Type 59

Bugatti's Type 59 was the marque's final Grand Prix race car. Produced between 1933 and 1936, it was basically a development of the Type 51. Although a Type 59 did win a few Grand Prix races, it wasn't nearly as successful as the Type 35, Only a handful (around eight) Type 59s were made and half of those have survived, so it always was a rare Bugatti; think north of £10 million if one ever comes up for sale ...

I've only ever come across an example of a 1:72 scale model of a Type 59 once; appears that the model is as rare as the real thing! And .... you guessed it .... I did snap it up when it was listed on eBay.

It's not the most accurate model in the collection, but it does at least have something resembling the characteristic 'piano wire' wheels of the Type 59.

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 ...