Wings of Intent: Bugatti Atlantic 1/72nd car, 3D-printed accessory for the Bugatti 100P

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Bugatti Atlantic 1/72nd car, 3D-printed accessory for the Bugatti 100P

(The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/08/bugatti-atlantic-3d-printed-aftermarket.html

I owe the knowledge of this item to fellow modeler Stuart Clark, who used this same accessory to complement his own beautiful build of the Projekts Model Bugatti 100P old kit some time ago.

Congratulations to the manufacturer that computer-modeled and 3D-printed this scaled-down iconic beauty. A car way off the beaten path that was so modern for its time, as futuristic as the Bugatti 100P that now it will accompany.

It's nice that the manufacturer bothered with a full interior, as he could have just gotten away with a blind windows model.

But some details are exaggerated like the rivets on the flanges, and in part the flanges themselves. I would have been happier with just thinner, smaller flanges, without those too-prominent rivets. The riveted flanges on the rear mudguards should run in the middle of it, not against the car body.

Some other minor details are slightly off, like the little lights on the front mudguards, that in the original are not on those flanges but outside them, also the wheel hubs of course have thicker spokes than the original, and would have been better served with a wheel hub cap as seen in many 1/1 Bugattis.

All this would be difficult to correct, and the corrections would require quite a bit of work, so I can live with things as they are, as this is just a diorama prop for the plane, and captures the beautiful lines of the car, and complements it so well. I would only try to improve a few things: home-made clear "lights" for the headlamps (you could also mask the front of the lamps before priming and painting, the effect would be fair enough), windshield and back windows (I will leave the side windows "rolled down") and will try to sand down the areas were the "layering" of the printing is more evident. We'll see. The model is printed on quite a hard plastic, but it's not brittle.

Two were bought, one for each of the Bugatti 100P models I built from the Special Hobby and Projekts Model/Guano Works kits. They cost a pretty penny especially if you want them printed at the highest definition, in fact they cost quite more than the vast majority of 1/72nd scale airplane and car kits, about $40 each when you select the higher definition, add taxes and S&H. But I guess that's the price for exoticism. The scale price somehow matches the price of the real thing!

I wonder if this could have been the base of a resin/injected kit, where the interior is a plug-in to help with detailing and painting, windows are provided, and the flanges are replaced by photo-etched items more to scale, plus the option to open the doors. I say this because this thing has not only the seats and wheel, but also the shift-stick and an instrument panel!

Here with a coat of primer:

Home-made lights:

A bit of sanding and more primer:

Here the interiors were painted. They will be stuffed and then the bodies painted:

With the interior stuffed, paint goes on:

The paper stuffing is off. No w we can proceed with detail painting (tires, spokes, hinges, lights, etc. and eventually glassing:

The cars came without the fuel filler neck and cap, so a couple are made. The headlamps are on, and detail painted has commenced:

The fuel caps are on. A group of exhaust stacks seen in photos of the originals is replicated, later on they will be weathered a bit. "Window maker", still wet, is used to fill-in the back windows:

Fine wire is used to replicate three chrome trim rods that run at the sides of the hood. The top one is straight but the two below curve a little at the nose: