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1906 Bianchi WIP Finished!


Harry P.

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I've been on the lookout for this kit for years... finally found one at a reasonable price on ebay (reasonable because someone had already started it; the engine and part of the chassis was already built). It's a 1901 (more on that later) Bianchi, in 1/16 scale. Like so many of these old Japanese 1/16 scale kits, they have been released under various brand names and box art over the years... I happen to have the Bandai release. This is the box art...

1_zpsfusdruc1.jpg

As you can see, the box art is an illustration, not a photo of the real car. And there is no model year listed. Which brings me to the question about the actual model year. This has to be one of the most mysterious cars I've ever tried to research. After many searches online, I managed to find only one image of the real car, this one, on a site that covers the history of Bianchi. They list it as a 1901...

2_zpspb7wqt2s.jpg

Virtually all other mentions of this car online refer to either the 1/16 scale model kit, or a 1/43 diecast... and all of those call this a 1906 Bianchi. So not only couldn't I find any info or photos of this car, I couldn't even get a definite model year.

EDIT: Thanks to Christian (Junkman) for the model year. It's a 1906.

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The car looks like something out of a Disney fairy tale movie. Because I can't find any photos or even any written info on this car, I'm thinking it was a one-off, custom-bodied car that's sitting in some museum somewhere. Like so many Japanese kits of this era (the '70s), it's motorized. I have no idea what the Japanese fascination with motorizing model cars was all about, but for some reason they thought it was desirable. I'll be building this kit minus the motorized stuff... I don't see any reason to have a motorized model.

The engine is a generic version of a big old four cylinder engine typical of the period, but it's not very realistic, and made so that the electric motor can fit inside. Since I have zero photos of the engine of this car, I'm going to glue the hood shut and call it a day. The only part of the engine that will be visible is the bottom of it, so I disassembled what the previous builder had started, cleaned up the parts, rebuilt the engine, and painted the whole thing a metallic color. I'll do some black washes on the oil pan and make the bottom of the engine look presentable, but nothing more than that...

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Probably. But I've already decided this one is going to be built curbside-style. There's plenty of visual interest here with that unusual bodywork... nobody is going to miss the engine. My only problem is trying to decide what the color scheme will be. I have several ideas i mind, but haven't decided yet.

Actually, the engine in this kit is identical to the Itala kit I built recently. Obviously they reused a lot of the tooling when they made these old kits. It even says "Itala" on the gearbox. This looks to me to be the Itala kit with a different body.

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BTW... while trying to find references on this car, I learned that the Bianchi company originally began back in the late 19th century as a bicycle manufacturer in Milan. They soon branched out to building cars, too, including the subject of this WIP, but that didn't last long. Bianchi bicycles are still manufactured to this day, and in fact the Bianchi Bicycle Company is the oldest continuously operating bicycle company in the world.

They make some cutting-edge, state-of-the-art bikes, like this one, painted in the traditional Bianchi color. Nice ride...

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    Harry, have you tried to contact an Edwardian / Brass Era Club or Museum? Alot of the time they will go out of their way to help gather information for those that they can share interests with.

I'm going to take the fact that I can't find anything on this car as an opportunity to do it my way!  :D

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The kit springs are built up with individual leaves and shackles. Two of the shackles were missing, so I made new ones of soft silver wire...

One of the spring mounting brackets was also missing, so I used one of the kit pieces as a reference to scratchbuild the missing one out of styrene tube and strip...

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I replaced the kit floorboard with a new one made of wood. I laminated two pieces of 1/32" birch veneer, with the grain of the two pieces at 90º to each other, to minimize warping. That enclosure on the kit piece is the battery box under the driver's seat. I won't be using the motorized parts for this project, so no battery box will be needed.

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The new floorboard was stained and super-glued to the frame rails. In the photo you can also see the rear brakes. Typical for most cars of this era, there are no brakes on the front wheels.

9_zpsf1rigj0z.jpg

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As usual in kits of cars from this era, the wheels are molded all in one piece. In reality, the wooden wheels, the steel rims, the rim clamps, and the rim bolts were all separate pieces. So in order to give the wheels some realism, you have to rely on paint detailing to make it look like there are more pieces involved than there really are. Here is one of the kit wheels, molded in a sort of "wood' color, I suppose...

