Willy's Wheelie Rally - Completed!

[Grastens 2795]

Wow! I missed this thread last year and just sat reading the whole thing this morning.

As with every STUMP... project on here i wonder how it's ever going to look good after the initial cuts but you've proved, like JennyMo and others, it can be done.

I'll be watching this thread with interest from now on.

PS - you need mesh on the rear panel!

Thank you! Lofty praise considering the pioneering and super-refined work of JennyMo and IBIFTKH, among others! Mesh on the rear panel will definitely need to be sorted now...

Great to see this one back on the bench!

I know it's not going to be a quick job to finish but I'm really looking forward to seeing this completed.

Thanks! I feel the same I will be taking this project with me when I change cities, where hopefully I will have two days of the week at minimum to continue working on it.

Yay! More progress!

I was enjoying following this thread last year, and am very glad to see work has recommenced.

Your colour options both sound good. Personally I would favour the green with white stripes. Reminds me of my old racing colours... Although the blue with white stripes would also work well - that was my father's choice BITD.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on!

Thank you - I have a thing for dark green still, but the can of Metallic Blue is just sitting around... I am thinking I will still go dark green, and save the blue for my Honda City Turbo project.

The two racers you showed there make strong cases for their respective colours, though!

You should do the Martini livery, but have some custom decals made so it says "Marteeny-tiny."

Hilarious! Alas, ScreenPrintDigital ignored me the one time I attempted to enquire about decals...

I am trying to keep focused on the task at hand, which is still sanding after one year. Already a lot of design details I was going to include - enlarged rear spoiler, roof scoop, interior - are proving beyond my limited skills and time, so presently I am just making sure the shell looks presentable! There are still many small areas which are quite rough, but it looks far closer to a unified piece than it did when I made the initial joins.

I was reminded of this because my sandpaper took me through the primer coat and back through the plastic:

This was following about 2.5 hours of sanding. It was quite pleasant, really - I just sat on the steps outside the house with my box of supplies, put on the dust mask, taped new sandpaper to my 'blocks,' and filed away an afternoon. I made a point of not wearing a watch, just to take that pressure off and make sure I did a decent job!

Unfortunately, I dropped the Willy head and got it unglued, but managed to get a near-seamless join on the helmet. This is a Willy head from the Honda City Turbo which I prepared alongside the Wheelie Rally shell. I do enjoy working on those, as his stubby proportions and oversize dimensions allow for a good grip and much more rewarding work when viewing the finished product.

The relaxed session worked well, as I managed to sand down all of the areas I had applied putty to. However, I definitely picked the wrong one as the shell keeps cracking in the same places as before; I will be careful with it. The nice thing was that I had found my stock of Tamiya low-grit sandpaper (180, 240, and 320), which allowed me to handle the shell much more gently than I used to while sanding. This probably saved the entire thing from crumbling in my hands!

A coat of primer is due - I have a feeling I will have a much-better finish this time around than the first coat, but we will see! The roof and windshield base are definitely ready, having been sanded effortlessly by the 180-grit paper, after which I went through 320, 400, and 600 grits all over the shell. Some confidence was restored in this step when areas I did not even remember repairing showed up beneath the primer - this meant that I had made repairs which looked invisible under primer!

After the Loctite Zexel GT-R took the electronics from the WR-02, I will need to get new ones sorted out. A step backwards, then, but the shell has certainly progressed today!

Edit: I had a chance to look back at some of the pictures on this thread - my goodness; I had forgotten exactly how much effort this whole thing had taken! Without too many huge globs of plastic putty to sand down, my finishing work for the shell is substantially further along than it could be. It is good motivation

[Grastens 2795]

As paint scheme goes: remember this one?

I reposted it from earlier in this thread because it was a bolt of inspiration just now!

Unfortunately, I did not end up with a GF-01 (which would have made this paint scheme perfect, as this is a 4WD Lancia 037!). I am still thinking about a design similar to this one, though, for the final paint. Quasi-Martini stripes are also very much a possibility, and can be much-better done with paint than decals.

