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This
is an Airfix Bentley Blower 4.5L race car.
I
have a love hate relationship with this kit.
It
took me over a year, off and on, to finish it.
I
swear almost every part needed special attention. You couldn't
just glue a part on and move to the next one. Each part
needed to be finessed, sanded, modified, etc.
First:
the love.
I've
seen one of these cars up close in a museum, and it just
made them even more awesome than I previously thought. It's
just an amazing car.
The
engine in the model, while basic, was one of my favorite
assemblies to build and paint. The chasis isn't bad, and
other parts were ok as far as passable in this scale for
such an unusual car.
The
size of the model makes the kit even more magnificient.
This is a kit I've always wanted for many years, and I bought
this one as soon as it was reissued.
Now
the hate:
I
broke many fine thin parts on this kit as I went along.
I don't know if it was the plastic or me, but parts were
broken, and I had to repair them or just flat out fabricate
new ones. There were too many times I just had to walk away
from it in frustration.
Just
as a note, you have to be extremely careful if you handle
the model. Thin parts tend to fall off if you touch them.
Overall:
I
intially wanted to add more details than the kit had. For
instance, there should be a lot of wiring, tubing, etc.
between the dash and the firewall. As Airfix has it, there's
nothing there but a big wide gap. There were other areas
I wanted to spruce up some, but reference was sorely lacking,
specifically on the internet. I don't have easy access to
a real Bentley, and the few books on them are expensive.
So
I gave up on the idea.
I
intended to remove the plastic leather straps on the leaf
springs and re-wrap them with some leather (or similiar
scale) material, but I couldn't find a single image of the
springs on a real car for reference, so I gave up on that
as well.
The
windscreen frame broke into several pieces, and I was unable
to replicate that thin part. So it's absent from the car
(not that the average person would notice, the windshield
is usally folded down on the real cars).
Being
a race car, I weathered it with mild washes on the engine
and chalks / dust on the car it self. I find this much better
looking than a pristine example of the model as most modelers
do.
I
display the car with one side of the hood removed to see
the engine. It's been a while since I built it, so there's
some atmospheric dust here and there on the kit that has
gathered from time.
I
wish this car could be done again with modern tooling. And
add the parts to finish it (such as the details behind the
dash).
I
won't build this kit again, but I still love the car, and
for the most part, I'm fond of the model. It's quite impressive
when done.
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