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Y'all thought I posted in the wrong section? 😆  

Planet Models 1:48 of the one-off racer airplane Bugatti 100P, I found at the IPMS Nationals in CO.  I haven't done a thing for a couple months, wanted to call today a vacation, and build something quick.  It's a brick, the two engines would have been fun.  No seams or gaps like the typical airplane model.   No decals, so I might finish it.  But then again, I just can't build box stock anymore.

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Flickr: Stu Carr

Not many parts.  The vacuum-formed canopy is duplicated, so that was nice of them.  The instructions have only blue and black for color references, but the box art is color, so I needed to figure out the interior which appears red, wheel wells must be light blue.
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Spent some time looking for bubble holes, there are many.  The landing gear is white metal; I have filed, sanded, steel wool and Dremel wire brushed one here.
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The exhausts needed to be fixed, going to use steel tubing.
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Spotted a detail that was overlooked.  How anyone can miss this, is beyond me.  The box art has it, pictures I found of the plane at the Oshkosh museum shows it.  Made from aluminum newspaper printing plate.  Also added the tailwheel.
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Fun to do a model that can be painted the same day.  Tamiya primer to start.  Gloss black, then Alclad polished aluminum.
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Now I'm irked.  I used a magnifying glass to look over the body, still missed an area.  Then the propellers shouted about bubbles, on both sides. 🤬
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Enough whining, it's typical of resin.

Edited by 89AKurt
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Absolutely astonishing air speed record pre WWII aircraft.  Looks like it would be at home in a F1 air race today!

I was not surprised by the post at all.  I have been working on a 1/24 scale Fisher models version for many years.  Kind of one of those really long term projects that gets interrupted by life.  I have a ton of research on this. You showed the prop blades.  One little bit of information. Besure when you mount them that the inner and outer are in opposite pitch.  The propellers are counter rotating. 

Good luck and it is great to see one getting built!

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1 hour ago, Pete J. said:

Absolutely astonishing air speed record pre WWII aircraft.  Looks like it would be at home in a F1 air race today!

I was not surprised by the post at all.  I have been working on a 1/24 scale Fisher models version for many years.  Kind of one of those really long term projects that gets interrupted by life.  I have a ton of research on this. You showed the prop blades.  One little bit of information. Be sure when you mount them that the inner and outer are in opposite pitch.  The propellers are counter rotating. 

Good luck and it is great to see one getting built!

Thanks for the comment.  Yes on the blades, but I'm wondering if the forward set are slightly longer.

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1 hour ago, 89AKurt said:

Thanks for the comment.  Yes on the blades, but I'm wondering if the forward set are slightly longer.

All the research I have says they are the same variable pitch prop that the pitch is adjustable on the ground only, so they would have set them in opposite directions.  By the way, you know that it never flew right?

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3 hours ago, Pete J. said:

All the research I have says they are the same variable pitch prop that the pitch is adjustable on the ground only, so they would have set them in opposite directions.  By the way, you know that it never flew right?

Been awhile since I saw a video, think someone built a replica, in flight.   There is also a large r/c plane, with one prop.

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10 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Thanks for the comment.  Yes on the blades, but I'm wondering if the forward set are slightly longer.

I wonder since the front blades attach to the smaller diameter part of the cone, they are made longer, so that the total diameter of both propellers will end up being the same?

That is one slick looking aircraft.  It has very eye pleasing lines.

Edited by peteski
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1 hour ago, peteski said:

I wonder since the front blades attach to the smaller diameter part of the cone, they are made longer, so that the total diameter of both propellers will end up being the same?

That is one slick looking aircraft.  It has very eye pleasing lines.

What I was thinking.  It's really pretty slick, impractical, and they were thinking of a fighter.

Now color of wheel bays?  Interior, seat is red, looks like the whole interior tub is.  Nice dash detail.  Propeller gearbox molded in, thinking of aluminum brushed on, not a favorite thing for me.  I'm also thinking of sacrilege, racing stripes.  🤫

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11 hours ago, peteski said:

I wonder since the front blades attach to the smaller diameter part of the cone, they are made longer, so that the total diameter of both propellers will end up being the same?

That is one slick looking aircraft.  It has very eye pleasing lines.

On the real aircraft the blades would be the same length because they are the same propeller attached to a central hub.  Having said that on the model they may be shorter because the blades are attached to the faring but the diameter across the  blades should be the same.  It is a bit of a conundrum because of model attachment vs. real attachments. You should make them look corrects. 

 

10 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

What I was thinking.  It's really pretty slick, impractical, and they were thinking of a fighter.

Now color of wheel bays?  Interior, seat is red, looks like the whole interior tub is.  Nice dash detail.  Propeller gearbox molded in, thinking of aluminum brushed on, not a favorite thing for me.  I'm also thinking of sacrilege, racing stripes.  🤫

 Here is a web site that should give you a better view of the components you asked about.  https://www.eaa.org/eaa-museum/museum-collection/aircraft-collection-folder/1938-bugatti-model-100-racer This is the one and only original.  The instrument panel is actually engine turned aluminum.  The airframe is all an exotic balsa plywood.  Most of the farings are aluminum.  Interestingly the Bugatti 50A engines differed from their regular race car engines in that the block was magnizium. The engines were "mirror" images.  I use the term mirror because Bugatti reversed the flow across the heads and the engines ran in opposite directions.  There was a drive shaft for each that ran on either side of the pilot to the gear box in front.   For 1938 this was a crazy advanced aircraft!

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16 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Been awhile since I saw a video, think someone built a replica, in flight.   There is also a large r/c plane, with one prop.

Yes, correct.  Scotty Wilson created a replica to see if it would fly. You can google his name and Bugatti for more details.   Because of the fact that bugatti engines are rare, cost in excess of $1,000,000 each if you can find them and the original magnesium ones are long lost, he powered it with a pair of Kawasaki motorcycle engines.  That was the fatal flaw.  The aircraft crashed, killing Scotty, when the clutch failed on one of the engines.  The loss of half of the power and inadequate rudder authority  made the aircraft unflyable.  I had several e-mail discussions with Scotty when he was building the aircraft.  He had original blueprints and was kind enough to send me a copy of one of them to me showing the detail of the tail skid.  Very nice gentleman.  He and I both joined the Air Force at about the same time, but never met in person.   

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10 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

What I was thinking.  It's really pretty slick, impractical, and they were thinking of a fighter.

Now color of wheel bays?  Interior, seat is red, looks like the whole interior tub is.  Nice dash detail.  Propeller gearbox molded in, thinking of aluminum brushed on, not a favorite thing for me.  I'm also thinking of sacrilege, racing stripes.  🤫

This was never intended to be a fighter.  It was strictly an air speed record aircraft but I have seen people paint it like a fighter.  It actually is a very very small aircraft, with very little fuel for endurance, an no strength to stand the g forces of aerial combat. This was the "muscle car" of the era.  All designed for straight line speed. 

By the way, the red interior, is not period correct according to the restoration material I found somewhere.  The seat is correct but the rest including the wheel wells should be natural wood.  The red is a wood preservative used to prevent any further deterioration of the original aircraft.  I think most people look at this and expect that it is riveted aluminum on a monocoque frame.  The only exterior metal is the fairings around the wings, the air inlet on the top of the fuselage and the prop spinner.  Well, the gear doors are aluminum also. 😉

P.S. Perhaps you may have noticed I am a bit of a nut case when it comes to this aircraft!

Edited by Pete J.
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1 hour ago, Pete J. said:

This was never intended to be a fighter.  It was strictly an air speed record aircraft but I have seen people paint it like a fighter.  It actually is a very very small aircraft, with very little fuel for endurance, an no strength to stand the g forces of aerial combat. This was the "muscle car" of the era.  All designed for straight line speed. 

By the way, the red interior, is not period correct according to the restoration material I found somewhere.  The seat is correct but the rest including the wheel wells should be natural wood.  The red is a wood preservative used to prevent any further deterioration of the original aircraft.  I think most people look at this and expect that it is riveted aluminum on a monocoque frame.  The only exterior metal is the fairings around the wings, the air inlet on the top of the fuselage and the prop spinner.  Well, the gear doors are aluminum also. 😉

P.S. Perhaps you may have noticed I am a bit of a nut case when it comes to this aircraft!

It's one reason I posted on this forum, appreciate the information!   I knew they used wood, was thinking the wheel wells should be tan and not aluminum.  The cockpit might as well be, except the seat.  I've been noticing there are no exhaust pipes on the museum plane, figured there were no engines.

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On 6/2/2021 at 1:50 PM, mustang1989 said:

Sleek bird and I'm liking the progress so far.