I found my collection of spare Tamiya decals, and with the others I have acquired through myriad purchases of RC car products (i.e.: the Venom Racing stickers that arrive with each battery) I should have no trouble covering it in stickers!

[Grastens 2795]

More primer and sanding have ensued, with the shell getting worked on alongside a Honda City Turbo piece:

I was running out of putty, though, or at least I figured I would pretty quickly because the tube burst. If it did not set in there, I was low on it anyways. So more items were acquired:

The TS-43 will be the new base colour. Two cans were acquired because I now remember what it is like to run out of paint - I do not enjoy it! Willy needed his gloves finished and a new paint job for his helmet after I botched the earlier one, so on it went:

The one on the left will go into the Honda City Turbo, while the Wheelie Rally will have the one with the gloves and helmet finished in Racing Green. This leaves me just over one can to finish the shell - I estimate about 1.5, actually.

Upon inspection and using the burst tube of putty, this looked to be all that needed my attention:

I did not think to pick up more primer... However, if I can get just one more coat out of the can and these last spots sand down well, we could finally get started on paint! After just 10 months!

After paint will be windows, figuring out how to get Willy to drive it, and decals, all while making sure the shell stays intact until at least its first run...

[Grastens 2795]

This project made it back with me for the summer at home. I am now working six-day weeks, which helps me pile on the cash but not give me the time for my hobbies. That is, until this weekend.

Canada Day was a Wednesday this year - we went to work as usual, but got Friday and the weekend off. The weather is gorgeous here, and the WR-02 chassis looks quite exposed just sitting there...

So I went to my local hobby shop and found these:

Only the mat, primer, and masking tape really apply for this project, but it is a commitment to get going. I had already taken delivery of two tubes of Tamiya white plastic putty, and had previously gone to work on the shell:

This stuff is strong; even in a well-ventilated area I was getting loopy... Consequently, it is far superior to that cheap Perfect Plastic Putty I had been using. It is a lesson, for I feel that had I started this project with Tamiya putty I would have been done a lot sooner. Even the rear window surround was repaired with this putty, after efforts with the Perfect Plastic stuff had broken off repeatedly under careful handling. Unfortunately I lost the texture on the repaired section, but once painted black the surround should look a little more normal.

I also took the time to scrounge through my household recycling and got some window panels sorted:

I still have no clue how these will be attached to the shell or how to bend them to shape; some anti-fogging CA glue might be required. I will be re-reading JennyMo's project threads!

Old cracks in the front section re-emerged, and were fixed with superglue before getting sanded down and hit with primer yet again. The shell is rough near the joins of the frontal section and where the front fenders were built up - I am a little sad that I have chosen to resign myself to sub-perfect quality, but in reality this car is projected to run, and run frequently. I will be designing a paint-scheme that will hopefully obscure most of the flaws...

Much of the recent progress can be described in this picture:

The new headlight buckets on the left were unsuccessfully drilled to accept 5 mm LEDs (how did I do it the first time?), wrecking the one on the right. The rally spotlights in the middle were just assembled - they protrude too far forward to be protected by the WR-02 bumper, so I will be leaving them off for now. Future lighting needs may bring them back; to that end I am painting the spotlight cover with the rest of the car. The pair on the very right are the original headlights from the donor shell, drilled successfully to accept 3 mm LEDs. These were originally going to be my auxiliary lights mounted on the grille until I ruined the new units; now they will resume duty as the main lights. My light kit only contains 5 mm LEDs in white, meaning that for now 3 mm orange units that were intended as turn signals will be the main running lights.

The most promising news is that a few hammer strikes have freed the old, crusty taillights from the shell, allowing me to fit new clear-painted taillight lenses and therefore rear LEDs. The buckets have been drilled to accept 3 mm red units, which were in my kit.

On the bodywork front, the shell was drilled for the front posts. I measured the distance between the front body posts correctly, but drilled in the wrong locations. My original drilling skewed the shell to the left. I elected to widen the existing holes to centre the posts to the shell, sparing additional bodywork efforts (filled-in partial holes may prove weak, anyways) and allowing some given in the inevitable rollover:

Again, quite rough, but it will suffice.

