1929 Blower Bentley 1/24

[1959scudetto]

I always wanted a model of the famous Blower Bentley - though it was not successful in races,  it is an iconic vehicle. Franklin Mint put all his efforts into this and created a fine replica.

After searchig for more than half a year on ebay and other sites (all were from € 100,00 upwards), I finally found one for € 30,00 - of course, without box, it had a crushed front wheel, bent mesh screens on the headlights which had also bent struts. The front wings were heavily bent upwards and the rear was missing a few tiny parts, some other parts that came loose - as I was the only bidder, I won it with my first bid.

I was afraid ot breaking the struts for the front fenders, but managed to straighten them out as I did with the headlights and carefully bent everything back, also the mesh screens and tried to get the bent spokes on the left front wheel straight (the former owner must have dropped the model to the floor, according to the damage) - the loose parts at the rear were re-glued - the final touch were some old UK license plates on thin aluminium sheet.

At last, I took a few photos and placed it beside Paul's model art (Minichamps) Mercedes SSK from the same era: the direct comparison confirms Ettore Bugatti's legendary saying that the "Bentleys were the fastest trucks ln the world" - the Mercedes is much lower and wider than its dark green rival.

On to the pics:

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by 1959scudetto

[THarrison351]

Nice save! looks really good! That's one I've wanted for a while too.

[Bugatti Fan]

Nice models!

I think Ettore Bugatti was reputed to have said that Bentley make the fastest trucks in the world.

[Gramps46]

Really excellent save.  You would never know from the pictures that it had been damaged so extensively.  

[1959scudetto]

17 hours ago, THarrison351 said:

Nice save! looks really good! That's one I've wanted for a while too.

Thanks, Tim - itis not easy to locate a cheap one.

 

8 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Nice models!

I think Ettore Bugatti was reputed to have said that Bentley make the fastest trucks in the world.

Thanks, Noel - you were right: EBsaid "camions" which means trucks or lorries in the UK - I have already edited my text accordingly.

 

3 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Really excellent save.  You would never know from the pictures that it had been damaged so extensively.  

Thank you Gary !If you look closely at the left front wheel, you can see the damaged spokes still (first I wanted to exchange this one with one of the spare wheels, but avoided that after straightening the spokes out as good as I could.