It looks faster than a Cessna. 😆

I painted a second coat, a little more thinner helped reduce orange peel.  I was hesitant to put tape on for masking, tried a purple tape that is less tacky, it's junk.  Sucked it up and brush painted the interior.
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Exhaust tips are done.  Used the Dremel disk to cut.  I should have worked on the fairings more, oh well.
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Cut the canopy out with the hot-wire.
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Sanded the edges, had a good fit, I thought.
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Bare Metal foil was used for the canopy frame.  Good thing it wasn't painted!  Blades were the last parts glued on.
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Had drilled holes for the landing gear, they expected you to just stick them on.  An annoying thing to assemble was the wheel well doors, it's just butt glued together.  Added the diagonal struts, cut coffee can steel so I wouldn't have to paint it.
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That was fun, to actually finish a model after not doing anything for a couple of months.  Planes are not my forte, didn't scribe panel lines, or do the painting black before the color, or weathering.  Now that it's summer, fingerprints are the demon.  I couldn't imagine trying to land this, you have to look sideways!

Edited by 89AKurt
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Very nice finished kit.  1:48th scale???? That is tiny!  I don't think most people will get that.  It finally dawned on me when I saw the end of the sanding stick.  You should shoot a photo with a ruler so people will understand what a find build this is.  My 1:24 scale one is about the size of a regular 1: 48 scale airplane. 

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3 hours ago, Pete J. said:

Very nice finished kit.  1:48th scale???? That is tiny!  I don't think most people will get that.  It finally dawned on me when I saw the end of the sanding stick.  You should shoot a photo with a ruler so people will understand what a find build this is.  My 1:24 scale one is about the size of a regular 1: 48 scale airplane. 

Thanks!  Good idea with the ruler.  You can post pictures of yours, I wold like to see it.

2 hours ago, cobraman said:

Looks great, I like it !

Much appreciated!

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Kurt has done a very nice job of the Planet Models kit in 1/48th scale.

I have recently built the Fisher 1/24th scale model with engine detail. It is a very nice kit but there is no way that the engine cover will fit with the engines installed, so best left displayed off the model.

There were a couple of issues whereby one of the tail fins was distorted and part of the engine cover. This was sorted out by dipping the affected parts in very hot water and carefully bending back into shape. One has to be very careful not to immerse those parts in the hot water for too long.

Also the model is quite weighty when built and I felt that the undercarriage was a weak point as the legs have no reinforcing metal rod moulded into them for strength. The kit parts would have been prone to breakage if the completed model had an accidental sideways knock. I replaced the kit undercarriage with scratch built items from aluminium.

Fisher made a secondary kit run with no engines with the engine cover moulded in situ in the top half of the fuselage.   

Alas Paul Fisher suffered a disastrous fire that destroyed his house and workshops shortly after the kits were released. I sincerely hope that his business may be resurrected at some time having to start all over again.

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On 6/7/2021 at 12:15 PM, Bugatti Fan said:

Kurt has done a very nice job of the Planet Models kit in 1/48th scale.

I have recently built the Fisher 1/24th scale model with engine detail. It is a very nice kit but there is no way that the engine cover will fit with the engines installed, so best left displayed off the model.

There were a couple of issues whereby one of the tail fins was distorted and part of the engine cover. This was sorted out by dipping the affected parts in very hot water and carefully bending back into shape. One has to be very careful not to immerse those parts in the hot water for too long.

Also the model is quite weighty when built and I felt that the undercarriage was a weak point as the legs have no reinforcing metal rod moulded into them for strength. The kit parts would have been prone to breakage if the completed model had an accidental sideways knock. I replaced the kit undercarriage with scratch built items from aluminium.

Fisher made a secondary kit run with no engines with the engine cover moulded in situ in the top half of the fuselage.   

Alas Paul Fisher suffered a disastrous fire that destroyed his house and workshops shortly after the kits were released. I sincerely hope that his business may be resurrected at some time having to start all over again.

I'm okay with you to post pictures of that.  Sad how he lost everything, I'm lucky to have his BAT kit.

I'm wrapping up this topic with "studio" pictures.  It would look really crude at an IPMS contest, bet nobody else would set one down. 😅

 

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On 6/15/2021 at 2:18 PM, mustang1989 said:

Very VERY interesting and cool build. Never seen one of these before this thread.

Thanks for the comment.  I love discovering things I never knew about, one positive about the internet.  Forgot where I first saw this plane, but when I saw the kit, didn't have to think about getting it.

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