All of this has occurred a year and a day after making the first cuts on the donor shell for this project. One year later, and I have a shell that is [as] ready [as it will ever be] for paint; a complete and functional chassis; and a continued desire to see it through to completion. Remembering the times that I have been disheartened by the project, it is important for me that I still have this motivation.

The paint scheme will use my dark-green/white/red configuration; however I will need to examine the decals I am working with to determine which colours go where and in what fashion. I can tell you that previously-outlined compromises aside, I am quite pleased with the overall outlook.

That being said, I am still looking at options for mounting the shell at the rear of the chassis. The stock body posts are too flexible to support the shell in a horizontal position, and the spacing between them would put them into the taillights anyways if they were to protrude from the rear panel. My current solution involves gluing a thick strip of plastic across the rear interior of the shell and drilling holes in it for the body posts. I would allow them to protrude through the rear windshield, but their width would also put them through the rear pillars of the body. We will see if I can finesse this existing solution or find another (I seem to remember a mounting solution using parts from the VW T1 wheelie van...).

It seems I must sort paint; decals; window screens; putting Willy onto the chassis; lights; rear mounts; ride height; and potential reinforcement of the body before I can call it complete. These appear to be the only tasks left - I can almost see the finished car lumbering through the grass...

[markbt73 5316]

Good for you for sticking with it - I know how frustrating those long projects can be. (Ask me about my scratchbuilt Land Rover sometime.)

Shell looks good! Makes me wish Tamiya would make that body more widely available again. Looking forward to seeing it painted.

[SteveU30 1011]

Still loving watching you work on this matey, keep it up!

[richb77 78]

As paint scheme goes: remember this one?

I reposted it from earlier in this thread because it was a bolt of inspiration just now!

Unfortunately, I did not end up with a GF-01 (which would have made this paint scheme perfect, as this is a 4WD Lancia 037!). I am still thinking about a design similar to this one, though, for the final paint. Quasi-Martini stripes are also very much a possibility, and can be much-better done with paint than decals.

I found my collection of spare Tamiya decals, and with the others I have acquired through myriad purchases of RC car products (i.e.: the Venom Racing stickers that arrive with each battery) I should have no trouble covering it in stickers!

If only Lancia still made such amazing looking cars. This must be 30 years old and still looks stunning. Todays re-badged Chrysler's and re-shelled Fiat 500s....well, suck!

[Grastens 2795]

Good for you for sticking with it - I know how frustrating those long projects can be. (Ask me about my scratchbuilt Land Rover sometime.)

Shell looks good! Makes me wish Tamiya would make that body more widely available again. Looking forward to seeing it painted.

Thank you! I seem to remember seeing this scratch-built Land Rover on the forums... It was certainly impressive! How goes it now?

Still loving watching you work on this matey, keep it up!

Thanks! I will be unable to get a string of days going on it, but I hope to get a few hours after work each day!

If only Lancia still made such amazing looking cars. This must be 30 years old and still looks stunning. Todays re-badged Chrysler's and re-shelled Fiat 500s....well, suck!

I personally like the Fiat 500 and its Abarth special; my mother drives one and it really zips

A major transitory step has occurred with the first layers of paint!

All that hard work has meant something, at least. The shell feels more solid in my hands now and has taken to the paint quite well except for the front and rear, which were rough from the peeling original paint to start with:

The shade is the exact same one that I used on my actual Lancia Rally: TS-7 Racing White. It gives an off-white tone that I found suitable for my Lancia over the recommended TS-26 Pure White as the TS-7 looks aged, which was quite befitting my vintage runner. It was tempting to procure some Martini decals for this shell, but I think I will resume with a simple two-tone dark-green/white scheme. Had I kept the front and/or rear bumpers, I would be able to use more decals which would have better justified splashing out on a new decal sheet. Instead, I will do that for when my Wild Willy 2 shell gets worked-upon

The same paint looks different on the two shells; this is most likely due to both dirt accumulated on the Lancia Rally and the fact that I did not use primer on the vintage car whereas the Wheelie Rally had lots of it! I unwittingly switched from dark-grey primer to light-grey as the lighter shade was the first thing I saw on the shelf - it has definitely brought out more of the white.

