My old "500"

[Tonino]

Hi friends. Perhaps some of you are wondering if I'm still alive as I didn't post anything for a long time. The reason is that I am taking a pause from cardmodeling (after a BIG work on my shuttle I needed something different for a while ... but that project is still in progress... I'll deal with the exterior as soon as I have finished this new work) to start another project: it was love at first sight when I saw the commercial: the FIAT 500 in 1:7 scale from Hachette! It's one of those weekly issues where you pay a lot for a couple of little pieces at a time and, at the end, you have paid enough money to buy a real car. I know this is not very logical but this time I couldn't resist. This subject is a car that I love immensely and this particular model is not available in any other way so I was forced to ignore my brain and listen to my heart. The FIAT 500 is the first car I ever drove and the one I loved more for many reasons. This model is really detailed and correct in shape and details (it's the second edition so I could see the finished model built by others before starting the enterprise...). Obviously I can't keep the model "just as it is" because I want to build MY "cinquecento" exactly as I remember it (unfortunately it's not here anymore) and I remember it very well. I already built it in a littler scale (there's some photo in my gallery) but this time the huge dimension will give me the chance to realize something EPIC! (I hope).
And so I hope you'll like to see the main steps of my work to convert the "normal" Hachette 500 to the real Tonino's original 500!

 

[Tonino]

Guess what is the first detail I want to share with you? Not difficult to guess if you know me... instrumentation!!!

I didn't like the provided intrumentation. Printed flat on a transparent plastic piece.



I took the original as a master and duplicated it in resin.



Then I redraw the instrument dials and printed on glossy plastic foil



The original dial was on different levels and I wanted to keep this feature well visible.



And this is the completed instrument panel for my beloved 500!




And, as the model provides instrument backlight, the printed plastic, slightly transparent, was perfect for the purpose...



OK this is all for now. See you soon with another piece for this wonderful car...

bye bye

 

[Revell-Fan]

Hello Tonino! It's so great to see you back! rinks:

You have chosen a very special topic. I had no idea that a Fiat was available as a partwork. I agree, these partworks can cost you an arm and a leg but if you think it is worth it then - by all means - go for it. thumbsup

You are off to a long journey (how many issues are there, BTW?). Thank you for inviting us to accompany you. I'm looking forward to seeing your magic. thumbsup

 

[Dagger]

Luck in this project! The start is great. Here in my country I had a dislike with something like this, a frigate in wood, the cheap launch, then it was not cheap and less pieces, I had not finished the helmet and suddenly I'm here , so I had to throw everything away. The problem here is always the fluctuating economy, and if sales go down, deliveries are suspended. And the ten crazy cats that buy this are the losers. Greetings, great start.

 

[Tonino]

Thanks friends! Glad to have your attention!
@Revell-Fan Really the issues started in late 2017 so now I'm receiving the #76 and the opera is completed in 100 issues. I waited to start until I had enough parts to organize my work in the best way. I think by this year I should have all the stuff ready on my desktop.
@Dagger I know what you mean. It happened also with Hachette here in Europe. Not to me fortunately, but I know someone who started an opera that was soon cancelled. Not a great pleasure. This time there's no risk, as I said this is a re-issue of an already published subject who gained very high interest, especially in Italy where are lots of enthusiast amateurs of this little mechanical jewel.

 

[Revell-Fan]

Often these kits are offered as a complete kit after the partwork run has been finished. You get all pieces at once but you have to pay a huge price. Less than the partwork costs but nonetheless expensive. And you may even find some auctions on ebay offering single issues or bundles from those who gave up.

 

[Tonino]

You're right, and this applies to this kit too. And you can spare something. But, apart the fact you have to pay it all at once instead of pay a little every week (or every month if you subscribe) I considered also the fact you have complete support from the editor if you are a subscribed customer. If a piece arrives broken or shows some flaw you can have for free a new one simply making a phone call. This is a service you pay but sometimes is crucial.

 

[zathros]

Is this paper. plastic or a combination? That is one sweet model, and the scale is awesome. Of course, your treatment of it will yield something quite a bit more excellent that probably every other person who builds this model. This is something you could never get in the US of A. but for you, Tonino!!

