Bugatti Fan

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.

Harry did build up one of the Airfix big Bentley kits. I features on pages 62 and 63 of his book 'The Evolution of the Automobile in Scale' that he published shortly before his passing. He very briefly described what modifications he did to improve the kit. Matt Bacon's reference to John Teresi's build is definitely a good way to go if interested in upping the detailing of this quite elderly kit, showing the potential it has for the more advanced modeller.

Western Models a real blast from the past! This UK company made some really outstanding white metal kits and built up models in their heyday that put many other manufacturers in the shade at that time. Surprised at the scale quoted 1/21st. I thought that their kits were in 1.24th scale.

Thanks Scott. I used a miniature abrasive cutting disc in a tool similar to a Dremel to cut the hood into sections. Hinges are miniature piano hinges from dolls house suppliers. Replacing wheel spokes is not as hard as it seems. On mine I cut out 3/4 of the spokes on the fronts and backs to keep the rims and hubs concentric. Drilled through where I had removed the spokes and replaced with wire. When the adhesive was set it was a matter of removing the remainder of the kit spokes and drilling for the remaining wires to be fitted.

George Orwell should have named his book 2024 instead of 1984. What he wrote about is coming to pass. Did you clock that Google and Alexa?

Scott, I build mine some time before Bob's article appeared. Reading it reminded me of the things I had missed on my model. I have attached a few pics of my old Hubley Duesie.

I have seen some lovely models made from this kit in shows here in England. This particular model will be up there with the very best that I have seen so far. Congratulations on this superb build being shared on here. Nice to see older classics featured on this site. Maybe one day apart from MFH's very expensive Bugatti T35 we might see one by Italeri that would be more affordable for most of us.

To err is human! What gets me is when organisations and governing bodies get it wrong, make a grovelling apology in the media and use that hackneyed expression ' lessons have been learnt' when the same things they should have dealt with happen again at a later date.

Jeff, I worked graveyard shifts for 4 years some time ago now. Your body never gets used to it. Was glad when it ended and got back working normal days again. We unfortunate!y are not nocturnal animals!

Just remembered that Bob Steinbrunn did an article about his build of the Hubley Duesie a few years ago in MCM. An earlier posted mentioned a boat tail by.Monogram. I can remember a Packard boat tail by Monogram but not a Duesenberg. Please correct me if I am wrong.

What a lovely model Scott. It just shows what can be done with that old Hubley kit that dates back to the 1960's and has reappeared under different trade names over the years. What most folk do not realise is that on this kit like all the kits that originated under the Hubley name, there is one hell of a lot of clean up to be done removing loads of die cast flash from many parts before even thinking about priming it. So speaking from my own experience, looking at the photos of Scott's model makes me fully appreciate the work he has put in to building and detailing it to that high standard. I still have the one that I built and detailed about 10 years ago. If only MFH were to kit this subject in 1/12th scale! I am surprised that Pocher did not kit one way back when they did the older classics. They would have done well, especially in the US market. The SJ is one of the most beautiful classic cars and apart from the Hubley kit in 1/18th scale Monogram did a Phaeton and a Town Car in 1/24th scale. Bandai did a boat tail in 1/16th as well.

Irresponsible Media Over the last few days the UK media in their infinite wisdom latched on to a story that we have a shortage of tanker drivers to deliver fuel to petrol stations. Result Panic buying at the pumps that made a manageable situation become a fiasco!

Maybe the webmasters will now set up an 'I'm in full admiration of your modelling skills' button.......!!!! LOL Peteski remarked about our ever changing English language. Funny thing is that there is a US version of English, but English English that the US adopted and adapted is referred to as English European? Most words are spelt the same but a number of words are spelt phonetically in the US version. Tyres....Tires Centre....Center Modelling....Modeling Plough.....Plow etc. Trolling has been mentioned more than once in this thread. Let's keep the posts light hearted guys!

Er? What was the original question asking about? I feel a locksmith close by!

Rick L. Why be secretive about tricks learnt? Isn't this forum about sharing tips and ideas?

Oh! The irony of all this discussion swinging from just having a laugh to being serious debate. I think I will further reply with a sermon, no, an essay, or perhaps an emoticon, or what the heck, just press a like button! I think I'm in danger of getting serious. Not! LOL!

And the band played on! Titanic 1912

I bought my diamond grit sharpener originally to sharpen knives like my Swiss Army Knife. I was pleasantly surprised however by how sharp I could re hone craft knife blades with it when I tried it out of curiosity. It works ok on straight and convex blades but concave blades would be impossible to re hone in this way. Pete and Dan have pointed out about new blades being both cheap and disposable and it you want a 'cut above the rest' if you will excuse the pun, then I agree that a new blade, factory honed cannot be surpassed.

If the paint is new and not contaminated in any way just thinning it should be ok if it is not already manufactured to airbrush consistency. Rather than looking at strainers maybe it would be an idea to look at your airbrush nozzle size for the paint being used. You may have to up the size a bit to get good flow.