An oddly-poignant moment came about when I stored the white-painted Wheelie Rally shell next to my Lancia Rally runner:

You know, given how rough my Lancia Rally was finished even from new, perhaps my work with the Wheelie Rally is not so bad... If history is any indicator, I will have long and memorable adventures with my newest build once complete

In just over a year, I have taken this:

It has since become:

It was quite a reckless decision; perhaps with some more sorting it will be remembered as a brave one!

Next up is to mask off the desired white sections and apply the TS-43 Racing Green I have set aside for this shell...

[waterbok 1282]

"On the bodywork front, the shell was drilled for the front posts."

Noooooo....! It was looking so beautifull without the holes.

Why not use a velcro or magnetic mount up front?

Works great on my Jimny

[Grastens 2795]

If you saw the shell up close like I have, you would not say that; drilling for holes was an easy decision that way. It never occurred to me to think of this shell as "beautiful!"

In addition, there is a lot of excess putty on the shell interior, which would have made a different mounting system harder to work with. I am all right with body posts and holes; it is a system that works and this car is not exactly about 'scale.'

I am glad you thought the body was worth the extra effort to spare it from post holes, though!

[IBIFTKH 1369]

Great to see this again!

Getting some paint (as opposed to primer) on a project always feels like a major milestone.

[Grastens 2795]

Great to see this again!

Getting some paint (as opposed to primer) on a project always feels like a major milestone.

Thanks! Coming from one of the creators of my inspirations for this project, this means a lot

Getting more paint on has made this a major milestone indeed! Tamiya TS-43 Racing Green was used to decorate the upper shell, with the lower side panels masked off with 40 mm yellow masking tape:

The paint is less of a forest green-type green than I had imagined (perhaps I used British Green on the Buggy Champ that inspired dark-green cars in my collection?); all I know is that it went on quite smoothly! Four fruit flies flew into the fresh paint and were trapped, adding to the other debris that the curing paint accumulated. I am not too bothered by this - although the flies are a little disturbing - knowing that this car will be a runner and that my Lancia Rally's paint work was marred even more extensively by flies and dust when it was being finished.

It is clear that I was either using old or no Tamiya tape, as the edge was not clean at all and there was some jarring paint bleed underneath the tape. I will likely paint a thin black stripe between the two colours to conceal the bleed, and will find my newly-acquired 18 mm tape to mask off the line that will be brush-painted X-18 Semi-Gloss Black (the only black paint I have right now). I would have loved to use red paint, but have none around here; it matches the driver figure, anyways, with his black harnesses!

In this time, I have also cut out the rear and side windows as well as the front windshield. They will be applied in separate parts; there looks to be enough surface area on the outer edges of each to ensure secure fitment. I am debating on whether to use silicone sealant or anti-fogging CA glue, and that is not considering white glue if that proves strong enough...

I had thought about painting the air scoops black, or finishing them in carbon decals. In the end, I elected to paint them the same colour as the upper body.

This has gotten quite exciting - only one of my previously-mentioned tasks has been mostly-completed, but it was the one requiring the most finesse. Only window trim and the bottom skirts on the shell will use the black paint after the proposed paint-bleed stripe. My decal job will also require a steady hand, although the majority of them will be small sponsor decals that will be much easier to place than, for example, Martini stripes or entire body panels (as in my Loctite Zexel GT-R build).

For the final tasks: reinforcing the shell could be easy; figuring out the body mounts prioritizes sturdiness over smooth finishing; ride height is simple to determine after body mounts; lights only need gluing to the buckets; attaching Willy to the chassis is similar to the body mounts; and windows are already cut, with only the attachment method to be determined.

Thanks for following so far - and I do mean far! I will be sure to post the finished article when the time comes, and hopefully drive it like I drive my regular Lancia Rally!

