Bugatti Fan

Trying to obtain a realistic chrome finish has for years been like Indiana Jones trying to find the Holy Grail. Up to now virtually all silver metallics are (and remain) soft paints long after drying. Clear coating generally opens another can of worms when applied over these paints. The Molotow inks appear to be the best and most durable painted on chrome finish to date. I have found that a combination of using Molotow and Bare Metal Foil on a model can yield really good results. It is a matter of what parts on the model lend themselves best to the use of each of these mediums.

I see you checked the DVLA website Christian to see what of the numbers is in current use.

I wish that Revell would re tool the E Type Jaguar in 24th scale instead of re re re releasing that tired old kit from the 60's.

Nice subject.! I noticed a couple of references to the Auto Models kit. It is in white metal, 24th scale and is made by South Eastern Fine cast here in the UK. The company has an interesting range of classics in their Finecast and Auto Kits ranges. They also have a nice range of old British steam road going vehicles in 32nd scale. Their catalogue is on their website and they work mail order. Incidentally, one of their main lines of occupation is the manufacture of British Locomotive models for model railway enthusiasts.

Regarding British Car Number Plates. There appears to be a bit of misapprehension about ownership. The car owners own just the car not the registration number. ALL British registration numbers remain the intellectual property of the DVLA (Driver, Vehicle and Licencing Authority) i.e. the UK Government. When a car is either scrapped or exported the number can be re allocated to another UK based vehicle. If a car is exported and the owner wishes to carry on using the UK registration number on that vehicle, the car will still need to remain registered in the UK. In pictures of Ralph Lauren's car I have not seen an American licence plate fitted to the vehicle, so my guess is that he has it taxed and insured in the UK and the insurance tailored to cover use in other countries. Also, I find it difficult to believe that a Bentley executive actually dictated to Hornby claiming ownership of the number. The DVLA actually owns it for the reasons outlined above in this posting.

Bill Geary, your name sounds familiar. Were you in Cranky's book Rats,Rods n Rust as a featured modeller?

Snake 45....It will be interesting to make the open 2seater from this. You maybe able to cut and use part of the roof for top of the boot (trunk) if the curvatures are OK. The later versions of the Spitfire were restyled by Michelotti. I think that some time ago there was a white metal kit available in 1/24th scale of the later version. Unfortunately I do not know who made it. Certainly not South Eastern Fine Cast, a UK company who incidentally have a good range of MG kits as well as all their other classics in 1/24th scale, plus a range of steam road going vehicles in 1/32nd scale.

Hi Frank, Like you I happen to like 'old school'......it is model making as opposed to model building! Nice to get your head around the challenges of how to actually make all the parts yourself from raw materials as opposed to buying in proprietary kits and bits. Don't get me wrong, I still like building and converting kits, but having a couple of scratch built models now under my belt has given me more overall satisfaction. Your Ford coupe looks to be coming on really well, and what a nice subject as opposed to the more exotic stuff. Look forward to following your build with interest.

Your model with the new number plate UU5872 looks really good, and is very nicely finished. Really like the cord grip detailing on the steering wheel and the real leather bonnet (hood) straps. I have built one of the older kits with the number plate UR6571 on it. Why Airfix only re tooled the number plate on this last release is a bit of a mystery to me. The most glaring thing wrong with the kit is the position of the Winged B badge on the radiator shell that has never been sorted out, despite a number of re releases over the years. It is far too low on the kit item. Look at pictures on the web to see what I mean, as the car is now owned by Ralph Lauren. Airfix had full access to the original car when it was owned by Neil Corner, before it went to Tony Bamford, the boss of JCB. As the part is plated, many model makers are unable to correct it unfortunately.

Bob Downie mentioned that this kit could be converted easily into a Triumph Spitfire. Body wise the basics are there for a Spitfire Coupe but I think that the Spitfire did not have the power bulge on the bonnet (hood). A bit more work would be required to make it into a two seater open sports car however. Also, bear in mind that if converting it to a Spitfire the engine would have to be modified to an in line 4 Cylinder. The GT6 as far as I know was only built as a coupe and had a 6 Cylinder in line engine hence the GT6 tag. Both the Spitfire and the GT6 were built on chassis that were common to the Triumph Herald 4 cylinder and the Triumph Vitesse 6 cylinder cars. They were the last volume production cars to be built on separate chassis in the UK. Spitfires and Heralds were a very common sight on UK roads in the 60's and early 70's whereas the GT6 and Vitesse less so. Airfix released a Triumph Herald in 1/32nd scale quite a while ago that could be converted to a Vitesse. It is such a long time ago since I looked at one of these kits that I cannot remember if the chassis was separate on it as on the real car. If so there may be possibilities if there are any slot racing bodies available of the Spitfire or GT6. I think that Airfix have re released the old Herald a few times over the years, so locating one should not be difficult.

Sean W's idea about using spectacle hinges is good. Another source is Dolls house suppliers. You can source miniature door and piano hinges from them.

