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George Williams
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Italeri Bugatti Type 35B 1/12 Scale

January 18, 2024 · in Automotive · · 38 · 313

I built this kit last year, you can see the WIP in the automotive group under the title “ripped silk”, which is how the exhaust is supposed to sound. My wife wasn't too keen on letting me trying to reproduce this. The Type 35B was a very successful racing car in the 1920s, winning most of the major races during that period. The engine was a supercharged straight eight.

Anyway, this kit is a fairly recent new tool from .


It does share some assembly similarities with the older Protar kits, especially the use of screws, but the fit of parts is very good.


The kit includes two marking options, but I tried to represent a used but not abused example, perhaps at the end of a historic racing season, so some weathering was applied. Here's an example of a real one at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.


Some parts are plated most of which I painted but I left the wheels as they came.

Both sides of the bonnet are hinged but I decided to go with the RH side open.

I did try to depict some wear here and there.

But not too much.

Anyway, that's it, thank you very much for looking and happy modelling.

Reader reactions:
19  Awesome 6  2 

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.


38 responses

  1. Beautiful. I especially like the paint work and the amount of sheen you applied.

  2. Very cool George (@chinesegeorge). The sheen does indeed look correct. It must have been difficult to apply the weathering to this model after the initial paint work. With aircraft we have millions of examples to go by, but with autos, the number of weathered vehicles is definitely a small subset. Great result.

  3. Well done, George. She's very eye appealing!

  4. An absolute beauty, George! Excellent job and awesome result!

  5. Very realistic result George.

  6. Looks great! Don't see too many straight-eights these days...

  7. Great work on this George I have been wanting to try something different and this might be it , really eye catching
    and something that the little lady might let me display in the house !, what was the other colour option ?

    • Hi Neil @neil-foster, Italeri two different options, French Blue or British Racing Green, to me it had to be blue, but I used Tamiya light blue to simulate a slightly faded example. Italeri also do an Alfa Romeo in the same scale. These are good quality kits but they do take up quite a lot of space.

  8. That's a magnificent Type 35, George @chinesegeorge! 🤩 Very well done; indeed, it appears as if one could climb right in and make a lap or three at Goodwood! 👏

    • Thanks, Gary @garybrantley, that would be a brilliant experience, but you might like a bit of practice first, the gear change is a conventional H-pattern, except that it’s upside down to what we’re used to.

      • 🍻 When I was learning to drive our first old farm truck, at about 8 or 9 years of age, it was a '46 Chevy pickup with a floor-mounted shifter. I soon mastered that shift pattern, but then our next pickup had a steering column mounted shifter, the old "three on a tree". Man, I had so much trouble adapting! 😉 My Dad and Mom would try to explain, saying "It's the same 'H' but it's just turned sideways!" Well, much like algebra, one day it all became clear and from that point on there was no stopping me! 😄 Hell, I'm ready for that Type 35 right now! 😁

  9. Beautiful work, @chinesegeorge. Very realistic result.

  10. Great build, George! I absolutely love any race cars from the 20s and 30s. These Bugattis and Alfa Romaos were beautiful cars. I really wish so.e manufacturer would make some kits of Miller race cars of the Era. That would be awesome.
    Beautiful work!

  11. That is a great looking speedster there Sir. Looks like a pretty sharp kit for an italieri. Those louvers are really crisp, and the wheels well molded. What's a bonnet? 😉

    • Hi Bill @billkoppos, Italeri make some good quality new-tool kits these days. A bonnet, as I think you know, is the engine cover on a front engined car, you might call it the hood. The hood, for us Brits, is the soft roof on a convertible car, you might call it a soft-top.

  12. A really cool Bugatti, George @chinesegeorge
    Both, color and the subtle weathering looks perfect.

  13. Now THAT is a race car! Outstanding work, George. @chinesegeorge

  14. That’s outstanding, George. Looks real to me.

  15. Masterpiece. I’d love having that on my shelf. Thanks for sharing.

  16. @chinesegeorge - Beautiful work George. The paint and weathering are fantastic!

  17. Your paint job is smooth as silk, George, very beautiful automobile! @chinesegeorge

  18. Great looking type 35 George, love the paint job and weathering.

  19. Cheers, Ian @firelockg, thanks for looking and the kind comments.

  20. @chinesegeorge came out Beautifully George!

  21. Cheers, Cricket @bikequeen, thanks for taking the time out to look.

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