Paul H

Cheers guys, very much appreciated

I'm halfway through building the P1800 kit, although it is going quite slowly as I'm having to learn & perfect the necessary scratch-building skills as I go along... It was the first Airtrax kit that I bought, but I'm very pleased with it and so have since bought both Volvo Amazon kits*, and also the Jag Mk10 / 420G. *the saloon / sedan will probably be converted into a Coune cabriolet, the estate / wagon will be built up to match my 1:1 car

Is there an aftermarket supplier for a Vee screen (I think Duvall is one of the 'brand' names?) suitable for a Revell '32 Ford kit? I saw one in a build thread the other day, and the donor was the AMT Phantom Victoria kit, but pretty sure that I've also seen an aftermarket one somewhere, but can't find any details... Many thanks!

Almost certainly not definitive, but here are the 1:16 '30s car kits that I know of: Bandai: '37 Packard 12 Roadster '37 Packard 12 Formal Sedan Bugatti T41 Royale Binder Coupe de Ville Revell Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca - very recently re-released by Revell Germany I think that there was also a '33/34 Ford coupe and phaeton - not sure exactly which ones though, but think that they were hot rod / street rod. There is also a Rolls-Royce Phantom III saloon / sedan in 1:16, but I'm not sure who made it. I built the Royale a while back, and also have the Packard roadster in my to build pile, should you want any info on those two kits.

Some UK stuff - especially a Riley MPH, would be really great! The only prewar UK cars I've seen kitted in plastic are a few R-Rs and a Bentley 4.5 litre. Unlikely to happen though, so I'll just have to make my own. However, of the US stuff, the '39 Lincoln Zephyr also gets my vote. Plenty of scope there for stock builds as well as customs. Btw, has anyone done a kit of the Chrysler Airflow?

With very careful masking, it actually works surprisingly well. I built one of these about eight years ago, long before I discovered forums such as this (& the invaluable FAQs, tips etc) when I was still very much a novice. It's not a bad kit at all, and the multipart body didn't cause any problems, even though it was only about the third or fourth kit I'd built (ignoring my childhood disasters). The only thing I would criticise about it is the wheels, as the rims fit very proud of the sidewalls, which doesn't look right. Incidentally, the rolling chassis has better detailed than the 1:16 540K kit (I think made by Gakken or similar) but I can't compare it to the Monogram versions as I haven't built those.

Looking good - can't wait to see more! Managed to find the blueprint again online: http://carblueprints.info/blueprints/bugatti/bugatti-royale-esders.gif I was, but had to have a clear out of model kits recently (still ongoing....) for space reasons, so I no longer have the donor kit. However, if the one that I built several years ago ever meets a mishap, depending on the damage (the body on these kits is notoriously weak & mine has already had several repairs), it may well end up being rebodied as an Esders replica....

Great to see this after your other T41 builds I think that I have some blueprints for the Esders body (I was going to use them for a 1:16 conversion) - will check on my home computer later. If you'd like a copy, please send me a message with your email address

Thanks for the info on the kits. The Esders chassis wasn't destroyed - it was rebodied as the Binder Coupe de Ville. The Esders roadster in Mulhouse is a recreation using genuine Bugatti parts.

Wow. Don't know what else to say, other than it's really great to see this beautiful model of such an iconic car. It could pass for the real thing in those excellent photos!

Fantastic set of models, and great subject matter! The interiors look especially good. I know that the first two are Italeri, but who makes the cabriolet kit? I've always thought that it would be an excellent basis for building a model of the Esders roadster, or is that already your next project? I built a Bandai / Entex 1:16 Binder Coupe de Ville kit several years ago, but the Coupe Napoleon is so much more elegant. One of the UK old car mags had a couple of articles years ago about someone who build a replica of the Coupe Napoleon, at about 5/8th scale, using a different model Bugatti chassis (I think it was a T50) as the starting point, but cant remember which Bugatti version provided the engine. Even that was a large car, which puts the huge size of the T41 in perspective...

As well as producing their own products, Airfix reboxed kits from quite a few different manufacturers, It may be that this tooling is originally from somewhere else, e.g Heller, or possibly a Japanese manufacturer.

