Protar kit no. 113: Vespa 125 "Primavera" (... in an Italeri box) - FINISHED

[fox1_BE]

Hello all,

 

Now that the hottest part of the summer is over, time to get back to the bench. With two and a half month remaining in this GB, let's see how far I can get with this one!

 

 

This is the Italeri reboxing of an original Protar kit. According to Scalemates, the original tooling dates back from somewhere in the 1970's. Protar firstly reboxed this kit in 1985, later repop's were done by Revell and Italeri.

 

I intended to build this kit for the "Italian Job GB" here on BM, a few years ago, but never got any further than taking the above picture - so I guess I am still well below the 25% threshold and within the timing constraints of this Group Build 😊

 

Cheers,

Patrick

 

 

Edited October 11 by fox1_BE

[Mjwomack]

13 hours ago, fox1_BE said:

ever got any further than taking the above picture - so I guess I am still well below the 25% threshold a

Taking photos?!!! I think the hosts will have to discuss this off-line about how perilously close to the 25% rule that is😱. TBH this has never come up before🤔.

I'd have thought it was hyper-realism if anything because isn't the whole point of a Vespa that you hang around being photographed rather than making much progress😂

[2996 Victor]

Great project - really looking forward to watching this build!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[fox1_BE]

Well, I have started this kit. So far, I have been working on the main body parts. Quite a bit of flash needs to be removed and gaps to be filled. So sanding, filling, ....

 

Here is a progress picture:

 

 

Cheers,

Patrick

[rob Lyttle]

A friend at our club is well into 3D printing and he did some civilian figures for me in 1.48. Among the collection was one of these, 

Thought I'd pass on for reference material 😅

Will you be doing some figures for the scooter ⁉️🤩

Looking forward to seeing this build,  1.9 scale is great with these Protar kits. And they had a fantastic range of interesting bikes. I guess Italieri are just sitting on them 🤷 

[fox1_BE]

I have been steadily working on this one, so here is where I am now.

 

First of all the tires:

 

... Perhaps not the most interesting part of the build, but I wanted to show how the kit's tires look (on the left), which is rather plastic. On the right one I just sprayed a layer of Tamiya's Rubber Black on the tire, much better I believe.

 

Next up, the front wheel suspension has been completed, as well as the motor block. Metal parts are airbrushed with various shades of AK Extreme Metal, a light wash has been applied to add some depth. Black and red tubes are included in the kit, as well as a variety of chrome parts.

 

 

And finally for today, here is a picture of the body parts, all primed and ready for top layer. I did two separate priming sessions. In between, I needed to fill/sand a few spots. I used Vallejo white surfacer, straight from the bottle at fairly high airbrush pressure. This stuff levels out beautifully when airbrushing, giving a nice eggshell finish when dry ... BUT ... it needs to be sanded very, very carefully ... as I found out . On several spots the primer came of very easily (this was after 2 days of drying), leaving rough edges - unlike other primers I use. The primer even gave the impression of being quite rubbery and not adhering very well to the bare plastic. So in multiple sanding sessions with increasingly fine sanding paper, I was ready for a second layer of primer. After the second layer, the result is now good to my eye.

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Cheers,

Patrick

[fox1_BE]

As a top colour for this classic piece of machinery, I chose MRP's "Porsche Gulf Blue", as I wanted to get a typical funky 60's-70's look 😎.

 

This paint sprayed beautifully, straight from the bottle. Really pleased on the finishing so far.

 

 

[fox1_BE]

Turns out that handling the blue painted parts seems a delicate process . As I mostly build camouflaged aircraft & helicopters, I am usually less worried about losing or even damaging the glossy effect of paintwork, as in the end everything receives gloss coat, decals, flat coat and weathering layers, so everything levels out. Here, I needed to be more attentive, also correcting and touching up some of the paintwork along the way.

 

Still, I am making good progress, putting together various sub-assemblies. A trick I picked up when looking at other builds online: a liquid chrome marker can be used to touch up on the chrome parts, where these are removed from sprues or sanded. Works great!👍

 

There is not a lot remaining to be done: mostly chrome accents to be added and putting everything together.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Cheers,

Patrick

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Great combo of the blue and all the different metallic shades.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[fox1_BE]

Thanks Adrian.

[Mjwomack]

On 06/10/2025 at 15:21, fox1_BE said:

As a top colour for this classic piece of machinery, I chose MRP's "Porsche Gulf Blue", as I wanted to get a typical funky 60's-70's look 😎.

 

It is that, so very evocative. Good stuff.

[fox1_BE]

Calling this one done! Quite pleased with how this looks in the end. The kit is pretty good: some nice details straight from the box, the chrome parts are great, fit is not too bad (only the two biggest body parts require a bit of work with filling and sanding smooth). Impressive tooling, knowing that this dates back to the original Protar kit from somewhere in the '70s. Kuddos to Italeri from remarketing this one!

 

Thanks for everybody who stopped by to look, and to the moderators for hosting this great GB: has been a very interesting build, happy to have this kit completed (the open box has been staring at me for some 2 years near my bench .. ) 😏

 

(Regarding the last picture: the kit comes with the option of opening the right hand body work, to display the engine)

 

Cheers,

Patrick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mjwomack]

Crumbs! I had no idea they could go this fast! Suddenly finished and parked in the gallery, a lovely piece of double classic- a classic manufacturer of a classic moped. What not to like!

[2996 Victor]

Absolutely gorgeous work, Patrick, incredibly neat and precise and capped off with superb paintwork. Beautiful!

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

P.S. I can almost smell the pizzas cooking