Brazil Microcar

       

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Original Kit:
Messerschmitt KR200 & BMW Isetta 300
Made By:
Gunze-Sangyo (kit #196)
Scale:
1/24
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Messerschmitt Microcar from the movie Brazil
Brazil Messerschmitt Microcar cockpit Brazil Messerschmitt Microcar side detail Brazil Messerschmitt Microcar rear

 
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With my fondness for quirky little cars, Gunze-Sangyo's double kit of classic Bubble Cars - the BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt KR200 - was a must-have. The Isetta will be a project familiar to anyone with a television in the mid-to-late 1990s, but the Messerscmitt was destined to become Jonathan Pryce's "official vehicle" from Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult classic Brazil.

As with other Gunze-Sangyo kits I've built, this was a strange mix of basic and complex. The chassis, interior, engine, and body were made from about a dozen parts total. The trim, including chrome plated, soft vinyl, and photoetch pieces, was more than twice that number. Very little of the construction could be considered difficult or frustrating, though trying to mate the canopy/upper body piece to the rest of the body required a fair amount of patience and lots of sanding and test fitting. It's still not exactly seamless, but well within parameters for this particular car in this particular movie.

To make it look appropriately futuristic, the movie car had a few changes that needed to be replicated here. First, the front fenders were the older KR175 style without the wheel cutouts. I changed these by gluing a thin sheet of styrene to the outside of the existing fenders, following the existing curve to create a smooth transition. The wheel openings were then filled from the inside with epoxy for strength, and the outsides were sanded smooth and touched up with Tamiya filler where needed.

Next, the front bumper was scratch built from six lengths of soft 0.8mm wire, first straightened and then shaped to fit the contours of the front of the car. The chrome greeble in front of the canopy was from my parts box, and the rear engine was assembled from sheet styrene and some bits & pieces from my parts box.

My parts box also provided a new rear wheel and tire, after I somehow lost the kit-supplied wheel. Fortunately, I have lots of toy parts in there, and one of the wheels from a Transformers G1 Datsun fit the axle and was nearly perfect in diameter. It was a hair wider than the stock tire, so I had to move the fender to keep it centered, but otherwise worked great.

I wanted to match the tone of the movie, both literally and figuratively, so paints were all from a very narrow band: no pure white or pure black, or anything really colorful. The main body was painted TS-17 Gloss Aluminum, the fenders were painted TS-4 German Gray, and the engine was painted TS-42 Light Gunmetal. The interior was several variations of beige with dark gray seats, done using Apple Barrel paints and light brown craft vinyl. The side markers were craft gems toned down a little with a layer of PVA glue, and the taillights were touched with some Testors Stop Light Red. I made the decals for the sides, rear, and interior, then finished it with a thorough weathering using Tamiya effects and drybrushing.

 

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