiate constructive criticism from a personal insult when none is intended.

I started making model cars way back in the 1960's being inspired by Don Emmons and Dennis Doty's magazine articles in Model Car Science in what few copies I got hold of in the UK. I have seen many model car magazines come and go over the years both Stateside and over here in the UK. Scale Auto (or Scale Auto Enthusiast as it was previously known) is the only one that has really stood the test of time as Kalmbach has been at the helm publishing it for more than 30 years I guess, as well as Fine Scale Modeler. With MCM's current problems appearing to be ongoing, it may well fall by the wayside as many others have before, and that would be a great pity, unless a well established publisher considers buying the title out and taking it on with a view to turning the magazine around and restoring subscriber and vendor confidence.

Each to their own, but plastic always looks like plastic to me. However, if the colour of the plastic is even and flawless and the modeller wants to retain it a coat of gloss clear might be the answer. I have tried this a number of times and it has worked quite well.

I think that given its on going problems, maybe Gregg should seriously think about selling the magazine on to an established publisher to get it back where it should be and concentrate on editing alone.

Thanks for your replies Mike and Skip.

Dpn, not sure if an annual mcm magazine like your magazine would be the way to go. Dave Ambrose mentioned a drop off in web advertising supporting this forum. Either advertisers are tightening up generally, or maybe they research the associated mcm circulation and frequency of publication to decide on where to advertise? W H Smith, a UK equivalent of Barnes and Noble and local newsagent shops over here carry many specialist interest magazines, so print is alive and well in that sector. I think that model making magazines being g a bit more niche than general home, garden and car magazines will continue to struggle due to the general drop in youngsters taking up the hobby and developing into adult modellers. It matters not whether modelling magazines are in print or digital in this respect, the decline of the hobby is based on this factor.

Is there not another magazine out there? Model Car Builder Magazine by Roy Sorenson and Neil Van Zile Jr? No one has mentioned it but only referred to Scale Auto as the opposition to MCM. I have been sent a copy of Model Car Builder and it looks like a good magazine to me.

A pay to use forum? Would enough people really pay for it either by subscription or donation? Gregg has already stated that the 200 life subscriptions for the magazine fell well short, so would this forum go the same way if subscriptions were introduced? A number of folks day yes I would support it, but the reality is that many simply will not. Best keep the forum free it possible. If it goes to subscription I fear the usage will start to fall off quite quickly.

There is an old saying that the person who never makes a mistake never makes anything. We all get it wrong from time to time. As an experienced modeller sometimes I have come unstuck through complacency by trying to take short cuts and it comes back to bite me! Since starting to do some scratch builds it is having to remake stuff that can get frustrating, but you just have to persevere.

This thread has gone way off track about being civil, but the threads have made interesting reading none the less. I have noticed that in this debate many differing opinions have been made, retaining a level of politeness to each other. There will always be AK47 or similar shooting incidents. After Hungerford and Dunblane here in the UK automatic weapons and handguns in private ownership were quickly banned. Unfortunately, responsible gun owners who belonged to gun clubs and enjoyed target shooting got caught up in all this and all weapons had to be handed in.

Regarding one or two suggestions in this thread, a forum is a forum and a digital magazine is a digital magazine . Trying to combine both would be messy. In a magazine I would expect well written articles, in a forum an exchange of discussion. If the forum starts to charge users, the majority will simply migrate to other free forums. The magazine needs some drastic action to get it back on track and restore confidence, and hopefully eventually drag it out of the current doldrums it finds itself in. As mentioned in an earlier post, it is down to Gregg and in his hands how he resolves the current problems.

I am taking a break from a long term scratch build (don't ask!). Having a bit of fun with the Airfix Bugatti Veyron. It's a click together kit that goes together Lego style aimed at youngsters to get them into modelling. It is devoid of a lot of detail, but the body shape looks good. Will be adding the missing interior details to this one to see what I can do with it. It is the only 1/24 th scale plastic kit of this car that I know of, and it is cheap! The way it goes together saves any masking up as I propose changing the colours. If it all goes pear shaped, not much loss!

Mike, you are quite right that ultimately the fate of the magazine is in Gregg's hands. So we will just have to see how things pan out if there are no radical changes. AFX, unfortunately social media lends itself to uncivilized trolling, which is ironic considering the amount of political correctness expected these days.

Yep! Let's charge up all those new electric cars and watch the lights to out!

Roger, my main aim by starting this thread was to ask people to be a bit more civil on an open forum without it degenerating into vitriol, rather than a discussion about the current state of the magazine. However, to be positive father than negatiive, I did additionally make a suggestion about how the magazine might move forward given its present situation as Gregg said the life subscriptions fell well short of the 200 required to keep the magazine going, and I make no excuses for suggesting that an established publisher he sought. Stating that we all know what is going on is fine, but without further proactive suggestions things will probably stay as they are unless there is a more pragmatic approach to the problems facing the magazine.