[Grastens 2795]

I began decalling - I did so with the realization that if I planned to clear-coat the shell, I should apply the decals instead of gluing the windows as I had set out to do. This process took quite some time despite there being little surface area on the shell on which to apply them, mostly because I had no real design drawn out. I did have cues, though, as we will see!

Previously, I had masked off and painted the window trim:

I used Tamiya masking tape, and it worked superbly. The paint was Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black, which was the dullest black paint I had, and as predicted the window surrounds looked a lot better following the treatment.

With this completed, I was able to decal. My main cues were as follows:

- Wild Willy 2 roll-bar light decals on the Lancia inner headlight covers

- Wild Willy 2 logo on the front hood

- Spektrum script on the rear wing

Other than that, all I really had were some leftover decals from my Venom battery; some miscellaneous vintage types I won in a photo contest from the SRB Drivers' Club; and a new re-release Hotshot decal set that I was reluctant to break into. As it transpired, the Lancia headlight covers were quite small and the Wild Willy 2 spotlight decals quite large, so the Hotshot sheet was cut up for its headlight covers. They had previously made an appearance on my Honda City Turbo, and were the first decals to be applied:

The Hotshot sheet proved useful for small sponsor-type stickers which fit neatly on the small surface area of the shell. I looked at the spares on my Wild Willy 2 sheet (I have a pristine Wild Willy 2 body set that may get finished later...) and cut those out, too, resulting in the following design:

The positions of the Adjust Point and classic Tamiya decals were mostly to cover sloppy masking, with the others placed around them in a hopefully-aesthetically-pleasing manner. It was not the best design I could do, but I still like it a lot.

The top of the shell was left sparse. I actually did research on different Lancia 037 paint schemes so as to avoid too many miscues with the stickers. For instance, most if not all multi-tone 037s had numbers protruding into the darker tones, with those having white backgrounds if needed. However, some did sport rather-small fonts that did not even reach the hard line in the side panels. I kept the top of the shell simple:

But the oversize Wild Willy 2 logo has yet to make it onto the shell. Look at the contours of the front hood, and consider that a round sticker is being made to fit over the bulge. With lots of window-cleaning fluid, a hair-dryer, a knife, and perseverance, my best decal work shone through:

JennyMo's STUMPSco inspired me to use this particular decal, and it is a nice goofy homage to the original Lancia Rally's large Lancia decal on the hood. I applied that one before I knew about using a hair-dryer to set stickers, so that one went on poorly compared to this! It does not look a whole lot like the decal was intended to, but getting it to fit at all over those curves was quite a personal accomplishment.

I thought about my Lancia a lot while working on this shell, and I often revisited it for inspiration. It was partly-responsible for the rear spoiler design:

In place of "I," "Lancia Martini," and "90" are a white-backed sticker from the SRB Drivers' Club (proof I know them - sorry about it not being on the S.R.B.!); more of my Spektrum decals; and the #7 that I used from the Hotshot decal sheet.

I was silly to use original-formula Windex, though, as it took the freshly-applied X-18 paint off wherever it touched. The side skirts suffered the most, getting stripped almost completely, while the window trim needed attention to particular corners afterwards. It is the reason why I did not apply a decal to the roof - using window cleaner would have effectively erased all my paintwork there. Everything was eventually retouched; following this, taillight lenses and air scoops were glued, and Willy's seat-belts were also given a few drops of paint.

My portion of the kitchen table now looks like this:

Extraneous 'caution' and switch position stickers were placed on the chassis. I had fun with them on my TA-04, and while I was placing decals I thought I would give the chassis some decoration.

I am not so sure about what you think, but I think the shell looks great, and I am quite pleased with it Everything went smoothly, except for the air scoop gluing where the scoops did not quite fit their positions between the C- and D-pillars. My experience with a Lancia Rally had me expecting this, though, and clamps held the pieces until the glue was mostly-set.

