Bugatti Fan

A quick scan, few mouse clicks and out pops a new tool. Any engineer reading this knows it is nowhere as easy as that. If only it was! The mention of tooling modification or replacement is not politics, it is economics. Nothing wrong with this thread as it is a bit of a wish list hypothetical discussion. The reality is most manufacturers will just keep churning out rereleases from old tooling. The cost of modifying old tooling would simply not justify the return they would get in sales. Atlantis though seems to be buying up old tooling and bringing subjects back from the dead so to speak. We all have our favourites, but many might simply not be viable as newly tooled kits these days. Many of those old favourites were tooled when the cars were current and sold back then. Also the buyer of kits has changed dramatically, being much more demanding about finesse and accuracy. Manufacturers would only now look at retooling kits of cars like Revell did to replace their old E Type Jaguar as it is a viable classic to make new tools for. That is the economic reality today.

Having met and talked about model making with Gerald Wingrove a number of times when he was around, I am not sure if he would have used any 3D printed parts on his models. He was very uncompromising when it came to quality as plastics deteriorate after a period of time. So on that basis alone I do not think that he would possibly have gone for 3D printed parts however small on his models as material longevity would have figured high on all of his model builds.

I have visited Gerald Wingrove on more than one occasion at both his UK workshops before he retired to Spain. He probably would not have used 3D printing in his scratch built models. The reason being that clients for his models would be paying thousands of pounds for each of his models, and therefore having an expectancy that each of his models be artisan made from metal along with other more traditional materials. 3D printed models that would effectively be plastic models by definition because of the material used would simply not cut it with his clientele, no matter how well 3D designed and made. His clients are in the upper echelons of the model collecting fraternity and paying top dollar and expecting something that has been skilfully made by hand and using conventional machinery, not something generated on a computer that could be repeated ad infinitum at the press of a button on a 3D Printer. Gerald and his wife Phyllis used CAD, sure. But it was 2D CAD to produce their excellent scale drawings. Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with 3D printing for the sort of things that many modellers want made however. Bob, by your version of the dictionary definition, just about everything could be described as scratch built. Tupperware is made from raw materials. I think it would be stretching the point a bit to call it scratch built like many other mass produced items.

That is a clever photography setup, and a very nice model of such an unusual subject. For those who do not have the use of Photoshop perhaps a large sheet of reflective silver card that perhaps might be sought at an art supplier could be used to create a seamless curved background to give a similar effect.

Very different Fabrizio.

Really nice model of the Star of India too Louis

Pico, I think generally there is more tendency towards 1/24th scale these days by manufacturers and agree that that is the scale I prefer too over 1/25th. There is certainly a real mish mash of sca!es in automotive kits and die casts produced down the years. 1/8 1/12 1/16 1/18 1/20 1/24 1/25 1/32 1/35 1/43 1/48 HO/OO As modellers we all have our particular favourites for different reasons.

Both brilliant dioramas Louis. Now you have put the pictures up I can remember seeing both of them at those Nationals that you won. Really top class dioramas like yours demand a lot of different skills. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I'm also getting on a bit and now in late 70's. Only did one day at Telford last year. The show is so big and busy now it is quite exhausting to walk around. This year might be my last one up there. We will see! I have been in IPMS since 1974 and can remember when our Nationals were a very small affair that was purely the competition only and held on just a Saturday afternoon in November each year in the Upstairs Art Gallery at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon. It wasn't an open competition then. The Nationals entries were decided by contested heats at branch level to get through. It outgrew there to move to Stoneleigh near Coventry, Then for just one year at Peterborough and on to Donington where you had your successes. Of course that got outgrown again so the move to Telford was made where we have been ever since. I doubt if the society could go any bigger with the show even if it wanted to as the next biggest venue in the UK would be the NEC that would be horrifically expensive. I am not sure when the Nationals became an open competition, but think it may be when we moved to Donington probably. I will be following your Rolls Royce model with interest and it looks a very interesting build so far. The engine looks brilliant. All the best Noel.