What actually is it? Looks like a cross between a Lone Star and a Civvy Hummer. Tasteless and tacky like stretched limmos for weddings and high school grads. Can't beat hiring a Roller to make to make the ultimate classy car impression!

Hi Guys Just a heads up. There is a company named Motobitz making after market resin chassis and parts to convert the Transit Van into a tilt pick up truck. They also market alternative sets of decals for the Heller or Ebbro Citroen H Van kits.

Really nice model Jurgen. It just shows what can be done with an elderly kit. This particular 'bug' is a lovely looking car. As far as I know only Pocher has kitted the same subject but in the huge eighth scale. The work you have done on this little Heller model is superb. Incidentally, the very same kit was marketed also under the Airfix name when Heller and Airfix were joint owned by a holding company.

Looks like a nice resin kit. Looks as though it was cast off original kit parts. Nice to see it around again albeit in resin. I remember building one when it first came out way back in the sixties I think. Still have the box top photo in a folder as well as some pages of articles about detailing the kit and modifying it from an old copy of Model Car & Science published from way back when.

Thanks for the heads up Wayne. I remember Dale King writing a section about scratch building in Robert Scleicher's car modelling book. I do not have the book any more, but think that his scratch build essay was an open 2 seater Fiat sports car as well as another section about building the big Tamiya Porsche. If Schleicher's model car racing is about slot cars and is well established then Slot Cars Magazine will have to fight on its hands for a slice of this market. I am retired, and like you have seen many old model making friends and acquaintences pass on over the years. Such is life I'm afraid. I keep telling my grown up kids to ensure that the grandkids know that life is not a rehearsal.

Any body remember this little line? 'Who's Rich Morgan. 'Who cares? You might!' about a guy named Rich Morgan from the old Auto World model catalogues? Not heard about him for many, many years. Another guy named Robert Schleicher wrote a book on car modelling way back in the 80,s. His book featured the work of modellers Dale King and Tony Lorette amongst others. Anyone remember him also? Are any or all these guys still active in the hobby?

Art, I was not aware that Radio Shack had gone. We used to have Tandy stores all over the place here in the UK that had Radio Shack items as regular stock. They have also long gone.. I guess that maybe Tandy was the same company as Radio Shack trading in the UK.

Mike, my apologies if my post may have seemed to appear to be going a bit political. That was not my intention. I was merely trying to express my thoughts as a concerned human being who's condolences and deepest sympathy probably like yours go out to all those folks caught up in the horror of such events.

Expressing sympathy seems not enough when these things happen. Over here in the UK one used to be able to own guns provided you were a gun club member. The police would regularly check that owners had a locked gun cabinet and the ammo locked away somewhere separate. One guy went on a rampage in Hungerford, a small country town with an AK47 and a ownership of automatic weapons was banned. The same happened afew years later to handguns when a man walked into a village school in Dunblane with a couple of handguns and shot a number of junior school kids and their teacher. From what I can gather from news coverage the hotel shooter in Vegas amassed a large arsenal of legally bought firearms. American computer technology is probably the best in the world, but there appears to be no link to flag up mass gun buying by an individual from different gun dealers. I appreciate that licensed gun ownership is very different in the USA, but some checks need to be put into place at time of attempted purchase, so that the police have some intelligence about any individual mass gun buying.

Hi Amy Further to my last post there is an auto museum that is located at Dearborn Michigan, that may be gographicallhy close enough. It is the Henry Ford Museum. Perhaps if you made an approach to them they may be interested in having the entire collection for permanent display of the car models. As another thought maybe there are museums in Detroit,home of the American car industry that may be interested. Perhaps the other models could be displayed in a Chicago museum or exhibition centre.. I saw amongst the photos a gold and white Deusenberg that may be of interest to the Cord Auburn Duesenberg Museum in Indiana.

Hi Amy, Maybe this has been suggested already but perhaps the International Model Car Builders Museum in Salt Lake City may be interested in your late dad's model if you have any left over to donate to them.

Seek out a store like Maplins in the UK or Radio Shack in the US and see if you can obtain very thin diameters of screened cable. Strip off the outer insulation to expose the metal screening. Basically this is what modellers are buying as scale braided hoses.

Not tried this myself yet but would suggest experimenting on a small piece of plastic card to see what works. Another alternative would be chrome bare metal foil over painted with translucent acrylic if the lamps are part of the main body moulding. Whilst on the subject of lights, I have used bm foil stuck to the rear of transparent plastic lamps for its reflective qualities and used the translucent red or orange on rear lamps and on the front headlamps a coat of clear. As the lamps have foil backing either a spot of epoxy adhesive or something like Humbrol Clearfix will do the job.

We all get like this at times when the enthusiasm wanes. How I got over this was to model something different and completely out of my comfort zone, a sailing ship. Try something different, a figure, aircraft, ship, science fiction or whatever needing to learn a completely different skill set in the process. Sometimes what we do becomes all too familiar, so sometimes a change could be as good as a rest.