In-Progress - Bugatti Royale

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I'll try to get some more pics up soon - the underside is now looking much more complete as the fuel tank and the transmission (which is glued to the underside of the floor, not the chassis ) are now in place.

Many thanks for the tips to get the body to fit properly - much appreciated. I'd forgotten about wing piping!! I'll probably tweak / sand the body edges to get the fit as good as possible, and then if necessary, use piping to hide the gap if it's still noticable. What would you recommend as being the best material for it?

Fully agree with you about these 1:16 kits - the subject matter is great & most aren't available in other scales. Along with the Heller prewar / classic cars, these have to be my favourite kits. I've several more Bandais that I've yet to build - '37 Packard 12 Roadster (definately one of their best - it's so much more detailed than the Bugatti, with things like individual U bolts for attaching the back axle!),'10 Thomas Flyabout & '08 R-R Silver Ghost balloon car. I've already built the '13 Mercer Raceabout (shown earlier in the thread) which is a nice kit, but very fiddly to paint all the black stripes on the body - that reminds me, I ought to post up some decent pics! That & the Bugatti have been quite challenging sometimes but in a good way. However, they are still well detailed, & when new must have been quite special! However, I won't be buying any more as I've enough kits now to keep me busy for a very long time.....

Paul

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Your query re piping (that's the word I was trying to think of - 'tubing' DOH!).

For 1/16 on that car DetailMaster DM-1422 1inch coolent hose should be about right. In 1/16 scale that would make it about 1/2 inch which maybe a bit small on the real car but would look about right in miniature.

Have you added piping before? It's a nerve wracking process because it comes right at the end of the build when you have a nicely polished body and one slip can smear glue (trust me - I've done it! - smeared I mean).

There have to be many ways to get around it of course but the way I find best is to take your start point with the piping and with a piece of thin wire dab a spot of CA glue and set the piping at the start point - then, again with a spot of CA on the wire dab another small amount on the body about an inch further along and stretch the piping until it takes hold. By this time there will be a build up of glue on the wire so cut it off and for the next dab of glue, about an inch further again, use the clean end dipped in the glue. Work like this all around, stretching the piping and letting it take hold with each dab of glue. Keep the wire as clean as possible because it is easy for it to slip if you have too much CA, so everytime it gets a bit clogged cut the end off and use the clean end again.

Hope that makes a bit of sense and helps a little. As they say ' it works for me'

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Time for an update - yes, I am still building it!

After much work, especially repairing where the left hand 'B' pillar repeatedly broke , I have now mounted the body to the chassis. This was an absolute pain, as a slight warp in the body meant that I had to use plenty of superglue, and hold the body in place whilst it dried However, it was worth it as there is no longer a gap between the body and the rear wings (as per a previous post) - in fact it fits ok now and I would expect a new (ie unwarped) one to be a good fit. The fitment of the doors to the body was quite straight forward, even though I have also had to repair one of the hinges due to the model falling off my desk..... , but it's almost there now

Enough talk - here's some pics!






And with the bonnet, radiator and lights in place (still to be fitted properly as I'm sorting out the bonnet hinges & fitment)





And next to my 1:24 Cord, to show the size


Still to do - fit all lights, a few underbonnet details, bonne, radiator and pain the red band on the wheels - I'm not looking forward to the last one. Oh, and find space for it on the shelf....

And here's a taster of something I painted earlier today