Bentley 4½ Litre Le Mans - "Barn Find"
Discussion
After 27 years languishing at my Mother's place, yesterday my wife discovered this Bentley 4½ Litre which I had completely forgotten about. As seems so often to be the case with such things I can't really remember why I left a Bentley tucked away elsewhere but I guess life just moved on and it got overlooked.
As with all barn-finds I have left it completely untouched, not yet even removing any of the dust, people seem to prefer them that way. As you can see she's in pretty good shape all things considered. Looks like one of the front mud-guards has been placed on the back seat for safe keeping along with the bonnet straps but other than that she's complete.
Now, do I preserve her in "as found condition" or lightly re-commission and detail her?
As with all barn-finds I have left it completely untouched, not yet even removing any of the dust, people seem to prefer them that way. As you can see she's in pretty good shape all things considered. Looks like one of the front mud-guards has been placed on the back seat for safe keeping along with the bonnet straps but other than that she's complete.
Now, do I preserve her in "as found condition" or lightly re-commission and detail her?
Thanks Eric, I might darken the supercharger with some gunmetal paint. Things like that have moved on since I built this about 30 years ago. Also there should be a mesh over the SU carbs which I can easily make with tea-strainer the same as the windscreen bug shield and headlamp stone guards.
I built the same model over many months taking infinite care and painting each piece before assembly, not easy to be so patient when you are ten. I did make a fantastic job of it even though I say so myself and was extremely proud of the fact/Bentley. It took pride of place in my bedroom and was cherished.... then we moved house and for safe keeping it was placed on the rear shelf behind the seats in my mums 420 Jaguar (with wire wheels no less!)with towels either side to keep it safe.
It was a blazing hot summer that year and when the car was unpacked and the Bentley retrieved, it had melted and the middle of the chassis now touched the floor. I was devastated. I did start making another copy of it about 15 years ago, but it wasn't the same and I lost interest quickly.
It was a blazing hot summer that year and when the car was unpacked and the Bentley retrieved, it had melted and the middle of the chassis now touched the floor. I was devastated. I did start making another copy of it about 15 years ago, but it wasn't the same and I lost interest quickly.
Mark-C said:
That's lovely as is but I'd be tempted to look for the missing front mudguard ...
Yeah, it's in the back of the car. Looking at some of the super-detailing done on this model by highly skilled modellers it's quite astonishing the degree of realism they achieve. I'm not going down that route but I will fix back the loose parts, get a case for it and perhaps add a few more details based on the photography now available of the real car.
I reckon the best thing to do with the supercharger get all the dust off it, then coat it with Revell Clear (or the old version of Johnsons Klear if you've got any). When dry, apply a fairly mild dark wash to give some depth to the fins and bolts etc, then dry brush with a bit of Tamiya light gunmetal weatering powder to give a bit of relief to the raised features.
Would like you opinions on which colour display case to buy 
The one I intend to buy is available with choices of woods and baize. Bearing in mind it's a dark green model I thought dark green baize would be to dark so wondered what combo you would go for? I'm erring towards light oak and cream.
The one I intend to buy is available with choices of woods and baize. Bearing in mind it's a dark green model I thought dark green baize would be to dark so wondered what combo you would go for? I'm erring towards light oak and cream.
Company called Widdowsons here: http://www.acrylicdisplaycases.co.uk/home.php
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