Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth Rebuild

[Spottedlaurel]

I needed to do something that wasn't Japanese or American and this one ended up being my choice.

First built it when I was 12-13, so nearly 40 years ago now. The shell was unpainted and everything else was done by brush. Then, as now, I didn't enjoy doing large decals so I built it as a rallycross car with some random decals and dry transfer numbers. After a few years it ended up in the scrap box, and for some reason got a squirt of yellow paint (maybe I was testing it out for another build?).

As he did with several other older kits, my son was rummaging through the parts box and assembled enough of it to make me realise I could put it back together again. Luckily I don't throw much away.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

How come I've got a spare sprue with the engine, suspension and wheels? I had an issue when I first built it and wrote to Humbrol asking if they could send me some replacement parts. A while later I got a package from Italy containing five of that sprue! Although mine was the Humbrol issue it started life as as Esci kit and I presume they had the spares available. Ideal for this rebuild and I'll have a few twin-cam engines for future projects.

Job number one was to try and clean up the glass. The yellow paint on the side doesn't want to budge but the front and rear screens have come up well after some wet sanding, Micromesh sheets then coarse, medium and fine Zero Paints polishing compounds. I'll carefully cut the sides out and replace them with flat sheet.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I've got a clear look in mind, built as a hi-po road car in dark metallic blue with these wheels which are pretty close to a style I've seen on some of the works rally cars. They'll be painted gold, which with the dark blue paint will be reminiscent of the Olio Fiat-sponsored blue and yellow rally cars.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

As it'll be a road car I'll get it sitting lower than this. I've given it a couple of quick coats of primer to see what work is needed. I'll probably fill the fuel filler in the bootlid and open up the scoop in front of the rear wheel.

It's not something I'll be rushing to finish, I want to take my time over it and get it looking half-decent. It'll sit well alongside my Audi Quattro and Renault 5 Turbo.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[afx]

I've got a tarmac spec and a gravel spec version of the rally cars in progress.  I'll be following.

[Pete75]

That's going to be one seriously cool Fiat! Love those wheels 👍

[GeeBee]

Looking forward to seeing this one progress, didn't even know Humbrol made this one, i was hoping Dad was going to trade in the Seat 124 to get the new 131, but then we had to move to England in 1976.

[David G.]

You're off to a great start

David G.

[Dann Tier]

Its looking Fantastic, Bud!!!....looking forward to more!!!!

[Spottedlaurel]

19 hours ago, afx said:

I've got a tarmac spec and a gravel spec version of the rally cars in progress.  I'll be following.

I remembered someone on here was doing one, have you got a WIP thread for either of them? I shan't be trying to make this one super-accurate, but it'll be good to have it on display again.

18 hours ago, Pete75 said:

That's going to be one seriously cool Fiat! Love those wheels 👍

Thanks Pete, I'll do my best. More about the wheels in a moment....

9 hours ago, GeeBee said:

Looking forward to seeing this one progress, didn't even know Humbrol made this one, i was hoping Dad was going to trade in the Seat 124 to get the new 131, but then we had to move to England in 1976.

I'l try and make it worthwhile Geoff. Did Seat make their own version of the 131?

This must have been the one I built, I vaguely recall the box art:

Scalemates suggests there were several Esci versions before this issue came along in 1981. I don't know if Humbrol did much more than put in their box and reprint the instructions, from the decals I used it seems they came straight from Esci. Luckily I kept the instructions, as I have done for virtually every kit I've ever built:

9 hours ago, David G. said:

You're off to a great start

David G.

 

3 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Its looking Fantastic, Bud!!!....looking forward to more!!!!

Thanks guys!

 

The wheel choice came from this image, which my son found the other day by chance in a random assortment of old racing/rallying photos I bought a few years ago:

As soon as I saw the front rims I realised the Hayashis I had were very, very similar. The gold treatment was common and will look good against the dark blue.

Somewhat confusingly, they weren't actually made by Cromadora, but they're Campagnalo instead (style 40802). A company called Group 4 Wheels now make a 1:1 replica, if you have deep enough pockets. 1:24 copies are also available.

[GeeBee]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I'l try and make it worthwhile Geoff. Did Seat make their own version of the 131?

Yes, basically the same car made in Italy, but with different engines, and built with Spanish components, also the Estate version was only ever built in Spain 

[afx]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I remembered someone on here was doing one, have you got a WIP thread for either of them? I shan't be trying to make this one super-accurate, but it'll be good to have it on display again.

 

It wasn't my original intent to go all out on these builds but as usual for me that is kind of where they end up.  I have bogged down a bit but I will finish them.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by afx

[Spottedlaurel]

7 hours ago, afx said:

It wasn't my original intent to go all out on these builds but as usual for me that is kind of where they end up.  I have bogged down a bit but I will finish them.

Thanks JC, that was an enjoyable and very informative pre-breakfast read. Some amazing work there and a few things I've picked up for mine.

Something that's puzzled me is the purpose of the scoops in front of the rear wheels - on some cars they're open with an extra bit of black plastic, on others they're smoothed over. I'd imagine they provide air to the rear brakes and/or diff? Even on the cutaway drawings it's not entirely clear.

[afx]

Glad you enjoyed it Nigel.  Yes I believe the intent of the scoop is to cool the rear brakes.  Best I can determine they were open when the conditions were warmer and/or tarmac rallies and covered for colder conditions and/or full gravel events.

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by afx

[Spottedlaurel]

On 3/16/2021 at 10:48 AM, afx said:

Glad you enjoyed it Nigel.  Yes I believe the intent of the scoop is to cool the rear brakes.  Best I can determine they were open when the conditions were warmer and/or tarmac rallies and covered for colder conditions and/or full gravel events.

