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!
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