OT - but I know some of you like models
 

I met Tony Dennis at the recent Goodwood Festival. He's a former engineer turned modelmaker after a string of redundancies. The models he builds are 1/13th scale replicas - usually for the owner of the original car who'd like a miniature version to look at in his office.

The detail is phenomenal - every leaf spring, steering box, torsion bar works as it would on the original (it's not a working motor though). Almost everything is machined rather than cast and then soldered rather than glued. A model takes around 2 and a half years to build and costs £35000 - (about $50000)

I forgot to ask if he would tackle a 911 - I imagine a monocoque would be trickier than a car with a separate chassis. Not to mention all the complex curves of the bodywork. Anyone got a spare $50000 dollars?

There's a bit more info about him here...

http://www.maserati-indy.co.uk/alfieri21.htm

and here's one of my photos of a work in progress...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads/DSCN9907s.jpg

Wowo reminds me of the guy who made the Ferrari racecar with working engine and transmission.

Couple that with one of these.

I never understood models like that. If you are going to that much trouble why doesn't the model maker make them full size? Then you could drive them

Because the owners already have a full size one. These are desktop niknaks ;)

Wow, that's very cool. Almost as cool as the guy who made the running ferrari.