Bugatti 100

Bugatti didn't only design cars. Among others, he also designed an aircraft: the Bugatti plane, model 100, specifically for airplane racing. The plane never flew, but a replica did, unfortunately killing the pilot when it crashed.

I only ever saw a mention of a (very expensive; think several $100s) 1:24 scale resin kit of this Bugatti plane once, but 1:48 and 1:72 scale kites are readily available, and for a lot less. Given I've already broken pretty much all of my self-imposed rules, the 1:24 scale rule might as well be suspended, allowing me to get a 1:48 kit of the Bugatti model 100.

Building it was quite easy. Apart from the quite detailed cockpit, the kit didn't have that many parts.

Note the two contra-rotating propellers!

And, to bring us back to Bugatti cars, here's the 1:48 Bugatti 100 model next to similar-scale models of a Type 35 and a modern Chiron.

Mistral

Bugatti's modern open top model, the Mistral, is the final model to feature the W16 engine. Released in 2024, only 99 were produced, and sold for €5 million. 

Clearly, I wanted a Mistral for the collection! It didn't take that long after release of the real Mistral that 1:24 models started to pop up on eBay, so you know what happened next, right?

Here it is!

Last year, Bugatti released a one-off coupé version of the Mistral, called the Brouillard. I'll keep my eyes peeled ...