Bugatti Fan

Since my last post about an hour ago, I have tried accessing the ScaleMotorcars website again. Cannot even get a first page up to log into it and just database error messages and dropout from it. I wonder if the site has crashed altogether having tried a number of times to access it during the last hour or so? It used to work ok albeit being slow to use, but it was becoming a very frustrating site to use and seemed to be deteriorating gradually in performance. There are many really interesting posts on that site and it would be a great pity to lose all that wonderful information that modellers have shared on it. It appears that they really need to migrate to a fast server or users will just give up on it. That would really be a shame as it serves modellers really into scratch building plus larger scale kits and conversions so compliments rather than competes with this MCM site.

Thanks for coming back on this one guys. You have all confirmed what I suspected. I too got database error messages and very slow responses. I will attempt to get through to their admin about it, that is if it will let me! Their server is probably getting a bit long in the tooth and struggling to cope with demand I expect.

I generally use both this forum and the Scale Motorcars forums. Recently I have been having problems with using the Scale Motorcars forum. It seems to take ages to log on to and is very slow when accessing threads and posts. My computer is bang up to date, so no problems on that score. Have any of you guys also been having problems with their website when accessing it? It would appear that their server is getting a bit clunky, slow and sometimes unreliable. I use their site mainly because they are into scratch builds and larger sca!e stuff, and this one for more universal car modelling reference for kit based models.

FSM was supposed to 'absorb' some Scale Auto Magazine content when the magazine was axed. Not much evidence of this having looked through recent copies of FSM. I expect they will print model car specials like this one from time to time under the FSM banner.

Looks like that old Merit kit from the 60's that went on to SMER along with their Talbot Lago Kit. Nice job done on this model and good paint finish too.

Facebook, Tik Tok, Twitter etc etc. More people blindly walking into lamp posts, doors and so on, or worse still out in front of a bus. How long will it be before our Mobile Phones become surgical implants with a head up display directly to our brains? Maybe we are getting into Cyberdyne Systems / Terminator territory faster than we realise. I often ask my son and grandson if their mobile phone is welded to their hand as they seem to be perpetually looking at it every couple of minutes. Most of what they are looking at is pure unadulterated rubbish like most gaze at and forget that they can actually talk to someone on their phone as well. What amuses me is when I constantly hear the great gullible saying they have hundreds of 'Friends' on Facebook. No! they are just contacts! Real close friends can usually be counted on one hand! Tom has pointed out about catching up with long lost friends and family on FB, so it does have its uses since Friends Reunited (remember them?) closed its doors. FR was good in its day when you could zone in on your old school or workplace to find out what your old classmates and colleagues are up to. Ah well, happy days!

The Rosten method seems a lot more time consuming than Phantom's method.

Less well built kits from years ago generally get cannibalised. Funnily enough I broke up a lot of old kits years ago and created a bits box. It sold at a local meeting a lot quicker than any of the old complete built up models! It's a sad fact that built up plastic car models no matter how well built are poor re sellers compared to well built white metal, resin and multi medium kits. The only exception as far as I can see are very well built Pocher classics.

Whenever you create a part using 3D Cad whether you are eventually 3D printing or using a milling machine, lathe or machining centre the Cad has to create an STL file to download to the machine. The post processing software converts the STL file into CNC code for the machine to understand that programmers often refer to as G codes.

Up to now the only thing that I can think of in the way of aftermarket items available for the big Airfix Bentley was a set of 3D printed Hartford Shock absorbers from Shapeways. A guy named Nick over here in the UK is developing a number of 3D printed partial trans kits, wheels, suspension, engine detailing set etc. He is also working on a full trans kit to improve upon the Airfix kit and also, (wait for it), a full 4.5 Litre Bentley Blower Bentley kit in 1/12th scale eventually. He is working in a program I think named 3D Fusion developed by Autodesk (well known for their Autocad 2D Drafting) Look on the Britmodeller website and do a Bentley search. You will be blown away by Nick's 3D developments and his renders plus photos of some of his 3D prints. Looking forward to these becoming available.

The lens look like a good idea. I have used Artists Acrylic for picking out lettering on tyres. It is good for painting white wall tyres too

DOGS HAVE MASTERS..................CATS HAVE SERVANTS!

