1927 Delage 1.5ltr, Auto-Kits, 1/24

[stavanzer]

Wow!

What a piece of work. This is a real Model, not Shake-and-Bake.

Can't wait to see how it looks when finished.

Alan

[Matt Bacon]

On 6/18/2024 at 12:50 PM, Pierre Rivard said:

Looks promising Matt. Any thoughts on what type of primer will work good over white metal?

I’m going to use Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, which worked perfectly well on the Silver Ghost. I’ll do a test and if there are any issues I’ll use Halfords (auto repair shop) Primer for real car paint. The real trick is to get the body properly clean.

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

Slow progress, but progress...

That's the first round of fill, prime and sand completed. I doubt it will be the last!

best,

M

 

[stavanzer]

Looks Good So far, Matt.

[Matt Bacon]

Got some Tamiya French Blue paint on, and couldn't resist a mock-up...

I think the black wheels will help disguise the relatively sparse spoke-work. It looks pretty toy-like at the minute, but I expect some detail painting and a touch of weathering will help with that!

The rod for my own back here is that for the cover image this Delage obviously needs a driver. M. Benoist is a bit of a mix and match from the Fujimi 1/24 "Drivers" set (which to my mind could do with more drivers and fewer girls in swimsuits.... I've got Master Box for the lovely ladies...). He will remain 'armless until the steering wheel is ready to be fixed permanently, but at least his legs fit underneath, which is usually the first problem to be overcome...

best,

M.

 

[stavanzer]

That Bleu is the perfect colour for that car. Driver looks good too.

[absmiami]

What he said …

[Pierre Rivard]

Looks great Matt. The wheels painted black really look the part and adding some detailing will add tons of realism. Cool project!

Where did you find the driver figure? Looking for a good source for these.

[Matt Bacon]

On 7/1/2024 at 12:33 PM, Pierre Rivard said:

Where did you find the driver figure? Looking for a good source for these.

Thanks, Pierre… you and me both! The driver is from the Fujimi Drivers set (sometimes “Drivers and Mechanics”). For our purposes, there’s a guy in a racing suit, and another in shirtsleeves, with three heads with helmets of different eras and one without. Then there’s a driving girl and another one standing in a swimsuit! My Lotus XI has Stirling Moss driving (shirtsleeves and “flying helmet” style cap) and the Lola T70 has John Surtees (race suit and 1960s open helmet). Benoist here is the race suit and early helmet, and I can probably do something with shirtsleeves and the 60s helmet in one of the other builds in this series. But frankly I wish they’d just do a set with two of each of the male drivers sprues and six heads… I buy them whenever I see them on eBay.

Modeler’s in Japan made some good one in the ?90s?. Immense Miniatures did some excellent figures with interchangeable identifiable heads more recently, but they are Unobtanium these days. And I have a pair of Cox 1/24 slot race car drivers. But generally they are few and far between. An opportunity for a 3D printer and some resin casting, I would say.

best,

M.

 

Edited July 2, 2024 by Matt Bacon

[Matt Bacon]

Making progress:

There will now be a pause while I go away on holdiday, a reasonable way from the workbench, but...

I'll need to mess with focal length for photography, and background and props, but I think there's every chance I can get this to look reasonably like the Eagle cover...

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

Back from holiday, so time to crack on with this...

The front axle and steering components took some (very careful) straightening out and a good hard look at some reference images to get together... there are no positive locations for the parts and the instructions are pretty unclear. The steering wheel is a bit the worse for wear as a result of my first efforts to fit the driver. It's not glued in place because he has to go in first, and will be repainted where needed once that's all done (of which more later).

To take the weight off the wheels/axles, I've made a little perspex pillar (a trick I learned on the Silver Ghost). I make a cylinder of Blu-Tak (Silly Putty?) about 1cm in diameter and a bit taller than needed and press the car down onto it until the wheels are sitting on the mat. Pick the car up again and the Blu-Tak has squished to exactly the height you need your pillar to be. The pillar looks chunky in the first picture, but when it's under the car it's pretty unobtrusive.

I was trying to avoid having to do this, but the seating position of a 1927 driver with a wheel canted at 45 degrees is just too different from the low-seat, vertical wheel of a later race car for the Fujimi figure to fit without substantial re-animation. The elbows are cut, rounded and pinned with wire, and the shoulders are drilled. The shoulder wires are firmly fixed in the body, but the tops of the arms are free to rotate and slide in and out.

The process begins.

With M. Benoist gripping the wheel, I've applied gap-filling superglue to all the joints. It's not got to fill them, just hold them firmly in place when I remove the figure and the wheel. Then I can fill the gaps and re-sculpt the figure where needed using Milliput. Let's see how cleanly he emerges from the cockpit after the superglue has set really solid for 24 hours this evening...

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

The last thing I did last night was dust some microballoons onto the thick superglue to help the filling process and set the joints a bit more.

And here he is removed from the cockpit.... holding his pose quite nicely, I think.

Final sculpting and smoothing to come, but I'm letting the Milliput set solid with his hands back on the wheel to make certain an movement as I filled the big gaps has been readjusted so he retains his grip. Time to go and investigate the decal stash in search of appropriate numbers. And if that gets me nowhere, fonts to create masks.... at least the 2's don't have any closed loops!

best,

M.

[Pierre Rivard]

Fantastic technique on the driver "composition" and fabrication. I learned a lot watching how you pulled that off. I'm surprised you can remove and reinstall the driver as a whole from such a confined cockpit. Quite a feat.

[stavanzer]

Wow, your rebuilding of the driver is masterful.

[Bainford]

Looking really good, Matt. and so is M. Benoist following his reconstructive surgery. 

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, all... Sadly, a family bereavement has slowed things down this last week, but I'm back at the bench now.

I'm not completely convinced by the colors of suit and helmet from reference material, but he matches the Eagle cover, which is mostly what I'm aiming for!

Lots more finishing,  tidying and detailing to do, but I'm feeling reasonably confident it will come together as I want... Time to start the Vanwall in the background.

best,

M.

[Bainford]

A lovely vintage racer, and M. Benoist is looking pretty nifty in the cockpit. 

[Bugatti Fan]

It's coming off really well Matt.

Just shows what can be done with those old  1960's vintage Autokits white metal car kits.

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, both. I think this is the building pretty much complete...

And finally, starting to play about with the angles to reproduce the cover...

Time for a bit more paint, and to make up a badge!

best,

M.

 

[Pierre Rivard]

Pretty car and the driver figure adds a lot to it.

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks for following along, guys... that's it for the workbench, I think. Made my own stencils for the numbers, drybrushed on the radiator grille and hand painted on the sides (I figured that they'd have been painted on with whitewash on the race day for real, so didn't want to get too sophisticated...)

This one will be back in Under Glass once I've done some thinking and construction....

best,

M.

 

[stavanzer]

You've done a Fabulous Job, on this build!