Corgi Model Club: The Bentley Continental in black over silver

 

From the Corgi Model Club, this month's issue is the lovely 224 Bentley Continental in the splendid black over silver finish that I have always thought looked the best.

You'll see that they have chosen to fit normal black tyres to this one rather than the grey type used for the green and cream issue. The original Corgi issue, of course, would have had the grey type but I think I prefer the black on this one. It's simple to change them anyway.

As always, the production is first class and it really is a stunning model. Looking at this image now as I write, it seems to me that the fog lamps are slightly larger than the original.  The jewelled lights are still plastic which I find always to be a bit of a pity. These things are very cheap to buy in glass and look so much better. If it were easy to extract the plastic ones I would swap them over but I suspect it won't be.

I had to check with my own original. You'll see now that the fog lamps are pretty accurate but it is the grille that is significantly wider on the Club issue. I remember now noticing this on the green and cream one way back in November 2021.

On my model the boot lid doesn't stay open at its widest setting but it does close in line.

In the box you'll find the model arrives extremely well-protected with not only that thin foam wrapped around both ends but there's tape wrapped around that as well which makes a tight fit around the front and back chrome elements. You have to be very careful when removing this because it is so tight and there is a risk of damage either from whatever tool use use to cut the tape or just from the foam catching the emblem at the front or overriders or a light fitting at the rear when extracted.

With the model you get an updated certificate and what I believe must be the first catalogue of CMC models. That will be worth keeping carefully for the future, I think, as it will be changed quite quickly.

The 224 box looks the same as for the first issue but is actually different on the information panel with reference to 'black and silver' and different layout of the panels and a new bar code reference too.