Italeri Alfa Romeo 8c 2300 Roadster

[Wouter1981]

I've always been more a 1/24 scale car builder but I've build a few 1/12 cars, if wanted a long term project. I've build 3 Tamiya Caterhams, which are superb. 1 Matra MS11 which I bought secondhand. That was a mistake because parts were missing and the tires were  brittle and deformed due to old age. If anybody wants to see them, I'll post them.
In the Corona lockdown I build an Italeri Fiat 500 and was pleasantly surprised with that kit. Easy to build, good fitment and the end result is really good looking. I've been tempted to buy the Mefistofle  but although impressive, I never liked the look of that car and it's an old Protar kit. Not so with the Alfa Romeo 8c 2300.. what a good looking car and 100% new tooling! And with a bugatti 35b that's going to be available soon... You'll have to have give Italeri credit for these eforts!

 

My first impression of the kit is rather the same feeling I had with the Fiat 500. You can't expect Tamiya engineering quality, or MFH level of details. But the Italeri kit isn't the price of those brands. If you look at the casting of some of the louvre panels, they are really nice. You can't go as thin with plastic as aluminium but it's not bad at all. The rear side of these panels does have a lot of injector pins which need to be removed if your going to open the engine bay. And those injector marks are on a lot of pieces, but most of the time on the least visible side.

The chrome parts aren't bad, but of course, when removed from the sprue, you'll always have an ugly spot, so these need to be resprayed.

And finaly, something I really don't like, screws... Nothing wrong with screws them self, but these cars are bolted or riveted together. Not screwed together with a giant philips screwdriver. I'm going to hide these behind some tiny nuts.

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Wouter1981

[Vesa Jussila]

Here is clearly several of these built. But this is beautiful car!

[Hopsing]

Very nice, another Alfa whose build I can follow.
Are you going to build it out of the box?

[Wouter1981]

On 11/12/2022 at 11:12, Hopsing said:

Very nice, another Alfa whose build I can follow.
Are you going to build it out of the box?

It won't be 100% out of the box. I'll add some rivets and those wire locked bolts. I'll probably add some things in the interiour  like some simple floor mats but that will be it. I'll use the wirewheels from the kit and most of my effort will be for the exteriour. The engine will be lightly detailed because I will make the engine bay permanently shut.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Wouter1981

[Wouter1981]

Small update, finished the chassis. I drilled out some molded rivets and replaced them with 3D printed ones. They look better, but honestly, the molded rivets on the chassis aren't that bad. There is rather a lot of flash on the parts, but nothing that is difficult to remove and most of the nasty injection marks won't be visible once the model is completed, so I didn't bother to remove them. The fitment of the parts is rather good, the parts stayed together even without glue! I used some of the body panels to make sure everything is square when glueing. The chassis is painted in satin olive green with a gloss coat on it. My goal is to try to achieve an effect of a well used and well cared for 90 year old car. It won't have perfect a perfect paint job and the high gloss finish has dulled a bit over the years. There will be some weathering, repainted parts, but no heavy damage or real rusty parts.

 

 

 

 

 

[Wouter1981]

Another small update, finished the suspension and did some weathering of the chassis.

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks good!

[HOUSTON]

That is mighty IMPRESSIVE  work so far.

Going to enjoy this.

 

[Wouter1981]

Installed the engine. Did not do to much work on it because barely anything will be visible when the car is completed. Again the fit of the parts is good, not perfect but close and rather ok amount of details.  Next up I'l deviate a bit of the plans and start painting some body panels.
 

 

 

 

[Wouter1981]

Next step, the seats and radiator.  The brass of the radiator is a bit to bright in the picture, in reality the brass is darker, less orangy.

[Fnick]

If I was 1/12 scale I'd sit on that seat. That is very well done and realistic! 👏👏

 

Nick

Edited March 29, 2023 by Fnick

[keefr22]

What Nick said - that seat looks brilliant! 

 

Keith

[Wouter1981]

Added the rear bodywork and put on some of those Unobtainium 3d printed wire locked bolts. If anybody is planning to build this car, just buy those bolts. They are easy to use don't cost to much but add so much details to the car.  They are such a important feature on the real car.

 

 

 

 

 

[Wouter1981]

Added the front cowl and a rusty exhaust

 

 

[keefr22]

The rusty exhaust looks terrific! 

 

I really like the body colour too!

 

Keith

[Wouter1981]

Getting close to the end.

[keefr22]

3 hours ago, Wouter1981 said:

Getting close to the end.

 

...and looking really good!

 

Keith

[Bengalensis]

This is looking good indeed, and I must say that the choice of main colour seems to work well, and adds some variation and character to the 8C 2300 theme. Seat and exhaust looking great too.

[Wouter1981]

7 minutes ago, Bengalensis said:

This is looking good indeed, and I must say that the choice of main colour seems to work well, and adds some variation and character to the 8C 2300 theme. Seat and exhaust looking great too.

 

Thank you, but in hindsight, I'm not 100% happy with the green. It's a bit to muted, to military looking.

[Bengalensis]

14 minutes ago, Wouter1981 said:

 

Thank you, but in hindsight, I'm not 100% happy with the green. It's a bit to muted, to military looking.

I'll admit that was my first impression some time ago, but I think it grows the more complete the car gets, I really do. With a finish not too glossy, and some exhaust soot and possibly some general weathering I think it will come together very well.

[Vesa Jussila]

Catching up what have been going on here and really looks good so far. I can't wait ready model.

[Wouter1981]

On 03/06/2023 at 19:46, Bengalensis said:

I'll admit that was my first impression some time ago, but I think it grows the more complete the car gets, I really do. With a finish not too glossy, and some exhaust soot and possibly some general weathering I think it will come together very well.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. This build was always planned with rather heavy weathering in mind. I want to pretend it's a heavily used, but wel maintained car, somewhere in the 1940's in the middle of a race like the mile miglia. So expect mud, dust, bugmarks,...in a later stage of the build....

[Bengalensis]

1 minute ago, Wouter1981 said:

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. This build was always planned with rather heavy weathering in mind. I want to pretend it's a heavily used, but wel maintained car, somewhere in the 1940's in the middle of a race like the mile miglia. So expect mud, dust, bugmarks,...in a later stage of the build....

I think that will be great, with lots of character.

[Wouter1981]

Getting close to the end....

 

 

 

 

 

[kiseca]

It's looking lovely!