217 replies to this topic

[RCH]

Tonecas, on May 6 2013, 08:36, said:

That is correct but if it was made of Zamac I am sure I would still have it, nevertheless I still have to clean them at least once a year as there are always some dust that go into the display and that's when accidents happen. Still on the price question, it is painful to see a $60 piece shattered into pieces, today's models are not cheap.

Try dropping a £120.00 white metal model on a concrete floor just at the moment someone was getting his wallet out to pay for it!

Personally as a dealer I prefer resin, these days the detailing that can be got into a relatively "cheap" model is incredible, the likes of Spark can produce (theoretically) a much wider range because their tooling costs are lower. That's great for the collector but a pain in the backside for the dealer because we cannot possibly stock 'em all and in practice unless we order 6 months before we know it's going to be made we never get it anyway! In the UK at any rate. It's actually a quite ridiculous situation we wait for ever to get what we think will be a best seller and when it arrives several ebay sellers are selling at little more than trade. Great for the collector again but you're never going to be able to buy on the High St. anymore.

[Tonecas]

RCH, on May 6 2013, 03:29, said:

Try dropping a £120.00 white metal model on a concrete floor just at the moment someone was getting his wallet out to pay for it!

Personally as a dealer I prefer resin, these days the detailing that can be got into a relatively "cheap" model is incredible, the likes of Spark can produce (theoretically) a much wider range because their tooling costs are lower. That's great for the collector but a pain in the backside for the dealer because we cannot possibly stock 'em all and in practice unless we order 6 months before we know it's going to be made we never get it anyway! In the UK at any rate. It's actually a quite ridiculous situation we wait for ever to get what we think will be a best seller and when it arrives several ebay sellers are selling at little more than trade. Great for the collector again but you're never going to be able to buy on the High St. anymore.

Well, at least that one after being warmed up can be reshaped into the original shape. In my case out of the 1274 models that I have only 11 are resin (Spark) because I couldn't find an alternative.

[Tonecas]

I just found a store in Italy a store that has practically all models (1/43) of the "Ferrari Racing Collection" which is a Fabbri collection that came out only in Italy. These model are mostly built by Ixo and very nicely priced. I just bought a beautiful Ferrari 712 for my Can-Am collection. Definitely this is worth sharing. The link is:
http://www.dakmantov...ri-c-11_31.html

[Barry Boor]

I see Spark are adding yet another Lotus 16 to their ever-expanding production.

This time it's the bright green David Piper car from the 1960 British Grand Prix.

However, they have produced it with yellow wheels. I thought Piper ran with white wheels or sometimes the dull grey ones.

Can someone confirm that Spark are correct?

[Tonecas]

Still on the Lotus and Spark subject does anyone know when the Lotus 38 (of Jim Clark at Indianapolis) is going to be released? It has been at least 2 years that I have seen it advertised to be released soon and so far nothing.

[Tonecas]

Well, still adding one more Chaparral to my collection. The Chaparral 1 that raced at the Laguna Seca in 1962 driven by Jim Hall.

This is a Midlantic kit that gave me a lot of work to make it a decent model because although the shape of the resin casting was pretty good everything else was not up to expected level. In fact it felt short on cockpit and external details that I actually had to improve, the following was added:

1- In the cockpit the sides of the rear bulkhead we could see the wheels, they had to be closed

2- Real representation of the instruments behind the dash using aluminium piping of the appropriate dimensions also with wiring connecting the instruments to the front bulkhead

3- Perforated side panels inside the doors

4- The engine cowling openings had to be opened and an engine (from my stock) installed inside as well as chassis bars and brake oil tanks

5- The air inlet on top of the front inlet was not representative (vertical flat) need to be recessed to represent a real inlet

Anyhow, I was expecting better from such an expensive kit, compared to the Marsh they are several points behind.  
 

[Tonecas]

A couple of more pictures of the Chaparral,

 

Edited by Tonecas, 30 August 2013 - 22:50.

[JacnGille]

[Tonecas]

Well, I just finished another kit, this time a Marsh model kit that definitely has a much better fit &finish characteristics than the previous one. It is a Can-Am Lola T160 that raced in 1968.

