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1931 Lindberg Bugatti Royale


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Hey everyone,

I'm just starting to get serious into modeling and I want to make this model look great!! I love old cars and I'm researching the actual colors for this car. I've found oyster white and dark green so far. My question is has anyone done this kit and what did you think? What are some tips I can get for making great paint jobs? Finally, if you have any other tips on making this car look as original and nice as possible I'm open to all tips. Thanks for the help everyone and I'll try and post pictures and updates on how the car is doing. I'm really excited for this and all your insights.

- Jim -

P.S. What brands of colors should I use because I'm going to be spray painting for the first time. I've heard dupli-color looks real nice.

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I don't think I've seen that model presented on our board yet, but I found a review of the kit by Bob Downie (a big name in the car modeling world). Bob's an accomplished buider, but his reviews are fairly staightforward in pointing out a given kit's faults. Fortunately, he'll also show you what he did to fix the issue.

http://new.acme-ipms...a-by-Weinberger

It doesn't sound like you've done much model painting yet (What are some tips I can get for making great paint jobs?...I'm going to be spray painting for the first time.) so I'm going to recommend that you check out Tamiya's site where you'll find instructions on how to get great paintjobs from their lacquer rattlecans. That's probably your best option at this point.

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The actual car is currently owned by the Henry Ford in Dearborn and is on display at the Henry Ford Museum. Brian Joseph of Troy Michigan (who is better known for his work on "lesser" cars, particuarly the Model J Duesenberg) got the car running a couple years ago and it was out driving around at the Old Car Festival a couple Septembers ago. The Bugatti is indeed a light cream colour with dark green trim and has dark green upholstery with a dark green, almost black top. The car is mostly original looking though it is an older restoration done in the late 1940s or so. I hate to say so but it really is a sort of tacky car that could really use a full restoration. Despite that, in talking to the currator of the Henry Ford they are inclined to leave the car as is. There are lots of images of the car on Google images if you want to look it up. Good luck with this most interesting model!

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Gerald Wingrove scratchbuilt a large-scale version of this car in its original paint scheme, and devoted an entire, heavily illustrated book to building this car, complete with technical diagrams - "The Complete Car Modeller 2." It's almost detailed enough to build a 1:1.

Picture6.png

Lots of downloadable images here:

http://www.wworkshop...allery-1.html#1

Order the book from Amazon, surprisingly cheap. (Ignore the customer images that someone posted on this page):

http://www.amazon.co... car modeller 2

Here's the intro to his build on his website. As you'll see, he's done all the research necessary:

"A day out in the Lincolnshire countryside with the Weinberger Bugatti Type 41 Royale, built by Gerald A. & Phyllis Wingrove in their Digby, Lincolnshire workshop. The body of this Bugatti Type 41 was designed by Ludwig Weinberger in 1931. During my research to find out how it was originally fitted out I made contact with him in Germany and we corresponded regularly for about two years. His memory was quite good on the car, but one of the points he did make, that subsequently turned out to be incorrect, was that it was originally fitted with an ivory steering wheel rim. The gear change knob and dash controls are in ivory, but the rim of the steering wheel never was, as is evidenced from the very early photos that have since come to light. Unfortunately I had already completed the first two models with a (real) ivory steering wheel rim, later models had the correct polished hardwood rims. A full set of scale plan of the engine, chassis and bodywork of this car are available in the back of the reprint of my book,’Complete Car Modeller-2’ See the ‘Books” section for more information."

Edited by sjordan2
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The green I'm talking about is the dark green trim on the car. The canvas top and the trunk are the same color as well. It looks black but the outdoor pictures I've found of the car really show the green. Thank you as well Skip I did not know about this rebuild it looks amazing!! I'm in the process of looking for the colors and I'm having issues finding the colors in the recommended brands, but I did find one from Automotivetouchup.com. What are your opinions on this paint?

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The Esders green is not a repaint, it's a totally different car. Look at the Google links I posted above for the way the car in the kit looks today, and the Gerald Wingrove links I posted for the way it looked when new.

The thing is, your Lindberg kit is a one-of-a-kind car designed by Weinberg, with no other variations. If you want to be authentic you need to go either with the Wingrove approach for the original color scheme, or the off-white/cream color of the restoration shown in the Google link I gave you, which is the way it exists today at the Henry Ford museum and the way it's represented on the kit box.

Edited by sjordan2
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The green I'm talking about is the dark green trim on the car. The canvas top and the trunk are the same color as well. It looks black but the outdoor pictures I've found of the car really show the green. Thank you as well Skip I did not know about this rebuild it looks amazing!! I'm in the process of looking for the colors and I'm having issues finding the colors in the recommended brands, but I did find one from Automotivetouchup.com. What are your opinions on this paint?

Do you have a picture of the green car you're talking about, or a link?

PS: You can find more photos here at The Bugatti Trust, which catalogues virtually all Bugattis based on chassis numbers (the Lindberg kit is based on chassis #41.121). You can also join the forum there to ask questions - but careful, many members are very crusty European millionaires.

http://www.bugattibuilder.com/photo/thumbnails.php?album=152

Edited by sjordan2
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The Lindberg kit does have some issues. The skirting of the fenders is inadequate. It really needs to be extended to look right. Also the kit exhaust system is really odd. It needs to be redone. The rest of the kit is pretty good but it does represent the car after Chayne rescued it. To make the original version you would need to use the wheels from the Italeri kit and the engine. The Lindberg kit has the mods that Chayne made on it including the 4Stromberg carbs!

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