Alfa Romeo 159 "Alfetta"

[mattbacon]

...from a Smer box, bought painlessly and very reasonably from Modelimex. This is being build for a display of classic British kits, representing Merit from the 1950s, so I'm doing it "old school" without any aftermarket.

Here's the box 'o' bits:



Not the best presented kit in the world, I'll agree, but what's there looks pretty much the right shape.



A pretty large proportion of the parts go to making up the engine! This is only the main block - there's a supercharger, radiator and so on still to come.



This is the engine trial fitted in the (three-part) body. The only addition I've made is the supercharger air intake trunking, made from softened, bent and sanded sprue (it's a good job the runners are so thick!). Not all the Alfettas had this arrangement, which excuses the fact that it's missing (a much shorter intake is provided), but I thought it looked cool, and it's what the cars in my reference images have...



And here's the body finally assembled. It's not as much of a filler queen as it looks - there are no gaps to fill, it's just to make sure the step at the join disappears completely when I sand it smooth. I'm filing the outside of the tyres back (which are just propped in place) prior to fitting a band of plastic card to represent the tread better... There's more to do in the cockpit, but since it needs to be masked off, I'm leaving it until I've painted the body...

Talking of which, if anyone has any good ideas about how to mask the suspension and brake drums while I paint the body, I'm all ears...

bestest,
M.

[lovegt40]

not so bad in look.I've payed a lot of $ for resin kits really uglyer than this one.

[Drift F.C]

That is looking really good, I can't see a problem with the look of this kit

[lovegt40]

maybe just the thickness of the plastics...

[Amazing43]

Thia was the original Merit kit and is superb for its day, 1950's The other with engine detail was the Lago Talbot also reissued by SMER. They are all simple but capture the shape of the originals superbly and well worth looking out for. The Merit originals particularly the Lotus 11 can be expensive these days

regards

peter

[TZ2]

I really like these '50s Grand Prix cars from Merit. Remarkable, most of these were never done by another company in plastic kit form. Too bad, that except for the Alfa and the Lago the original tooling disappeared decades ago...
Here a few of my built Merits:




Gordini and Alfa Romeo are running on Profil24 wheels and tires.

Stefan

[F1Tommy]

You are right about the Merit kits, very good overall shapes. I have had a few of the Alfa kit's in a box for years waiting for time. To bad they had to come up with 1/20th F1!. Hiro is doing this car in 1/20th scale soon, but for $300.00.(the Merit might still have a more accurate shape, we will see)

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2011-Chicago April 2011

[mattbacon]

Thanks, folks! Those look amazing, but especially so when you think that they actually run as well!. It's such a shame that the other tools have gne AWOL - there are several that I'd really like to build, but I can't afford the £60+ for an original collectable box on eBay...

We're not there yet, but definitely on the home straight:





I've put some Milliput around the seat to represent the padded covering on the pictures I've got. It'll be painted "chamois leather" colour when it's set. The wheels don't look so bad, IMHO... Real wire wheels would be better, but they're not a disgrace, especially in the right light...

bestest,
M.

[AmazonSprite]

Excellent work, and what great subject matter! Are the wheels clear mouldings with painted spokes? They look surprisingly effective given the age of the kit.

Btw, given your interest in this sort of car, wondered if you have seen Heller's Talbot Lago kit?