• Bugatti AutoRail Miniature, built in Japan

• Bugatti Race-transporter, built in Germany

• Bugatti Aerolithe, built in Belgium

Bugatti AutoRail Miniature, built in Japan

by Unknown, 1:32 scale

It does not state on the page where I found this wonderful construction, what the exact scale is. However, judging from the size compared with other objects in the photographs, I'm quite sure that it is 1-gauge, or 1:32. Also, I can not find a name....

Comment from the builder, as read on the website:
This is the characteristic autorail, the one with three bodies connected. BUGATTI produced it in 1936. The bogies have the characteristic 4 axle chassis. In addition, all wheels have a rubber cushion built-in. This autorail was used for service between PARIS-HAVRE.

A driver's cab such as the belvedere rises in the roof center of the middle vehicle highly. The first car and the third car become the streamlined design and are large-scale autorail which becomes 60 meters in total length. Four engines put in both sides of the middle car center drives the 2 inside axles of each bogie.

The drive from the engine is carried out by a flexible shaft. Even the model reproduces this flexible shaft. But the power drive from a motor is carried out for only one chassis. This model run smoothly because I inserted ball bearings in all bearings . Glass of 2mm thickness is used for windows. This is good for clearness and strength.

Described on December 1, 2011
I am maintaining the old work, but when I look at the state I made before, I think that I was satisfied with this kind of work at this time...
This BUGATTI is no exception to this, and now, more than 10 years after its production, we have decided to make some changes.

There was no special referral policy, but we started with the idea of drastically improving the connection method of at least 3 units, enhancing the lighting, and making the interior structure even more elaborate.

Improved coupler I wanted to connect the car body so that it could be easily connected and disconnected. Of the two sides, one side is made is in such a wat that, when the one side is inserted from the right, the spring-shaped side opens.
A hole on that side is inserted in the pin that has been cut diagonally, and the connection is completed.

To release it, pry it diagonally like this to release the pin from the hole.
With the above method, you can now connect and disconnect with one touch. Done.

Intermediate body in the room detail, improvement of lighting
Before the cargo compartment just above the power bogey was laden with mere weight, now it is laden with what seems to be luggage, but is made with lead, this way you earn also the weight, as well as the looks.

In addition, I decided to add a bicycle to my luggage for the purpose of adding decoration. I have never made a bicycle, but I soldered it to orthodox with brass to make it like this.
I put my bicycle on it casually. Does this give you a French rustic feel?

The gentleman on the left is the conductor in the conductor room.

For the interior lighting, 6 3mm LEDs were arranged side by side on a transparent acrylic plate and fixed. Two UM-3 Xs are installed under the floor and turned on by SW operation . The one LED in the center is pointing upwards and is used to illuminate the interior of the driver's cab.

The blank area in the center is the engine room for installing four ROYAL engines, the famous Bugatti car. I'd like to make a miniature, but I did not put these in, because it's invisible from the outside.

Described on December 12, 2011
The vehicles on both sides of the 3-joint formation also have LED interior lighting. I attached a white cover to the headrest of the seat.

Both headlights and taillights have been changed from original incandescent bulbs to LEDs. The power supply is individualized by two UM-3Xs, and it simply lights up even when the vehicle is stopped.

The tail light is also clear with a red LED. It was difficult to remove the original incandescent bulb, but it was refreshing after 11 years.

Taken in March 2010
Power bogie of the intermediate unit (motor is a double-axle motor for HO) Trailer bogie of the front and rear units (the middle two axles can move up and down). The intermediate axle is cut. The wheels rotate and can move up and down with a 2-axis set.

It is difficult to put power in a 4-axis bogie. The two axes in the center are dummy. Only the two axes at both ends are transmitted from the pinion to the crown, and are supported at three points. Of course, it comes with ball bearings. The sight of all three articulated vehicles and four-axle bogies is strange.

Model making record:
The original production record is finally ready to confirm the style. I came to open more than 100 windows. The thickness of the brass plate of the material is 0.4 mm. A cab that looks like an aircraft cockpit.

The AutoRail was shown at a model exhibition demonstration at a lecture entitled "Royal on Rails" held on February 19, 2012. It was my first encounter with an automobile-related hobby group. I didn't even know the famous ROYAL ENGINE, so it was very helpful. It would be good to have cross-industry exchanges without being confined to the narrow area ofthe railway. BUGATTI's car and ROYAL ENGINE provided and exhibited by members of a group of materials used for my performance on the day. The back is my model, and the left is BUGATTI. I heard that the slanted design of the tip comes from that of the yellow and blue cars in the foreground.

original source; with more info (in Japanese) , Google Translate version

Bugatti Type 50 Race-transporter

Possibility fiction Bugatti

The idea came from Dieter Rieke, a designer, artist and architect. A car newspaper offered drawings to be bought for a good cause. More about this on a separate article in this issue of the Bugatti Revue.

What if Bugatti had also built commercial vehicles?
As an example, a horse transporter for horse lover Ettore on a Royale basis, a furniture van on a Type 50 basis for furniture designer Carlo Bugatti and a racing transporter for Ettore's son Jean based on a Bugatti Atlantic were shown.