Cheers! Very good to hear, as the level of detail appears to be one of Fujimi's craziest efforts!

If that is something you ever want to attempt, I'm pretty sure that I have a very good profile blueprint of the S Type, which I reckon would be invaluable for such a conversion - PM me your email & I'll send it over to you. Btw, a Heller E Type kit would provide an excellent IRS too (I'm using one for the Airtrax Jag Mk10 that's in my to build pile) the one under the recently re-released Revell roadster is far too chunky.

Btw, before you corrected the top, the whole front screen is a dead ringer for that on a Facel Vega II. When I took my Volvo Amazon to my restoration guru for a few things before the MOT last month, there was a Facel II next to it in his workshop - it took me a while to realise where it was that I'd seen that screen shape recently.

Mmmm - if they did a Riley Elf, then that would save me having to make my own!! Other possible Mini variants would be a Broadspeed coupe, or Traveller / Countryman, all three of which I imagine would sell well in Japan. Another possible & more obscure Tamiya conversion would be turning the Jag Mk2 into a Mk1. I'm tempted to try that one myself anyway, as the alterations required are relatively simple (in fact my research shows the changes required to be less extensive than I originally thought). Mine would be on steels & fully spatted though, for the full design purity. Would also look good displayed (as the missing link) between a Revellogram XK120 & a Tamiya Mk2

Really enjoying reading the progress in this thread - this is the first fully detailed write-up I've seen of this kit. Given the insane parts count, is everything still fitting and aligning correctly?

That looks very interesting - cheers for the write-up. I wonder if this means we may see other 2CV variants, whether a much earlier 2CV (with the ripple bonnet) or even something more exotic such as a Mehari or a Bijou.

Fantastic to see this finished! Brilliant work, and will be a great inspiration when I get around to completing mine

Ha - yes, I had noticed from this and some of your builds on another forum! Really enjoying the updates on this, and as the photos on Revell's website aren't the most flattering (tbh looks like it was just thrown together in a hurry.....) it is good to see the full potential of this kit being properly realised. E.g. the wheels and tyres look so much better than I expected based on Revell's pics - is it just the Alclad, or have you also used a wash to bring out the detail on the hubcaps / wheel trims? Also good to hear about the wheel fitment, as the loose wheel to hub mountings was the one thing that really annoyed me about the Tamiya I built a while back.

Oh yes!!! Fantastic execution of a very cool idea! B) Btw, when I saw the title, I was expecting to see a build of the old Renwal Revival kit, but this is much more interesting & a very pleasant surprise

Great work! These are one of my favourite '50s designs (so sleek for '53), and this one looks fantastic!

That looks stunning! Can't wait to seeing more - this and the other current Tiger thread are the only ones I've seen of this kit. Btw, what wheels & tyres are you using? The tyres look like the wider ones from the kit, but they are very wide - if it is these, did you need to modify the inner wheelarches to get them to fit?

Looking great - can't wait to see the final result! Excellent - cheers for the info! Btw, are those pics from the relevant 'Original' book? They're a great series - I have the one for my '61 Sprite (which will one day see the road again...) & several other ones as reference info for a few of model kits that I'll build one day. I could have sworn that the Tamiya Morris that I built a while back has both brake & clutch master cylinders. The inlet was imho a decent representation of the atrociously poor flowing log manifold used by BMC, so from, what you say, it sounds like the Revell engine is really well detailed (due to the small size, and larger than life photos, I'm finding it difficult to truly judge what it is like). Quick question though - what things (if any) do you feel that the Tamiya does better? As a result of your build, I'm very tempted to get one of the Revell kits even though I have several Tamiyas, even though I'm trying not to buy any more kits until I've built the ones that I already have!

I have that & also the van version - both look pretty good. Heller did loads of other '30s cars that no one else has kitted yet at this scale e.g. a BMW 328, Bugatti T50, Delahaye, Delage & also a Citroen Traction Avant, which would complement the ICM kits nicely. The latter is already available in several other military scales (as both the German forces in France and the French resistance used them), & has recently been reissued so should be easily available. As is usual for Hellers of that era, they are full detail. Perhaps not as refined or intricate as ICM's offerings, but very good for their age - iirc, many of that series were first issued in the '70s.