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InsaneJim69

Kyosho Renault Laguna BTCC 1997 Bodyset Build.

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Having been searching for ages for a Kyosho Laguna bodyset, one finally popped up locally and for very cheap indeed, NIB as well and complete with decal sheet and accessories too.

I know alot of people still don't know about the BTCC too much, but from around 1997 - 2000 the cars were very technical and very very expensive. Infact the 1999 Laguna and Mondeo are rumoured to have cost £900,000 and £1M respectively (and no that is not a joke). Infact the Renault Laguna that entered the BTCC from 1996 - 1999 was actually ran by Williams F1 Grand Prix Engineering. Needless to say they pretty much wiped the field in 1997 even the 4WD Audi A4 Quattro's'.

I tried looking to see if there has ever been a decent bodyset attempt with the Laguna BTCC car but have tried google etc but to no avail. The only bodies that come up are the shockingly bad Parma ones. So I decided to do a little build thread here for the Bodyset.

NIB Bodyset

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Contents

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New Set of Tamiya 18 Spoke Clear Blue Wheels

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Wheels Painted PS30

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At this stage I totally forgot to take pics of during the PS30 Brilliant Blue paint section. I used some brilliant Revell masking tape, which gave zero bleed even with heavy coats :) The Kyosho window masks were ok with bleeding, but not great. However I did find their idea of splitting the front and rear window masks into 2 pieces per window a very good idea indeed. So there was zero chance of a wrinkle on the mask.

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Protective film still on

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And removed

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Nice sharp masking line with the Revell tape

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With only a tiny bleed (my error)

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Chassis test fitting

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And finally the finished article. There are a few decals I am really not happy with, the 4 corners of the bumpers, the white decals were a nightmare. So I will remove those and redo them. As were the window surround decals, they will be removed and the window surrounds painted matt black. Body mounts were left 1 hole larger than usual as I might actually run this one gently a few times with the body raised up.

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So there we have it, A Kyosho 1997 Williams Renault Laguna BTCC Bodyset. :) I might actually add a Tamiya cockpit to this one once I fix the decal issues etc.

All comments welcomed as usual. :)

Many thanks

James

:)

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Nice work.

A golden era for BTCC.

I've a BTCC Volvo saloon and estate from this era waiting to be done. You may have pushed the inspiration button.

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Wow! What a finish, and those wheels - perfection!

That was when BTCC was at it's best IMHO. I used to go up to Knockhill with my dad in rain, hail or shine. Alain Menu in the Laguna was my favourite driver.

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That looks superb!

Do you have anything to display it with? A mondeo or a4 would look awesome alongside.

Reminds me of the old TOCA touring car game, with commentary from Tiff Needell!

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Thanks guys :)

Its to be displayed in the livingroom once its renovated. Along with my Tamiya Porsche 911 GT1 and my Tamiya Mazda 787B.

I am at this moment just home from work (2.25am) and I am away to remove those window decals and paint the frames instead. Will post up a few pics later when its all done. :)

James

:)

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Those white decals on the front bumper look like they are nearly impossible to get perfect. Did you heat them up?

Probably best solution would have been to paint those bumper corners white, you could remove the paint and then mask and paint white.

There are some tamiya bodies where you see the wrinkles on the decals right on the manual, so even they are not perfect. Personally I think your car looks awesome

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Yeah, I am thinking of painting them a few coats of Tamiya X white on the outside of the body actually. :)

Window surrounds now painted black (1 coat, still another to do later. Not perfect, but will be tidied up after the 2nd coat) Found some spare Michelin and Pilot SX decals that I have added to the tyres. Along with a more realistic front splitter area as the decals Kyosho supply for the splitter are nowhere near what it actually looks like.

Tyre Decals

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Kyosho's "iffy" front splitter look

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Real cars front splitter

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Revised with some Tamiya X gloss black paint.

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Will take some more pictures tomorrow in daylight as my phone's camera flash alters the colours slightly. But, hope you like the update. Going to order a Tamiya cockpit set soon and get that painted up and installed in the next few weeks. :)

But later today will be the 2nd black coats and also going to paint the front grille too below the Renault badge, as thats not quite right with the 2 supplied decals too :)

James

:)

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Thanks guys. :)

I am very impressed with the Kyosho body actually, its the only kyosho body I have ever painted/decaled etc. Body was slightly thin in places but quite detailed. The accessories that came with it were very nice addition though.

I am actually looking for another bodyset/whole kit as I have a wee plan for a 2nd project :)

Away to tidy a few bits up then take some new pics. Will upload them soon.

James

:)

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I am actually looking for another bodyset/whole kit as I have a wee plan for a 2nd project :)

Does it smell like coffee? Nescafe perhaps?!

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Possibly :P ...... TBH, the Kyosho body because of its width suits the 1999 cars regulations better with the more open front wheel arches etc. But the decals will be an issue as the Nescafe ones for sale were for the 1998 car, which are totally different.

