RE: Time to buy a lathe
Those 7x12 mini lathes are excellent, in the UK there are about four varients of the same lathe, warco one is green, Machine Mart do a yellow one, sealey do a red one and chester machine tools do one in the more normal grey/bue lathe colours called a conquest which I have myself for about 10yrs.
[link=http://www.chesteruk.net/products/detail/2]Chester machine tools[/link]
Chester at the minute are doing a special price which is actually cheaper than what I paid ten years ago!
They are an excellent little lathe and will do anything the average modeller will want, especially if you pick up a larger 4 jaw chuck for it.
It has also has a variable speed control so no need to change gears of pull at levers.
I did think at the time maybe I should have bought bigger, but I have found it is rare I need to do anything that requires a bigger lathe, and if I do I can get access to a larger one if needed.
The beauty is it takes up no room in the workshop and is bench top so you can move it about if you want.