Noel Smith

A Sci Fi icon, beautifully executed model.

Brought back memories of my old Mk 1 Escort. Moving is a bit of a pain in the you know what! You do not realise what you have until you have to shift all of it! Has the Buckingham tidy tip and various charity shops been a bit busy of late? Lol.

Read that same message on their site this morning. Hope they can get their problem sorted out. It would be a great pity it the site is lost forever. Lots of advanced larger scale auto modelling stuff on it.

A really nicely built model of that classic bike Lee. Besides the model being good in its own right the display case you mounted the model in really enhances it. Did you have the perspex display case made specially for it? I like the plinth within the case with the BMW badge centrally on it. Did you create the plinth yourself as the badge does not look like a sticker placed on it? Your friend's elder brother now has a model of his bike to be proud of.

Pleased to see you found out a bit more information Peter. Cheers Noel

A very nice build of this old classic!

Someone was looking for a display case for their model. Some of the ones advertised on the actual model kit manufacturers sites look to be very expensive for what they are. Sometimes actually getting one made can be a lot less expensive!

The 6R4 wasn't a failure. The car's lack of success was probably because it was banned for being a bit too hairy back in the day.

The Model Motor Museum in Miniature has the 1/20th scale F1 Cooper resin kits I think. Merit did a little Cooper Racing car withJapaneseengine in 1/24th scale back in the 1960's. A bit of a rarity now. Maybe time to start lobbying MFH !

Cannot help there Peter, but I do know that the old Pocher under Rivarossi started to revise a number of their kits in order to make cost savings. My only advice to you is that the very first issue of that kit will probably be the best to go for it you can find out their K number for it. You already know of a site named Model Motorcars who are specialists where the old Pochers are concerned. I would suggesr contacting them as what they do not know about Pocher is not worth knowing! They will certainly know which Fiat is the best of the bunch. Also for the benefit of readers of this post Model Motorcars make and sell improvement parts for both old Pochers and the newer ones since Hornby bought the brand. Hope this helps.

Was not aware that the Scale Motorcars site had gone. I was under the impression that their site was being overhauled, and it would be a great pity it it has gone altogether. It tended to be more of a site for scratch builders and larger scale super detailed model car builders and therefore a wealth of information on that particular side of the hobby. I too can remember the Swiss scratch builder making that Packard. If you are into the sort of thing that he and other scratch builders on that site were doing it might be well worth your while seeking out two out of print books by the late Gerald A Wingrove. The Complete Car Modeller books 1 and 2. Definitely get book no 1 as it describes his techniques generally on different models including how to mould tyres. Book no 2 concentrates on his build of the Weinberger Bugatti Type 41 Royale. Hope this helps in the absence of the Scale Motorcars website. I see you are in Oz so EBay might be your best bet or scour second hand transport book sellers over here in the UK for those books.

FIAT themselves might have archives?

Nice to see a very realistic model of a general working vessel as a refreshing change from mostly warships. The 'Dirty British Coaster' rhyme posted earlier reminded me of my school days. It's one of those odd things that get ingrained in your mind from childhood!

It is a pity that pictures cannot be loaded directly onto this site. The problem with hosting sites is that they can change on a whim. Some were free to use them started to wipe out photos when they changed to be fee paying sites, and thus in many cases destroying the content of threads on forums like this one. The other thing is if a hosting site shuts up shop many forum threads effectively get wrecked. And of course Photobucket's stupid huge watermark that spoils every picture anyway!

We tend to be out own worst critics as model makers. A superb conversion! It takes a lot of both courage and confidence to convert a very expensive kit to the high standard of this one.

Nice road bike build.

Nice model build. A bit of a challenge making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but it looks as though you cracked it. Some of those older kits can be a bit daunting to build due to various issues, but it is how you overcome them and still build a good model like this from one that counts.

Nice to see a normal road car version of this car instead of all the rally cars. Lovely model build and well finished. Reminds me of the bog standard Mk1 that I had way back. Airfix did a bog standard one in 1/32nd scale.

There is a book by Lennart Petersen about rigging ships. Very well laid out with good pictures and descriptions that are easy to follow. I think Seaforth is the publisher. He has written two rigging books. One for square rigged ships like the Bellerophon and one about core and aft rigging that would be found on schooners. An ideal book for 'showing you the ropes' if you will excuse the pun!

If anyone wants to see the real thing, the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire has one.

Warp Factor 1 Mr Sulu? Seriously though this looks like being a really fun project in the making.

'Fascinating'. (Spock from Star Trek).

The Alfetta kit was originally issued by the UK company Merit of Potters Bar, Herts along with a Talbot Lago. A bit crude by today's standards, but with a bit of work can be turned into a very nice model. These two moulds have done the rounds between a few companies since, so quite inexpensive kits to buy. Merit also made a number of other 1/24th scale racing car kits. All the moulds were sold off to a toy company in Italy and never heard of again. Unfortunately due to their rarity these other kits fetch high prices.

Really nice classic taking shape here. Duesenberg got it absolutely perfect with the coach builders of their beautiful cars. I built the Monogram Rolls Royce Henley way back and found the chrome parts started to blacken after a while, so it might be an idea to coat the plated parts in a clear gloss of some sort before fitting.

My local Hobbycraft has Airfix kits back in stock after a long while. Looks like they have resolved their rumoured issues with Hornby at last.