Bugatti Fan

Nice build summary Mark. I followed your Lola build that eventually may have contained some Tamiya parts. Lol.

A UK company named C1 Models make a resin MGB trans kit to convert the Aoshims kit into the coupe. It may possibly be the one you may have in mind. From all accounts it is very good and certainly looks good on their website. I am not aware of any one else making one.I The Aoshima MGB went out under the Revell banner too under licence for a while. They also make a Sebring MGC kit that looks really good. Matt Bacon has put his build of it on the Britmodeller website I think or possibly on here. It makes up into a really nice model going.by his build. They also have some really tasty Land Rover conversion stuff and the James Bond 'Spectre' Land Rovers. Saw one built up one at IPMS UK's Scale Modelworld show recently. Really impressive. On the BMC model front I think Pyro made a Triumph GT6 kit ages ago back in the 60's of 70's. Don't know if it was good, had of indifferent. Someone did a white metal Triumph Spitfire in 1/24th scale but maker unknown to me. There is a company named Abingdon Classics that make numerous British sports car kits in 1/43rd scale and a few odd kits in 1/24th scale. Another UK company South Eastern Finecast made 1/24th scale MGB kits that were fully detailed. A UK company named Squires has acquired the South Eastern Finecast and the Autokits ranges that are 1/24th scale white metal kits.

Inspired by Fabrizio's 1/24th scale model of Janis Joplin's Porsche 356C Cabrio, I thought that I would have a go at making a model of it from the Revell 1/16th scale kit. My model is hand painted using a combination of Artists Acrylics, Revell's own Aqua Colour paints and a set of 0.7 mm tipped Posca Acrylic Paint Pens over a white matt primer. A number of coats of Acrylic Clear Gloss was sprayed on to build up and level off the paint. I had to make and fit some chrome body trims and also scratch build the luggage rack. Dashboard was modified slightly to add another instrument as per the Joplin car. References were multiple pictures downloaded from various internet sites. My model being in a bigger scale, I thought it would be less of a strain on my eyes, and having finished it I have a much better appreciation of Fabrizio's incredible model painting skills as his model is very much smaller than mine. (And unlike me, he converted his from a coupe kit !!!) Hope you like the pictures of my particular efforts.

The choice of colour you made looks good on the car with the black hard top. Gives it quite a subtle more classy look than a bright colour. My personal preference would be to see chrome wire wheels fitted, but then I have always had a soft spot for wire wheels on sports cars anyway! The stock TR4 is a nice looking sports car in its own right and I prefer its looks over the MGB. (Reminds me I must look out for that old Airfix 1/32nd scale kit!) Not that I dislike the MGB (in its old chrome bumper form that is). Those MGB's were made to look hideous trying to conform to US regulations with the rubber bumpers and higher ground clearance.

'But will be interested to see what colour it will be when finished.' Thanks for the nudge. Must have had to save and break away from my previous post for some reason and forgot to get back and complete it.

Kurt. You could scratch build an engine block. As most of the visible detailing would be top end it shouldn't be too difficult to achieve. Have a go using some photographic references. Scratch building is not as daunting as it might at first seem, and an engine might be an ideal introduction to it. The worst you can do is waste a bit of plastic or wood, but probably it will work out alright and you will have developed some new found skills along the way and not be too dependant on after market stuff. If it goes a bit pear shaped, so what? It is only some of your time. I have done 3 scratch builds so far and sometimes I have had to remake stuff that went wrong but what I learnt from it is that it can be done with a bit of perseverance. Before attempting them I built, detailed and converted kits like most of us.

Gary. A Squib is an old fashioned British term for a loud banger firework. Should put the term Damp Squib into some sort of context for you.

Jim Drew's Bugatti. Was it converted from the Italeri kit? Looks really nice and produced a unique model as a result.

Incredible build almost coming to completion. Really been interesting to follow. Not much Airfix left in it I would guess judging by all the 3D printed work going into this model!

Lovely build of this classic front engined Ferrari especially with the extra detailing being added. Those older Italeri kits have good potential as can be seen on this build.

Your Gullwing really coming on well Bruce. Was it originally an Eagle Moss kit? Agora had a display/sales stand at IPMS UK Scale Modelworld Show at Telford UK in November. Got to look at a range of their models for real. The Bond DB5 was the centrepiece, but I really liked the AC Cobra that they had on display. Very impressive in 1/8th scale.

Bill, I guess that Quora question by whoever asked it was made in either ignorance or arrogance that you shared with us. Obviously you could see the irony in it so we could all have a good laugh at it. As Quora is a question and answer site it would be interesting to see how it was answered. Hopefully not by someone with the same level of ignorance!

Looks like some of those so called 'Influencers' need a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Ignorance is Bliss! What complete idiot invented that saying?

Very nice conversion!

Those mesh headlamp protectors look really good. Looks like you fitted real wire mesh and got a most realistic look about them. Saw in one of your previous posts that you are putting off fitting the wire wheel spokes. I have done a few in the past. More tedious than difficult once you get going.

This MG TC is coming along very well Louis. Looking at the other car models you have worked on, like me you have a liking for the older classics. Ulf, if you are looking for an MG TD kit there is a white metal one in 1/24th scale by Auto Kits. Have a look at Squires of Bognor Regis in the UK who might be able to help you.

Harald. Yes, I had a look more closely and could see where the hinges are to allow a front panel and a worktop to swing out of the way for access to the vehicle from the side. The sink and scooter girl look good to compliment what you are doing to the VW.

Those shock absorbers look much more to scale now Francois. It must have taken you a number of prototypes to get them looking just right. You mentioned that you would need a laser to make individual parts for those shock absorbed parts in metal. When I worked as a school technician just before retirement the kids did a lot of work on it, but it was only powerful enough for working plywood and acrylics. I would imagine that a laser powerful enough to cut even thin metal sheet would be very expensive to justify for domestic use. But having the ability to etch patterns on the surface as well as cutting through the metal could replace parts that might otherwise have to be photo etched, but I have yet to see it done on model parts.

What's sad about upgrading inexpensive diecasts Gramps46? I've rescued a few knocked about ones over the years.

Steve's Cobra picture a few posts back.....A copy is definitely going onto my workshop wall!

Thanks for coming back that Pageant Blue was not a standard TR7 colour. I had a Dolomite in that colour. Same sort of era so presumed erroneously that TR7's were available in Pageant Blue. It is quite a striking blue for a plain colour. My old Dolomite looked good in it.

They're looking better Francois. I made some up the hard way for my scratch built Hispano Suiza a few years back. Not too difficult. I prepared a number of blanks with two holes equi spaced on all to screw together. I rough cut each to shape slightly oversized and screwed them all together. I could then put them in a vice to finally shape with a file. Once taken out and the screws removed each plate edge just needed a slight clean up. I then had a number of identical pieces by making them together. The circular pieces that went on between were made in a similar fashion but screwed together with one screw and a nut. The screw was long enough so that the protruding end could be mounted in a chuck and the outside diameter turned to size on a small lathe.

A little boy opens up his Action Man figure box on Christmas Day. Disappointedly the the boy says 'Dad! Dad! My Action Man box is empty!' Dad looked down kindly to the boy and said 'Ah, but that's because its an Action Man Deserter Son!'

I would guess that the only way to get each of the separate arms on the shocks more to scale thickness would be to fabricate them from thin sheet metal brass or plastic card instead of 3D printed. You are probably pushing the 3D print to the limit of what it can reproduce of this item. But having said that the 3D printed item looks far better than the kit offering.