Bugatti Fan

Only serious collectors are willing enough to shell out ridiculous amounts of cash for old plastic kits that in all probability will never be built, and end up in landfill after their demise! Serious .modellers on the other hand will either wait for the reissue, or actually enjoy getting and building that perceived rare kit and doing what the kit was designed for!

It was vinyl tyres against polystyrene kit parts that I had problems with. Cannot comment on baggies.

The AC Cobra started off as the AC Ace sports car built in Thames Ditton, Surrey just South of London in the UK. Carroll Shelby had chassis and bodies shipped to the USA, stuck V8 engines into them and this the Cobra was born. The earlier models did not have the flared out wheel arches and wide wheels depicted in most kits. I have a very early Cobra kit that was released back in the 60s by the now defunct Frog company with the Ace body style, that I think was made under licence from AMT. There is I think someone out there making a resin transmit to make this old kit back into an A.C. ace.

With regard to long term storage. Vinyl can have an adverse chemical reaction both with itself and polystyrene plastic if left together for too long. Found out the hard way a number of years ago when I rummaged through my spares boxes to find a number of ruined tyres and parts that were laid against one another! Some of my vinyl tyres had even reacted against the insides of my little plastic drawer units. I now use plain white tissue paper wrapped around parts to separate them to act as a barrier against this reaction problem happening. If you have stuff stored away, best check it out! Polystyrene to polystyrene seems to be ok but it is the vinyl to vinyl and vinyl to polystyrene that caused the problem.

James Dyson's team who design their vacuum cleaners and other appliances first sketch and 3D model their concepts in card the traditional way before even looking at doing anything on computer. His reasoning is that his designers get a better feel for the product by physically modelling by hand first.

There are a lot of cheaply made Chinese made air brushes on the market. Best avoid these if serious use is contemplated. Best stick with established manufacturers of a quality product like Paasche, Badger, Harder and Steenbeck, Aerograph DeVilbiss or Iwata. All of these have proved their worth over the years having sold to the graphic design industry initially long before model makers started to use them. All these quality manufacturers have various types at prices to suit most. Cannot comment on Grex of Aztec having not used any of their products. There is an old adage ' You only get what you pay for' and this is very relevant in the air brush market!

Started scratch building back in 2009 and had to develop a different mind set to building from kits, like treating all the sub assemblies as models in their own right. it is basically creating your own kit to build without any instructions to follow. What made me start was that certain cars I like would never be kitted, so I had to get my head around making everything myself, and of course the protracted length of building from scratch plus the challenge of learning new techniques along the way.

There was a kerbside resin kit in 20th scale that was released in the UK a few years back. Cannot remember the manufacturer. Last I heard was that Little Tools owner Paul Fitzmaurice bought the moulds recently. I can remember building the24th scale Merit kit many years ago. A bit basic but could be worked on.

Bucky, the pictures you posted of the Renwall Revivals box art have disappeared since I looked at them yesterday

How much does it cost to build one by the time all of the instalments are paid? What would a built up one fetch at auction? Or would it be likely to sell at a loss?

Trader then?

Selling my Lotus Cortina to raise a house deposit!

This thread has certainly opened a can of worms! Anything from annoyance to acceptance as well as some amusing tongue in cheek comments!

Glenn, is your logo work not covered by copyright laws?

If I sold a model it would not bother me if it was simply put on display at a model show, but I would still expect to be credited as the actual builder. You can sell a model but the one thing you cannot sell with it is its provenance! But, as for any buyer of a built up model and entering a contest with it, and claiming it to be their own work is not ethical and would be just plain fraud. In any case, placed in a contest under these circumstances, if it won any award it would just be a hollow victory. I cannot see how any one would get any proper satisfaction from doing this, knowing that they have cheated! In any model competition circuit, it must be remembered that model makers peers get to recognise a certain modellers style as regular competitors, so a fraudulent entrant runs the risk of being exposed and ridiculed if entering some one else"s work and claiming it to be their own!

Jeff, further to my last post on this thread most of us have many books bought for reference. As a suggestion they could be donated to a local high school for their library. Schools always seem to be strapped for cash when it comes to buying things, and who knows, some modelling books on their library shelves may encourage some youngsters to take up the hobby.

Jeff, I would suggest that you contact IPMS USA (International Plastic Modelers Society) via the contact details on their website. They may well have modelers in your area who may either be interested in buying for themselves, or alternatively may be able to do some off loading through society contacts. Alternatively, try to contact well known auto model writers like Bil! Counter, Dennis Doty, Bob Downie or Tim Boyd as they will have many contacts, and may be able to suggest traders who buy collections. HTH.

These neo classic cars have too much bling on them and not at all tasteful to my eyes! I am not a great fan of stretched limmos either. My idea of turning up in style to say that you have really made it can only be in a chauffeur drivenRolls Royce!

Frank, you did a great job of putting Harry's Stutz back together. The trouble with plastic models is that the joints get brittle with age and come apart when subjected to sudden shock no matter how well packed! Fortunately most of the time the damage is recoverable.

Does this guy actually collect? Or is he a die cast dealer?

Has this huge kit got the option of being built as a factory standard road car?

There were some really ugly neo classics made like the Excalibur fake Merc and the Panther Deville fake Royale.

AFX, thanks for the info about Historic Miniatures AS Ace in the pipeline.

Please let us not forget the excellent Daytona Coupe kit by Scale Motorsports in 24th scale. The AMT kit was issued under the Frog brand name in the UK under licence as was the MPC by Airfix a number of years ago. I have the Frog kit still in my stash and am considering converting it back to what the Cobra was spawned from, the AC Ace.

Revell were never going to go away. The US side will continue to trot out the American subjects a d Germany the more exotic stuff.. We tend to lose sight of the fact that Revell make many kits of other subjects than cars and tricks and that is what keeps them viable as a corporate asset. Unfortunately the likes of AMT, MPC, IMC, were only catering for an American market and also only mainly automotive biased in their subject matter.