Auto Union C by Fernando Pinto Portugal

[89AKurt]

This Auto Union C resin kit is made by a gentleman in Portugal, FPPModelos, Fernando Pinto, found on Facebook.  He laces the wire wheels, not photo-etch.  He also fabricates the wire grill for you. Sent payment October 11 for $165.01, received today (Nov. 9).  He has some other variants of the Auto Union, and other race cars.  Sure that sounds expensive, but look at those wheels!  It was well packed too, he even made a custom sized box for shipping.  The castings are a bit crude, just need to spend time to clean up.  Instructions are really basic.  I should go back to his page and download pictures for reference.  I sure hope Revell doesn't come out with a kit of this.  

[Yahshu]

Looks good, I'm lost for words with those rims, they have to be worth the $165 alone just in man hours. 

[High octane]

Wow that looks like an awesome kit compared to the one I picked up last Friday night at our club auction..................................

[89AKurt]

1 hour ago, Yahshu said:

Looks good, I'm lost for words with those rims, they have to be worth the $165 alone just in man hours. 

I know right?  Plus the wire grill.

4 minutes ago, High octane said:

Wow that looks like an awesome kit compared to the one I picked up last Friday night at our club auction..................................

[...]

Fernando also does that version!  I would like to see the contents of that kit, or a built model.

[Yahshu]

14 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

I know right?  Plus the wire grill.

I didn't notice the grill, well worth the money spent. 

[peteski]

On 11/10/2018 at 8:31 PM, Yahshu said:

Looks good, I'm lost for words with those rims, they have to be worth the $165 alone just in man hours. 

He sells just the wheels/tires on ebay (and probably elsewhere) and they are surprisingly affordable.  They are not perfect (individually hand-made), but pretty BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH good!  I have few sets. Took one apart and they are very cleverly designed and executed (and I can see that it doesn't take all that much time to lace them).  I wish I knew his secret so I could do my own wheels that way. 

[Yahshu]

9 minutes ago, peteski said:

He sells just the wheels/tires on ebay (and probably elsewhere) and they are surprisingly affordable.  They are not perfect (individually hand-made), but pretty BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH good!  I have few sets. Took one apart and they are very cleverly designed and executed (and I can see that it doesn't take all that much time to lace them).  I wish I knew his secret so I could do my own wheels that way. 

What I understand is, labour costs are a lot cheeper on your side of the world, just for the set up and machining time here in Australia & you're looking at a easy $100+ Au, that's about $72+ US. 

[MrObsessive]

Ditto on Fernando's wheels! I have a couple sets of 'em and they're well worth the price! He sells them regularly on the 'Bay, and for roughly $65 or so, you get what I think are dang good wheels!

Well worth the money!

I have yet to get any of his kits so while there might be some cleanup needed to get it right, that's no big deal as I've done that before with resin.

[Gluebomber]

 

Fernando Pinto's models are not shake and bake, but with a little work his kits can produce some really nice models.  Here's a link to a posting on his Talbot Lago I built a couple of years ago:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/114198-talbot-lago-1950-le-mans/?tab=comments#comment-1644844

He also does kits of some really interesting subjects.  I've got several of his cars from the Carrera Panamericana races of the '50's.

 

 

[peteski]

19 hours ago, Yahshu said:

What I understand is, labour costs are a lot cheeper on your side of the world, just for the set up and machining time here in Australia & you're looking at a easy $100+ Au, that's about $72+ US. 

You think so?  Labor is cheap in USA?  Why then the U.S. companies keep moving all the production to China?

I'm also not sure how this applies to the current discussion. What setup and machining? Fernando is a small cottage-industry manufacturer.  The wheels are made from silver-painted resin-cast components (likely made from Fernando's hand-made master patterns and then cast in RTV molds).  Just like other small resin casters do.  Then he is likely using some sort of a jig to keep the hub aligned with the rim and then wraps continuois wire around the assembly to depict spokes. The tires are also urethane resin castings painted black.

[Yahshu]

16 minutes ago, peteski said:

You think so?  Labor is cheap in USA?  Why then the U.S. companies keep moving all the production to China?

