This was a very simple resin build, with the biggest problems arising around the vacuum-formed wrap-around windshield. It's one of those cases where I allow myself a curbside build because the topic is just so bizarre.
Posed here with the Alpine A210 and the Matra MS 640 prototype. The Matra is also curbside but the Alpine has a well-detailed engine bay.
Stay tuned! The stash has plenty more oddballs.
There's a saying that if you give a Brit a piece of sheet metal, he is likely to do something silly with it. I submit the French are equally capable in this respect. This 1959 Deutsch & Bonnet HBR 4 ran 3 times at Le Mans and finished 18th (2nd in the Sport 850 class) in 1961. Powered by a Panhard 702 cc aircooled twin making a whopping 85 hp if the Interweb is to be trusted -- the comparable Citroen 2CV only managed in the mid-30s. I love the way the Aston looms over it. Oh and the Aston DNFed in 1961 by the way.
The company was founded by Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet in 1937. The pair separated in 1962. Deutsch went on to found Automobiles CD, using FWD Panhard bits; Bonnet went on to build mid-engined Renault-powered vehicles under the name Automobiles rené Bonnet, which was later acquired by Matra. I assume this was the basis of the Matra Djet.
This is a basic 1/24 resin kit by Le Mans Miniatures -- no chassis or engine detail -- so a quick build.
Photos of a Djet and a later Matra Murena taken at a classic car meet in Bordeaux in 2019.
So the Peugeot 905 has been on the bench since March and I've gotten fed up. So I cleared the bench for a slump-buster, namely Heller's old build of the Alfa Romeo 1750 Zagato from the mid-1930's.
In contrast to the brutish Bentley with its 4½ litre four, this had the lovely supercharged inline 6 displacing 1750 cc and making in the vicinity of 80 hp. Double overhead cams offset the poor breathing of small valves due to the typical small bore, long stroke design common in the prewar period. On the other hand, it rides on solid axles front and rear, with friction shocks and rod-operated mechanical brakes.This was a proper little sports car in its day, the entry into the range of Alfa sports cars with supercharged inline engines.
As a slump buster, this kit has its advantages, namely it is difficult to build anything too good with these kits. Stuff doesn't fit, the chrome is ghastly, proportions are wrong... but expectations are low. So with that in mind it came out OK.
The body is in halves, so there is a big seam down the middle of it which I filled and sanded. The engine got wires and a distributor from the parts bin instead of the vaguely cylindrical lump from the kit. The steering all works, all the way back to the Pittman arm out of the steering box. I had to clean up the paint a couple of times due to sloppy glue work; the colour is Tamiya TS-8, Italian Red, over Tamiya's dark brown primer -- my stash of Tamiya cans is becoming depleted and I will have to make a decision to tackle the airbrush world eventually.
Overall not a bad kit, but probably frustrating for a beginner. Will I head back to the Peugeot? Maybe not right away. Stay tuned!