Here are a couple of pictures of it:

By the way it is already in my CanAm blog: http://143canamandusrrc.blogspot.ca/

[wildman]

chrisj, on 19 Mar 2013 - 19:36, said:

I'm looking at purchasing a couple of kits from MA Scale Models (Mike Arensdorf) -- a 1914 Mercedes and Peugeot. Does anyone here have experience with this company? Thanks

So did you buy the kits from MA? I have three in my collection, but they're more modern subjects than those you mentioned. As Chris pointed out, the castings can be a bit rough, but with a bit of work you can make a pretty decent model out of them. The first time I ordered a kit, I got a call from Mike himself, who wanted to be sure that I wasn't expecting Marsh-like quality. He seemed like a very nice guy who's aware of his own limitations. Nevertheless, his skills at patterning and casting have improved over time, as it appears that the newer MA releases are more accurate and better detailed than some of the earlier models.

[Tonecas]

wildman, on 04 Sept 2013 - 01:38, said:

So did you buy the kits from MA? I have three in my collection, but they're more modern subjects than those you mentioned. As Chris pointed out, the castings can be a bit rough, but with a bit of work you can make a pretty decent model out of them. The first time I ordered a kit, I got a call from Mike himself, who wanted to be sure that I wasn't expecting Marsh-like quality. He seemed like a very nice guy who's aware of his own limitations. Nevertheless, his skills at patterning and casting have improved over time, as it appears that the newer MA releases are more accurate and better detailed than some of the earlier models.

Well in reality I have 2; one is 2/3 down on page 3 and the other is at the end of page 1. When compared to Marsh model kits (the acceptable standard) they are really very crude but with a lot of work they can result in a barely acceptable model. Definitely in the future if there is an alternative I would go for it.

It would be nice to know if 'chrisj' bought the kit, his comments and if he built it, to show the final result.

[group7]

tonecas, I am also a chaparral & can-am fan. quite the collection you have. eclipses mine ! question, do you know when any of the chaparrals, other than the trans am cars, from true scale are to be released ? they are to do a couple of two car sets, and the 2-E. I know they are way behind on things ! car model in italy shows them as not available. I couldn't seem to get out of them by e-mail if they have come and gone, or they are pending. no one else seems to have had these items.

 

thanks mike in ontario

Edited by group7, 12 September 2013 - 15:43.

[mfd]

group7, on 12 Sept 2013 - 15:41, said:

tonecas, I am also a chaparral & can-am fan. quite the collection you have. eclipses mine ! question, do you know when any of the chaparrals, other than the trans am cars, from true scale are to be released ? they are to do a couple of two car sets, and the 2-E. I know they are way behind on things ! car model in italy shows them as not available. I couldn't seem to get out of them by e-mail if they have come and gone, or they are pending. no one else seems to have had these items.

 

thanks mike in ontario

As far as I know the two TransAm cars & two versions of the 2F are out. The rest are still to be released.

[Tonecas]

group7, on 12 Sept 2013 - 15:41, said:

tonecas, I am also a chaparral & can-am fan. quite the collection you have. eclipses mine ! question, do you know when any of the chaparrals, other than the trans am cars, from true scale are to be released ? they are to do a couple of two car sets, and the 2-E. I know they are way behind on things ! car model in italy shows them as not available. I couldn't seem to get out of them by e-mail if they have come and gone, or they are pending. no one else seems to have had these items.

 

thanks mike in ontario

Hi Mike,

As mfd said they already released several versions of the Chaparral 2F (I still prefer the Minichamps). I avoid the resin as much as possible since an Abarth (Spark) fell off my hands and  broke into many pieces.

Now back again into the main subject, the TSM - True Scale Models site is the following: http://www.tsm-model...tore/categories and the sub-directory for the Chaparral is: http://www.tsm-model...ore/category/53 in here you can monitor what they are going to release. Other way to figure out if they are already released is to monitor them on eBay they show up there as soon as they are released.

AN

[Tonecas]

Hi Mike,

One more thing, as you are in Ontario you may want to check with Minigrid at: http://www.minigrid.com/

In the 1980's and 90's I use to buy many models there every time I was going from Montreal to Toronto on business. 

