Bugatti Fan

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.

Airfix are releasing a little starter kit of this subject in 1/43rd scale.

Dusty, Your post reminded me that I happen to have some Graphite powder that I bought from a hardware store years ago to use in padlocks instead of oil. I will do a comparison with the C1 Polishing Powder when I can that I have and come back on this. Luke, your last reply to Monty came over a bit strong and dismissive. We all have differing opinions but also have to respect others points of view without necessarily sharing them.

Talking of brake sizes, I think I read somewhere that Rennaisance make T35 wheels and tyres with both small and large brakes fitted. Scale probably 1/24th I would be guessing.

Thanks for the further into and Scalemates link Ken.

Wasn't aware of the Monogram kit with the extra runner of unplated parts Ken. Would save the hassle of removing the chrome. My kit must be older than the one you mentioned. Chrome is heavy and overly bright.

Sort of guessed you.might have a couple of medium formats lurking that you use as well Scott. Hand finished prints from film have a certain look to them that is very subtle.

Some of the old Monogram classics chrome used to go black of left unsealed, so any good chrome simulation products are very useful to restore such items.

The Type 35 had both narrow and wider radiator shells fitted during its production life depending on the spec. The Type 51 was basically the same car as the 35B with the wider radiator shell but had a twin cam engine fitted. Monogram's 1/24th scale kit of the wide radiator car is quite accurate and builds up into a nice little model. The plated parts however are overdone with the vacuum chrome and need stripping and refinishing with modern metal finish products for more realism. Airfix made a nice little 1/32nd kit back in the 70's. It was a bit intriguing in that the manufacturer moulded a detailed firewall in the engine bay but stopped short of placing an engine in the kit. Weird! It is as though they were going to do it but changed their mind, so unless a scratch built engine can be made and fitted it has to be built kerbside. Jason, thanks for the feedback. The Naples Florida car looks like it will be a very interesting build for you to finish as much of it is stripped back to bare metal. I have been using a UK product that you may be interested in, C1 Polishing Powder. I did my scratch built Napier Railton with it. To get some idea of how it turns out have a look a the thread Lets See Some Scratch Built Things. There are a couple of pics in there. By the way, C1 do have a website to check out.

My thread has raised some interesting discussion. Hand done artwork does have that intangible 'feel' to it unlike computer generated compositions. As for photography, I agree that the 'machine gun' approach by many camera users (I will not call them photographers) using digital will render a few nice pictures out of hundreds taken purely by the law of averages. But I am surprised to learn that Scott, being a pro photographer does not shoot digital. 36 images per roll suggests that he is using a 35 mm camera rather than a medium format roll film camera with less images per roll. Dodging and burning in the darkroom to a large extent has become a lost art that Scott is still keeping going. To get the best out of a camera you need to have some understanding of aperture settings and shutter speeds. I have a lovely little Panasonic LX3 Digital Camera that I have owned for some time now that I can either set up or use as a point and shoot, so quite versatile as I don't have to lug a bag of gear around with me to the shows.