Airfix 1/12th scale Blower bentley

I built this model a while ago now for a guy in England.
I built the car to replicate the #18 car Driven by Tim Birkin in the 1931 French Grand Prix .
The car had to be stripped to meet race requirments of that time .
All the fenders ,horns and headlights were removed from the real car as has been faithfully replicated on the model.
I machined a set of brass wire wheels fully detailed and plumbed the engine correctly , the cockpit dashboard has been replaced with an Aluminium scrapped panel and all the Instruments have been machined from brass .
All the hand brake leavers have been scratchbuilt and function correctly , the door opens and shuts with the correct locking mechanics.
The list goes on.............










Thanks for looking
Sean

Beautiful example of your fine workmanship and detailing Sean. This Bentley is a favourite of mine and although Airfix didn't get it quite right, it still is a remarkable model even when built straight from the box.

Your wire wheels really add a final touch of authenticity to the kit's weakest point. It's a shame Airfix didn't continue with their big scale series - I believe they slated an Alfa Romeo 2300 as their next model in that series, but it never came to fruition.

I had heard that it would have made for an impressive model.
On the subject of could have been wouldn't it have been nice if Pocher had released a blower Bentley ??? Now that would have been nice sigh if only !!

very nice build

Last year I emailed Hornby Models to enquire about their Pocher plans (Hornby own the Pocher dies and name). Their reply indicated Pocher would return in 2009 or 2010, with a limited range of cars to start with. I took that to mean the Ferrari and Porsche models would return before the classics? Whether the classics wire wheels will be retained is another guess, as they may be replaced with fully moulded plastic ones instead? Here's hoping for a Pocher triumphant return soon.

Nice work Sean. I'm not really familiar with this type of car, but it looks very well done. Would love to try a large scale model at some point, but I'm scared I wouldn't know where to stop when it came to detailing...

Bryce the beauty of detailing large scale cars is it doesn't matter how much detail you incorporate into a build you can never add too much , just cut sick and go for it mate!

tezza43 wrote:Last year I emailed Hornby Models to enquire about their Pocher plans (Hornby own the Pocher dies and name). Their reply indicated Pocher would return in 2009 or 2010, with a limited range of cars to start with. I took that to mean the Ferrari and Porsche models would return before the classics? Whether the classics wire wheels will be retained is another guess, as they may be replaced with fully moulded plastic ones instead? Here's hoping for a Pocher triumphant return soon.

Terry I fail to see how Hornby will ever reproduce the classics again the costs involved would be too great?
and if they ever did the metal wire wheels would definatly be out of the question , back when Pocher were still just in buisiness they introduced the plastic spoked wheels to the Mercedes because of cost cutting.

The Exotic cars are basicly just a large plastic kit with very little metal components used , they look impressive when built but are very simplified with detail .
I've built several of the F40's and Porsches which I wasn't overly impressed with Detail wise and the Porsche is in my opinion an over priced oversized Burrago Model.

Yes Sean your concerns about Hornby's future Pocher production make sense and I agree with your summation of the later Pocher sports cars, because I built one of each for Zimbler P/L, who were Pocher distributors. I am only repeating the information received from Hornby.

Of course Hornby may change their minds and not go ahead with it, (I hope not), but I believe there will always exist an exclusive market for Pocher models - secondhand examples bring top money on Ebay. Like yourself I think the real wire wheels will be a thing of the past, but anything is possible in this crazy world of model building.

However businesses such as yours could make aftermarket wire wheels for the classic models if and when they return.

Hi Modelmaker. I am just starting to build my Airfix 1/12 Blower Bentley. I don't think I can do as good as yours though. Just a couple of questions.

How did you hinge the centre of the bonnet? as Airfix don't seem to make any provision to do this.

Did you make the stone guard over the carbies as this doesn't seem to be included in the kit?

What brand of paint did you use and what colour is it? I don't want to use British Green as I think it is too dark

Thanks for letting me pick your brain.........Frank

Frank I'm not sure how often Modelmaker checks this forum, but you may have more luck contacting him on this email:

carol012@bigpond.com

tezza43 wrote:Frank I'm not sure how often Modelmaker checks this forum, but you may have more luck contacting him on this email:

Thanks for that tezza. I seem to have got the names a bit mixed up there.

Frank sorry for the late reply I don't get on the net much lately if at all just been to busy .
Sorry if you guys have been trying to contact me but my email address has changed slightly try model.maker@hotmail.com and I'll attempt to help anyway I can , currently I'm doing another customer build of the same kit but a fendered version this time and again for the same customer!

Sean