Airfix Bentley - 1/32nd scale.

[allan]

don't give up on it,it may be a pain to build now but once you have built it you will have a cool little Bentley,hang in there with it.

[johnboyy]

Update time on this 'wonderful' little kit! I have not had much time to model lately as I have started a new job (it's a long story!) and my hours are taking a while to settle down. Anyway first up is the dash...

I covered it with bare-metal aluminium and stuck some vinyl 'gauges' on. They will get a bit of detail work, needles and stuff, but that comes later.







I made and fitted a few detail bits including an oil filler cap and a float chamber for the carbs, a release lever for the hand-brake and I also had to re-define the fitting for the hand-brake as it was too shallow. Next up was a new front crossmember from aluminium tube, the old one joined in the middle but didn't come anywhere near close to lining up. Good old Airfix! Lastly I added an extra sleeve to the cross-member to simulate a support for the front of the supercharger.






Finally I have made a start modifying the wheels. I got hold of a set of Matchbox wires from an Aston Martin Ulster and have machined the original wheels to fit them, I wanted to use the original tyres as they have a bigger/better profile.






I borrowed a mates Unimat lathe kit to do this. It's a brilliant bit of kit and has unlimited uses in the modelling field. He is a hobby wood-turner and uses it to make fancy wooden pens... what a waste?? I am pretty pleased with the results and am looking forward to some better weather as I am more or less stuck now until I can start painting.

[allan]

good to see you are doing more to it,wheels look good paint the backing plate flat black.

[aussie muscle]

Looks like you are really stretching you modelling skills on this kit. it's good to see you're working things out. can you explain the issue with the body alignment?

tip for the dash dials, i've had some success printing images of real gauges onto photo super glossy paper at highest res, use your punch to cut them out, then touch up the edges with black or silver paint (the punch will likely scratch the edges).

the wheel solution was brilliant, but would it have worked if you just ground out the centre completely? (with spokes, you normally only see the brakes behind them)

[plastic.pete]

Ah good 'ol Airfix ! so reminds me of when I was about 10 ! In fact they're possibly responsible for my current modelling 'sickness/obsession'.
But looks like you're well and truely on top of this one, good work

[mopar68]

Fantastic work, hard to believe its a 1/32!

[Ray64]

Great idea with the gauges mate, if you have any dramas give me a shout because I have decal sheet full of gauges
Predominately 1/24 but you can get away easy with some used as 1/32

[johnboyy]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys, I am not getting as much time on this kit as I would like but on the one hand that's probably a good thing!

Aussie Muscle - The body issue was a biggie. Basically the body is made up from 2 halves. They fitted pretty close after I removed the location pins. Problem was the 2 chassis rails. They are designed to fit in moulded reliefs on the side of the body (see copy of instruction sheet), however the 2 rails were different lengths by almost 3mm but they each fitted their respective body side?? When you offered them up to each other the left front cross-member missed the right one by a mile!! In the end I cut the left rail alongside the bonnet (a straight run) and took out approx 2 mm. This bought things somewhere close to being back in line. I made a new front cross-member and it looks OK now. Whether it was down to mould shrinkage or not I can't say but it certainly gave me a headache. Regarding the wheels, 3 out of the 5 lost their centres when I machined them so the brakes will need to be re-fabricated.



Plastic Pete - Airfix and Aurora were responsible for my slide down the slippery path to obsession as well. Mind you, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Ray64 - Any chance you could scan the gauge decals and attach them to an e-mail? I could then print them off and maybe do something with them from here.

[warra48]

Nice car, but working in 1/32 scale must be a bit of a trial. Very nice work though.

I have a Heller kit of this car in 1/24 scale. I've started work on it, but it's gone back in the queue, as other things have taken more of a fancy in my building projects.

[allan]

Ya Airfix got me started building too,I got 6 Bob(60 cents these day's money) pocket money a week and and would buy airplanes at 2 bob each(20c) I would build them up and each year on bonfire night tape them to sky rockets and send them in to the night sky,then look for what was left of them the next day

[bear]

You got pocket money??

[johnboyy]

I have a Heller kit of this car in 1/24 scale. I've started work on it, but it's gone back in the queue, as other things have taken more of a fancy in my building projects.

I am watching a Heller kit on at the moment, I have seen quite a favourable review of it in an old Scale Models magazine. If it stays at a reasonable price I might be tempted to have a go...

[johnboyy]

Thought it was about time I pulled this little baby out of the cupboard and did a bit more, modelling has taken a bit of a back-seat of late as I am putting up a mate of mine from Wales who is working local. To get the spare room clear for him I have piled everything into my (already tiny) modelling room! Anyway enough of the domestic stuff here's a few more pictures of the kit in progress.

Here's a picture of the body after spraying with Tamiya Dark Green over red plastic primer (to make it darker). I can't understand what happened as the paint was supposed to be gloss?? All I can think is it reacted with the primer coat and that's what caused it to dry semi-matt.



I am not too worried as the finish will be perfect to simulate the fabric covered rear body section. Hopefully a coat of gloss clear on the rest of the body/chassis will save the day.



The tank was painted at the same time and had the same end result. I have pared off the original moulded on rear lamps and fitted some red dots from a company called Little Cars. http://www.little-cars.co.uk This will be clear coated as well.



Lastly I have added a bit of detail work to the kit steering wheel by wrapping it in scale 'cord'. This was a popular fix on the race car to make the wheel non-slip. It took about 3 hours and plenty of before I got it looking how I wanted it!!




That's the story so far. Next plan is to finish the wheels and tyres, clear coat the body/chassis, foil the rad and detail paint the blower etc. In the meantime I have started a kit of the T Bucket that I used to own way back when petrol wasn't a luxury item! I am hoping to get some pictures of this when time/space permits.

[freakshow]

some cool detail work going into this build for sure

[yenkoman]

I honestly cant beleive how much detail you are putting into this thing