Model Forum / General / Models / October 2006

A general type position on the "Chinese" debate,
In an ideal world I would have chosen good English quality machines and
tooling, but as another member of the "grey brigade" have settled for
for the "second cousin" option, bought "chinese" and prepared the

Bad news...
Letter just came to the local hobby shop from the distributor yesterday.
Heller is out of receivership & out of existence. No further supplies of
Heller & Humbrol will be available, unless something comes up for Airfix,

any reason the ebay prices have crashed? they seem to be 1/3
of last months prices.

I have just had an 'interesting' conversation with my local bearing &
power transmission place!
An immediate project is setting up an old Drummond round-bed lathe for
the father-in-law. Got most ever'ting set - just finishing off the

When I am doing building work I quite happily use ISO metric coarse nuts and
bolts because they are cheap and cheerful. When I am working on the Triumph or
the Beaver mill (or the HLV-H I'm picking up tomorrow) I have to use UNF and
UNC because that's what they use. If I'm working ...

Anybody seen it? If so, what do you think of the flick and potential for
worthwhile kits?

Looks like they cut back on the quality of the paper. I really liked
the last few, almost magazine quality. The October 06 one has the same
format but is of the same quality newsprint as supermarket tabloids.

Fat chance I know, but is anyone placing an order in their bussiness
life with Thermal Ceramics UK Ltd - part of the Morgan Crucible group?
I need to order a couple of alumina crucibles which are reasonably
priced at about £35 each but they have a minimum order value of £400

Kit Review: cyber-hobby.com 1/35 Scale Kit No. 08 (Dragon Models
Limited 1/35 Scale Kit No. 6327); Tauchpanzer IV Ausf. D; 1,276 parts
(745 in grey styrene, 288 "Magic Track" links, 189 etched brass, 36
clear styrene, 10 preformed steel wire, 2 turned brass, 2 twisted steel

I've just done a few quick calculations to work out equivalent viewing
distances when you're gazing at a beloved creation from about 3 feet
away.  They might be useful when you're working out the best display
options, but are they approximately correct?!  They come out like

Does anyone know anything about this kit..............is it a rebox of
Dragons kit? or new tooling?
Regards SiG

I am trying to source some H section material, preferably brass, but may
consider steel. This needs to approximate a parallel flange UB (universal
beam) section at an overall size of 5 x 5 up to 10 x 10 mm. This is to
produce some models of a piece of commercial equipment for ...

In your view, what are the best names? I've checked them all out, and
own a few pieces from SpecCast, First Gear, Ertl and Highway 61, but
are there any class-acts in this Chinese industry?

The ones I'm looking at are at
<http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=46727>.  Note
it''s the table affair at the end thatinterests me, not the grinder particularly
per se.

Have a friend who is doing up an old 1950's lambretta
model LD125
looks like this
http://www.vecchimotori.it/images/lambretta_125d_sx_f.jpg