I'm also not sure how this applies to the current discussion. What setup and machining? Fernando is a small cottage-industry manufacturer.  The wheels are made from silver-painted resin-cast components (likely made from Fernando's hand-made master patterns and then cast in RTV molds).  Just like other small resin casters do.  Then he is likely using some sort of a jig to keep the hub aligned with the rim and then wraps continuois wire around the assembly to depict spokes. The tires are also urethane resin castings painted black.

My apologies, didn't mean to offend, as I wrote "my understanding" & while I know Asia is a cheaper work force, America is still cheaper than Oz, after all Oz is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in. 

Thank you for explaining that the rims are only resin, I thought they were machined aluminium. Still a lot of man hours involved in resin making. 

Personally, I still think that the kit is good value for the money., I've paid more for less, i.e. Planet X's The Wraith Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor. 

 

 

[peteski]

9 minutes ago, Yahshu said:

My apologies, didn't mean to offend, as I wrote "my understanding" & while I know Asia is a cheaper work force, America is still cheaper than Oz, after all Oz is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in. 

Thank you for explaining that the rims are only resin, I thought they were machined aluminium. Still a lot of man hours involved in resin making. 

Personally, I still think that the kit is good value for the money., I've paid more for less, i.e. Planet X's The Wraith Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor. 

 

 

No harm done.  I"m not complaining about Fernando's prices either.

Yes, I have few of his wheel/tire sets and they are all resin castings (except for (stainless steel?) wire spokes.  Also, Fernando is in Europe (Portugal or Spain).

Edited November 13, 2018 by peteski

[MrObsessive]

Fernando is in Portugal. I once ran across his site for his things and it was definitely worded in Portuguese.  

[dsldriver]

Wow, one of my all time favorite cars!

[Dave Toups]

Fernando's kits are really nice. I have all the land speed record ones. The castings are not up to Modelhaus/RMCM/HRM standards, but not awful either. He has subject matter that no one else does and that matters a lot. I have his laced wheels for the Airfix 1/12 Bentley and they should improve the looks of that kit a bunch.

[89AKurt]

35 minutes ago, Dave Toups said:

Fernando's kits are really nice. I have all the land speed record ones. The castings are not up to Modelhaus/RMCM/HRM standards, but not awful either. He has subject matter that no one else does and that matters a lot. I have his laced wheels for the Airfix 1/12 Bentley and they should improve the looks of that kit a bunch.

His Fakebook page shows all those LSR, and the Bentley wheels which look really nice.  The wheels in this kit appear to be resin and painted silver, he even puts on the tires which are also painted.  Almost seems like cheating to have that much done.

[89AKurt]

Apologies, forgot that I had posted this before, DUH.
Here is the WIP:  Auto Union C - Vanderbilt Cup 1937.
Finished model:  1937 AUTO UNION C type - Vanderbilt Cup Race by FPPMODELOS

[lordairgtar]

On 11/12/2018 at 9:38 PM, peteski said:

You think so?  Labor is cheap in USA?  Why then the U.S. companies keep moving all the production to China?

I'm also not sure how this applies to the current discussion. What setup and machining? Fernando is a small cottage-industry manufacturer.  The wheels are made from silver-painted resin-cast components (likely made from Fernando's hand-made master patterns and then cast in RTV molds).  Just like other small resin casters do.  Then he is likely using some sort of a jig to keep the hub aligned with the rim and then wraps continuois wire around the assembly to depict spokes. The tires are also urethane resin castings painted black.

That may or may not be true. A lot of companies are choosing to manufacture in the US now. I'm involved in manufacturing and our company does jobber work for major companies. We have gotten a lot of work that formally was in China. We do mostly circuit board and wiring work plus a little bit of molding.

 

[peteski]

4 hours ago, lordairgtar said:

That may or may not be true. A lot of companies are choosing to manufacture in the US now. I'm involved in manufacturing and our company does jobber work for major companies. We have gotten a lot of work that formally was in China. We do mostly circuit board and wiring work plus a little bit of molding.

 

Good to know - thanks Greg!  Hopefully the trend will continue.