Airfix 4.5 liter Bentley

[kpnuts]

Hi all, well I'm making a start on the Bentley today, first thin I notice that I'm a bit disappointed with is, when looking at the box art the front mud guard has not got much detail at all (I hope this is not a sign of things to come)



as you can see I have a load of rivets and nuts to scratch.

[kpnuts]

Hi all I've had a brilliant idea I have the Airfix 1/12  London icon pack and I'm going to hack the life guard about and have him either getting into or driving the Bentley what better than to have 2 British icons together.

[raafif]

you may want to replace the mud-guard & spare-wheel mounts with coat-hanger wire - the plastic ones are ok but prone to getting broken later in life if it's not in a glass case.  Need to look at a replacement for the mesh over the headlights & windscreen too - in this scale it's pretty much mandatory.  Note that while the bonnet & scuttle are metal, the body is fabric-covered & a dull satin finish.

a Life-Guard driving it is the next best thing to Steed of course :)

[jcf]

The first thing to remember about the 1/12 Airfix Bentley is that the kit is over forty years old,
and is quite simplified in some areas.

The second thing to remember is that it is the only commonly available 1/12th scale
injected plastic kit of a Blower Bentley.
 

BTW Steed's car wasn't a Villiers blown 4.5 litre car, he drove a 'Speed Six'.

[MaxHeadroom]

A 1:12-scale Bentley and with such poor details?
Shocking... nevertheless it's more than 40 years old!

Norbert

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is where I am on the Bentley.

[kpnuts]

Heres a little bit more done on the Bentley

[MaxHeadroom]

Ooops: much work for your file and sandpaper!

But I'm still curious about your progress.

Norbert

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is the progress so far I've put a 1/32 airfix kit and a 1/12 scale tamiya kit with it just to show how big this beast is.

[elmayerle]

Yes, that's going to look great when you finish cleaning it up properly.  So, it's been ages since I read it, but wasn't this the car James Bond was driving in the book version of Moonraker?  I do remember it being a mechanically blown engine.

[jcf]

Yes, that's going to look great when you finish cleaning it up properly.  So, it's been ages since I read it, but wasn't this the car James Bond was driving in the book version of Moonraker?  I do remember it being a mechanically blown engine.

The kit is of a Vanden Plas 4-seat tourer bodied Birkin Team Le Mans racer, Bond's car had a 2-seat drophead coupe body. Plus it was Battleship Grey in color.
 

[kpnuts]

Hi all I am so cross(mostly with myself for not testing it first) I received some humbrol acrylic chrome in a spray can today, and, eager to try it out I did it straight on the bentley engine, it clearly says acrylic on the can, and I primed the engine with humbrol enamel so there should have been no problem, anyway I started spraying and thought this smells very much like celloluse paint.

now that is exactly the effect I would expect spaying cellulose on enamel not when spraying acrylic.
so now its getting the oven cleaner treatment, so take this as a warning.smell your paint first.

[jcf]

'Acrylic' does not mean 'water-based', the word acrylic has bupkis to do with water, it is a reference to the chemistry of the resin used in the paint. 'Acrylic' resins used in paint are in the same family as those used in Plexiglas or Lucite or Perspex.

BTW, true 'cellulose' lacquers have been thin on the ground for a very long time, the synthetics (phenolic, acrylic etc.) displaced them decades ago for most uses. The term 'cellulose' has survived as a generic, just as 'enamel' is, incorrectly, used as a generic for oil-based paints. Oil as in linseed, tung, soya etc., not 'petroleum', BTW.

The Airfix website states that the sprays are 'solvent-based'.

[kpnuts]

I didnt think  a water based acrylic paint should do this to plastic.



Now I can believe a solvent doing that. loads of sanding to do now, I still think it is bad of Humbrol to sell a paint for use on plastic which does that to it.
Still lesson learned dont buy Humbrol spray paint any more.

[raafif]

AaarrrH !  yep, Humbrol is terrible, the crappiest paint out there - it's the only paint the "hobby shop" in my state sells so I have to take the risk on, for instance, their yellow being yellow, not medium brown

Still that looks like a crankcase that's been left out in the scrapyard for a few decades - weathering the metal !

The enamel primer will have saved it from the worst effects.

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is tonights progress on the Bentley

[MaxHeadroom]

WOW, seems, you build the 4.5 litre faster than the Bentley workers!

Norbert

[kpnuts]

In fairness theirs are a tad larger, and better made.
Here is tonight's bit on the Bentley

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is todays bit on the Bentley.

[Buzzbomb]

This was always a "gotta get oneday kit" in my youth.
No so much now, but interested in how this build proceeds

[kpnuts]

Hi all done a bit to the bentley today.

[elmayerle]

Now *that* is simply gorgeous work; I'm in awe.

[kpnuts]

Thank you.
Hi all well here are the driver and admirers that will be going with this model.
They are from the Airfix London icon set, so I think very fitting.

[kpnuts]

Well I got some rivets, nuts and braided hoses today for detailing her also found an old base from the Christie steam fire engine which was too badly broken to be repaired and anyway I've stolen lots of bits off it for other dios, so thought since its cobbled stones it would be good as a base for the Bentley. I've filled sanded and primed the people for the base as well.

[kpnuts]

Hi all here is where the Bentley is now