For now, I have to clear-coat the shell; attach windows; attach Willy to the chassis; build/assemble a rear mount for the shell; reinforce the shell (found my Gorilla Tape!); and rig up the lights to the shell. That is all I need to do before I can run it - and I ordered a rear WR-02 mount that should arrive in about 2 weeks... Waiting is also in order!

That works for me right now - I could stare at this shell for a little longer

P.S.: The front and rear grilles are obviously still body colour. I hope to remedy that with my latest order of 3D-printed aluminum mesh decal!

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

That's really coming together nicely, Grastens!

[Grastens 2795]

That's really coming together nicely, Grastens!

Thank you! I feel the same way

Massive steps were taken since the shell was decalled. They seemed like laziness at times - I skipped on gluing the windows, properly reinforcing the shell, and clear-coating the body for numerous reasons. Two of those were the use of the hair-dryer to seal the decals and the use of Gorilla Tape

Gorilla Tape is an exceptionally-strong and rugged tape that I ended up using to attach the windows to the interior of the shell. I cut the borders a bit small on the windshield in particular as I had anticipated its attachment to the shell via glue, but that did not happen. I avoided the fogging question of most common epoxies with several cuts of this fantastic tape:

Granted, this extensive tape does not enhance stiffness, but may keep the shell pieces together in the event of a collision. It is probably of similar effectiveness to the carbon-reinforced tape that I had planned to use on this body but forgot in my school city

Somewhere along the way, the excitement became too great to resist further progress; I whipped up a temporary body mount that hooks around the two rear body posts yet flexes enough to allow the shell to fit onto the front mounts cleanly. This will be the system (affixed with more Gorilla Tape!) in use until the WR-02 M-parts I have ordered arrive in the mail. The rear posts are set up as follows:

In position, the system looks like this:

Despite the plastic threatening to split when I cut the slots, it has proven to be surprisingly effective - I like to think I designed it well, and maybe in metal it could become a more permanent solution. I will attempt to adapt the WR-02 M-parts body mount first, though.

I then rigged up a really sketchy-looking mount for Willy to finally take the wheel of his new rally car!

And I mean: really, really sketchy!

Too much tape being used for structural purposes for my liking here!

You may also notice that the massive gaps between bodywork and chassis make it quite obvious that Willy is just a torso...

No matter; this has allowed me to get the entire car set up for ride heights and potential mounting configurations for Willy. I have figured out the height at which he needs to be fixed to the chassis, and I understand he must be placed at a slight upwards angle (hands pointing a few degrees above horizontal) in order to have his hands visible from through the windshield. This is the case in order for his head to clear the low roofline of the body.

The rear body and driver mounts are all temporary, but each is quite useful - the driver mount, for example, lets me see how the receiver cables will interfere with Willy. Here, they tilt him to his left. Somehow, this arrangement gives the rig some more character, at least in my opinion, like he is hammering away at the wheel:

I took a photo of the semi-finished project with the spotlight pod characteristic of Tamiya 037s:

Here is Willy from the side window:

And now a final shot:

If the headlights look askew, it is because they have yet to be screwed in!

The front and rear grilles still need detailing, and the lights have yet to be rigged up. This has not stopped me from a careful test drive indoors - it drives like any stock-build WR-02, which with this particular shell has me a little worried! I remember that upon this semi-completion I thought the car did not look quite right, until I saw it barrelling down the main hallway... At that moment, I knew I had the look I wanted

I will have another post of the car once the grille decal mesh arrives. In the meantime, I am really enjoying seeing what this project has become and what it can be!

[Trini2DBone 633]

Wow...! Awesome work man! That shell really came together!

[lupogtiboy 454]

I think that looks amazing, and a fantastic result for all your hard work getting it to this stage. I too like the way 'Willy' is sitting in the car, it does make it look as though he is thrashing the car around in a hurry....

[Grastens 2795]

Wow...! Awesome work man! That shell really came together!

I think that looks amazing, and a fantastic result for all your hard work getting it to this stage. I too like the way 'Willy' is sitting in the car, it does make it look as though he is thrashing the car around in a hurry....

