Bugatti Fan

It is such a blow when one has to give up something that they have loved doing for so long. I wish you well, like many others on this site Carl. Your comments and encouragement will still be very much valued, so please keep active on here.

The photo of the PE sheet may be deceptive and appear to just be gently curved. But if it has any kinks or indents in it then it would be rendered useless.

Bruce, your GT 500 certainly does count as scratch building. Often it is much harder work to do a major conversion and takes a lot of confidence to carve into an expensive kit. Your Mustang looks great as a convertible.

Evening Star brings back some memories for me. Way back in the early Sixties when I was an apprentice the Tech College I attended weekly organised a trip to the British Railways Works in Swindon now long gone. It coincided with Evening Star being rolled out just completed. To see the last British Steam locomotive brand new was to leave a lasting impression. There was a competition amongst BR staff that resulted in the name Evening Star being chosen. I did not see the engine again for another 50 years or so until when I visited the National Railway Museum in York. I think that there is a photo etched set of nameplates available via model railway specialist suppliers for OO gauge models such as the Dapol one.

Bruce, I liked your build with the 32 body. Really nice body off chassis and engine detail too. Bob, your engine test rig was both an unusual and very nice model.

Thanks Tim

Back in the seventies there was Sinclair's Auto Miniatures Quarterly in support of the business. Maybe some of us old timers may remember them and the quarterly publication?

There were some really funny car names like the Cedric and the Laurel for example. Not exactly dynamic names to tempt buyers! But anyway the model featured in this thread is coming on well and a little bit out of the ordinary from the many Ferrari and Porsche models we see regularly. An interesting build none the less. Not many kits of more mundane cars, so this stands out as being a bit different.

Maybe Dave Ambrose may be the best person to ask if anything can be done about this problem? Suggest you message him direct about this.

Thanks for that snippet of information Geoff. I am sure that a number of our American friends will appreciate that bit of information. Cheers!

Eddie, I think you are being a bit hard on yourself. That metallic green finish looks perfect to me!

Zero paints have been mentioned, and the postal difficulties getting them from Spain. Hiroboy have an outlet in the UK, so Zero paint is not a problem to obtain over here. They are excellent paints to use. What surprises me is that it would appear judging by comments in this post that there is no importer in the States?

Hi Eddie. Plastic, die cast or resin? It matters not what your preferred modelling medium is. Main thing is enjoy coming back to the hobby. I must say that your die cast detailing is excellent, so why not take advantage of having a pre painted body and retail up the rest? Regarding spraying perhaps appearing to be a bit difficult, it will come with a bit of practice. Try out by using some automotive paint aerosols on some odd bits and pieces. The basic is be patient and build up coats gradually, and making sure that you start off each pass clear of the job and finish each pass likewise. You will get to know by practice, what best distance to hold the aerosol from the job being painted. Generally there is a recommended distance on the can that can be used as a starting point for experimenting. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Hi Steve! Hope you enjoy participating on the forum. Plenty of like minded folk to exchange ideas with.

I remember a fellow modeller many years ago showing me a multi piece plastic kit of a British built Ford 100E, a small saloon car with 4 cylinder side valve engine. It was of interest because my dad had one and started to teach me to drive in it. Would be interested to know if anyone else remembers this kit. I believe the kit was American manufactured, but by who?

The 53 Studebaker Starliner. What a lovely looking motor car, and very European in styling compared with other Americana of the day. I think that I would be tempted to build the kit stock as it is such a beautifully styled car.

Scott's model is really very nicely built with some interesting mods of his own. Tommy's model is also beautifully detailed and set off really well by the vignette he has created for it using the skeleton and wooden grave marker from the kit. I built one way back in the 70's, but mine was built just about straight from the box with just a few plug leads etc. and some red transparencies used on the tail lights. The kit was all hand painted in various shades of brown and gold apart from the roof that was sprayed in matt black. Roof ornaments were painted using Rose Gold's Powder Pignments (3 shades) mixed with clear enamel. Attached a pic of mine. It is a but fuzzy but conveys the idea. I was generally pleased with my build but it is not a patch on Tommy and Scott's builds.

I was totally unaware that there were any Renault Dauphine kits in 1/25th scale. Philip's builds are really cool! I like the colour scheme, wheels and the extra detailing of the plain interior. The only Dauphine I knew about up to now was a 1/32 scale kit from way back by Airfix. It was one of their bagged kits from what I can remenber.

Revell Germany have issued a brand new E Type Jaguar kit in 1/24 , another iconic car, much revered like the Mustang.. The US market appears to favour 1/25 whereas 1/24 seems more in favour elsewhere. Revell find themselves pulled in two directions because of their US and European setups. Personally I would like all their new kits in 1/24 as it would be more compatible with the rest of the world. However, I do appreciate that 1/25 has sort of become the norm in the States, and many of the cars that many was lyrical about on this site would have little interest outside the US. Naturally there are some exceptions!

Andrew, on the Napier Railton I tried a few things to get the desired aluminium finish by experimenting on odd bits of plastic card. Basically I started with a white automotive acrylic primer. When this had hardened off, after a gentle rub with very fine wet n dry paper and dusted off, I used a chrome finish aerosol that is normally sold as a craft item. When this had hardened off properly I used C1 polishing powder and buffed it gently until I got the desired effect. Metallic painted finishes by their nature are 'soft' even after drying so care was needed during handling. It is recommended after priming using gloss black under finishes like Alclad and AK metallics however. Sorry you missed my Bugatti build article in MCM. Perhaps they may be able to supply a back copy?

Hi Andrew I did an article about the Bugatti build that was in MCM back in 2013 (I think).. If you are a regular MCM reader you may have that copy. In answer to your other questions, I have not done any of these as builds on the forum, and yes, I do have all of the late Gerald Wingrove's books. Before he retired to Spain I visited his workshop in the UK and found him very generous with advice. I kept in touch with him occasionally right up to shortly before he sadly passed away. My models are built mainly in plastic. What I did was adapt many of Gerald's techniques to that medium. For example where he would be soldering metal I would be using liquid plastic adhesive. I use Plastruct liquid cement a lot as I tend to use plastics other than polystyrene like acrylic, ABS etc. Of course I use many other adhesives as well depending on what other materials I am working in. I get though a fair bit of Revell Contacta, Two Part Epoxy and Cyano Superglue as well depending.

Didn't Hubley do one of these in plastic way back in the sixties? I think someone else re released it a number of years ago. it was a full plastic kit as opposed to Hubleys Diecast and plastic hybrids.

De Luxe Materials in the UK make a rusting kit for models. They make and carry a huge range of model making adhesives, fillers and specialist modelling materials. check out their website.

Kurt The most exciting thing about F1 that happened in the UK this year was that their engineers took a break from making racing cars to reverse engineering and producing much needed ventilation machines for Corona Virus patients in hospitals. Their fast design turn around skills enabled them to react very rapidly to this situation and help save lives so credit where it is due. As a retired engineer I can appreciate what work was entailed in doing this, getting 3D computer aided designs prepared for each component and getting them translated into machine code for their CNC machines, sourcing electronic and other bought out components and then getting the machines built in record time!

I find F1 a bit of a procession most times, and appears more down to the engineering and reliability of any given car. The British Touring Car Championship is much more exciting to watch on TV. Your NASCAR racing is really hairy! A good view from all around the oval. Close racing without safety runout areas as in F1 if someone gets it wrong on a bend, just a concrete wall to hit all the way around!