Bugatti Fan

The Photobucket habit of watermarking photos. Is this practice illegal as they are effectively altering images that are the photographers own copyright regardless of whether they pay photo bucket or not.

Twice as many replies on here compared to 'What pleased you today" Guess most of us are getting a bit more grumpy these days!

A black and white movie named " Devil Girl From Mars"............Made I think way back in the 50's. Absolutely Dire! There was another named 'Earth Versus The Flying Saucers". Curled up laughing when the aliens suits were described as 'Solidified Electricity" A great movie was the original "Day the Earth Stood Still" with Michael Rennie playing the lead role. The new version with Keanu Reeves paled by comparison despite 50 years developments in special effects and CGI. Just shows that it is not always desirable to deviate away from the original movie story line.

There is no substitute for well made tools. I still have some excellent tools that I bought when i was an apprentice way back in the early 1960's. Micrometers by Moore & Wright, and Starrett, a combination set made by Brown And Sharpe, Engineers rules by Rabone Chesterman and General, and a Vernier Caliper made by a Swedish company named Eskilstuna. Have used them all my working life, and still use them today on my scratch built modelling projects and various DIY jobs.

Crazy kit prices!!! Been to many shows and seen kits with OTT price labels on them. Vendor often has to reload 99 percent back into the van. On the other hand there are vendors who sell kits at very reasonable prices and clear most of the stock they brought along so they can pretty much guarantee covering their costs and make a decent profit on turnover. The mark up on any OTT priced kit would have to be incredibly high to cover the cost of table, travel and possibly hotel costs for that type of vendor on any given day, plus being dependent on the odd buyer being present with a fat wallet!

Ralph. Think outside the model making box. Try engineers suppliers that are close to you who may stock small tension springs. There is a company in the UK SpringsandThings.me.uk You may be able to order what you want from them, or alternatively look up the type of spring you want to spec it from their website, and order from a US spring supplier.

There is a saying that 'A Fool And Their Money Are Soon Parted.' What sort of buyer would this sort of thin attract? Certainly no one that is married probably where the Laws of Domestic Opposition would come into play! $1000 for an old kit that has seen better days. What would anyone do with it anyway? Can think of a lot of better things to spend hard earned cash on, Only two choices. Stash it and hope to make a quick buck later? No chance if top dollar has already been paid as it is unlikely to move further. Build it and devalue it to five bucks! LOL

Some manufacturers like Proxxon make variable speed controllers to plug their small tools into. I have a small Expo Drill that I plug into my Emco Unimat I transformer but it has no variable speed control so I will be looking for something like the Proxxon unit.

Would like to see MCM become available over the counter at WH Smith's ( UK Equivalent of Barnes and Noble I guess) on this side of the pond like FSM is regularly.

Halloween..........A long standing American tradition. Up to about 15 years ago Halloween simply passed by in the UK and the main celebration was November 5th Bonfire Night, a celebration of how Guy Fawkes was caught trying to blow up Parliament. The tradition was to light a bonfire with an effigy 'The Guy" on top and let off fireworks followed by roasting potatoes in the fire embers. Sadly our own old UK tradition has been all but succeeded by your tradition on All Hallows Eve.

Better than building that old Heller E Type eh Mike!

Hopefully the magazine will be sold over the counter in the UK, and will keep a look out for it.

Mike. How's that turd you are polishing coming along?

Pat, Thanks for the further into about the turned finish panels. Looks like a good method!

It's coming on very well Pat. Looks like you were already one jump ahead of me with the Shapeways wheels. The box art you referred to has them drawn ok, but the kit wheels were well off the mark. Look forward to seeing your finished model. Those wheels will make all the difference. Did you print the engine turned finish onto decal sheet? Not quite sure from your description how you achieved this as it looks very convincing. Any chance of a step by step description of how you produced it? The Superprofil was also kitted by Pocher in 1/8th scale as a variant to their standard T50 kit. You never know, Shapeways might make a Superprofil body in 1/24 scale yet for the Heller kit

Just out of interest, the Heller T50 wheels are incorrect. A company named Shapeways can supply 3D printed wheels that are correct for this model.

Scale Auto magazine and forum, sadly missed as an alternative sounding board. There is quite a bit of reference and speculation going on about Model Cars Magazine's resurrection. However, Model Car Builder Magazine just quietly keeps going, so at least there is one regular Automotive modelling magazine available in print for the time being until MCM gets its act together again.

That van is a French icon! It is amazing how many of these things are turning up in the UK and being restored and converted into food and drinks vendor vehicles.

Revell had the test shots build on their stand a Telford last year. Looks good! It was about time that they re tooled that tired old kit of theirs from the sixties. The new one I believe is in 1/24th scale as opposed to the old one in1/25th

OK guys, I can see where this is going where people are starting to take offence at perceived ageist remarks. I am in my seventies, but don't lose any sleep over such remarks normally made by individuals not thinking it through first. People who make such remarks intentionally however, need to remember that as every day goes by they are getting one day older. And they also need to know that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it! So guys, live and let live!

Using styrene for vac forming is nothing new. The model aircraft fraternity have been building vac formed kits for years! Only more recently though the trend is going more towards resin kits for low volume subjects. As for raw materials, look out commercial plastics suppliers to industry. It may be much cheaper to buy a few large sheets and cut them down to a useable size either for the vac form machine or just general use.

You make a lot of big, very detailed models Ken. It might be worth contacting Just Bases and having some custom made clear acrylic display cases made to protect the large investment made in your kits, particularly your ships that must be a nightmare to keep clean and dust free.

Those old showman's engines make eye-catching models. As far as I know this Bandai model is the only large scale plastic kit of this subject. EMA at Feltham marketed a box of Plastruct sheet plastic, tubing and extrusions with a set of plans for a scratch build in plastic way back in the 70's I think. South Eastern (ex Wills) Finecast in the UK markets a number of white metal kits in 1/32 scale of period steam vehicles such as the showmans engine and other commercials. KP's model is coming on well and look forward to seeing it completed. Going on to horse drawn vehicles, it surprises me that no one has kitted a Reading Ledge Caravan ( more familiarly recognised as the highly decorated Romany Gypsy caravan).

Last time I posted I was using a tablet and although I described my method I could not put up a picture of my Napier Railton. So here it is now.

It is a tough time to be trying to get a magazine up and running again with a number of hurdles to overcome, so I can only wish Larry Greenberg the best in taking on this venture. There has been no mention of a publishing company being approached or taken on board in all this. Normally, such an outfit has the resources, especially with the print and distribution side to push a magazine to both subscribers and over the counter sellers. Editing and layout are enough, without all the commercial print, distribution and financing being a big ask for such a small band of people to take on. Also, let us not forget the financial risk they are taking on as individuals unless a limited liability company has been set up for this purpose. Kalmbach, a long established magazine publisher has recently dropped the Scale Auto Magazine for what I guess must be a commercial decision within their organisation. Naturally, this leaves a slot in the market that MCM can quickly take advantage of provided it can be got to market quite soon. My own feeling is that it is time for an established publishing company to be got on board in order to achieve this.