Bugatti Fan

This model is starting to come to life now and looking good. Jason, I think fusee chain is a special chain used by horology specialists for restoring clocks. Not sure, but it might possibly look like a bicycle chain in appearance. A look at horologist or jewellery suppliers on the web will be the best way to source it. Nick at Unobtainium has recently been developing a number of very interesting items for the 35B kit, and also for the big Airfix Bentley. More info appears over on the Britmodeller forum showing what he is up to making for both kits.

Scratch building is not as daunting as many think. I started scratch building because I could not get a 1/16th scale model of a Bugatti Type 59 otherwise. The thing is to think of all those small assemblies to go on the model as little models in their own right. It is really making your own kit, but without instructions when you have to put it all together. I would thoroughly recommend getting hold of Gerald Wingrove's first book The Complete Car Modeller 1. He works in metal, but most of what he does can be emulated with plastics. For example where soldering is shown, then on plastics it would be our usual regular cements and adhesives. But however, if contemplating scratch building seriously, then some investment is required in some small machinery, certainly a miniature lathe. Rod and Ian Knott's sections about scratch building on their Motor Museum In Miniature website as recommended in an earlier post would be a very good starting point.

Did not know that Franklyn Mint did a die cast Silver Cloud David. That certainly helps give you a number of alternative bits to use on your models. I guess you must track odd ones down via eBay and maybe brick a brac auctioneers.

David, thanks for your reply. You have certainly done a great job on that very basic Silver Cloud model. The Cloud is a lovely looking car with really nice lines. I guessed that it was the Minicraft/Revell kit sired by Hubley originally. You must have extensively reworked that kit. I had one given to me years ago that someone had badly built, but never got around to doing anything with it. Then the Minicraft one was released so I did not bother to do anything with it, and must have sold it on at some time. I think a collector wanted it for the original Hubley box rather than the kit! The kit lines as you said look good as the basis to work up a good model from it. Building the Cortina standard like your dad's car you started to learn to drive in will give you a nice nostalgic model to put on the shelf.

Thanks for the feed back David If the cellulose works for you, that's good. What is intriguing me by your reply is why you have so many Rolls Royce Silver Cloud models? The only plastic kitted Rolls Silver Cloud? saloon I can think of is that very old Hubley one that was re popped by another manufacturer a few years back. It was quite a basic kit as I can remember and quite crude in places. Incidentally, how are you building the old Frog Cortina? Standard saloon or modified? I think that there has been a big debate about Rustoleum paint in another thread on here.

I use Halfords grey and white primers and found them to be good. What I would like to know is why you are considering cellulose top coat paint? I would steer well clear of using it on plastic kits of any age. Most automotive aerosols nowadays are acrylic based paints that should be good for use on plastics. A look on the internet should find you a company specialising in classic car colours that can make up a aerosol or bottle of touch up in any original factory colour.

When I was an Engineering Apprentice back in the 60's the UK technical college I attended occasionally showed very old American trade short films. One was about the basics of centre lathe turning. There was a narrator on film along with the machine operator. Well, we all had a bit of a laugh when the narrator asked the machine operator about being ready to start. At this point the operator said with over exaggerated enthusiasm 'Yep, I'm all set and just raring to go!' The fact that he was dressed in striped overalls and a Casey Jones style engineers cap made it all the more hilarious for us young apprentices to watch!

Looks like you have the right mindset Milo. We all learn from having failures, but it is picking yourself up after each one that is important and learning from them. There was an advert I saw on UK TV a number of years ago where an elderly lady in New York came across a workman digging up the road. She asked the workman ' Can you tell me the best way to get to Carnegie Hall?' To which he replied, 'Lady, you gotta practice!'

Milo, you sound new to the hobby that I hope you will enjoy from now on. There is a lot of sound advice scattered all over this forum, but my bit of advice is to get yourself a good book aimed at starting the automotive modelling hobby that will take you step by step through all the build stages, and advising on suitable adhesives, paints etc. A quick look on Amazon should yield something aimed at people starting out in the hobby. Good luck with your new endeavours!

Amazing model Tomasz. Look forward to seeing your gallery!

We live, and we learn!

You have a good sense of humour Dave. So have you coerced your daughter into doing the bean counting?

That's the nice thing about the 35B, plenty of options of how to depict the car from well used or neglected to pristine. Not sure how I will build mine when I start it. Got something else on the go at present, so.plenty of time to think about it.

