Bugatti Fan

Tom, Thanks for the heads up on the Plastruct Hexagonal Styrene Rod. It does not seem to appear on any of the Plastruct racks I have seen in model shops here in the UK. I will keep a better weather eye open for it now I know it does exist. A company named EMA (Engineering Model Associates) in London seem to be the main importers, so I will try them first. The proprietary punch / die tools you mentioned. I have seen them at shows and they are very good (and quite pricey too!) However they are precision tools so the cost has to reflect that. It's just a question of how affordable they are.

Hi Skip In answer to your last post, have a look at www.partworkmodels.co.uk Pick up on a thread by a friend of mine named Peter Buckingham who is currently doing an Airfix Bentley build on it. We met up at a show recently and he took a few pictures of my Bugatti and kindly inserted them into his Bentley thread for added general interest. One of the views he took looking down will show you how the rear brake cables attach to the rear wheels on the driver's side. You should be able to get a good idea from this. hope this helps.

Was not aware of a 1/8th scale Miura kit.......Who made it? The only 1/8th scale Lambo that I am aware of is the from the resurrected Pocher label The new Aventador kit released this year. I think that a Miura was done in 1/16th scale back in the 70's or 80's. Perhaps there were others in different scales that other posters are aware of. The Miura was certainly a very stylish car.

What a a beautiful build Harry.!.....Looks like you also have a passion for the older classics in model form. Entex was mentioned as the manufacturer. I remember Bandai issued this kit in 1/16th scale way back in the 70's. Did Entex re pop this one or is it a different kit?

Regarding making bolts (or rather bolt heads). I looked at proprietary stuff like proper tiny bolts for modellers and also the various photo etched stuff as well.....Too expensive! Could not find any hexagonal shaped plastic rods to slice, either from Plastruct or any other company and that I found surprising! I also tried the old heat stretched sprue method on a hexagonal a bic biro outer case. Stretched it ok but it was too brittle to cut even with a a razor saw. I needed lots of bolt heads of different sizes. So how could they be made really cheaply and made of plastic so that they could be cemented in place with a spot of Contacta or similar? Then I hit upon an idea! Maybe I could punch them out of plastic card? I got a cheap set of Allen keys and selected some of the smaller ones that looked about the right size for the bolt heads that I wanted to make. I hacksawed off the long straight section of each key I needed and ground one end flat to give sharp edges to each side of the hexagon shape. These would become my PUNCHES. Next job was to make a COMBINATION DIE that would take each size. What I used was a piece of 1.5mm (approx 1/16th inch) gauge plate (mild steel would also do) about 75mm (3 inches) by 50mm (2 inches) then got a a piece of wood battening about 20mm (3/4 inch square) and cut 2 lengths from it of 50mm (2 inches). I drilled 2 holes to take suitable screws at each end of the 3 inch long piece of steel plate. These are to screw the 2 battens to the underside of the steel plate to make a bridge shape once all the die holes are drilled. Now I drilled a number of suitably sized holes to match each of the punches in the plate positioned in the centre section that would be between the support battens to act as die holes for the punches to go through. To determine each of the hole sizes, I carefully measured the diameter across each of the Allen key pieces from point to opposite point (not across the flats) that were cut from the Allen keys. After drilling a set of holes as dies, I then screwed the bits of batten to each end of the piece of steel plate to form the bridge section. This was to make some clearance for the punched hexagonal plastic card shapes to fall through onto some card that was located underneath. This method is a bit crude, but it works. Basically we are punching a hexagonal punch through a round drilled hole. This will have to be set up on a small bench drill press for accuracy. The selected punch is be mounted in the machine's chuck and brought down to accurately align and go through the corresponding drilled die hole. The die bridge part will need to be clamped down at this stage. If you have a small milling machine this is much easier as the die can be clamped in a vice or on the machine bed and the X ( RH to LH), and Y (Front to Rear) axis movement handles can be used to accurately align the punch and die required. This is a very cheap way to knock out loads of plastic card hex bolt heads once the machine is set up. Trial and error will show how thick you can go with the plastic card however. Hope that this is of help to other modellers.

Hi Skip When I said in my post about the number plate not changing, I was actually referring to the actual car UR6571, not the Airfix kit. Having read your post and upon reading my post again, I see that I made a typo. and referred to the car as UU6571. My mistake and I agree with you that it would be read incorrectly whilst referring to the kit. So apologies on my part to any readers for my earlier post causing confusion and thanks for picking up on my mistake. I take on board that you were guessing about any legal issues. I was simply speculating from this that there could be an issue if the UR6571 number plate was still used on the re released kit. As I see it, it is just another kit of a classic Blower Bentley. The UR6571 registration number continues to be the intellectual property of the UK licencing authority as a means of identifying that particular vehicle. So the owner of the vehicle does not actually own the registration number. this has to be surrendered back at the end of the life of the vehicle. I am not sure if it has to be surrendered when a vehicle is sold and shipped abroad however. Does the American Vehicle registration process work in a similar way? UU 5872 the number plate on the the latest release of this kit is for another short chassis variant, and the bodywork on the real car when looked at casually is very similar to that on UR6572, but there may be a few subtle differences.