AN

[chrisj]

wildman, on 04 Sept 2013 - 01:38, said:

So did you buy the kits from MA? I have three in my collection, but they're more modern subjects than those you mentioned. As Chris pointed out, the castings can be a bit rough, but with a bit of work you can make a pretty decent model out of them. The first time I ordered a kit, I got a call from Mike himself, who wanted to be sure that I wasn't expecting Marsh-like quality. He seemed like a very nice guy who's aware of his own limitations. Nevertheless, his skills at patterning and casting have improved over time, as it appears that the newer MA releases are more accurate and better detailed than some of the earlier models.

No, I didn't buy them. I emailed the guy to ask a couple of questions and never got a reply, so that scared me off. Honestly, I've gotten busy with other projects since I asked the question in March, but with winter coming soon maybe I'll try again.

Edited by chrisj, 17 September 2013 - 02:02.

[Tonecas]

Tonecas, on 22 Jun 2011 - 18:45, said:

Chaparral 1 kit made by MA Scale models with P/N: 70 and built by me. Although this kit has alot of moulding junction marks that need to be deburred it is a good representation of the real Chaparral 1. It also fall short of the fine details that I actually added to improve it as a model. The following was added:
1-rear bulkhead in photo-etching metal
2-front low air dam in photo-etching metal
3-better instrument decal
4-real representation of the intruments behind the dash using aluminium piping of the appropriate dimentions also with wiring connecting the instuments to the front bulhead
5-connection of the steering between the dash and the front bulhead.

1961 s/n: 1-001. This first s/n differs from the others because it has 2 slots to draw air to the carburators instead of a cover with an opening in the back. it represents the 1961 Riverside LA Times #66 Team: Chaparral Cars Inc. with Jim Hall 3rd OA.
and this is the final result:

I just bought a Chaparral 1 representing the one that raced at Riverside in 1961, but this time the kit is from Nestor and of a much better quality. As a result I decided to convert the one in the quote above to the model that raced in 1962 Sebring 12hrs. and the result is:

 I decided to convert it into a 1962 Sebring 12hrs #10 car because this being the s/n 003 it had a flatter front end. For that effect I added the 2 scoops bordering the cockpit; the 2 additional front lights and the external fuel refueling point on the right hand side of the car and a cover on top of the carburetors as normal in 1962

Later I will post the new Riverside model  

Edited by Tonecas, 23 October 2013 - 18:14.

[Tonecas]

Now that I just finished the Chaparral 1 kit by Nestor that raced at Riverside 1961 I am posting the picture of it:

for more Chaparrals of my collection see:

https://skydrive.liv...E878AC7C756!341

[Tonecas]

Hi everybody, I am back with a new Chaparral, this time is the 1966 2E that raced at Laguna Seca driven by Jim Hall. Now I have both the Phil Hill car (65) and the (66) Jim Hall's car. To do it I got the Marsh models MM33A (Phil Hill's car) and I replaced the top middle rear grid by 6 louvers. Here is the picture of both cars:



This together with the ESDO model of the 2E that represents the early version of the s/n 001 car (Jim Hall's car) completes all the configurations of the 2E. This early version did not have the front side tabs (air deflectors). Here is a picture of both:

Edited by Tonecas, 17 December 2013 - 22:23.

[alfsboy]

raceannouncer2003, on 16 Dec 2011 - 07:33, said:

Sorry if this has been covered before, but is there a 1/43 diecast of Bruce McLaren's winning Cooper T60 from the 1962 Monaco GP?

Vince H.

Forgive me for replying to an old post .I have just landed on this forum again after years away (what was I doing ) .SMTS have just made a Cooper T60 Monaco  in kit or built up I believe .

hope it helps .

[Barry Boor]

I've had a 43rd scale metal 1962 Monaco Cooper model for years and years. I really must finish it one day!

[raceannouncer2003]

alfsboy, on 06 Jan 2014 - 21:40, said:

Forgive me for replying to an old post .I have just landed on this forum again after years away (what was I doing ) .SMTS have just made a Cooper T60 Monaco  in kit or built up I believe .

hope it helps .

 

Thanks for the info.  I had a look on the internet.  Looks great.

