Bugatti Fan

Tried to get my grandson interested. Flogging a dead horse! Shuts himself away in his bedroom to play on his X box, PlayStation or whatever. Absolutely no interest in model making of creative activities whatsoever. A pity, but that unfortunately is the way of things these days. Maybe some of these kids might take up modelling with maturity, but who knows. I would have loved to pass on some of my experience to him, but alas this is not to be. His dad, my son, went down the creative route through photography and video production and he could not get my grandson interested in that either! Also, most modelling clubs tend to meet during weekday evenings generally, so right down the years has never been conducive to encourage youngsters into the hobby even before the advent of computer gaming.

Lovely model and beautifully detailed. These relatively inexpensive large scale kits lend themselves to this sort of level of detailing. A previous poster asked if the modeller would be tackling the Airfix big Bentley kit. That particular kit is showing its age a bit and would lend itself to super detailing with a lot of work. If Italeri did a Blower Bentley (a long wheelbase as opposed to the Airfix short wheelbase one) I think we would see a difference in quality straight away. The Golden Age racers and sports cars have plenty of character about them. Maybe one day we might see a Bugatti T35 or T59 by this manufacturer in 1/12 scale. I cannot stretch to the high prices of MFH classics so well done Italeri.

Bill, that old Italeri kit! Just shows what can be done to it! Magnificent model!

In the UK besides Tamiya tape available from model suppliers Wilkinsons (Wilcos as it is mostly referred to) have their own brand Washi tape that is a lot less expensive than Tamiya's but only sold in one width, so will need cutting for pin stripes etc. I have used it often. To cut strips I have an old thick glass lens from a halogen security lamp to stick the tape to for cutting using a steel rule and a sharp craft knife.

John U. Er, isn't this an off topic section? Nothing wrong with obits as far as I can see having posted about Charlie Watts' passing.

Having watched the U tube video by the Carrol Shelby auto historian the name AC was mentioned a number of times, and development done by Shelby and Ford. There is no mention whatsoever that the AC Ace from which the Cobra is derived was a British sports car built at Thames Ditton in Surrey, a county just south of London, and the first Cobras I believe were built using bodies that were shipped. Josh put up some lovely pictures of an early Ace in his post, and a really fine example of an early Cobra with wire wheels in his following one.

Pete, thanks for the heads up on what happened to Jordan.

Aesthetically the earlier Cobra developed from the AC Ace as shown in the first post of this thread with wire wheels was a very attractive looking car. The later versions with flared out wheel arches and wide alloys made the car look a bit more brutal in appearance. I have an old Frog kit (that I think may have been made under licence from AMT) that depicts the earlier version that I keep getting out of the box. It was partly built when I got it and thus far have stripped the hand painted job off the body. I think with a bit of work it has some potential.

David, you mentioned HO Scale kits of the model T. If my memory serves me correctly, is there a US based company named Jordan who makes exquisite little plastic kits of vehicles in this scale? Many years ago I had a tiny Ahrens Fox Pumper kit that I think may have been a Jordan kit that got lost in a house move. I would be interested to know if Jordan still exists and it so what vehicles are in their range?

Remember the A Team on TV? They could have a short range gunfight and not hit anyone, but could shoot out a tyre from about 200 yds plus on a moving vehicle! A real tongue in cheek series with 'Face', Mad Murdoch and B.A. Baracuss with George Peppard in the lead role of Hannibal Smith.

That little Airfix kit has been around a long time. There were two issues made by Airfix. One of them was a bagged kit issued way back in the 1950's and I think that they did a re tool some time in the 70's. You can do quite a bit with that kit conversion wise. I made a C cab van from it many years ago, and another modeller friend of mine Philip Ware made a light patrol car from it. There must be many modellers out there that have done other things with that kit.

Charlie Watts, one of the greats in pop music. Faithful to his wife who he married in the sixties right to the end. Charlie was more at home in jazz clubs where there was a more intimate atmosphere than in vast stadium cocerts. Technically a brilliant drummer who just got on with the job rather than being a thrashing machine like Keith Moon and Ginger Baker were. The Rolling Stones will not be the same without him. They must rate as the longest lived blues rock group in history.

Fabulous model, beautifully built, detailed and painted. Gloss black is very unforgiving to get right and Bruce has nailed it!I I really must save some pennies and treat myself to one of those MFH models sometime soon.

A model of a real Mustang instead of that E thingy that Ford are now selling!

Steve has made a valid point in his post about resin casters becoming suddenly overwhelmed by orders. Resin casting by its nature is a fairly slow process to produce a body from each mould with little or no imperfections. Not sure what the scrappage rate is that they have to contend with that just becomes wasted material, unlike white metal where imperfect castings can simply be re melted and re used. Many of these guys I would guess do this in their spare time along with other work and family commitments, and a sudden influx of orders throws a curve ball at them. Unfortunately it is easy to over commit under these circumstances and orders go further out to the dissatisfaction of customers. It is knowing when to announce a temporary halt both to buy themselves some time to catch up and more importantly so that customers are not left guessing as to what is going on. I would imagine that not many in this field could ever make enough money to run it as a proper full time business as it is very labour intensive what with designing and making masters, making moulds and the moulding process itself. So buyers need to be a bit patient, but by the same token should not be left in the dark either as that just breeds frustration and loss of confidence. It makes good business sense to keep customers informed, and I guess that many cottage industries are developed by people who were modellers first. Suddenly I would imagine that often they quickly get out of their depth with orders they did not anticipate, and unrealistically try to bash on trying to catch up regardless, even when getting more and more overwhelmed. No doubt those guys are very well intentioned, but it is learning and knowing how to deal with this situation that is the crux of the matter when running a business taking payment for their services.

Craig, give the guy a break! He has had health issues, and like many 'cottage industry' set ups is probably a one man band doing his best despite other things things like family commitments etc.

Nice project John. Look forward to following your bui!d further.

This is real scale model making as opposed to building! Considering the scale of 1/24th it is more than up there with the well known professionals who' s models are in a larger scale. The Birdcage is such a complex subject to be making in such a small scale. Absolutely superb workmanship.

It is kits like this that challenge us as modellers and help to hone our skills. Good luck with your efforts and this one looks to be coming along nicely despite the stumbling blocks the kit is presenting you with Aaron.

It has that Virgil Exner look about it!

Phillipe, Thanks for the feedback about FPM making wire wheels for the big 1/12th scale Bentley kit. I thought they just made them in 1/24th.

Thanks for the feedback Al. I will take a look see! It really would have been a great pity it all those years of contributions to the SA forum had been wiped out.

Steve Milberry mentioned the 'Internet Archive' in his post. It would be interesting to see if the Scale Auto forum activity was archived there when that site closed, or if all the years of contributions were simply wiped out.

Thanks for your reply about the accessories Tomasz. I agree the old Bentley kit that was first issued way back in the 1970's from Airfix is worth doing the extra work on. I have upgraded one myself in the pasf. I am surprised that no one to date has made an upgrade set in photo etched for that kit!

Nice model from an interesting era. Makes a nice change from all the modern racing cars!