Thanks JC. As a fast road car I'm going to work towards something like the second image with open vents:

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I've since glued a solid piece behind the opening. Looks like I need to add a bit of flat flush with the bodywork then some mesh at the back - I'll use an offcut from a scrap radiator.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Quite a few sink marks to fill around the front end. I'm also going to fill the spotlight openings so there's just a slot in the front panel.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Wheels were primed then given a coupe of coats of TS-21 gold. I didn't bother stripping off the original plating, which had quite a matt finish.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Front end filling in progress.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Looking forward to getting some colour onto it, but I'm a little way off that stage yet.

I'm not rushing this one, but it's slowly making progress. One of the spare engine/suspension sprues I had has been primed so I can start getting some other pieces together for a change from filling and sanding.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[Dann Tier]

Moving along nicely!!!

[Pete75]

Love how wide those wheels are! I see you're using Green Stuff; is that sandable?

[Funkychiken]

Great looking kit, those wheels really suit it! 

[kpnuts]

Looking great like what you've done so far.

[Bainford]

Nice progress. This is looking good so far.

[DustyMojave]

While I'm not a diecast guy, I have a 1/24 Bburrago version of this car, in the red with yellow roof livery as seen in the Lombard Rally black & white picture above. Mine was a sample from Bburrago for them to be sold under the Hot Wheels name. I was in Product Safety Engineering in the US headquarters of Mattel. No it's not stolen. Any product going out the door had to be signed for by a Vice President or higher and the security guards checked everyone. The Bburrago/HotWheels were never sold in the US that I know of. At the time they were to be sold in the European market. Due to limited display space, that car is boxed away in back storage with the 1/24 F1 cars from the same deal.

[Dave Ambrose]

I like this build. I used to own a FIAT 131 Mirafiore. It was the first new car I ever bought. Ran great so long as you kept it out of the hands of a FIAT mechanic. (kinda like MGs in that regard) Kept that car until it stripped the cam belt. That was my fault for missing the service interval. The engine lived on it my brother-in-law's 124 Spyder. 

[Bugatti Fan]

A neighbour of mine used to own the standard road going far with this body style. I think it was a two litre engined car that was a 'sporty' version that did not have flared out wheel arches like the rally cars. In the UK there seemed to be quite a number of them in a dark orange colour like my neighbour's car. So maybe it was a limited edition or something by Fiat. I don't think they were Abarth tuned  like the rally cars.

Edited June 14, 2021 by Bugatti Fan

[iamsuperdan]

On 3/14/2021 at 3:51 PM, Spottedlaurel said:

I needed to do something that wasn't Japanese or American and this one ended up being my choice.

First built it when I was 12-13, so nearly 40 years ago now. The shell was unpainted and everything else was done by brush. Then, as now, I didn't enjoy doing large decals so I built it as a rallycross car with some random decals and dry transfer numbers. After a few years it ended up in the scrap box, and for some reason got a squirt of yellow paint (maybe I was testing it out for another build?).

As he did with several other older kits, my son was rummaging through the parts box and assembled enough of it to make me realise I could put it back together again. Luckily I don't throw much away.

 

 

 

Awesome project!

 

I've always wanted one fo these kits. Mainly because one of my fav Matchbox cars from back in the day was a Fiat rally car. White with red & orange stripes. Want to build a replica.

 

As an aside, I have the same mug. Well, same picture, different name. Pretty sure it came back on one of our many trips to England. 

 

[PatW]

As an ex-rally marshal in the day I'm looking forward to the end product, whilst watching the progress in the mean time!

Edited June 25, 2021 by PatW

[Spottedlaurel]

Thanks for the continued interest and comments! Regrettably I've had to put this and my other WIPs to one side for the moment as we're concentrating on a potential house move.

On 6/15/2021 at 10:30 PM, iamsuperdan said:

Awesome project!

 

I've always wanted one fo these kits. Mainly because one of my fav Matchbox cars from back in the day was a Fiat rally car. White with red & orange stripes. Want to build a replica.

 

As an aside, I have the same mug. Well, same picture, different name. Pretty sure it came back on one of our many trips to England. 

Thanks, and I have the same Matchbox car! Not from back in the day, I was a touch too old by the time it came out, but as a more recent purchase.

The mug dates back to the '80s, my grandparents had a set at their house for all four grandchildren.

On 6/14/2021 at 8:14 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

A neighbour of mine used to own the standard road going far with this body style. I think it was a two litre engined car that was a 'sporty' version that did not have flared out wheel arches like the rally cars. In the UK there seemed to be quite a number of them in a dark orange colour like my neighbour's car. So maybe it was a limited edition or something by Fiat. I don't think they were Abarth tuned  like the rally cars.

I think the 2-door Sport may only have been available here in orange? That's the only colour I remember them in as well.

On 6/13/2021 at 4:46 PM, Dave Ambrose said:

I like this build. I used to own a FIAT 131 Mirafiore. It was the first new car I ever bought. Ran great so long as you kept it out of the hands of a FIAT mechanic. (kinda like MGs in that regard) Kept that car until it stripped the cam belt. That was my fault for missing the service interval. The engine lived on it my brother-in-law's 124 Spyder. 

Thank you, and good to know the engine lived-on. They were a popular upgrade here for other cars back in the mid-late '80s. There may even have been a kit available for the Morris Minor.

On 6/25/2021 at 10:48 PM, PatW said:

As an ex-rally marshal in the day I'm looking forward to the end product, whilst watching the progress in the mean time!

I'll do my best, but for the reason quoted above don't hold your breath!