Airfix A20440V 1930 4.5 Litre Bentley

Not the easiest model to build but when finished will look great providing you follow the instructions very carefully.

Worthy model

A true vintage kit, almost 50 years old, due to this it can have fit issues and a lot of flash from the old moulds. Never the less it was fun to build despite these issues A very large kit, for the experienced modeller, looks superb when built.

Quality of production is quite poor compared to other manufacturers of scale kits. Loads of flash and dimples in some pieces. Does build into a nice kit but needs lots of fettling and preparation.

Firstly I am an experienced modeller used to dealing with poor fitting etc and I read the reviews of this model and how it had some flash etc but nothing major. Unfortunately that's not how mine turned up. For a start over 20 parts were broken of the sprue and just about every single piece had serious flash in varying thickness's. The few chromed parts were a major problem because given the way they were attached to the sprue and if you cut the flash off properly you exposed plain plastic. On top of this most of larger the chrome parts were twisted or distorted badly. The worst of these was the chrome grill which was seriously bowed in two different planes.Probably the single biggest issue was with the chassis rails which were twisted both out of true and also slightly bowed which caused issues with everything attached to them. I stressed them gently over a few days to try and straighten them out before building and thought I had succeeded only to notice two days later that the fuel tank was twisted to the point where the pins holding it had snapped. Then I realised the blower bit (which looks like chrome on the box but isn't) had also moved as the rails reverted back to the original twisted shape. The model is almost finished and from a distance it looks fine, but up close, if you know what to look for the faults are obvious , despite the huge amount of fettling necessary to get it to sit straight, make the grill fit etc.I realise this is made from pre 1970's moulds but the blurb also says very few were made, so the lack of definition etc is also hard to understand.In fairness It may be that mine is a one off. The box says it was made in India and many of the faults (other than the poor moulding) could be down to heat damage, maybe sitting in a red hot shipping container for a few weeks. I had some really poor Airfix models in the past (I stopped buying them 20 Yrs ago) but then I watched the Hornby programmes on TV and heard how everything is being improved so gave them another go. And unfortunately I still can't see any signs of Quality Control. Airfix should be checking these as they receive them but they obviously are not with the result that buyers like me and you are spending a lot of money for poorly made goods. But again being fair, even with the faults; on the surface mine looks good and if yours arrives without the distortions etc it will make a great model. Just check everything before you start building because if its not right you should save your money and send it back.

Having built many airfix models over the years, I was looking forward to making the Bentley. But the casting of the parts was terrible, most parts didn't fit and need a fair bit of fettling to get them to line up. The chrome casting had way too much chrome and the windscreen frame didn't even fit the glass or the car body.This is all disappointing as I've been a fan of airfix for many years.

Why is this predominantly green model moulded in light grey ??, this is the third model of the same and the1st two were moulded in dark green.Lots of green paint needed !!!

I'TS THE WORST AIRFIX I HAVE EVER TRYED TO BUILD .HOLES HAD TO BE ENLARGED AS BITSDID NOT FIT .WORSE THAN BUILDING FLAT PACK FURNITUR