 

[Tonino]

Hi John! I really missed your comments. Happy to meet you again here. This model is mainly plastic with some parts molded in metal (body, wheels, steering, suspensions). I'm also using my paper experience to add something more (see next episodes...).
This particular car has something very special to me, I really loved this one and I am building exactly my old 500 and not a generic one. I remember it so well that I plan to place every screw, every scratch, every rust trace exactly where they was in my car. I don't have photos - unfortunately (digital camera and smartphone era was still to come) but my memory is very vivid about this particular subject and I'm sure I won't have any problem recalling all the details I want to include.

Let's come to build report.

The seats.

The springs under front seats were a distinctive feature well visible when you reclined the front seat to reach rear places.
The Hachette model represent springs with an ugly print under the seat. Not acceptable.



Seat frame had typical "S" springs (this photo is a real spare part)

I realized a wooden tool to create similar springs from a brass wire


The lower frame was properly detailed and provided of the right "rusty" appearance


The new springs were added to the upper frame


And here is the revised seat in place.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Watching you build is both mind blowing and inspiring!

 

[zathros]

The seats springs are 100% on the money!! The surface rust looks real, not over done. The light on the gauge is superb, at night, you could make a light sensitive power supply which turns the model's headlights, and appropriate interior lights on, when the Sun goes down. Fantastic!!

 

[Revell-Fan]

AND SO IT BEGINS - Tonino's magic strikes again! AWESOME!

 

[Dagger]

Awesome! This will be wonderful.

 

[Gandolf50]

Love the springs!!! That is exactly how I remember them in all the sports cars I have owned!

 

[Tonino]

Thanks all my friends! And now comes a chapter where my carmodeler skills were widely used.
In my car was installed an old radio (it was OLD in '80, now it would be a museum piece) that was removed from my dad's car when he changed his old Ford Taunus for a new (!) FIAT 125 special.
That radio was built before transistor era, so it worked with valves. A real piece of ancient technology. I remember very well that radio with all the black buttons to recall stations (strictly on medium waveband) that once pushed produced a loud "click" moving the little dial behind the front window.
I found a lot of photos of the real radio and decided to build one from scratch (obviously it wasn't provided in the model).


This is the original radio: an Autovox directly from 1962 (just my age!)


I drew the main parts on CorelDraw and printed on cardboard.



Buttons, knobs, the window and some plates was made in plastic.



The assembly still unpainted.



Then, to give a more "metallic" appearance, I printed the body parts on metallic paper.



Here are all the painted parts and the new "metallic" body.



And here is the final assembly. Really identical to the original. I'm very proud of this little model in the model!





That's all for today
See you soon...

 

[Dagger]

That is a work of art by itself! Impressive talent. This makes me miss the old "autoradios", these modern never understand. I have a box full of old cassettes and I have nowhere to play them. What you are doing in your "fitito", we call it here, is great.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

WOW!!!
That radio is a model in and onto itself! Like I mentioned earlier, watching you build is both mind blowing and inspiring!

 

[Revell-Fan]

I'm speechless..!

:Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo:

 

[Gandolf50]

That is just PERFECT!!! and as you know the old tube radios with the rotary dial will pick up more stations than any of the radios in cars today! Most will skip right over a station... and a lot of them have no manual dialing!!

 

[Tonino]

Yes Gandolf! You're absolutely right. The good old analogic equipments!

The next part I want to talk about is not a detail easy to explain to someone who has never been aboard a Fiat 500. I'm talking about the heating system.
In the 500 there was a simple but really effective heating system: the hot air came directly from the motor and was directed, thru big pipes, directly to two vents placed over front passenger's knee and to the windshield.


A funny thing is that the only command to turn on heating was a little lever (N°3 in the picture) placed just under rear seat. It happened, in summer, that a rear passenger accidentally hit the switch with his heel and suddendly the atmosphere in the car became extremely hot... You can imagine the complaints directed to the poor guy in the rear.

Well, let's come to the model. Every 500 owner remember very well the typical front vent placed above the knee (N° 4 in the picture), it's a very distinctive feature so I wanted to better detail the basic shape provided with the model with a complete and working shutter.


To the right the original part, to the left the part being modified; I started removing with a little saw the portion representing the closed shutter.


Then opened the cavity with my Dremel



added a new shutter made from plasticard and brass wire




And, once painted, this is the new heating vent. Obviously I modified the other one too after this photo was taken.



Please note also the little ring in the center. It's another peculiar 500 feature: the manual throttle command. A very basic kind of "cruise control" ante litteram. The model represented it very basically so I was forced to add another modification...


Next time... the battery