Bugatti Fan

Eduard have a good reputation. The latest tooled Airfix P51 has had good reviews. I don't know if Zoko Murei do one. Their aircraft kits are outstanding.

Why not go into the IPMS USA forum. Loads of guys on there into P51's who know the ins and outs of all the available kits.

Why not make one from real leather? An old black leather glove or wallet will give you the material. Or even a worn out black trainer shoe.

If you use a piece of nominal sized gauge plate that is an accurate thickness, say 2mm or 3mms to extend the rear has as described, the unit could still be used for measuring. The plate thickness would need subtracting from the calliper measurement. Ok for casual measurement taking as the adhesive thickness holding the plate onto the jaw would preclude high precision measurement. I have a small vernier caliper made by Eskilstuna in Sweden that I bought when I was an apprentice back in the 60's. Have used it constantly since in industry and now on my model making desk. Lovely, beautifully made precision tool and as accurate as when bought.

Could not open pictures. Can you do a drag and drop from your picture files?

Fun project with masterly paint job!

Paleontologists try to build up a picture of those long lost creatures by lengthy detective work, dna sampling ad other techniques rather than just artistic licence, but a certain amount of conjecture is inevitable to try and get a perspective on what creatures from millions of years ago looked like. I read Jurassic Park about 3 or 4 years before the film was made. I still have the first edition paperback that I bought. It depicts an island in a thunderstorm on the cover. It graphically described Nedry's demise as he watched his entrails being gorged whilst being eaten alive. If the movies followed Crighton's novels they would have got an adult rating. But of course the 3 original films just cobbled together bits from the books, and toned down also possibly in view of all the merchandising spin off opportunities afterwards. It is a bit ironic that Crighton named the novel Jurassic Park as most of the dinosaurs depicted lived in the Cretaceous era.

In the movie Spielberg took a lot of artistic licence with the Dilophosaurus. The real thing did not have an extending fan shape on its neck. I think the inspiration may have been taken from a Frilled Lizard.

This is a brand new kit by Italeri. The only other 35B kit that I know of in 1/12th scale is the MFH multi medium kit. Looking at the instruction sheet shown in the early post, like John makes me wonder about how that front axle will be depicted. The springs do feed through square apertures in the front axle that is a single casting on the real car. Maybe Italeri have devised a clever way to get around it but still make it look right. We will no doubt see as this build progresses. So far Thomas is making a very good job on this build that I will be following with interest as I have yet to obtain a kit for myself to build.

Thomas, you have made a superb job of the Talbot Lago. I will be getting an Italeri 35B as soon as possible. It will be interesting to see how it compares with the MFH one. What you have done so far looks comparable detail side to its expensive counterpart.

A beautiful combination of miniature engineering and fine art at the very highest level. I think this model would easily be in contention for best of show at the GSL even part built.

Thanks for the feedback about the Silhouette cutter guys. I think that Jim's method of doing a flame job is a lot easier than trying to mask off an entire body after the top coat is done to do the flames afterwards. Even without the machine, a flame mask can still be cut out by hand from vinyl and used in the same way.

Neat flame job technique! Excuse my ignorance, but could someone enlighten me about the silhouette cutter? Is it a swivelling blade tool to cut Frisk film or Vinyl, or is it something else altogether? A picture would be helpful to see what it looks like. Thanks. Many similar things for artwork in the UK have different trade names than in the US.

My fine engineering tools and measuring items are in a small wooden toolmakers cabinet on the bench. More regular modelling tools like tweezers, Swiss files, pin vices etc are in two inexpensive plastic bench top cabinets with drawers. Keeps all my tools out of the way when not in use but readily to hand..

Matt, that BBC programme reminded me of when I visited Gerald Wingrove and he showed me around his workshop featured in it. That was his first workshop, built in his garden at Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe at the time. It was shortly after he went professional having left his old job as a Centre Lathe Turner at Broome and Wade. He moved up to Digby in Lincolnshire with his second wife Phyllis who became an active partner in his business. Upon retirement he auctioned off a lot of his assorted odd stuff, moved to Spain and carried on making models as a hobby. He was working on a model of a composite ship, The Falls Of Clyde when he died. The remaining car models he had and the partly made Falls Of Clyde, plus many of his special tools that he designed and made were bequeathed to the Clyde Maritime Museum in Glasgow. I do not know if any of it is on public display of not at present or still in storage awaiting to be sorted out for permanent exhibition.

A real labour of love Mark. Congratulations on your superb model. Just shows what can be done with an elderly albeit good basis of a kit from way back!

Ed Byrne's character Kookie..........Cookie how I spelt it.. Thanks for correcting my trans Atlantic mistake Al. I was trying to remember back goodness knows how many years to when I watched an old black and white TV with my parents. Late 50's early 60's? Cannot be sure. It was such a long time ago!

Anyone remember Ed Byrnes who played the character 'Cookie' In the TV Series 'Sunset Strip' and made a model of his Hot Rod Car. I do not know if it was ever made as a dedicated kit or not, but probably someone has done a conversion if not somewhere?

Looks like because of the length of it your assembly of the chassis with the engine, front wheels, transmission and rear axles rigidised it, took out the twist and trued it up well. Therefore, problem solved saving a lot of hassle! Good luck with the rest of the build and hopefully it will be free of any other distorted bits.

That would be my first reaction. Why have to unnecessarily have to rectify a malformed part of you can get it replaced?

I tend to use proper automotive acrylic primer straight from an aerosol. It goes on smoothly and is pretty tough when paints containing more aggressive solvents are sprayed onto it. Some say that using that sort of primer diminishes detai!. So far I have had no problems on that score on my models.

Robert, your post says a lot for the quality of that old Paasche H airbrush. Similarly, I have a couple of old Badgers that I have had for many years that have served me well.

How about just getting back to the manufacturer for a replacement before trying to repair the part first?

The 280Z was a really nice looking car back in the day. If Datsun (as Nissan was then) had made them more rust proof we might have seen more surviving examples. I can remember there being lots of after market goodies for these cars advertised in American automotive magazines when they were in productiion. I think that Tamiya may have did one in 1/12th scale, and I seem to remember Revell doing one in 1/25th or 1/24th scale when the car was current.

It would be nice if the ' Big Bad Van' was re issued. Seem to remember it being either 1/16th or 1/12th scale. Perhaps someone reading this knows for sure? Nice big slab sided vehicle to do some custom air brush work on.