Bugatti Fan

There has been a trend over the last few years or so for huge 1/8th scale mainly die cast car kits becoming available as part works. Well guys! Who has built some of these beasts and what do you think of them generally? Not built one yet myself, but would value some feed back from those experienced in building them. The impression I get is that they are good, but not quite as challenging or detailed as a 1/12th scale MF kit for examp!e. I think that this could become an interesting thread. Comments please !

3D Printing. Revolutionary technology but a bit of a dark art for me I'm afraid ! From what I have seen and read about it the process is very time consuming on the machine, and expensive. I think I will stick to my conventional lathe, milling machine and hand tools.

Cannot argue with any of your comments about dumbing down generally Bill. I read somewhere that someone went onto a US question and answer website and ask this question, 'Why do British people speak English, an American language?' I mean, you just couldn't make it up could you? Getting back to Kalmbach, I had no idea about their titles being being sold off until the responses came in to this thread.

There was a company named Pressed Steel Fisher located in Cowley, Oxford, England who made car bodies. I guess that it was part owned by the American Fisher Group. The Morris car plant was next door. Both companies became part of British Leyland back in the 70's. Since then BMW acquired both factories and started to build the new Mini there and still build some of the new mini models there today.

Nice model taking shape here. Those Monogram classics are nice kits. I have their Bugatti 35B to build that looks a nice accurate kit apart from the heavily chromed parts. They will need to be stripped and redone with Alclad or a similar product. Surprised to learn that Atlantis now have the moulds. Revell must have sold them on after the acquisition of Monogram.

So what is Kalmbach doing now? Anything or nothing? What publisher did their remaining titles go to? Was Fine Scale Modeler amongst them?

I heard some time ago about one being painted red. Must be the damaged one pictured in first post. The Beverly Hills motor club pictures will be a good reference for anyone going for the new Aoshima kit of a standard car soon to be released.

When Kalmbach pulled the plug on Scale Auto Magazine and deleted their forum, did they trash the picture gallery as we!l or was it saved on another picture hosting site somewhere? Just seems a pity that all those contributors pictures may have been lost forever if they simply deleted the gallery. I have a quick look at FSM occasionally in a bookstore, and see that just as I thought it would, the 'absorption' of Scale Auto into FSM has resulted in negligible auto content within that magazine. When SA was pulled, a point was made that former SA readers would find regular auto content in FSM. Not really convinced that it actually happened having glanced at some recent copies, that by the way seem to be getting thinner. Or is it my imagination?

Not tried it myself, but has anyone used thin vinyl pin striping tape for the edge and back masked with washi tape?

I find Washi masking tape OK to use. Works for me, and as Pete said pretty much identical to Tamiya's. The Tamiya tape of course comes conveniently on rolls of various narrow widths, whereas the Washi tape comes on wider rolls like normal masking tape. I use an old glass lens from a halogen security lamp to cut thin strips from the Washi tape quite successfully using a craft knife and a six inch steel engineers rule. With Tamiya you pay a bit more for the convenience of pre cut narrow widths, whereas Washi tape is relatively cheap by comparison. Many like myself will probably opt to have both to hand. Referring back to the Pearl White paint, I have never used it, but logically I would be inclined to go for white primer if I were to consider it.

Not a hang up Pete. Just an observation that waterslide transfers have now come to be described as decals over the years. Nothing more. Nothing less. Regardless, the bog standard De Lorean is a kit that has been on my wish list for years and pleased to see one issued at long last. To be fair, if it were not for the Back To The Future films it would have been just another car that would have faded into oblivion like many others, and never be kitted at all. It was to have been Northern Ireland's premier car manufacturer, but ran at a loss untiI the government eventually had enough and pulled the plug on subsidising it !l

An incredibly realistic model engine build. Not only for the added details, but all the subtle nuances in the paint job that really bring the model to life. Considering that it was the old Pocher engine kit used as a basis this model is outstanding !

Been having another more lengthy look at this thread since last time. So many brilliant paint paint jobs to admire, and the sheer variety is outstanding to view. The model that Keith Hudson built shown in the last post, was it a Renwall Revival Exner Duesenberg?

The last post reminded me that I have the cab section from the Outhouse kicking around in a spares box that I need to do something with. I have an old Model A Ford that has seen better days also kicking around in a box that I just might use to graft the two together in a kit bash of sorts.

I can sort of remember that body styling competition from way back. So what eventually happened to all the models that were entered? Do they still exist and on display somewhere?

Mainstream TV is set up to appeal to the masses who like soaps, rubbish reality shows, and cheaply produced contests. But sometimes produces good drama to watch to be fair. Want to watch popular sports and it now costs an arm and a leg to view. The English Premier League is a good example of extracting the maximum amount of cash from any one who wants to view complete games of football on TV. The pay per view sports channels are adept at emptying one's pocket to watch F1, Golf or whatever.

Terminology Pete.

Decal or decals? I'm sure they used to be named Waterslide Transfers.

Thanks for that extra bit of info Haken. I did not notice the hood ornament when I was building my model all that time ago and only noticed the mirror. I often wondered what the mirror was for on the real truck. It just goes to show how small details can be missed. I still have my model and will have to make and add the missing ornament. About a year ago I downloaded a set of the licence plates from the internet and replaced all the original hand painted ones from when I built it. It just goes to show that old models can still be improved when new information comes to light.

When I was doing some research for my build basically by keeping looking at parts of the film by rewinding my VHS tape (yes it was back in the eighties) the hood ornaments turned out to be a rear view mirror of sorts.

There is a full article of mine about building the Duel Rig in a copy of MCM from a few years back. Should be available as a back issue. It was in the days before 3D printing or any resin transkits became available but quite doable as a conversion to the AMT Peterbilt 359 California Hauler the old fashioned way. I used the kit's front wheels that are wrong and discovered my mistake long after I had built and fixed the model to a base! The correct type is shown in the picture in Hakan's post.

Nice one Matt ! A brilliant conversion job if I may say. You pulled it off well. Reminds me that I have an old ( 1/25th scale I think ) Frog/AMT Cobra kit kicking around that had been built and stripped I think with a similar narrower body style that I was thinking about retro building an AC Ace from. Whether it will ever come off the shelf of doom, who knows?

Medical bills in the USA sound really scary to me without having adequate insurance or having some savings like you had behind you Bruce. People criticise our National Health Service over here in the UK but so glad that it anything serious goes wrong health wise, I will get treated without racking up a massive bill and possibly having to argue with an insurance company afterwards.

Nice to see a subject model engineered in the traditional way in metal using standard machinery and hand skills. You cannot substitute these sort of skills with a design drawn up in 3D Cad to download to a 3D printer. Really interesting thread to follow being a retired engineer.

Nice model. A very futuristic looking car in its day.