Picked up on this question very recently. Depends on what you want. Turned parts or milled parts? Normal machine tool bits like drill and mill bits and turning tools on a lathe generate quite a bit of heat. So maybe machining styrene might have its own set of problems. I have tried drilling styrene only to have the plastic melt on the drill bit because I could not slow down the revolutions enough on my bench drill. Best bet is to contact a local small engineering company and get their advice. CNC machining has the benefit of accurate repetitive work to be be enabled, but the cost of programming could be high depending on the complexity of the part(s) made. A one off job will be expensive but once the program is written up there are economies in scale. In other words the more you have made, the less each part will cost.

Seeking an old Renwall Revivals Bugatti that has been built up. Does not matter if parts are missing. Just a bodyshell wreck will do for ground up restoration. Maybe someone has one that has been lurking in a cupboard just gathering dust down the years. PM me if you have one for disposal. Reason I want one is to make it up and give it to the Bugatti Trust Museum here in the UK. Any help with this would be really appreciated. Thanks.

As John McKenroe once said 'You can not be serious!' Reminds me of Stefano Marchetti's Sci Fi models of a Mag Lev Bugatti and a Harrier jet powered Ferrari that appeared at Telford a few years ago.

I can remember these when released all those years ago. As far as I can remember they were only issued once. I suspect that the moulds are long gone like the old Merit racing car kits. I would dearly like to obtain the Bugatti. If anyone has an old built up that I can fully restore please private message me. Even if it is only an old body with lots of bits, even it all wheels missing that would be ok. I would like to give it a ground up restoration and gift it to the Bugatti Trust Museum over here in the UK. If anyone can help me with this it would be most appreciated. Thanks

Bill's reference to 'hacker chimps' reminds me of a model pickup truck I saw at a show a number of years ago. The logo on it read 'Had enough of the cowboys? Now try the Indians! Raj Patel and Son, Building Services'.

An album of Classics named Masterworks done on synthesizers issued in the 1980's (I think).

Colourful language! It will never die out!

I liked Scott's reference to himself as an 'Eternal Apprentice'. That pretty much summed it up in two words. Becoming a craftsman is attained by doing, learning from your mistakes and constant practice, and there is no substitute for this.

Craftsmanship! Well I guess it means different things to different people. As modellers many of us see building a complex kit and detailing it to a high degree as craftsmanship. Others may see scratch built highly detailed engineered car models like Gerald Wingrove's as craftsmanship but do not see a model no matter how well built and detailed from a kit of ready to assemble parts as craftsmanship, although building and finishing a kit to a very high standard takes a lot of expertise. It all comes down to perception and viewpoint. No matter what people's opinions are it does not really matter one iota whether someone is a 'Henry' and builds a lot of of indifferent models quickly for their own enjoyment, is a gregarious builder who likes to go to a club or show, or is a highly competent modeller who likes the cut and thrust of the competition table. As long as we all enjoy building in our own way there is nothing wrong with any of our approaches to the hobby. Of course there are individuals (thankfully few) who are sore losers in the competition arena. But at the end of the day a judge's opinion is just that, an opinion and a model is no worse when taken off the table than when placed on it. I enjoy entering competitions and have won some and lost quite a lot more, and don't lose any sleep over it. When it comes to modelling I am a serious modeller, but I don't take myself too seriously!

Craftsmanship can be an emotive subject as each and every one of us has our personal limitations whether in the mind or in developing modelling skills to the utmost level of our ability.

Tim Boyd is a very well respected modeller/author within the automotive hobby. Enough said!

Pete, when I worked nights it was 5 nights from 10pm to 6am. The company ran swing shifts 6 to 2 and 2 to 10 each day plus a permanent night shift. I was OK when I went in but my body cycle was low between midnight and about 3 am and then I started to come out of it by 6am. I guess my low period was when normally I would be in deep sleep during the night. Adjusting back to days for normal social activity at the weekends was always difficult.

Scott, I hope that the picture you downloaded will be useful as a reference. On the card where it says front wheel and rear wheel it should read front of wheel and rear of wheel. Replacing spokes is not as daunting as it appears, although it may seem so when you look at a finished wheel. The process is more tedious than daunting but worth the effort. You may have some old wheels in the spares box that you could experiment on. Worst that can happen is a bit of scrappage.