1930 Bentley Blower by Aifix 1/12 build log [COMPLETED BUILD]

I started the front seats. The kit's seats, aside from being different from the ones on the the car, are too big so they don't fit. The kit's body was moulded with thin walls compared to the real body so airfix made the seats to fill the space, ense they don't fit in mine. So I designed and printed new seats that I will cover in leather. I printed them with an upholstered pattern more like that of the ref car. I also designed and printed the seat rails so the seats can be adjusted. My only problem is that, althought I took in account the thickness of the leather and made the seats smaller, it seems like I didn't make them small enough. They fit now but once upholstered, they won't. So I'll have the reprint smaller using a scale factor, something like 5% smaller should do. I also printed the rear seat cushion but it too is à bit oversized. Lastly, l installed the top foldable frame. Here are some pictures.

The kit's seats



Kit's seats In my body



The different components of my seat



The seat rail





My seat (right) next to the kit's

(The the cut-out on the front left corner is to clear the shifter, only on the driver side)



And in the car





The real seats

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the top frame



real top frame

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Thanks Jeff!
I upholstered the rear seat complete with a bunch of springs underneath. I have no idea if this is how a 1930's seat would have been made and have used a lot of 'modelers leeway' but it was still fun to do. I also modified the rear seat back cushion by making it thicker, my first try was too thin.







next I upholstered the front passanger seat. I'm very pleased with lower seat, with the ajustement rail and ajustement lever. Not so pleased with the seat's back. It's ok but I think I could do better. I've reprinted thinner back parts and will retry.





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Francois, you are a modeler extraordinaire. I just finished reviewing the photos of your previous builds, from full scale to miniature you can do it all. Thank you for sharing and demonstrating what one can achieve if they are motivated enough.
 
I added a few more details, the front side markers, both windshields and both doors.

Side marker



Windshield and passanger's side door



driver's side door



now this leaves me with 2 final things to do. The dashboard, which is a project in it's self and that I will do last. And the soft top. Which I will do next. As the name implies, the soft top is soft, so made out of a fabric. To be able to conform to the top frame, It will be made of several pieces clued together. I did a first test with a center piece going from front to back and quickly realised that I wont be able to figure out the shapes of the different pieces directly on the model because it will involve too many manipulations and trials and this portion of the model is too fragile. So I took the 3d model of the soft top I did, scaled it to 98% to compensate for the material thickness and 3d printed it. This gives me a "form" on which I can try as many different shapes as I want without fear of breaking anything.

Here is the test I did





And here is the printed top that will serve as a form

 
I made a few more soft top test and with each try, I'm getting closer to something I like. It's a game of compromise, I want a material that looks good but it also needs to be thin and soft enough to fold down.

This first test was made using a black coton canvas that looks really good but is a bit stiff.





The second test I made with a thinner and softer black polyester and coton blend. It fits better but is a bit sheer.







The toughest part is to figure out the shape and where to make the seams.

 
Here is the third soft top test. I think I got the shape and the assembly method. Instead of making it out of one piece like the previous tops, I made this one out of 3. One center piece front to back and 2 side pieces. I think it give the top a cleaner line and the joint are more like the real top. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the glue up. I'm using a glue called Speed-sew, it really works well but any overspills are just about none removable. So I might redo it one last time being more careful of the glue application. I still need to figure out how l will attach it to the front bar and to the rear.

Top up







And down

 
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