I hope that Airfix have corrected the radiator shell on this latest release. Th flying 'B' badge was far too low down on all the earlier releases of this kit. The comments about Lauren's lawyers was a bit surprising, considering that Airfix had released this kit back in the days when Neil Corner owned the car. It subsequently went to Anthony Bamford (Boss of JCB) in the meantime before Ralph Lauren bought the car. The number plate has not changed. The only people who own the rights to the UK registration number UU 6571 would be The DVLA in the UK, a government body. The registration number has to be surrendered back to them when any UK registered vehicle is broken up or written off.

This is quite an interesting post as I have recently built this kit 'from the box'. It certainly makes up into a very impressive model, but I found that the fit of some of the parts could have been a lot better in places. I did not like the black colour scheme as per kit and went for a two tone scheme of blue body with white roof instead, that I thought might look a bit more 'Rock n Roll' considering the late 50's era the car was built in. Only wish that I knew about the Model Car Garage Photo Etched parts for this kit beforehand. Cameron's engine detailing work looks really good and he will certainly do justice to the rest of this popular car model. Really looking forward to seeing how his build progresses. The kit is showing its 1970's origins now and really cries out to be retooled and brought up to the standard of modern kits. It is such an iconic car that I am sure that there would be a good market for a more detailed accurate new kit to replace this one. Basically it looks like an upscaled 1/24th scale kit when you look at the way the kit goes together. I had a bit of difficulty aligning the hood on the body as it was slightly distorted. Trouble is, looking at it in the box it seemed to be O.K. It may have just been my particular kit that was at fault, but I would suggest that anybody building this model physically check the alignment of the hood to body before doing any painting to be able to sort it out first.

Hi Guys, and thanks for your comments. In answer to some of the questions that have been brought up My wheels were sort of scratchbuilt from the plastic wheels from the Burago die cast. I removed all the incorrect cross over spokes and maintained the rims only. Plastic card discs were cut out and used as an infill for the backs of the wheels. The conical wheel centres were plunge moulded from plastic card and cemented to the plastic inserts. A dividing head was used to accurately drill the 32 32 16 spoke patterns in the rims and conical wheel centres. Thin stainless steel wire was then used and each spoke fitted individually. I used the Burago tyres as they attempted to follow the Dunlop Racing pattern for the time. The tension chains were given to me by a model maker friend to stop me going crazy trying to scratch build them. I think that they were from a Revell Ducati motorcycle kit. They are in plastic and make up from individual links. A bit overscale for this model. The Photo Etched Acu Stion ones may be a better option although I have no experience of using them. As for the carburettors, I simply used bits of plastic card, plastic tubing and plastic rod to make up the assembly. It is a matter of looking at the drawing and try to imagine breaking the main parts down into individual round and square bits. The linked geared quadrants were cut out of and made from small nylon gear wheels...and yes they were fiddley! I will try to get some more pictures up as soon as possible. During the build I took many photos as I went along, and have put a lengthy full build article together. I am thinking of submitting it to the editor of Model Cars magazine, but I am not sure if it would fit in with the magazine's requirements. It would be nice to see all my efforts in print and hopefully may be of benefit to other modellers.

I managed to complete my first scratch built car model ready for the IPMS Scale Modelworld Show at Telford UK in November 2012. It was built utilising Gerald Wingrove's books as inspiration, and adapting his working methods to making a model in plastics, (except for the hood that was made from Litho plate). The model was built in fits and starts over a period of about 2 years in all. 3 Pictures I tried to post failed. Perhaps files were too big...High res JPEGs. Will have to retake in low resolution and try to re post. In the meantime, there are a couple of pictures that can be seen on one of the Scale Modelworld sites. If you do a web search and type in Scale Modelworld Bugatti Type 59, hopefully some pics may be found.

Anybody looking to build an EB110, there are only 2 different plastic kits available. The Revell one (also marketed under the Monogram label) The Heller one (also marketed under the Airfix label) Back in the 90's I had both kits side by side to review Both manufacturers had their own vision of how this car should be kitted. The Heller kit is not as complex as the Revell version, but both make up into nice models of this car.

