GTMust Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) A while back I found these pictures of a 1913 Mercer racer and just had to build it in miniature! Starting with a 1/32 scale Highway Pioneers kit from the '50's, Here are a few photos of progress along the way to the finished model: And here's the finished model: Hope you like. Edited June 12, 2011 by GTMust
Harry P. Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 Another winner! You're making these simplified kits look incredible.
sjordan2 Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 That looks at least as good as - and maybe better than - the 1/16 Lindberg 1914 Stutz and Mercedes racers, as well as the 1/16 Aurora Mercer and Stutz kits.
Jim Gibbons Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 Wow, another great build! It's a pleasure to see your vintage iron models; I hope you have many more to show us.
charlie8575 Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 Tony, I'm really enjoying watching these builds come along. I look forward to each of them. Charlie Larkin
GTMust Posted June 13, 2011 Author Posted June 13, 2011 Thanks folks, Get ready.... there are a lot more where these came from, but I don't want to dominate the forum so I'll spread them out a bit. Soon I'll also be posting a "work in progress" of one of these 1/32 scale Pyro or Highway Pioneers kits.... if I can decide which one! Tony
GTMust Posted June 13, 2011 Author Posted June 13, 2011 Hi Skip, I have an unbuilt Pyro Bentley like your kit. I already built the Airfix version when I was very young(?), and still have it, so I've not been inspired to build the Pyro one....YET! I'm not familiar with the Bentley from the James Bond book (which one?..... was there a movie version?). The bodies on the Bentleys (apart from the hood) were a canvas type material over a wood frame so I'm not sure how the finish would have looked. I know that John Steed drove one in the original British TV series "The Avengers" while "Mrs. Peel" chased around in her black leathers in a couple of Lotus's (an Elite and an Elan if I remember correctly). Sounds like an interesting project though....... Tony
GTMust Posted June 13, 2011 Author Posted June 13, 2011 Hey Skip..... your post disappeared... what happened to it? Tony
sjordan2 Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 Hey Skip..... your post disappeared... what happened to it? Tony Actually, I removed the Bentley post because the deeper I got into it, the more it looked like the Bond car really wasn't a Le Mans Blower Bentley like the model kits. It turns out it was a convertible coupe version like the image below. I'd thought for many years, since it was described in Casino Royale as a 4.5L Blower Bentley that it would be like the kit or John Steed's car. Here's a 4.5L Blower Bentley convertible coupe, probably the kind described in the first 3 Bond books, though it should be a shabby battleship grey project car...
GTMust Posted June 13, 2011 Author Posted June 13, 2011 AHHHH... now that's a nice car! Wonder if I could could combine the hood and radiator from the Pyro Bentley with the body of the Pyro Rolls Royce Sedanca Coupe. Have to check it out. Tony
sjordan2 Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 AHHHH... now that's a nice car! Wonder if I could could combine the hood and radiator from the Pyro Bentley with the body of the Pyro Rolls Royce Sedanca Coupe. Have to check it out. Tony Yeah, at whatever scale it's going to take a lot of kit bashing. From the cowling back, it looks like the Revell 1/16 Phantom II, and the 1/32 Sedanca might be just the ticket, since it's so similar. The best donors are probably all in 1/24. Too bad there isn't a 1/16 Bentley, because the radiator shell is the biggest issue. On the other hand, here's a totally scratchbuilt version of the Bond car in the book
GTMust Posted June 13, 2011 Author Posted June 13, 2011 A very accurate, well built, detailed model....... hmmmmmmm!
sjordan2 Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 (edited) Was the convertible coupe really what Ian Fleming meant? Probably so, since he was an avid car enthusiast and owned many glitzy cars during his life (his favorite was the Avanti). But one can't be blamed for mistakenly thinking he meant the Le Mans version. A 3-litre racer was driven by David Niven as Sir James Bond (one of three or four Bonds played by Woody Allen, Peter Sellers, et al) in the satirical 1967 version of Casino Royale), and he posed in what looks like a Le Mans version for the cover of LIFE magazine (though the fenders and windscreen indicate it may actually be a convertible coupe): Plus, the illustrations for his "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" were clearly based on a racing Bentley: Is this thread thoroughly hijacked yet? Edited June 13, 2011 by sjordan2
Harry P. Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 Is this thread thoroughly hijacked yet? As long as we're still talking about classic cars it's all good...
sjordan2 Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 BINGO!! I believe I found the car that Ian Fleming had in mind for James Bond – or at least the closest example. This article by the car's owner, with fuzzy pictures: http://www.carsablanca.de/Oldtimer-Youngtimer/bentley-blower-4-1-2-litre-supercharged
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