But I have a plan! And it goes like this ........ ;)

James

:)

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Well I have painted the window surrounds with their 2nd coat and I have also removed the 4 white corner decals and then carefully removed the philips stickers from those corners too to be reused. Masked off and sprayed all 4 corners on the outside of the body using Tamiya PS white paint. Then gently heated the decals up with a hairdrier and re applied them to the bumper corners. Its not perfect, but it is definitely an improvement over the dodgy white decals.

I also cut down the body posts to give a far neater look overall. I forgot to mention that underneath is a Tamiya TRF416X :)

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Thanks

James

:)

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Oh very nice indeed, no more wrinkles!! I would love to see that Mazda 787B you have as well. I have one and it was a #$/$%/ to paint right as well

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Pulled it out the cupboard and gave it a quick wipe over with a microfiber cloth and some Auto Finesse Detailer Spray (for real cars) gives them a lovely shine

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James

:)

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That 787B is fabulous!!! Yes I do like that Renault but to me the 787B is the favorite, did you paint it yourself?

Wait a minute!! It doesnt come with a driver? At least mine doesnt have one, which driver did you use?

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Yes I painted this one myself. I do have another that is factory finished, but the paint and decals are not that good tbh.

The driver was an option part for the group C cars and quite rare these days. It came as standard on the Nissan R91CP kit though.

James

:)

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I know alot of people still don't know about the BTCC too much, but from around 1997 - 2000 the cars were very technical and very very expensive. Infact the 1999 Laguna and Mondeo are rumoured to have cost £900,000 and £1M respectively (and no that is not a joke). Infact the Renault Laguna that entered the BTCC from 1996 - 1999 was actually ran by Williams F1 Grand Prix Engineering. Needless to say they pretty much wiped the field in 1997 even the 4WD Audi A4 Quattro's'.

I was a big BTCC fan in the late 90's, went to a few races including the night-time ones. Frank Williams invited me to a test day at Silverstone in 1998. Alain Menu and Jason Plato were there in the actual car that had won the championship the previous year and I went out in it for a few laps. Just as a passenger, sadly. It had been resprayed in the new Blend 37 colours by then. The Williams F1 team were there too, filming an advert for their sponsors, with Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel. That £300K Laguna was pretty impressive until the F1 car blasted past like we were stood still. The team were very friendly, they let me poke around both cars as much as I wanted though they weren't keen on me taking close-up photos. The drivers were happy to sit and chat all day too. Pretty good day off work if you ask me.

btcc2.jpg

btcc1.jpg

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Wow, what a lucky guy !! :) For a FWD 300BHP 975KG touring car based on the road car bodyshell they are mighty impressive, but yes a different league to an F1 car for sure. Alan Gow apparently said that the budget that he knew about for them to run a season in the BTCC with their 60 man team was £12m for the year (and that was just the cost to go racing etc, not including what they spent in publicity days etc) Just crazy when you think about it back then.

Yes the 1998 Laguna Nescafe Blend 37 car might be my next project. Mainly because every attempt I have seen has been painted metallic green which was the wrong colour for the 1998 car. The 1998 car was just a basic gloss green similar to Tamiya PS9 or PS22. The 1999 car was however metallic paint.

James

:)

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Very nice! The cockpit set will be the icing on the cake. It makes a world of difference to the looks.

One thing to be aware of though is the left (54298) and right (54157) hand drive versions aren't mirrored, but are a different design:

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The LHD version will put the driver on the correct side of the car, but probably too far forward. As you probably know the seating position in these BTCC cars is set further back than the road versions. Might be worth looking at a different brand if you want it to be spot on.

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Wow, sorry for the lack of updates folks. .......

So far I have received a nice set of blue alloy 7mm hex hubs from hong kong ( £3.27 posted :), took 2 weeks to arrive though ) and they give the Laguna a nice stance that is runnable. :)

I have also sourced a 2nd bodyset and original kit box from Germany, so that is on its way to me now as we speak :) and trying to find a set of Nescafe Blend 37 decals is proving very difficult :(

I haven't bought any cockpit sets yet (next month) as I have been spending far too much on getting the livingroom renovated and on new PVC windows for the front of the house (to begin with, rest will be done next year) :)

On another note, I recently bought a Microsoft Surface 3 to replace my Surface 1 RT and am loving it. I have downloaded Race 07 from steam along with the whole BTCC 1995-2000 cars and tracks mods to race on. And surprisingly it runs with everything at max settings very smoothly :) I can actually race my 1997 Laguna on a semi tablet/wanna be laptop :)

Will update as soon as the new bodyset arrives. But would appreciate if anyone sees or has a set of the Nescafe Blend 37 decals, they were made by Trickbits and also by Carson. :)

many thanks

James

:)

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Not updated this in ages. But got the cockpit set fitted a while ago. And also sourced some 6spoke blue wheels that are great for running the car.

I also got some 16 Spoke white Tamiya wheels from Svenb so they have been painted up in TS44.

So here is how it sits ATM.....

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James.

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Did he just spray paint some NIB clear blue parts? I think I need to call a therapist. The most disturbing thing I've ever seen. :lol:

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Nice body and interior; I missed this the first time around.  FWIW, my re-release R91CP came with the cockpit parts (looking at your Mazda 787B comments).

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