Special Hobby Bugatti 100 Air Racer (SH72457) 1:72

[Mike]

Bugatti 100 Air Racer (SH72457)

1:72 Special Hobby

 

 

Bugatti’s streamlined air racer was custom designed for flying the circuits in 1939, using twin engines behind the pilot that ran a pair of contra-rotating props in the nose, which gave it a sleek aerodynamic profile and a compact size.  It was also inventive in terms of the tail, which was a V-shape and had a gearbox to split the pilot inputs accordingly between the fins.  Before it could be tested and put into the air however, the German invasion began, which forced the engineers to dismantle the aircraft and hide it on Mr Bugatti’s estate until after the war, although he died in 1947 so development stopped there.  Over time, the engines were raided for car projects and the airframe fell into disrepair until the 70s when a restoration project began, after which it was placed in a museum.  A replica was made using more modern technologies where sensible, and this flew briefly using a pair of more readily available Suzuki engines.  After a prop strike during landing, where the aircraft veered off the runway following a brake failure, its third test flight ended in disaster when the aircraft went out of control, killing the pilot who had played a major part in its production, and completely destroying the replica.  It had been promised to a museum in England after this flight, which clearly couldn’t now happen.  Quite a sad tale overall.

 

 

The Kit

This is a brand-new tooling from Special Hobby, and I really wish it was in my preferred scale, as it’s a rather cool-looking aircraft.  Please Sir, can I have one in 1:48?  It arrives in a short figure-sized end-opening box, and inside are two sprues in grey styrene, a clear sprue, a bag of resin parts and gasp! No decals.  It’s a wee little thing, and that much is brought home when you see the fuselage, which is under 10cm long on the sprues.

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the transmission at the front of the cockpit, which takes the power from the two engines and adapts them to the contra-rotating prop machinery.  The instrument panel is attached behind to the back of a short coaming, which must have made for quite a noisy cockpit.  The fuselage halves have sidewall detail moulded-in, and this is painted up before the panel is inserted with a drive-shaft in the front, then backed up with the cockpit floor, seat back and rear bulkhead, with representation of the rudder pedals inserted under the panel next to two tubular drive-shaft covers running forward along the sides of the cockpit.  The fuselage is closed up with a fluted insert added in a hole in the spine, and the V-shaped tails with more inserts to replicate the intake louvres on the leading edge, which is fitted later after the wings are completed.

 

Like a lot of air racers, the 100 has a short span, but at the root the chord is wide with a large root fairing, the chord tapering rapidly to the tip.  The lower half is a single piece, which has a pair of resin bay wall inserts fitted into the marked recesses, then closed up with the upper wings after a lick of paint.  The fuselage is dropped into the space in between the wings, and a pair of small cylindrical pots are inserted into the very front of the fuselage.  Underneath, the rudder/tail wheel has an insert with more louvres glued in, with the moulded-in tail wheel painted later.  At the rear a pair of bulged resin exhaust outlets are fixed to the fuselage in recesses in the aft section of the wing root fairing, then the landing gear is installed after flipping it over onto its back.  The gear legs are a single piece with the wheels clipping into the yoke, and a pair of captive gear bay doors affixed to the outer side, after which the model can stand on its own three wheels.

 

The contra-prop has four sections to its spinner, two trapping each of the two-bladed props in between.  The pointy one goes in the front, of course!  This is glued to the prop-shaft, and the clear canopy is fitted to the aperture as a single part, with no option for leaving it open.

 

 

Markings

There are two markings options given on the instructions, which are replicated on the rear of the box, one of which is the actual blue scheme it wore, the other a what-if scheme that has red and white fan-shaped stripes on the wings and tail, which looks quite patriotic.  From the box you can paint whatever you fancy, but these two are suggested:

 

 

There aren’t any decals, so they’re perfect for the job.  Very light weight and impossible to lose.

 

 

Conclusion

I’m smitten with this little aircraft, and Special Hobby have done a great job with the moulding, using resin where sensible, and giving us plenty of detail in a tiny kit.  Now.  About my 1:48 one?

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Rick Brown]

That looks fantastic!

 

Roll on a 1/48th boxing..

Rick.

[Mike]

23 hours ago, Rick Brown said:

Roll on a 1/48th boxing..

I'll be asking them next time I'm emailing

[invidia]

Currently building this, lovely kit, I think the fuselage bulkhead is to big, the fuselage half's really don't want to go together.

   Also be carefull cutting the resin it seems to be brittle, broke both undercarriage bays.

[Christopher Jenkins]

Looks nice, I must get one. It looks like there was a 1:48th kit from Planet Models.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332987322671

 

 

[cmatthewbacon]

Irritatingly, I'm sure I have read recently about a new 1/48 100P kit, but darned if I can find it again... the existing Planet Models kit is monopolising Google 😜

best,

M.

[Paul H]

Very cool subject matter, and looks like an impressive kit too! 

2 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Irritatingly, I'm sure I have read recently about a new 1/48 100P kit, but darned if I can find it again... the existing Planet Models kit is monopolising Google 😜

best,

M.

This one?

 

 

[cmatthewbacon]

Thanks for putting me out of my misery @Paul H… that’s the one!

best,

M.

 

[Julien]

21 hours ago, Mike said:

I'll be asking them next time I'm emailing

They are doing one.

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Julien said:

They are doing one.

[John_W]

Interesting looking aircraft. I wonder if Jim Bede was aware of it when he designed the BD5?

[Mig Eater]

I'm hoping get pick up one of these in the future & convert it into the proposed Bugatti 110P fighter version.