Skip, all British car identification registration numbers remain the property of the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. Ralph Lauren owns the car but not the registration number on it. The car has to remain registered in the UK to use it on UK roads. The Lauren organisation probably keep it licenced in the UK purely to retain the car's provenance. I have not seen it with a US plate on it so I would guess it gets shipped to wherever it is put on display throughout any year. Bentley's own company registered plate now depicted on the model is probably just to do with Airfix's product licencing agreement with the company. It is fortunate that the Bentley owned car is almost identical to the one that is the subject of the Airfix kit being a short wheelbase car. Back in the early 70's Neil Corner owned the Lauren car when the kit was issued. The car went on to belong to Tony Bamford, CEO of JCB and formed a part of their collection before being acquired by Ralph Lauren.

Looks like a very interesting build going to take shape here, and I will be following this one. Attempting to emulate a barn find is quite a challenge. There is a guy in the UK who has also done a model of a very hard raced version on YouTube with a lot of stains and grime on the car.

Thanks for your reply Francois. I think you already know of John Teresi's Bentley build that I have also followed, and I will now also be following your build. Also I will be looking at what Nick is developing to sell for the Bentley. One of the things he has been working on is a replacement radiator shell where Airfix got the position of the Bentley badge hopelessly wrong. It is one of those things that has been criticised many times down the years. The funny thing is that Airfix changed the number plate a few years back but did not correct the radiator shell at the time.

An in house cultural anthropologist? Now there's a thing! Is that a fancy name for a poll results collector collator?

Francois, I guessed somehow that you were a mechanical design engineer. There is something I agree about making small parts in metal, wood and plastics by hand and using conventional small machines that is very satisfying. My own background is mechanical engineering having started as a a craft apprentice way back in the 1960's. There was a great engineer model maker the late Gerald A. Wingrove who wrote 2 really good books, The Complete Car Modeller 1 and 2. They have been out of print for some time now and if you have not got them already I think that they will make very interesting reading if you can get hold of them. Gerald describes all his scratch building techniques in the 2 books. I certainly learnt a lot from reading them. Just out of interest, what 3D Cad program do you use? I know that Nick uses Fusion that I think is an Autodesk Product.

This is really taking shape well Francois. Have a look on the Britmodeller website to see what Nick has just been doing with the Bentley dashboard. You two guys are certainly doing a lot to bring that tired old Bentley kit up to a much higher build standard.

Some innovative suggestions already made on this thread. May I add that cutting square of rectangular apertures takes patience and concentration to ensure squareness and definition when using drills and miniature files, and the preliminary marking out has to be accurate, particularly when cutting equally spaced rows of holes. No easy quick way around this, and it will be time consuming when attempted.

Just a fact of life that advertising media will try anything to circumvent stumbling blocks placed in their way. Also, unrelated advertising is generated by general browsing habits looking at other stuff so don't be surprised if ads for gardening items, clothes, cameras and so on keep appearing. I think enough has been said already on this thread before a moderator locks it as it is going nowhere now!

Depends on the finished sizes required. There are miniature broach tools for making square holes from pre drilled round holes. A jewellery tool supplier will probably hold them. Not sure about places like Micro Mark, but worth a look.

Bill, you have a perfect right to financially support whatever sites you wish as you can afford it having mentioned that you pay for certain access to several sites. Two posts back I was pointing out that many simply don't have such disposable income to be able to do so even if they wish. Dan Clark's post has succinctly made it clear about MCM policy about keeping the site free to use for everyone. OK. So we have to put up with a few ads to keep it free. I'm quite happy with that so that everyone has full access regardless of their own financial status. Let's not become an Elysium.

I think that we are losing sight of the fact that the admin of this site is done probably by unpaid volunteers. The programming to change it to pay and non pay would probably be a bit onerous to expect an unpaid volunteer to do and set up a payment system. It might be a popular option for many online services, but one has to remember that they are generally large commercial operations for example like free to view TV stations charging for an ad free service.

Guys, I think we all understand that things cost money. However, some have much more in the way.of disposable income than others, and the cost of regular necessities like utilities, food, clothes, running a car have risen sharply. Whilst some can afford to buy MFH kits for example do not feel the effects so much, one has to remember that others have to watch the pennies and struggle to afford an inexpensive kit or two occasionally yet still enjoy our shared hobby. I would not like this forum to go the way to becoming a two tier system where only paying subscribers who can afford it have access to all features and others who cannot afford it do not, creating an 'US and THEM' environment.