Alfa Romeo 1900 Carrera Panamericana 1954

[1959scudetto]

I don't know if this is a real WIP (is more or less a modification of a diecast model), but as a long-time Alfa Romeo fan, I simply had to do this .

You will need 3 things: a model of the 1900 (I have 5 in grey/beige and a black one),

                                   the excellent 3D-printed wheels from Jack Modelling (Jason custom-made them for me and then offered them to the public) and

                                   the superb decals from Scale Design/Tom Tanner:

The car was first released in 2010 in the "Alfa Romeo 100 years" Centennial Collection:

The decals show the artwork of the late Mike Quarterman and were made by Cartograf of Italy.

They are the best I've ever worked with - you see here 2 works cars and a private entry (South American competitor) for the Carrera P. (I will build all three) +

supplementary decals for the corrected colors of the numbers (orange and blue) as well as Mille Miglia decals (Nuvolari 1931, Fangio 1952 and Sanesi 1956) +

dashboard/instrument decals for the 2900 B lungo and several chrome decals for Carozzeria touring and the Giulietta SS.

Only issue is that the colors are not always correct - there are almost no color pics of these cars available (several modelmakers goofed also on that) -

so some decals will have to be modified a little.

 

Jason's wheels are perfect as always.

I will keep you posted if interested.

Edited March 25 by 1959scudetto

[bbowser]

I'll be following.  Interesting car I've never heard of.

[Dave B]

This will be interesting Helmut, an unusual modification being a sedan.

Dave B

[absmiami]

Michael Q’s artwork turns up in surprising places !

[1959scudetto]

While the first one has lost its paint and is already disassembled, ...

... the rest of the bunch is still waiting what's happening next:

 

[W-409]

This is an interesting project, especially because this Alfa Romeo body style is just simply beautiful. Looks like you're off to a good start.

[Bugatti Fan]

I guess you like this Alfa Helmut !

Joking apart, this is an interesting project and a little bit different to the norm. Nice model(s) taking shape here.

[kensar]

Kind of a pedestrian looking car, but the Carrera Panamericana touch will dress it up. 👍

[1959scudetto]

Finally a little progress: installation of seat belts (from the parts box), cutting new axles from 2 mm brass tube, removing the bumper horns front and rear and fabrication of a (driver's side) bug deflector. 

The hardest part was finding out the color of the real car and approximating this - there are almost only B/W photos available (see below) - at least 1 color pic turned up on the web (must be a still from a video)

 I 

 

[1959scudetto]

7 minutes ago, 1959scudetto said:

 

This is the class winning car of Consalvo Sanesi, one of 5 Alfa Romeo works cars in the 1954 race, where a new class "European touring cars" had been established. He became 15th overall, beating several more powerful American cars.

Tamiya TS 69 (wooden deck brown) was a close enough match for the color:

More soon !

 

 

Edited March 19 by 1959scudetto

[Phildaupho]

Very interesting project. Surprised that you have shoulder harnesses for driver and navigator. 

[1959scudetto]

1 hour ago, Phildaupho said:

Very interesting project. Surprised that you have shoulder harnesses for driver and navigator. 

the works cars did have them (also drink bottles):

[Phildaupho]

1 hour ago, 1959scudetto said:

the works cars did have them (also drink bottles):

Thanks for the insight. Alfa was definitely ahead of its time regarding racing driver safety 

[1959scudetto]

The first one is done ....

The next one will follow soon...

Edited March 22 by 1959scudetto

[W-409]

That turned out beautiful! I like the subtle weathering on it, very nicely done.

[1959scudetto]

On 3/22/2025 at 9:37 PM, W-409 said:

That turned out beautiful! I like the subtle weathering on it, very nicely done.

Thanks, Niko - I applied some dust from pastel chalks onto it in trying to achieve kind of a post-race look.

Edited March 24 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

After the class winner, now on to the 2nd works car on the decal sheet: Bruno Bonini's # 268 light grey car (DNF):

It is the right one in the color shot:  

should be ready till the weekend...

 

[Pierre Rivard]

You really love your Alfas Helmut. I could not really feel it looking at this simple die cast but now I get it. #251 looks very cool, especially with the dust weathering you expertly applied, and taking the shine off the chrome. Taking good notes of your weathering method here for when I start on #20 in the same race.

May I suggest adding a bit of panel line to the rear door cutout?

[1959scudetto]

Thanks, Pierre. I see what you mean: Rear door lines are a bit shallow, espoecially on the left side (see the pictures of the original model on the very beginning). Right now I noticed that the drip rail (rain guard ?) above and around the side windows is totally absent. Maybe I will order some very fine Evergreen strips and try to replicate that afterwards - we will see.

Edited April 1 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

As I am a rather lazy guy, I tried painting the next one without totally disassembling and removing the paint. Because of the fixation of the clear plastic windows with 6 rivets on the underside of the roof, it was necessary to drill them up which resulted in partially breaking the brittle plastic. The windows had to be reglued with 5 min. epoxy on the first model.

This time I cautiously removed the door handles, the hood and trunk ornaments and covered the remaining chrome parts (grille, lights) with bare-metal foil. The windows were also sealed on the outside with electrical duct tape which leaves no residue.

 

Everything worked well - I sprayed Tamiya royal light grey directly from the can onto the painted body (no primer, no preparation of any sort) - voilà: Bruno Bonini's works car which DNFed after a flat tire damaged the suspension - here in pre-race condition. I also had to modify the exhaust pipes and the wheel hubs to look more realistic (this will also be executed with the brown Alfa). A little bit of dust was only applied onto the tire treads this time.

 

Edited April 5 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

Now to the last one of the trio that is represented on the decal sheet: not a works car, but a private entrant from Guatemala: David Cerezo, who plunged off a bridge and totaled his car:

My model will show of course the car at the start of the race.

As there are no color photos to be found, I will try to mimick approximately the color drawing from a Alfa Romeo club mag from the Netherlands:

Some decals will get a paint treatment, and the body will be sprayed with Tamiya's gun metal, clear blue and smoke - stay tuned !

[MarkJ]

Just one to go, Helmut. They all look awesome, and I agree you should build it pre accident. Hope the guy was okay. 

[1959scudetto]

6 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Just one to go, Helmut. They all look awesome, and I agree you should build it pre accident. Hope the guy was okay. 

Though the vehicle was totally wrecked, at least this was not a fatal accident as several others during the 5 years this race had been carried out (this was the main reason why it was cancelled after 1954).

[1959scudetto]

Here is the 3rd and last one of the bunch:

[Pierre Rivard]

I love all 3 but especially this one. The splashy colors of the decals over the darker body really gives it the Panamericana vibe.

Well done sir!