Italeri Bugatti 35B 1/12

[paddy]

Earlier this year Italeri released a completely new addition to their 1/12 classic Italian sports cars from between the wars.

Most of the previous models were re-engineered Protar models from the early 70’s acquired by Italeri when they purchased Protar.

The problem with these earlier kits was that parts designed to be made in metal for Protar were often not strong enough when re made in plastic. The metal parts also required assembly using screws and this method has also been transferred to the plastic parts. More often than not a small item like a track rod or steering rod might have a small hole in the end to take a screw but this hole will simply burst open as the self-taping screw tries to cut a thread as it has nowhere near the strength of the metal it was designed for.

Another unrelated problem i found is the plastic used cant take spirit based washes like Mig ammo.




you can see here the spring mount on the right has cracked and the stub axel on the left has also cracked after fitting due to the wash i used.




again this is a spring shackle that just exploded about 2 hours after a wash was applied

anyway, my point is this is the first Italeri model in this series to be a new build, new mold item so let's see if i can put it together without too many disasters :-)

First up some reference
Bugati made 37 type B models around 1927 It had an 8 cylinder 2262cc engine (138 cubic inch) producing 130hp
Chassis was ladder construction steel and the body sheet aluminium




Slightly confusing for the modeler is the huge number of pictures on-line of reproductions made by Pur sang in Argentina however dig deep and there are some original unrestored reference items out there






To be continued...............

[armornutii]

   I love the larger scale cars, I am waffling on buying one of these for my stash. My only concern is Italeri sometimes can be alittle soft on detail and the engineering as to where parts are split seems odd. IDK might just tske my chances and get on...never be able to afford a real Bugatti.

[Steve Zuleski]

I've seen you build one of these before, Paddy, which means this is gonna be a doozy, Awesome!

[kyledehart5]

Ah, the new tool Bugatti. Sign me up to follow along with this one. A friend of mine from another forum built one and it turned out very nice. Can't wait to see yours.

[handiabled]

A Bugatti? I'm on board for this!

[paddy]

I hadn't planned to start this till Xmas however my work is quiet so here goes.

This is a gear box/transfer box as supplied




However, this is the real thing and a CAD of the real thing







straight away you can see Italeri have moulded this part back to front with the three tubes on the wrong side....oh blimey it looks like this is going to be one of those builds......

[kyledehart5]

Dec 19, 2023 4:53:54 GMT -5 paddy said:

I hadn't planned to start this till Xmas however my work is quiet so here goes.

This is a gear box/transfer box as supplied




However, this is the real thing and a CAD of the real thing







straight away you can see Italeri have moulded this part back to front with the three tubes on the wrong side....oh blimey it looks like this is going to be one of those builds......

Lol. How Italeri of them

[paddy]

I have decided to build this OTB. It would be possible to spend hours to put things right but 90% will never be seen and only a rivet counter might spot this anyway.......probably should have kept my mouth shut...lol






I have no idea what the brass bit is supposed to be ?










In my pictures, Duralium ,Alluminium, steel and white alluminium all MRP colours look like shiny silver

[406 Silverado]

Man, that spring shackle and axle tube disaster from a wash??!! That is just crazy paddy. Your efforts on getting things to look right in regard to that gear box is right in line with your good standards. The level of detail that you

[kyledehart5]

Nice. I really like the leaf spring clamps. And the differential also looks excellent. I agree with your decision to not spend hours agonizing over that upside down part. No one will ever notice it and I’ll forget I’ve ever seen it.

[paddy]

Right so we have a basic chassis, from here it's all plain sailing It It doesn't look much but it is painted it's just that Italeri say Ghost grey and molded the plastic in ghost grey and my primer and topcoat are ghost grey
There is actually MRP Aluminium, duraliminium steel and ghost grey on these parts but in this light they all look the same. the sad thing is none of this will be seen on the finished car.
What i have noticed looking ahead is the car has no floor. It's built like a Hurricane Fighter which has no cockpit floor either. which is interesting

[406 Silverado]

Dec 23, 2023 5:55:35 GMT -5 paddy said:

Right so we have a basic chassis, from here it's all plain sailing It It doesn't look much but it is painted it's just that Italeri say Ghost grey and molded the plastic in ghost grey and my primer and topcoat are ghost grey
There is actually MRP Aluminium, duraliminium steel and ghost grey on these parts but in this light they all look the same. the sad thing is none of this will be seen on the finished car.
What i have noticed looking ahead is the car has no floor. It's built like a Hurricane Fighter which has no cockpit floor either. which is interesting

This is indeed looking good and as you're saying, it's too bad that alot of this won't be seen in the finished product. It strikes me as odd as it does you that there is no floor on this car given the scale of it. I'm taking it that you're going to put a floor in it?

[kyledehart5]

Frame and everything looks really nice.

[paddy]

Hi Joe
It's not an emission, it didn't have a floor in real life, i expect they put one in road going versions but the racer didnt have one as such.



What it has is an under tray below the chassis rails and all the mechanics but it means all the crossmembers and rods and linkages are in the car so to speak.

[jeaton01]

With no floor they obviously weren't planning on racing in the rain! Maybe you should check with Jay Leno, surely he has one of these....

And some questions/comments:

[roland66]

A nice start, I'll keep watching. Does anyone have any popcorn? And a beer?

[paddy]

I would say it's a pair of friction dampers and an anti-roll bar or torsion bar ? The axel is just mounted to the spring so the rest must be a damper ?

[paddy]

Experimenting with plug leads
the kit parts are ok but as is often the case the plug leads are way to thick, the supplied lead is 1.2mm which scaled up becomes 14.4mm, about double what they should be at 7.5mm
I got some yellow cloth lead which is.7mm so scaled up thats 8.4mm which is near enough








So i cut off the end of the plug cap and replaced it with a bit of .3mm wire to fix the cloth lead too ( its hollow)
the last pic show the kit parts along side the modified parts

[paddy]

The car colure should be French blue but I use MRP paints and they don't do French blue but they do Ukrainian SU27 mid blue and i have some of that left  :-)








Doesnt look to far off

[jeaton01]

Close enough for me!

[kyledehart5]

Dec 26, 2023 13:00:25 GMT -5 paddy said:

The car colure should be French blue but I use MRP paints and they don't do French blue but they do Ukrainian SU27 mid blue and i have some of that left  :-)








Doesnt look to far off

Clearly the Ukranians stole French racing blue for their SU-27s

[handiabled]

Caught up with this and your progress looks great! Looks like some innovative suspension ideas for the 1920's.

[406 Silverado]

Coming right along with this one Paddy and your eye for the details never fails to impress me. While I'm trying to concentrate on the build itself, I cannot help but to be distracted by that beautiful aircraft that you showed for color reference. Is that .......yours?? If so , I've gotta see some more photo shots of that one . 

[paddy]

This is the great wall hobbies (GWR) SU27 Flanker in Ukranian digital camo Joe, its 1/48 scale
This was e revelation to me, almost the perfect kit with astoundingly good decals and surface finish/detail.













The light blue on the top surface is the MRP blue i will use on the Bugatti, the dark blue and cream sections are decals

[kyledehart5]

That is a beauty as well Paddy.

[paddy]

Sorry its a bit off topic but got to keep our Global Administrator happy

[paddy]

[Return_To_Kit_Form]

I have had my eye on this kit somit will be interesting to see hownit goes!

[kyledehart5]

That engine is a beauty. I had the good fortune to see A gorgeous Bugatti type 57 race car at an event earlier this year. It had the later twin cam I8 but you can see that it was a relative of this one.

[paddy]

I fitted the radiator and it looks well out of place in its plastic chrome :




I doubt it would have been chrome anyway in 1925, more like nickel plate
This where i am at now but still not 100% happy  but more in keeping with the look i am going for