Bugatti Fan

Bob, nobody has said on here that model building does not require good motor skills. I trust that you are talking about building from kits when you refer to building. Of course building a good model from a kit takes time, patience and skill development. No one is arguing about that, but we are drifting off script here as kit building is not the subject of this particular discussion. Scratch building for many is just a natural progression from building and modifying kits where basic and more advanced modelling skills get learnt through experience. What got me into scratch building was a desire to make models of certain subjects that there would be zero chance of mainstream manufacturers ever doing.

Absolutely Steve. Yep! I'm getting plenty of opinions and it is making a lively debate on here. Plenty of differences of opinion. Thanks for the varied feedback guys! Just shows that we can all respect each other's opinions without necessarily sharing their point of view on a civilised manner.

Personally I like the challenge of physically making things by conventional tools and hand / eye coordination.

Interesting responses to my thread! Keep em coming guys! My own take on this is that I get far more satisfaction from creating and making things by hand. 3d printing has revolutionised prototyping and small batch production for the hobby. The greatest advantages being accuracy and consistent repeatability. But somehow the process seems a bit cold and remote to me where competency in computer design is more of a requisite instead of the hand skills of an artisan to create something. Don't get me wrong, as I recognise the different skill set required to master 3d programming, having been a CNC programmer in industry. But is it actually scratch building? I personally think not and will have to agree to differ from those who think it is.

From my era, the Everly Brotherx. Watched their late 70's reunion concert at the Albert Hall on TV recently. Brilliant songs. Brilliant harmonies. Both sadly no longer with us.

Francois, I just thought about your battery locations. I saw a build on this forum by John Teresi and I seem to remember the battery(ies) on his model being located under the floor between the front and back seats. Might be worth looking at his build photos. He may have researched the battery positions and wiring, so may be able to further help you if you send him a personal message. Pete's advice he posted looks pretty sound to me though.

There seem to mixed views about 3D printing being classed as scratch building. Can drawing up 3D parts on a computer instead of making things by hand the craftsman way be called scratch building?

What is that old saying? A place for everything, and everything in its place! Ergonomics does not apply to me unfortunately whilst working, but I do religiously clear my bench at session end. Sort of halfway house of you like!

Dr Fuchs got the car to the USA via Shanghai I believe. The full story about this car can be found in one of the late Gerald Wingrove's books, The Art of the Automobile in Miniature. It is a lovely compendium book describing many of his classic car models. Another one of his books The Complete Car Modeller 2 described more of his modelling techniques using the Weinberger bodied Bugatti 41 as the feature build for the book depicting the car as supplied to Dr. Fuchs. It is a fine follow on book to his Complete Car Modeller 1 book.

Francois, I think that besides the models, you and Nick could get a book printed of all your Bentley 3D renders!

The car the kit depicts I think is in either the Henry Ford Museum of the Cord, Auburn, Duesenberg museum. But the current Cream colour with Dark Green lining was not the car's original colour scheme. The car was originally Black with the lining done in Yellow when the body was fitted by the Weinberger Coachwork company in Munich. If anyone is contemplating making a model of the car as originally supplied the wheels will need to be changed by using a set from one of the Itsaleri kits plus other minor modifications.

Nice model from quite an elderly kit, and very well presented too. This Lindberg kit was also released by Revell some time ago it anyone is looking for this kit.

I was at work here in England when this tragedy unfolded on UK TV. Work stopped as we were trying to take in the enormity of the situation. About three years before the event I was a visitor to New York. I took some pictures of the 2 buildings through a glass arched canopy by the Hudson River. One of our national newspapers showed an aerial view of the site after the rubble was cleared. It was very poignant to me as the canopy where I took the pictures from was still standing.

A really lovely model Louis. One of the best builds I have seen of this model car kit. I have seen some others built up at shows and in 1/12 th scale it makes an awesome beast of a model!

Very nice to see some vintage Rollers being built and will be following this thread.

A good kit to cut n shut to make the Uncertain T now the Monogram one is long gone. Looks like the AMT kit has pretty much all the basics for such a conversion.

Nice model. I have been following the build. Like I said in the WIP, all it needs now is a figure of Josephine Jobert! DIP is quite good entertainment for a murder mystery series and the mindset of the detectives now they crack each case is good script writing and keeping the viewer guessing until the end of each case. Nice balance that keeps the series light hearted with the chatacters..

This model is coming along nicely. Looks like a nice kit to build. Back in the 70's my boss had a 911 Targa in that unusual shade of yellow. Anyone know that colour specification?

Another excellent model from the Tomasz classic car stable! I like the way in which the model was photographed too.

The body covering appears to be a bit of a dilemma still. There has been a number of suggestions on here, so it will be interesting to see what Francois finally does to replicate it.

Lovely model taking shape here. Reminds me of a British made car the Ford Corsair that must have taken some of the front end styling cues from the T bird.

Those were the days in the 50's 60's and 70's. BIG American cars with lots of chrome gilding the lily! Took the kids across the pond to do the usual Disney thing in Florida, and was a bit disappointed to see very few big old Yank Tanks on the roads and most cars seen were a bit smaller and more European in styling. I guess globalisation and standardisation in the car industry was moving on at a pace back then. However, the trucks did not disappoint, as I could get to see many well known names that were never sold in the UK

At the moment I would be looking for a hybrid rather than a fully electric car. At the moment the infrastructure for recharging EV's in the UK is a complete and utter mess! I am not sure whether our national grid will eventually cope with the demand being made on it without more nuclear power stations being commissioned. Despite the green lobby, the practicality is that wind turbines and solar panels at present just will not cope as our government in their infinite wisdom are chasing net zero atmospheric pollution. I do not disagree with what they are trying to achieve, far from it. It is the ridiculously short time scale they are trying to do it in. Unfortunately politicians are not engineers and scientists who take a more realistic view of the massive challenges involved. Too many EV's being churned out and not enough chargers country wide. We have many small houses in the UK that front straight onto the pavement (sidewalk) so home chargers with a cable trailing across a pedestrian walk way would be just downright dangerous.

Coming together really well.

I have a friend who gets to bed early every night. It's going home again in the small hours every night that messes him up!