The latter fascinated me immediately, I took a closer look at it and checked the project for feasibility. In the drawing, a type 59 racing car is on the loading area. The Type 59 is slightly larger than a 35B. In addition, there is currently none in the correct scale. But the Type 35B was available from Revellogram (Monogram). Franklin Mint made one too.
The Bugatti 35B was the most successful racing car from Molsheim and scored the most victories. The model was released by Monogram in 1966 and differs slightly from its various re-editions of Monogram and Revell, which have appeared again and again over the years.

The first incarnation included a "base plate" made of green foam rubber, which decomposed into green crumbs over the years. There was also a piece of guardrail and three bales of polystyrene straw.
On the car itself there was the aerodynamically clad rearview mirror No. B59 on the passenger side, which I was about to make when I looked at the blueprint of the first edition and then began to look for the tiny thing on the casting branches. The times of Lautenschlager and Co. were long gone and the races were run without a grease gun and without a second Brooklands disc.

The original blueprint also has a special feature. A chassis without a body is shown there, with the hint that some modelers want to build the beautiful detailing without covering.
I wanted that, too. Unfortunately the fuel tank was missing. In the standard Bugatti work by Tragatsch, a phantom drawing is shown that shows what the tank should look like. That's how I made one. Now the part is complete. The street version has been in the collection for several years. The rolling chassis and the racing version were created on the occasion of the racing transporter. Franklin Mint's 35B is negligible because of the wheels alone!

Franklin also had an Atalante and Burago an Atlantic. Both made of metal, which would have made it much more difficult to cut - but both struck me as too delicate as a transporter base. According to the drawing, the loading area should be lowered between the rear fenders. The width and length of the loading deck are determined by the wheelbase and track width of the racing car. This would have made the width too large in relation to the cab proportions and the whole thing would have become inharmonious. The type 50 from Heller seemed to me to be the ideal basis and so I bought two of them. Enough material to build a three-axle transporter.

The frame was lengthened by 25 mm by sawing through parts of the frame at different points and gluing them together. In addition, the second rear frame was added. After the offset for the rear axle mount, the frame widened by 6 mm on each side. The axles also grew by 6 mm on each side. In the original, the half-axles are flanged to the differential / gearbox. The widening succeeded elegantly and credibly with the sockets (6 mm) made. In this way, the original suspension and quarter-elliptic springs could be retained. Of course, the cardan shaft and the exhaust also had to be lengthened.

The cab consists of the shortened T50 four-seater, which was supplemented with parts of the second, since the lower 10 mm of the rear wall of the T50 is missing due to the sinking between the fenders in contrast to the pickup and had to be rounded off in all directions. The elyps on the side should also be kept without a kink - but shortened. To do this, the roof had to be cut through at a different point than the doors, because of the rounded roof, the ellipses and the window cutout and in general.

The loading area substructure consists of drilled evergreen U-profiles and evergreen stripes. A work to drive you crazy because of the 1000 holes. I wanted a boat deck made of mahogany and ramin wood slats like on a yacht. The wood is available in ship model building supplies. Under the loading area there is a slot for the loading ramps and the spare wheel. The car is standard up to the A-pillar.

I absolutely didn't like Heller's solution for the bonnet. Therefore, in order to be able to unfold it prototypically, I shortened a bonnet hinge tape from a slaughtered Bugatti Royale by Franklin Mint to the required length and glued it with Stabilit Express. The bonnet side parts fold inwards as it should, thanks to self-made joints made from pin bolts. The eternally long fenders have also been lengthened using the cut-through method and elegantly merge with the rear fenders, which consist of all the originals and this and that divided into thirds.

The effort involved in the whole thing is difficult to describe in words.
The tank was also enlarged with parts from the second and the supply line pulled back.
The three-color paintwork almost pushed me to my limits.

Was it worth all the effort? For a fiction? I think so, because there is nothing original and only 3-dimensional can you see exactly what would have happened if?

Models, text and images: Günther Eberhardt, Munich

Bugatti T57 Aerolithe

In October 1935, at the Paris Salon de l’automobile, Bugatti introduced the new prototype ‘Aérolithe’, on a successful 57 type chassis.

It was a blinding car with a futuristic design, designed by Jean Bugatti who had taken over the management of the factory in Molsheim at that time. The body was made of ‘Elektron’, a metal alloy that was 98% magnesium. This material was without light, but also very difficult to process.

Based on the Aérolithe, only 3 (maybe 4) series cars were built, the famous 57S Atlantic types, all three (two) of which are still preserved.

The Aerolithe, however, disappeared just before World War II to remain without a trace forever. Only 11 original photos have been preserved.

In 2013, the Canadian car restorer ‘The Guild of Automotive restorers’ managed an incredible job by bringing this 1935 prototype back to life, based on an original Bugatti chassis and the preserved photos….

Among other things, they used ten sheets of 120x240cm magnesium, each costing $ 3,000; the total value will certainly be in the millions of €.

Nice challenge to add that to my collection!

There is no model construction box here, but a Burago toy car on a scale of 1/24, which I thoroughly adapted. So the process was reversed: I made the series car the prototype.

The car is about 22cm long.

Special features were:

• Other headlamps
• Other stern
• Other interior
• Other hood and radiator
• No windscreen wipers or vents.
• Rear wheelhouse closed

On the right: the original Burago model and the Aérolithe.