 

Vince H.

[alfsboy]

I may as well put one of mine up .Dont try this at home kids .I spent more time on the floor looking for tiny parts than making it plus i needed to order some spares from Grand Prix models .....doh, Tameos 312B jacky Ickx .Now I've looked at it I can see acouple of minor glitches that need a tidy up .

Edited by alfsboy, 07 January 2014 - 20:55.

[JacnGille]

[Tonecas]

Welcome to the "club" of the ones on the floor look for jumping tiny parts   and my floor must have holes for sure because some times I don't find them!!!

[Tonecas]

I just finished this Kaiser Model RL-023 of the McLaren M1B-1 s/n: M1B-1-65 that raced at the 1965 Governor's Trophy (Nassau Speed Weeks) #47 with Bruce McLaren 1st OA 25 laps 1:04:31

https://skydrive.liv...C7C756!4507&v=3

https://skydrive.liv...C7C756!4508&v=3

Edited by Tonecas, 23 January 2014 - 19:43.

[halw1234]

Hi all, i just came across this forum.  I've been collecting and building 1/43 kits for a few years.  I'm enjoying the photos and comments that you all have posted.  I've only completed a few kits, i buy a lot faster than I build.  Trying to get motivated to finish some of the kits I've started.  Anyway, here's a couple of my finished kits,  I'm no pro but it's fun.

 

[halw1234]

here's another. Yeah I like Porsches

 

[halw1234]

here's a couple in progress-Peugeot 905 from LeMans 1991 and a Citroen ZX rally car-Baja 1990

 

[Tonecas]

Great stuff congratulations!!

[Keke Rosberg]

very nice, i admire your patience, skill and dedication on model making.   

[alfsboy]

Great models on here and its good to see that 1/43 kit making is still alive well.never a major boom industry it hangs on despite all those Chinese lovelys that quirkily appear after some one else has made it .

[Tonecas]

Hi Fellows,

Although I am still monitoring this Forum I moved to Facebook mainly because it is a much more friendly platform to deal with pictures. Pictures are absolutely necessary to show the models and their modifications, construction of kits etc.

For those interested the link for "Collecting 143 car models" is: https://www.facebook.com/collecting143

 

Edited by Tonecas, 21 February 2014 - 13:24.

[Barry Boor]

Spark have just announced a 43rd scale Lotus 12 model.  It looks quite nice but I can't help but think that the tyres are too wide.

 

What do you think?

 

http://www.sparkmode...2642/index.html

[Tonecas]

Hi Barry

I am tempted to agree but the biggest flaw in my opinion are the suspension links too thick. My opinion still prevails that Spark are grossly overpriced and sometimes not very good, reason why they only account for 1% (13) of my 1334 models.

[Jager]

Tonecas, on 21 Feb 2014 - 13:19, said:

Hi Fellows,

Although I am still monitoring this Forum I moved to Facebook mainly because it is a much more friendly platform to deal with pictures. Pictures are absolutely necessary to show the models and their modifications, construction of kits etc.

For those interested the link for "Collecting 143 car models" is: https://www.facebook.com/collecting143

 

Tonecas, there is already a well established forum for 1:43 models with around 200 member here (and heaps of photos ) : http://scale143.com/index.php

[RCH]

Seems a rather unfortunate photo! Both the tyres and suspension links are too big but this may be a picture of a "prototype", production versions may have the proportions better.

 

When Spark appeared on the market I reckoned they were about the price of a decent kit which meant that the average hamfisted collector would end up with a good quality model without having to pay for a professional build or suffer the consequences of his own aptitude for kit building.  I think the same applies now except that the kit market is grossly different. What you are paying for is Spark's ability to produce a vast range.  

[mfd]

Jager - disappointing, I selected Porsche 956/962 & bar one image all other photos have been removed. What's the point of a forum where the discussion is about things you can no longer see!

[Jager]

mfd, on 02 Jun 2014 - 08:56, said:

Jager - disappointing, I selected Porsche 956/962 & bar one image all other photos have been removed. What's the point of a forum where the discussion is about things you can no longer see!

