Warszawa M-20

[Mr.Zombie]

Good evening! Or good morning, depends of where you are right now.

Today I have somethin' special for you. Candy. Yessir. Few of you will know that car, if any, it's a 1957 Warszawa M-20 made by FSO in Poland. The original car is a licensed russian Gaz, also called Pobeda (victory), which was apparently inspired or copied (who knows?) by a 1940ies Ford. I'd say inspired, because fact is that not a single bit and bolt from a Frod fits this cars. The original was propelled by a Flathead straigt four with about 50+ HP and features typical 1940ies automobile thinking.

For me, being half polish, it was a huge news when a while back some newspaper guys introduced a series of cars that were either used in Poland back in the days, or manufactured there. The Idea is that for about 6 bucks you can get a magazine and a 1:43 model of a car, and it appears every two months I think.

Well, knowing that there is no chance that this car will ever appear as a model kit in 1:24/25, I of course bid on this magazine on an auction, not knowing how the model itself will look like. And to be honest, I didn't care whatsoever, I knew that once I got my fingers on it, I will make it work.

Amazingly enough, that thing is gorgeous, the bodylines are one of the best I've ever seen, and the detail on it was crisp and delicate.

Of course there was a ton of stuff I wanted to change, since it is a quite simple die-cast display model, so I begann with taking it apart and redoing the paintjob after I scrub down the original paint with help of braking fluid. After some coats in the original color (what I regret, should have choosen another one), I gave it a scale polish, and a wash to show all body gaps and contours. I rechromed the bumpers after I cleaned them from excess flash and BMF all the details that are chromed on the real car. Was a horrible job since that thing is about a quarter of the size I am used to.

I also changed the wheels to way better ones I had lying around and scratchbuild some details like wipers and whatnot, I tried to add something to the interior, but after putting everything back together there is not much you can see anyhow.

I also inked every single doorgap and the grille, just to add some contrasts and shadows, so needed in such a small scale.

After all dried I simply screw it back together and there you go!

Please keep in mind, this thing is tiny, maybe 3 Inches long...

Thanks! Have a great weekend!

[Dr. Cranky]

That's one clean, well-built model. Congratulations. The color fits it perfectly too.