I think that I can remember one your two dioramas from back then Louis. Did it have a Sunderland flying boat in it? A superb model diorama as I remember. In all the times I have been coming and going between the UK and Malta I never got to the museum unfortunately. My friends on Gozo sold up the house and came back to the UK. Not sure if I will make it to Malta again as I do like the islands. But you never know. Will you or any of IPMS Malta he over here at Telford this year? All the best Noel

My job in a former life was firstly programming in NC and then later a CNC programmer. The difference being that when doing NC the machines had to be code programmed for the reader on them to read lines of code from punched tape made on a machine like a typewriter. All the tool paths and offsets had to be developed using trigonometry to a great degree in the workings out. CNC made the job a lot easier as the drawings were prepared on computer and a post processor would do all the donkey work of code generation for the machine as well as the trig and maths involved in calculating the tool paths with required offsets. John and Daniel have put this more into perspective in their last posts. 3D design being used with a 3D printer was a development in industry to allow rapid prototyping of concepts before tooling up something for mass production. However, the up side is that it lends itself admirably to one off and very low quantity production at grass roots leve! for our hobby, and the 'masters' saved in perpetuity that will not wear out like physical masters. So it has its place as a tool like many other things in making parts that can be built like a kit generally.

Saw those on their stand at Telford last November Helmut. They are indeed very good and accurate for the Revell E type. I think they also do them in 1/43rd scale for the new Airfix kit, and possibly in 1/32nd scale too.

I am a regular, quite right Pete. But I don't look in every area each time I read the forum, but tend to zone in on things that catch my eye on the day. Probably how I either missed or forgot the Revell Chrome discussion going on.

Your Rolls is really taking shape Louis. Noticed in an earlier post you are in Malta. I guess that you.might belong to the Malta IPMS? They have some excellent model makers on board. I can remember them coming to SMW at Telford a few years ago before covid and taking home a lot of trophies. I have visited Malta quite a lot as some fzmily friends had a house on Gozo up to recently. I can remember an exhibition of models in the Arcadia Shopping Centre in Victoria once when I visited and remember a really lovely Pocher Bugatti in the display.

It's 3D Designing not Scratch Building as such as I see it. Proficient 3D Designing requires a lot of skill, and that is of course a no brainer, and having an engineering background myself I can really appreciate that. Designing any engineered parts accurately to fit together properly is where the skill lies, even back in the days of the drawing board it was no different. However, 3D printing has its limitations. When I scratch build any of my models I use a multitude of different materials in the same fashion as the late Gerald Wingrove. One of my scratch built models was of the Dubonnet Hispano Suiza that was planked in Pearwood Veneers marked out and holes drilled individually to fit thousands of rivets from 0.5mm brass wire. Try doing that on a 3D printer. How can John say that detailing and finishing is scratch building after going beyond the basic assembly of kits that are basically a number of pre made parts to assemble, detail and paint? That is not scratch building at all. It is kit assembly and finishing.

And I always thought that Americans generally favoured 1/25th over 1/24th Andrew! Lol.

Very nice model Pico. What scale did you make it in?

Because I am a normal human being with just as many faults and shortcomings as anyone else Pete. But I will make sure that I look at that Revell Chrome thread link you placed having pointed it out to me. So thanks for putting it up on here.

Both Airfix kits have been released again after all these years. I can remember the Bugle Buggy being sold by VW main dealers way back when in the 70's I think. Royal Berkshire Motors in Reading UK had the Bugle Buggy kit in their showroom with a metalflake green finished body and all the chrome plated goodies for it when that kit car was released. There was a bit of a fad for beach buggies at the time, but the enthusiasm for them dropped as time went on.

Anyone tried Revell's new aerosol chrome?

It's getting close to the world's largest scale model show the IPMS UK Scalemodelworld 2023 show at Telford UK in November. Full details on the IPMS UK website.

Not sure if a stock DB5 will ever be on the agenda due to the tooling costs. Matt Bacon's suggestions will probably be the best way to go for a standard DB5.

Some mentions of the 'old tool' Revell E Type have been made. I can remember building one many years ago and it did have some fit issues. Also, I seem to remember it being 1/25th scale as it was a Revell USA kit. The new one is 1/24th scale and very much better. My only criticism is that the wheels are a bit too wide and do not quite look right. Maybe someone produces the correct width wheels and tyres as 3D printed items?

The Brooklands Outer circuit speed record holder is an aircraft engined car, the polished aluminium bodied Napier Railton. The car was powered by a Napier Lion W12 engine. The car can currently be seen at the Brooklands Transport Museum. A photo of my scratch built model is in the 'Let's see some scratch built things' thread for anyone to see what the car looks like. Also plenty of pictures of the real car available to see on line.

After all this you might also like to use Nick Edwards' catch phrase 'May Contain Airfix!' lol.

Thanks for coming back with the techniques explanation David. Made a really interesting read.