Bugatti Fan

The Micro Drill breakages a number of you guys mentioned are probably tungsten carbide drill bits for printed circuit board drilling. They are extreme!y hard and brittle as they are designed to go into a machine that applies true vertical pressure, and made from tungsten carbide as PCB material is abrasive. The slightest side pressure will cause small diameter bits to break very easily. For modelling, small drill bits made from carbon steel are more robust used in a pin vice.

Basswood like Bill and Dave suggested is a nice wood to work. It is a fairly close grained wood so suitable for scale appearance. Jelutong is another nice wood to work and an many ways similar to Basswood. Maple and Birch as Trevor mentioned have nice close grain, but are harder woods. Basswood (sometimes called Limewood I believe) is probably the most easiest to source for hobby work, and available in flat form, rectangular and square sections.

It may possibly be the no selling rule making the Trading Post side slow. I guess that it is probably much easier to dispose of kits on Ebay than wait for a suitable thing to come up for trade or swap.

Nice to see something a bit unusual and 'off the wall' modelling wise. The paint job is remarkable and is the sort of thing that can make or break a model like this. Congratulations!

Interesting build and a different take on this car. I can remember building that old Jo Han kit many years ago. It turned out a nice model as I remember.

A very nice model. I think I that Tamiya is the only company to make the YJ Jeep with the rectangular hradlamps. Tamiya missed a trick when Jurassic Park was released with this kit!

Lovely model of a classic bus. What scale is it and who made it? I guess it started life as a toy?

I agree with you Pete. It is a matter of finding what material or a combination of that you feel comfortable with. Modelling by its nature encourages experimentation whether it be simulating metallic finishes, painting, reworking a kit of scratch building.

Been using a UK made product C1 Polishing Powder for chrome. To do trims I cut off a wooden cocktail stick and file a semi circle into the end of it. Lightly touch into the powder, locate the half round on the trim and you can burnish the trim whilst having good control over it. Found this far easier than applying foil.

Once chrome is stripped that is a good time to make good any other imperfections it any on the parts before proceedong.

Nice model. Those old Studebakers are to my eye one of the nicest looking American cars with very restrained styling compared to most in the Chrome and Fins era.

Bill said this model was up there in Gerald Wingrove territory. Gerald's fabulous scratch builds were in 1/15th scale in the main. But Randy's model, fully detailed in 1/24th scale is something else! Another fabulous 'Birdcage' model that comes to mind is the one made by another master craftsman Manuel Olive Sans of Barcelona.

Managed to compare my graphite powder with C1 polishing powder since last posting. My test was to see how they worked on hard black styrene plastic. No primers or underpants were used. The graphite powder was much less resilient than the C1. A dull finish was obtained with the graphite powder and it rubbed off a bit when handled. The C1 was more tenacious and polished up better doing this test. I also tried both on an old Burago die cast metal model directly onto it's very hard high gloss red finish. The graphite just would not hold or polish out and wiped off easily. The C1 fared much better and I polished up an area that stood up to rubbing with my fingers afterwards. So I have concluded that the C1 is better for polishing up and is resilient to handling. The graphite may have its use if it were applied to a matt finish as the pigment will probably embed better into it.

Thanks Scott.

Cottage industries come and go unfortunately for various reasons as most are one man bands working from home. Could be the owner passing away, business taking over family life, not enough demand, simply having enough and deciding to close shop, failure to keep up with demand creating too much pressure on the individual, not being able to sell on the business or simply bad quality. The causes are manyfold.

Thank for the feedback and putting the picture up Scott. Do you happen to know who makes that particular model? Might be worth looking at as a strip down and re build adding extra detailing.

A few years back a real custom was was built, very loosely based on this Bugatti Type. It was the Chrysler Atlantic Concept Car. It took notes from this body style but with wheels reminiscent of the T41 and T51 Bugattis. And Lindberg did it as a snap kit in 1/24th scale!

Coming along nicely Joel. Who's kit is it? I think you forgot to mention it earlier in the thread.

An interesting thread to follow. I tend to like vintage pickups either stock of customised. And this build has resulted in a fine model by Bob. You live and learn from these threads. Using MR Colour Levelling Thinner was something I would never have thought of using with Tamiya acrylics. There must be a benefit over using Tamiya's own thinner I guess. Up to now I have been using a full size car sprayer's trick of doing a few very quick passes of neat thinners after the colour is laid on as a leveller, or alternatively a coat of clear lacquer afterwards.

Does anyone make a kit for, or a ready made model of a Can Am Trike?

A number of years ago a work colleague of mine had a wet bike and let me have a go at riding it. It was the most difficult machine I ever had to master as you have to get the thing to lift out of the water to plane on the two ski pads. Once up and running it was very exhilarating as you could lean it right over to turn fast just like a motor bike. Sit on jet skis are much easier to use as they have a vee hull like a speedboat but just as much fun on the water. Never tried a stand on jet ski and guess they must take some getting used to and master. The wet bikes in those Revell kits are the only ones I can think of that have been in any kits I can think of.

I had a bad experience when an acrylic paint job went pear shaped recently. It was automotive primer, Tamiya gloss and a clear lacquer on top that a suicidal insect decided to land on just after spraying. Fortunately I had some Isopropyl Alchohol that a friend gave me some time ago that did the trick. I just used kitchen roll tissue soaked in it to gradually remove the ruined paint job. Panel lines and other nooks and crannies were cleared with an old toothbrush and wooden cocktail sticks. A good wash with water and washing up liquid afterwards and left to dry and it was ready to repaint.

You certainly have your work cut out with this conversion. The proportions and panelwork differ quite a lot from the MGB. Not sure if the MG Midget might have been kitted in white metal by a UK company South Eastern Finecast in 1/24th scale. There is another UK company named K&R Replicas. Their Abingdon Classics range has a 1/43rd scale white metal kit of the last production midget from various years in its production run.

This must be one of the most complex out of the box kits imaginable. Added to which this particular build and paint job can only be described as superb! I would like to know how Michael works all those carbon fibre decals over the multitude of compound curves. Maybe a Tips and Tricks thread for the future?

Emre, I cannot see Ralph Lauren going for it somehow! But what the heck! In model form it's nice to build a completely off the wall fun project for a change. Nice model. There are plenty of those old Burago Atlantics about to have a bit of fun with by placing stuff on it out of the spares box.