 

Mfd, sorry to hear of your experience, but obviously you were looking at an old thread where the poster has deleted the pictures from the host server (ie Photobucket, Flckr etc). Like any forum, S1:43 has no control over this.

 

The two most popular areas of the forum are usually "What have you bought today" where colectors will post pictures and comments on new models they've acquired. You typically might see pictures of 5 - 10 new models a day posted here, with 25 - 50 other comments a day. Some days will be busier or slower than others.

 

http://scale143.com/viewforum.php?f=24

 

 

The other section where there can be quite a bit of new activity is the 'News' section. Again, activity will vary day to day, :

 

http://scale143.com/viewforum.php?f=35

 

Hopefully you will find other areas that interest you over time.

[mfd]

It's a shame & I don't understand why someone having posted a photo should feel the inclination to delete it. Effectively you've got a two thread forum, as the inactive ones are impenetrable. You can't fire up an old thread because you've got little to look at.

 

Perhaps you should venture onto the French "Forum-Auto" 1/43 modelisme modeles reduits.There are dozens of active threads & (for example) one currently has 283 pages on "Porsche 917 in miniature"  :wave:You don't need to read French because there's lots of photos...

[Jager]

mfd, on 04 Jun 2014 - 21:26, said:

It's a shame & I don't understand why someone having posted a photo should feel the inclination to delete it. Effectively you've got a two thread forum, as the inactive ones are impenetrable. You can't fire up an old thread because you've got little to look at.

 

Perhaps you should venture onto the French "Forum-Auto" 1/43 modelisme modeles reduits.There are dozens of active threads & (for example) one currently has 283 pages on "Porsche 917 in miniature"  :wave:You don't need to read French because there's lots of photos...

 

Thanks Mike. I think the problem is some hosting services limit the number of images you can upload. Hence, once you reach you limit, the only way you can keep uploading new photos is to delete the old one. This seems pretty common across many forums - go back through the older threads on the TNF and you'll see the same thing.

 

I also ventrure on the French "Forum-Auto" website as well and have various page bookmarked - Le Mans, Jagermeister, Racing Transporters etc. I even post there in French occassionally (with the help of Google translator). However I like to be able to discuss models in my own language rather than just looking at pictures.

Edited by Jager, 21 June 2014 - 10:29.

[Barry Boor]

Am I the only one who regularly finds that the tyres supplied by 43rd scale kit manufacturers split apart once the model has been made for a year or so?

 

I reckon I've got at least half a dozen sitting in their display area either with broken tyres or none at all.

[mfd]

Yes Barry - it's a phenomenon once explained to me, but now forgotten. I occasionally fixed them with super glue (back to round) then with sandpaper around something like a Sharpie, ream a bit more meat out of the middle so they slid onto the wheel rim.

 

Have you ever seen tyres that weep an oily deposit?

[JacnGille]

I have a few older (10-15 year old) kits in which this happened. But none since then.

[RCH]

Didn't think this still happened. No longer really in the kit market these days but I'm sure someone like GPM would be able to supply replacements.

[mfd]

The supplier for all rubber tyres is a company in Italy, of all things, called BRM

[Barry Boor]

Thanks Rod.  I'll get onto that.

[Emery0323]

mfd, on 16 Jun 2014 - 21:30, said:

Yes Barry - it's a phenomenon once explained to me, but now forgotten. I occasionally fixed them with super glue (back to round) then with sandpaper around something like a Sharpie, ream a bit more meat out of the middle so they slid onto the wheel rim.

 

Have you ever seen tyres that weep an oily deposit?

Sanding out the inside diameter sounds like a good idea. 

 

It might not be useful for old kit builds that have split tires already, but if you're building a kit, a preventive  remedy I've heard of is to immerse the tire in a dish of hot-to-boiing water and then push the tire onto the rim while it's still hot, preferably while it's still in the hot water.  After it's mounted on the rim, dip the assembled wheel in cold water.   The thermal cycling during mounting should relieve the tension in the rubbery material so that it's less prone to splitting.

[Tonecas]

Hi fellows, for those that were following this chat I just want to tell that I moved to Facebook mainly because the difficulty in managing photos in this environment.

[Dr. Austin]

I'm selling my collection.