Jim R's 1/32 Airfix 1904 Darracq - Genevieve

[Jim R]

This ancient Airfix kit will be my build for Jakko's GB. The kit I have dates from 1959 but is based on a 1956 release.


The car, called Genevieve, is the star of the 1953 film of the same name. The comedy film stars Kenneth More, Kay Kendall, John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan as two couples who take part in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The cars are the 1904 Darracq and a 1905 Spyker.


Having seen the wonderful figure adapting/altering done by the likes of Neil M and Richard F I would maybe like to have a go at making John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan. I hope to find some suitable figures to base them on.


A question - "Would 1/35 figures look ok with the 1/32 scale car"?

[Tim Marlow]

Great stuff, I can hear Larry Adler in my head as I look at it……dont get caught in the tram tracks at the end……

Useless fact……the kit was originally made about 52 years after the original 1904 Darracq appeared in the film. If you made a modern kit version of James Bonds iconic original Aston Martin, you would be building a kit of a vehicle fist appearing on the screen 58 years ago …...

[Neil Merryweather]

A question - "Would 1/35 figures look ok with the 1/32 scale car"?

Short answer, Jim- no
for 1-32 women try the ICM WASPs , or Historex do a female 'Academy' figure(naked, basically) which is not expensive, or if money is no object try the Preiser Adam & Eve figures- essentially naked Multipose - they do at least have seated legs.
Good luck- looking forward to it

[Mickc1440]

Good luck with this old lady Jim

[rtfoe]

Good on you to try Jim. The sculpting of the era clothing will be interesting and classic.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Jim R]

OK we're off.
First up the instructions and the parts.





That's all you get :rolling:

The plastic is quite hard and brittle. It sands well but doesn't cut easily - it tends to shatter. May be old age or maybe it was like that. Suspension fitted to chassis, it needed a lot of fettling. Body is just dry fit.


There are a lot of details missing or simply plain wrong. I'll only deal with the most obvious. First off the seat. It should have a roll around the top edge. I covered the back with thin styrene sheet and made the padded roll from Green Stuff.




The dash is totally wrong. The steering column comes from the floor not the dash and there are odds and sods fastened on the dash. I filled the hole for the steering column and a couple of sink marks.


Started to add a little of the missing detail.


The steering column itself has a parallel "rod" running behind it. There are a couple of levers just under the steering wheel, one is the hand throttle. It will be cut to length later.


Lots of sink marks :sad:




So just dry fitting I'm here

[papa 695]

Great start Jim.

[Neil Merryweather]

Fine work there Jim

[Guest]

That looks like a good start to improving the model.

[Jim R]

Well for a kit with so few parts it takes an inordinate amount of time with clean up etc.
Added the missing foot pedals.


Completed the dash board details. Not really accurate but better than nothing.


The steering column detailing, again better than the nothing the kit provides.


The bonnet has louvres on the side. They were just rough strips of slightly raised plastic.


I sanded them off and carefully scribed in new louvres. I hope they look better.


Thanks for looking in :thumb2:

[Neil Merryweather]

Nice work on those louvres, Jim

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Jim. Louvres are looking miles better, but then you can’t complain about mould that are this old.

[Lee Drennen]

Wow Jim your taking this to a new level! I like the updates seated in front

[outrunner]

You are doing a great job with this kit.

Andy.

[adt70hk]

Sorry Jim. Missed the start of this. That's looking very good indeed!! Great work so far, you really are bringing it up a level.

ATB.

Andrew