LeMans Miniatures 1/43
Avion 100P de Monge `a moteurs Bugatti
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History
Ettore Bugatti, Le Patron, having decided in 1937 to contest the 1938
running of the Coup Deutsch de la Muerthe closed course race enlisted
Louis D. de Monge to design an airplane (avion) to win that prestigious
cup for him. They chose a specially modified, supercharged, 4.7 litre,
450 hp version of the Bugatti Type 50B in-line eight cylinder engine with
the block and head cast in magnesium. Before de Monge completed the design
of the single engined racer, Bugatti decided to skip the circuit race
and go for the absolute World Air Speed Record, then held by Italy at
440.67 MPH, and added a second engine to the design. Lamentably, Germany’s
occupation of France stopped the Bugatti project before the, essentially
finished, plane could fly.
In June of 1940 the plane was spirited out of the Paris furniture factory
where it had been built and was hidden in a barn in the French countryside
for 30 years. The balance of this history is taken from the EAA web site:
“Ettore Bugatti died at age 66 on August 21, 1947. After his
death the aircraft was acquired by a Mr. Pazzoli who sold it to a Mr.
Salis who in turn sold it to the American car aficionado Ray Jones in
1970. Jones’ sole purpose was to acquire the two Bugatti engines
still in the aircraft. He brought the plane to the US, removed the powerplants
and sold the airframe to Dr. Peter Williamson. Williamson moved the aircraft
to Connecticut in February 1971 to begin a lengthy restoration. Les and
Don Lefferts worked on the project from 1975 to 1979. Les Lefferts documented
this work in the July 1991 issue of Skyways magazine. The restoration
ceased in 1979 and the aircraft was donated to the Air Force Museum foundation
with hopes of completing the work and placing the aircraft on permanent
loan to another museum. As time slipped way, the aircraft remained in
storage for at least another 15 years before being donated to the EAA
AirVenture Museum.
“In 1996, the Bugatti Model 100 racer became part of the EAA
AirVenture museum’s extensive collection. Efforts were immediately
begun to get the aircraft ready for display. Once Static exhibit standards
were met, the aircraft was hung in the highly visible Fergus Plaza directly
across from the main entrance of the museum. This extraordinary example
of the same kind of unconventional, forward thinking used by homebuilt
designers through the ages, remains as a symbol of what can be created
with the human imagination.”
The Kit
1/43rd scale! That’s the scale used by the big bucks collectors
of car models and that is LeMans Miniatures’ main business. I reckon
it’s close enough to 1/48 to be of no concern to we who model airplanes.
It comes in a very stout, top opening, box that absolutely protects the
contents – no broken parts in this kit.
 As
you can see from the scan of the parts, the kit comprises seven parts
in white resin, one in cream resin, one in grey resin, eight white metal
parts two black rubber tires, a photo-etch fret of 13 parts, a length
of copper wire, a brass nail, a paper instrument panel and a vac canopy;
there are no decals as the airplane never bore any markings.
The bulk of the plane is that big, beautiful one-piece white resin casting.
The white metal propeller blades are useless lumps so visit your spares
box for two each left and right hand blades to be modified for this application.
The white metal undercarriage legs are heavily oversize and I will replace
them with units made of tubing and sheet aluminum. The white metal wheels
and rubber tires are really quite nice.
I’ve been researching this plane since I first read of it in 1973
and find the kit to be acceptably accurate overall and take issue with
the kit designer on only minor points.
Conclusion
Despite my quibbles, it’s a great kit. It is certainly a great
looking example of aviation Art Deco in its Brancusi-like shape and its
Bugatti-Blue finish with red interior.
I bought my kit from Grand
Prix Models. Including postage, it cost me $100.50; the most I’ve
ever paid for a kit – I’d better do a good job on it! It’s
next on build list as soon as I finish the Ryan NYP that is currently
occupying my workbench.
LeMans Miniatures also offer the model built-up and painted.
References
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Air Progress magazine, October 1973: Great, well illustrated article
by Marv Zack; it was my introduction to the Bugatti airplane.
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Bugantics, Vo. 37, No. 2, Summer 1979.
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Scale Models magazine, July and November 1982.
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Aeroplane Monthly magazine, September 1983.
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LeFana de l’Aviation magazine, No. 7, January 1970, No. 328,
March 1997 & No.335, October 1997
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Classic & Sports Car magazine, January 1998.
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Skyways quarterly, No. 19, July 1991, No. 41, January 1997 &
No. 44, October 1997.
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Sport Aviation magazine September 1996 and august 1997.
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Model Aircraft Monthly magazine, November 2002.
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Octane magazine, December 2005.
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