Welcome to Mac's Modeling!
My name is Ian
MacFarlane (a friend pointed out I did not have my name here before.
Thanks Hollywood!)
all my
friends in England call me Mac hence "Mac's Modeling". (I
now live in the USA) I have been making
models since I was old enough to understand what glue was, I think.
My Dad
introduced me to model making. Thanks Dad! He was an incredible artist and
I hope I come close to his skill.
Later I was able to
build full scale (real) vehicles including Motorcycles. So model making
went by the side for many years. After moving to the USA in 1980, I started collecting Diecast 1:18 &
1:43 scale models and did not like the detail or how incorrect they were.
To satisfy myself I started modifying and converting them, including
making my own decals, in some cases.
I created the Mac's Modeling
website originally to share information and techniques that I had
learned.
That led to buying
kits and super detailing them, searching the internet for parts and/or
making parts from scratch to increase the detail. Which in turn led to
making new contacts and friends throughout the world also learning
new techniques. Fellow modelers started asking for parts to be make, and
models to be obtained.
This resulted in Mac's Modeling
becoming an on-line retail store for kits and detail parts from all over
the world, where we try to keep the prices as economical as possible,
and be your "virtual" local model shop. Drop in and chat.
After moving house and leaving the
company I worked for, I started my own granite business, and had to move
my workshop into my new home, the family room.
My situation changed again, and I built a workshop/store room so I was
able to move
everything out of the house and get the house back to being a house. ;)
Over the years people have showed a lot of interest in the parts I have
made for myself, asking if I would produce more to sell. Arizona Racing
Models is the
result of the suggestions and requests.
You can contact me
directly via email at
mac@macsmodeling.com if you have any suggestions or questions.
I work my granite business all week
and it is sometimes difficult to answer emails immediately. Plus with
the manufacturing of parts under the AZRM banner, it does not leave a
lot of time.
This is basically a one man
operation so answering the phone can be
difficult and answering emails can be slow. Please be patient, we will
get to you. :) And thank you for your support.
As of February 8th,
2006, Mac's Modeling became a Limited Liability Company (LLC) so now it's
Mac's Modeling LLC.
Arizona Racing Models, LLC.
is the name I will be using for
everything produced by me, upgrade kits, parts and reference material.
In 2012 I took on a partner, Don,
who lives in Oklahoma. He is not able to ship anything as everything
comes here to Arizona.
In 2017 I ran into financial
problems and had to close Mac's Modeling, LLC. store, until I could get
back on my feet.
The store re-opened at the beginning of December 2018 and will become
great again, because we have the best customers in the World.
Contact info:
email:
iamf1@macsmodeling.com
Mail:
Mac's Modeling, LLC.
4212 E. Hearn Rd.
Phoenix, AZ. 85032
Tel:
480-772-6638
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Mac
I bought my first
motorcycle when I was 13, an old BSA Bantam. Being such an expert on
motorcycles and engines the first modification was to cut the exhaust pipe
off about 4 inches from the cylinder and knowing that 2 strokes had to
operate against backpressure, squeezed the end together slightly.
Of course we all
know more sound means more power! :)
Then I was educated
and changed the exhaust again, but still in the interest of
speed.......had to remove things to decrease the weight. which included
non essential items like mudguards, lights, and of course brakes.......who
needs them on dirt. Soon discovered brakes helped, but still never put
them back on, and so would knobbly tires, after getting caught in ruts and
falling off....a lot!
So me and a couple
of friends joined (what I think was the start of "Schoolboy Scrambles" in
the UK) a motorcycle club called Reading Ace Club. Obviously in Reading,
England. They taught us how to really ride, on dirt, Trials, Grass and
road. I learned a lot. But still wasn't good with brakes!
Just before my 16th
birthday I bought my first Road bike a Honda (CB 92) Benly SS 125 twin. Which had
been "worked over" by the owner known locally as the "Professor". That
bike went fast and revved way higher than it was supposed to, somewhere
around 14,000rpm.
My first ride on it, to test it; I was flat out (Well
what I thought was flat out) going
down Overdown Rd. (I think it was) which came to a "T" intersection at the
end.
Being used to my
Bantam without brakes, I just changed down through the gearbox as the end
got closer, until I dropped it into 1st gear which made the engine scream
at about 13,000 rpm. with a deafening exhaust note. (I forgot to mention
it had a racing exhaust system on it so it was loud as well.) When I
almost reached the end of the road I realized I could not put my foot on
the front tire up against the forks (as I did on my Bantam) as I had a
mudguard! So I did the only thing possible...........put my feet down on
the road and stood up until it stopped. :) I was good! Stopped right on
the line! :)
Everyone at the
garage could hear and see what I did. When I pulled in and turned it off,
they were all laughing and finally calmed down enough to tell me that this
new bike of mine actually has BRAKES and they work! :)
I've come a long
way since then. Most importantly learned how to use brakes. I've owned
numerous bikes and cars since then, kept all the important parts on them.
And now I watch the
motorcycles race and build models. :)
Update: Now I don't
have time to build models :( I have to make time again. :)
As you may have
gathered from different areas of the website, I do like to travel and go
to a different F1 GP each year, plus take in a MotoGP here and there.
I also enjoy having
customers/friends visit when the come into town. I like to try and visit
them, when I am in their town.
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