I have built this kit up recently, and considering the size, was not very impressed with it generally as a kit. This kit was in my stash for over 15 years originally being a Monogram release. I think it dates back to the '70s. Basically, the impression I got was that it looked like a scaled up 1/24th scale kit, judging by how the interior was a one piece tub that the seats located into that is typical of a 1/24th or 1/25th scale kit build. The parts fit in places left a lot to be desired. But, having said that it does make up into a very impressive model. I did mine 'stock' in a two toned light blue body with white roof that really suited the car. This is one iconic car that cries out for a brand new kit tooled up to present day standards in a large scale.

Junkman, The Revell EB110 kit style looks too complex to have been of Italeri origin. As far as I am aware only 2 mainstream plastic kit manufacturers issued EB110 kits. Revell and Heller (The Heller one was also marketed under the Airfix banner)

Looks a nice kit. As Hornby are the holding company for Airfix maybe they will have tooled up the plastic bits for this new model. At least they should fit properly, unlike the old Pocher kits. It will be selling at about £500.00 in the UK I am led to believe. Given that the 1/24th scale Tamiya kit for the Aston Martin UK price is £45.00 or more sort of puts it into perspective about the relative value for money for each kit. Having said that, although the new Pocher kit represents fantastic good value for money purely as a big complex kit, but it will still be perceived as expensive. It really comes down to how much disposable income any modeller has to spend. There are many multi medium kits on the market aimed at experienced (and wealthy) car modellers that are very expensive by comparison. e.g. A 1/24th scale kit of the Nissan Le Mans car dubbed the 'Batmobile' retails at about £150.00 here in the UK because they are limited run kits.

Hi Guys Has anyone got experience of airbrushing real Metalflake on a model car? Any advice would be appreciated.

Interesting posts Guys. I have built two or three Pochers...Classics; .Not the die cast ones. Yes they can be a bit frustrating where the fit of parts is not as good as it should be (e.g. Tamiya quality) for kits costing what they did. They are definitely not for the faint hearted and will require a lot of patience to do a good build. Some of the later offerings when the company was struggling had cheaper parts than before, but sadly the company's demise was on the cards at the time. One bit of advice I can offer to avoid screw breakages is to check out the screw sizes in the kit and invest in some mm taps and a Tee shaped mini tap wrench. Ensure that every threaded hole is tapped out prior to assembly and this should alleviate a lot of assembly problems where the screws are concerned. Regarding the Mercedes licencing thing that has been referred to in earlier posts Pocher's first Mercedes kit was, I believe made with collaboration between them and Mercedes. Apparently the story goes that Mercedes had lost drawings of the 500K subject of the first Pocher Mercedes kit. The original car belonged to a Tin Mining Magnate in Bolivia and Pocher has full access to the car whilst it was undergoing a full restoration, and prepared plans for all the parts, copies of which went to Mercedes for their archives. Pocher's boss made the proud boast in their early days that they would only make kits of cars that would be different from other manufacturers offerings. but in the end had to go a bit mainstream with Porsche 911 and Ferrari Testarossa kits. This modeller would have loved to see Pocher produce a Duesenberg SJ Phaeton with Murphy Coachwork........Dream on!

The big Airfix Bentley UR6571 that was first made in the 1970's was a short chassis variant known as the 'Pau Car'. Their latest re release of this kit has a different number plate for another short chassis variant. I hope that Airfix has also got the position of the Flying B emblem in the right place on the radiator shell if they have been retooling bits of this kit. It was far too low on all their previous re releases of this kit. Anyone venturing to modify this kit into a long chassis variant will have to add 25mm to the chassis.

These Bugattis are more than just great builds. Karsten's modelling skills have really been put to the test on these models. Pochers are notorious for their ill fitting parts, and need modelling skills of a very high order, so a real credit to Karsten who has finished then to a very high display level.

Nice model Caapa! This 1/24th scale kit was originally by Heller. The same kit was also marketed under the Airfix brand name. Pocher of Italy also manufactured a huge superdetailed 1/8th scale kit of this car with the same bodystyle, and also offered the Superprofil Fastback bodystyle as well. These Pochers go for silly money on Ebay now.

It would be nice if Revell Germany did the Veyron Their Bugatti EB110 that they released back in the Nineties was a nice kit.

This particular kit has been around for a long time now. First released by Lindberg in the 60's and again more recently by Revell/Monogram who now have the moulds. This kit is based on the Charles Chayne restoration in the Henry Ford Museum. If you want a really good treatise on how the car looked originally as supplied new to Dr Fuchs, the Gerald Wingrove Complete Car Modeller 2 book is about scratchbuilding this particular car. I have 2 of these kits and will be looking to build as original and as it looks now as a comparison. The original car was black with yellow striping, whereas the Chayne restoration is a Cream colour with dark green striping as per the kit.