Carlo.d

Many thanks to all of you.

Good day. The obvious translation of the Italian title is: Fiat 500 summer and winter. I already posted the wip concerning two different Fiat 500. Once I had the finished models on hand, I decided to show them together in a rather striking way. So I prepared a base divided in two parts, summer and winter. The summer part is a stone paved road with some grass and a fountain. The winter part have a stone post, a tabernacle typical of mountain small roads and, obviously, some snow. I am glad to report that this diorama received many praises and I am the proud holder of some gold medals in various local model contests.

To tell you the truth, the snow Is the easier part of the build. You just need vinyl glue Some baking soda And a tea strainer You just mix the glue with some water and brush it on the car. Then you spread the powder through the strainer. Once the glue is dry, you shake the model to remove the excess and you're done. With the brush you can easily choose the places where you want to leave the "snow".

And now..... Let it snow ! With judicious use of vinyl glue and baking soda I obtained a true snow storm. The wip is now completed. Thanks to everybody for your attention and support.

Thank you, friends. The skis are gone, now it's time to put them on the car. When I was young and impecunious, I simply put a normal roof rack and I tied the skis with some rubber bands. But for my model I decided to replicate a rack custom made for the Fiat 500. Here below you will find the car completed with the ski equipment. Later on i will prepare a proper base.

Well, you can't ski without skis. So I scratch built a couple of skis out of plasticard and the ski poles. This is a first trial. I wasn't completely happy with the result, so I produced some diy water slide decals with logos. Much better.

Well. The model is quite completed. But now let's go to the mountains. As I sad before, this wip is largely autobiographical. In the period when I was driving the 500, I lived in the outskirts of Venezia. From there, in a range of 100 / 150 KMS there are various ski resorts in the Dolomiti mountains. Such a distance was well suited to my small car, so that - money permitting - I often went there in the morning, spent a good day of skying and went back home in the evening. So my model must be well prepared to face the adversities of a winter journey. First of all, we need the snow chains. To make the snow chains I used some chains sourced from naval models and some small connectors coming from fishing tackles. The result was quite nice.

Here is the body just painted. The roof will be closed, I'm going to the mountains.

Good day. Here are some pictures of the interiors. Just like to point out the marvelous naivety of the dashboard: one switch for the lights, one switch for the tergi and the keyhole. That's all. Just plain sheet metal, no padding whatsoever (obviously no seat belts either) and the windscreen washer activated by a small manual pump: a rubber button to be pressed vigorously in order to spray a feeble jet of water !

Painted the seats and the door cards. The colours are correct enough. Obviously in this case you don't have any colour code as a reference, so I used some pictures from the net and my memory.

Last, don't forget that Italeri made a nice kit for the Abarth.

Another variant is the giardinetta, a minimal station wagon. To get a roomier cargo space the engine was modified to reduce his height. I was thinking to realize the giardinetta, but this Is a rather complicated mod, involving heavy changes: roof, rear door, longer wheelbase.

Khier, i appreciate your intention to make several variants. I may actually produce a 500 L, the luxury model. It's quite easy to do, the main difference being the bumpers with some tubular additions. On the inside the seats and dashboard gave a better appeal to this small car. It is interesting to point out that the tube on the bumpers were there just for show, they were rather weak and easy to break. The 500 L was very popular as a second car or as a gift for wealthy students. The seats were folding back, so really useful for covert night activities.

As I said, this is a autobiographical model, so my 500 had to be painted in original colour. To avoid any mistake, I found the proper colour code as supplied by one of Fiat 500 owners Club. The colour is "Celeste acquamarina", roughly translated as seawater light blue. I had one spray bottle custom mixed in a local shop and I was quite happy with the result.

Bugatti Fan, nice memories. By the way, I confirm that the kit can be done in both right and left hand drive. All pieces, including UK plates, are in the box.