Bugatti Fan

Management Speak, don't you just love it? Expressions like 'Blue sky thinking!' being used at meetings. I can understand that one if I were an airline pilot maybe. Other expressions I find annoying. 'Enjoy!........... Enjoy what? 'Missing you already!' when you leave a fast food joint and other crass meaningless expressions. Radio DJ's saying 'Love You' when someone phones in and the conversation ends and they don't know the caller from Adam.

Tooling floats from one manufacturer to another. Same kits appear under different labels. I am sure that Aoshima's MGB kit has been marketed under the Revell name for example, as did Lindberg's Bugatti Royale kit. Brands get either get absorbed into others or 'badge engineered' by a holding company who buy out the businesses, or simply reintroduced under a new brand name altogether like Atlantis or Polar Lights. The kit industry will always be in a state of flux. Even two of the biggest players, Airfix and Revell have been bought out numerous times over the years.

This just gets better to follow!

By the breakaway company in the States taking out a Trademark on the Alclad name looks to have really made life problematical for the originator UK company it would appear. Just goes to show there is no sentiment in business. A salutary wake up call to any business to trade mark their product name immediately to avoid hostile but legal practice.

That would explain things! Thanks for the feedback Jim and Dusty.

I tried stretching a hexagonal clear plastic Biro pen body once thinking of making scale nuts. It stretched ok but the plastic proved to be brittle to cut and just splintered. It was worth a try as an experiment. Maybe non clear hexagonal pen bodies plastic may work better. As shown by Steve and Russell, stretched sprue though has many uses. Plenty of it left over after our kit builds. Sprue has many uses. Round section with the outer mould seam removed and the ends drilled out can make good simulated tube loads for truck and pick-up models.

Not sure where Alclad originated whether it be the UK or USA. From what I understand there were two Alclads that I believed were the same trading company one on each side of the Atlantic. I heard somewhere that the US company was separate and copyrighted the Alclad name, and as a result the UK one had to change theirs to another. If this is correct, perhaps someone else posting on here might have an accurate answer to this and what the current status of the UK company is?

I enjoy seeing projects like this taking shape. Older commercial vehicles have quite a bit of character about them.

Very nice model. It is one of those kits that I aspire to, but now go for extremely high prices on ebay. If I could get hold of an abandoned build at reasonable cost for restoration might be the way for me!

Donato, that's a very nice Cord model you made. Pyro did an Auburn Speedster that would make a nice companion to it in 1/24th scale. Kurt, the Tom Mix Cord book looks interesting. Got the Author's name from your picture. Could you put some info on here about the publisher of the book and the ISBN number?

Lovely model and we'll presented.

So many different choices. That could be the root of the problem these days. As the market becomes more competitive some businesses will unfortunately and regrettably for their staff fall by the wayside. It is a question of market share enabling sustainability. Back in the 80's when Humbrol was the market leader in the UK a company named Gloy brought out a huge range of enamel paints as a direct competitor. Humbrol enamel paints were already firmly entrenched as the main supplier to model shops. As soon as Gloy came onto the scene Humbrol rapidly increased their ranges so Gloy could not get a foothold in their territory so to speak. Modellers had it great paint wise for about 2 years. As soon as Humbrol saw off Gloy's challenge, needless to say their ranges began to be reduced. Since then things have changed a lot with finishing products, and to quote a late UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan from way back 'You never had it so good'.

Nice model now I could see the pictures. Internal lighting most effective.

Renwall Revivals Virgil Exner Bugatti is the one kit I have been seeking for a long while. Even a badly built, bits missing one would be OK for restoration. Would like to build it and let the Bugatti Trust Museum here in the UK have it for permanent display.

Hosting site problems probably. Cannot see them either. I think you can load pics directly onto this forum and 'cut out the middle man'.

Rumours and speculation can be very damaging. Dusty's comment appeared a bit dismissive. Yes there are plenty of replacements. But one has to remember that if any company ceases trading a number of people lose their livelihoods as a result. I sincerely hope that this is not the case with Alclad who have been around for a while and one of the pioneer companies in that field. Maybe Alclad should be contacted directly to confirm their current status?

Very , very nice model! Telford entry this year Matt?

Nice to see an older airbrush restored to working order. I think that I saw the Thayer and Chandler brand within the Badger website. Perhaps they have acquired the brand name and hold any spares?

Where did you hear that from Dale?

That is one very old kit Pierre. I think it dates back to the 60s when the car raced. I think that Airfix did one in 1/32nd scale way back.

Chad Truss and Bill Allen your posts unfortunately had degenerated into a bit of a slanging match. At least Bill.posted an apology after realising the way it was going. We all get a bit passionate at times and may disagree with one another, but need to keep it civil as this is an open forum.

I try to be a perfectionist, and building a few scratch builds has certainly improved my model making having to get my head around things. It doesn't always go well, so some scrapped parts and reworking becomes par for the course. Over the years I have enjoyed competition modelling and have had reasonable success. But you win some and you lose some, but I never get hung up about it as a judgement is just someone else's opinion about my models. But however, the worst judge of all can be yourself. Try not to get hung up about any of the imperfections in your model building as most likely you are the only person noticing them. If you get to the point where numbers of incomplete kits are being shelved through perceived building imperfections, you are not really enjoying it as a hobby any more and really need to change your mindset. Far better to complete something, learn from any mistakes and move on in a positive way. I can fully understand some people's mindset of they are working on a very expensive kit like a MFH for example if things go a bit awry and shelve it until later. But as long as they go back and complete it has to be the goal. We can all lose our mojo when things do not always work out. Best do something else temporarily and come back when feeling a bit more positive.

I have seen what is advertised as a artists LED lighting unit. It is mains powered, and designed with a flexible stem and clamp, presumably for portability to attach it to an easel or shelf edge. It is designed with two sets of LED lights that are in a movable Vee shape and the actual lighting levels are adjustable too. Am thinking about buying one for the extra lighting capacity around my workshop. At present my lighting setup is two angle poise lamps set on each side of my work bench with cold white light LED bulbs fitted. Works well for the modelling and when I set up for work in progress photography. Glare has not been mentioned. I wear an old baseball cap as the long peak keeps any direct lamp glare out of my eyes.

Lovely model taking shape. Lancia pulled out of UK road car sales many years ago when one of their models proved to be a complete disaster due to rusting bodywork problems. They never lived that reputation down unfortunately as they now make nice cars.

Without trying to seem morbid, a suggestion would be for each member to write a letter that could be kept in a safe place outlining where and to whom to contact to dispose of kits, tools and reference materials. For example, contact details of local club, dealers who buy complete collections of unbuilt kits etc. Also with regard to reference material, books could be donated to loca! university or high school libraries. Old magazines, particularly Auto Modelling magazines and brochures etc. could go to the Model Car Builders Museum, Sandy, Utah.