Thank you both very much! I appreciate the support a lot

Almost a year to the day that I first hacked a Lancia Rally shell to pieces, I finished sorting other details to complete the project for which it was the centrepiece. It began with the arrival of white 3 mm LEDs and the WR-02 body mount:

Incredibly, I only used the decal mesh of this haul (and had no plans to use the F103LM chassis plate, of course!). The body mount had no simple way to fit to the shell, and two of the three pairs of LEDs did not work with my lighting kit. The mesh even ended up being a bit disappointing in overall appearance, and probably made my car appear even more tacky compared to just painting the mesh sections black:

That being said, if I did more work to paint details in the mesh areas it would have been much cooler... I suppose the mesh actually worked quite well, given how it reflects the flash from the camera; it looks more like real mesh than just a flat decal.

With the non-functional white LEDs, I decided to use the orange turn-signal units as the main lights. The result looked odd and was not as effective as white LEDs at actual lighting, but at least I can tell when the car is on and where it is at night:

The rush was on to finish this project. I designed a chassis-mounted driver stand using plastic stock, cutting assorted slots to have the entire assembly fit together without glue. I glued it together anyways for reinforcement, and where that failed tape ended up providing more rigidity:

Somehow I feel sketchy using tape as the permanent solution, but it is more readily-available to me than epoxies, easier to remove for future modifications, and this particular brand is still reasonably-firm. I used it as dressing for the driver mount (a mistake as I had not cut the slots to accommodate the tape thickness) and the re-glued plastic strip that ended up being the actual rear body mount.

With that, I installed the lights and put the unit in a balloon as I did on my Lancia Rally:

And then, once the body was mounted, I had a completed car!

The lights on in the dark:

I am calling this done for now, but am definitely not ruling out modifications and refinements. I may even do it again using a re-release 037 shell This car is almost certain to be refined later on, including accessories like the nitrous-oxide bottles that are a motif on every other 'stump' car!

Of the brilliant 'stump' projects I have seen on this forum, mine has to be the coarsest in presentation, but it is mine. Thanks for reading - it is done, but not finished If you need me, I will be driving it!

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Good job, Grastens! I know it was a long process, but I give you a lot of credit for sticking with it and seeing it to completion.

[Grastens 2795]

Good job, Grastens! I know it was a long process, but I give you a lot of credit for sticking with it and seeing it to completion.

Thank you! Perhaps I got a bit impatient given that it was a year, but in the end I still have a unique car. That car is now a runner

The other pictures are not great, but it is proof that the car ran. It did so on brick and in tall grass, where it handled erratically and bounced copiously. In other words, like a WR-02 with friction dampers like mine!

Throughout this project I often thought about my Lancia Rally, which was my other big enterprise that has since become an excellent runner. The two were finally properly reunited to compare:

Which would you rather drive?

A little more seriously: I may need some weights at the front end of the car given that I want the bodywork to last more than an hour of running!

[Gruntfuggly 562]

Congrats on building a unique model! I think your final result is excellent - I'm sure you'll get the 'stump' seal of approval.

[Grastens 2795]

Congrats on building a unique model! I think your final result is excellent - I'm sure you'll get the 'stump' seal of approval.

Thank you! I hope so - the StumpScorchers were hugely-inspirational for this very project, as you can imagine!

For now, though, the only smile needs to be on my face when I take it out like I did today:

And now I know why I am testing on thick grass!

Scampering around in the backyard has a garden hazard, though:

Hopefully nobody sees the car-sized holes in the plants!

The car wheelies a lot more than I expected, as I had driven the WR-02C at speed before its predecessor. It made for a fun drive, although it was tempered a bit by my preservation instincts for the custom shell! A few knocks later on may solve that

Until then, I was inspired to photograph it while it still looked nice:

As I may have said previously: it was a shame that I did not save the rear bumper as it would have still cleared the rear wheels at full travel, but it does make the battery accessible:

The rear wheel arches do provide a lot of accessibility to the rear-mounted electronics, meaning I have little need to remove the bodyshell under normal conditions:

Willy seems to be settling in nicely with his racer, and so presently am I!

Thanks for reading!