Chenard et Walcker 32 Sport: Introduction

Normally I prefer models with engine detail, perhaps due to my background as a mechanic. But occasionally something comes along that fills a gap in the collection, and I'll buy it in spite of it being a so-called curbside model. 

This 1923 Chenard et Walcker is known as the winner of the first Le Mans 24 hour race. Driven by André Lagache and René Léonard, the #9 car, with a 3-litre OHC motor, crossed the finish line first at an average of just over 90 km/h, in spite of awful weather; the 2-litre #10 car, driven by Christian Dauvergne and Raoul Bachmann, was 4 laps back. (They were not credited with the win at the time, as there was a complicated formula involving the percentage of the "expected" distance covered, but they did cover the most distance and were still running at the end, so that is enough for me.)  A Bentley and a couple of Bugattis were the only brands that a modern reader might recognise among the other finishers. 

The kit is a new one from Le Mans Miniatures. The first issue for me was the fact it is all 3D-printed, and separating the sometimes very fine parts from the supporting structure was a challenge; a couple of the more delicate pieces were broken or lost in the effort.

 

Two enormous "sprues" contained most of the smaller bits. For the moment I have decided to press on regardless of broken bits, fabricating or repairing as needed; but if necessary I'll write to the company -- they have already sent me a package with a couple of spare bits that other people had complained about. Here's what it all looked like with the residues removed. 

A lot of waste there! But of course I am sure there is more styrene waste involved in making a traditional model than makes it into the box. Total number of bits is pretty small; you can see one of the broken rings that will be part of the wheels.

Paint was initially going to be TS-10, French Blue, but this is quite a bit lighter than the colour used in the modern recreation of the car, click here. (As you can imagine, there are no period colour photos.) So eventually I went for TS-93, Pure Blue, still a bit on the light side. It also turned out that simply washing the body in Dawn dish soap was insufficient to get the paint to stick, so it all had to go into a 99% isopropanol bath for stripping and de-greasing. 

Stay tuned; this should be a relatively quick build compared to the 1/12 scale MFH kits, even with the fiddling about with broken bits.