Step one is to brush on two coats of acrylic craft paint. I used a color called "Latte," but the exact shade isn't critical. All I need is a generic light tan color...

The next step is where the "magic" happens. I dip each painted wheel into a can of Varathane oil-based wood stain, let the excess run off, and blot the wheel gently with a paper towel. The stain actually gets absorbed into the acrylic paint, and when dry the result is a pretty realistic looking "wood" wheel. Since the stain I use is oil-based, I use a dehydrator to speed up the drying time for the stain. After the stained wheels are dry, a brushed on some acrylic red for the rims and the center area of the rear wheels. I also painted each rim bolt head silver...

And the final step is a black wash of Future and black acrylic paint that not only brings out the detail, but also gives the flat acrylic red paint a nice gloss. The finished wheels...

 

 

 

 

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1901 is definitely a typo, which sadly seems to have infiltrated the internet to a large degree. In 1901, Bianchi was still building quadricycles with DeDion engines.
The 15-20 HP, which this model represents, wasn't released until 1906 and remained in the lineup until ca. 1910.

Like most other car manufacturers back then, Bianchi only delivered the chassis. Some Italian count had this town car built on it and the real car was displayed in the
museo nazionale automobili in Turin until it was sadly claimed by a fire in the 1970s. This was after Rio had measured it up for their 1:43 diecast, and IMAI, the original Japanese issuer,
for their 1/16 scale kit, a reissue of which you are building here.

Apart from the Rio diecast:

https://pics.ricardostatic.ch/2_761061818_Big/modellautos/bianchi-15-20-cv-1906-rio-18-1-43.jpg

there was also a 1/32 scale kit by Aoshima:

http://www.plastickits.nl/Pictures/Aviodelli/hpmkpict201.jpg

 

and a ca. 1/16 scale battery powered plastic toy by the Spanish firm Guisval:

http://cloud1.todocoleccion.net/coches-a-escala-1-43/tc/2015/06/15/18/49878808.jpg

which was most likely patterend after the IMAI kit.

 

 

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Since this was shown in the catalogue, and it was a common style among many manufacturers including Ford, it strikes me that there must have been more than one Bianchi like this.

This picture was identified as a Ford -- probably a custom for the top-hat class. (I'm not sure if I believe that). But I've found similar styles among other brands.

The model kit was issued in 1970, and like most antique automobiles, there's no telling how many different paint schemes it may have experienced between 1906 and then. Therefore, I suggest that Signore Pristovnik should choose what suits his taste.

05mercedestowncar001_2_edited-1-2-585x39

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by sjordan2
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 Some Italian count had this town car built on it and the real car was displayed in the museo nazionale automobili in Turin until it was sadly claimed by a fire in the 1970s.

Then my guess that this car was one-of-a-kind was correct. So the one and only real car was destroyed by fire? Too bad, but even so, I would have expected to find some photos of the car online, especially considering it was once in a museum... but aside from the one image I found (labeled as a 1901), I found nothing.

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Therefore, I suggest that Signore Pristovnik should choose what suits his taste.

And I will! :D

I have no idea yet, but whatever I decide on will have to work with the wheels I painted with red trim. One of my initial ideas is dark red for the forward part of the car, and black/ivory for the coach portion... ivory below the beltline, black above.

Suggestions welcome... :D

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Then my guess that this car was one-of-a-kind was correct. So the one and only real car was destroyed by fire? Too bad, but even so, I would have expected to find some photos of the car online, especially considering it was once in a museum... but aside from the one image I found (labeled as a 1901), I found nothing.

This happened well before internet and I guess time has forgotten this car like it seemiongly has largely forgotten that Bianchi ever built cars.
An aunt of mine used to work for Alfa Romeo in Milano and took her car crazy nephew to most northern Italian car museums when I was a kid.
I have seen the car with my own eyes and later read in an Italian car magazine about the fire.

Pretty much all cars back then were one-of-a-kind. Henry Ford changed that.
 

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