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Grastens

Grastens Builds (and Runs) the Lancia 037 Rally (TA-02S)

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The big plan for the engine:

2prefb4.jpg

It was suggested that I look on Shapeways to find a 4-cylinder engine block. I did not find one there, but the search did steer me towards the polycarbonate engine bays that are used on RC drift cars. The search for scale detail is, in essence, the same...

Demi Works makes several; the one you see here is intended to model a Toyota 4A-GE, as seen in the Toyota Corolla Levin/Sprinter Trueno. This engine also appears in the AW11 Toyota MR2, which would have been interesting to model in 1:10 scale as then it would have the engine in the correct place for an 037. The lack of one is probably due to the lack of MR2 drift cars that would have the engine exposed.

It is a shame that Demi Works apparently does not make 3D-printed versions available:

Demi-Works-Toyota-4AGE-Engine-Bay-DriftM

The one you see here is likely a prototype. Such models would be easier to modify and therefore open up new modelling opportunities. As it stands, though, this was the simplest way for me to represent an engine without scratch-building one. Of their line-up, this was the one that most closely resembled the 4-cylinder engine powering the 037.

For reference, a finished example of this type of engine bay:

demi-works-DW4AGE-01.jpg

The resemblance is admittedly superficial, since the intake, headers, and valve cover text are all wrong, but it does a decent job at standing in for the right engine.

34yr86t.jpg

There is script on the valve covers. I believe it was TC member donut_v2 who bonded plastic to the underside of polycarbonate, sanded it, and filled it to alter surface details. He did this to modify a polycarbonate Volkswagen Beetle shell to depict another model-year Beetle more accurately. If the writing is too apparent on the cover, I will look into this; otherwise, the wires and general location of the engine could obscure it enough to pass as any other 4-cylinder engine.

I originally intended to cut out the engine block, exhaust headers, and intake to paint and apply to the engine bay. However, too many cuts might lead to gaps appearing between the polycarbonate and styrene base. I will reassess what looks accurate.

If I had never seen an 037 or a Sprinter Trueno before, the temptation would have been too great for me to just paint it and stick the whole thing out back, and let everyone else get thrown for a loop seeing a complete Toyota engine in the back of a Lancia!

Off-topic, that reminds me of that "glorious" Lancia 037 pastiche on a Toyota MR2:

00101_4JlOPluFtZU_1200x900-3.jpg

... I would drive one :ph34r:

The other element of the plan is to paint the engine detail using plastic model paint on a coat of PS-55 Flat Clear. This is a technique used to enable TS paints to be used on polycarbonate, though brush paints will still require care. At least I do not count on the engine block flexing too much at any point in the car's life, so this approach could still work.

Colours will be X-11 Chrome Silver, XF-16 Flat Aluminum, and X-31 Titanium Gold for much of the engine block. Plug leads will be painted red, though whether as part of the body painting or as its own brush paint assembly remains to be seen. The whole thing is likely to be painted on the outside, since 037 engines are rarely finished to a lustre.

The to-do list remains at:

- removing the rear bumper (I believe this should and will be done)

- filling and smoothing the driver helmets (considering it optional, but would look nicer)

- filling and/or smoothing the cage and engine parts

- scratch-building the engine auxiliaries (including supercharger parts, leads, hoses (if at all possible), and wires)

- scratch-building mud flaps (still working on how to do this one)

- painting the shell and accessories

- painting the cockpit piece and drivers

- painting the cage, bulkhead, and engine parts

- wiring lights to the shell (this might be easier than expected, since the 4WD-H does not run with rally spotlights)

- applying decals

Easy, right? :P It should be a little more so, once work gets settled and the weather clears up!

Edit: The bulkhead is now attached to the engine bay plate:

919tn7.jpg

I nearly attached the rear cage at this point, which would add immensely to the still-delicate part's strength, but decided the joints needed some cleaning-up first. I would otherwise paint it, and then mask it off while painting the rest of the engine bay. The cage did get trimmed to fit, though.

The bulkhead is attached to the engine plate as so:

2urrzn7.jpg

The fit will be tight between the engine detail and the rear cage, but fortunately this appears to be the case on the actual car:

2yufv60.jpg

I determined that there is a place where I can cut excess material and still have it look like a believable 037 engine.

Having cut around the entire engine bay piece, I decided to see what it would look like when fitted to the car as is:

28ix1qr.jpg

It actually looks quite natural there, and sits perfectly in the space I set aside for it, i.e. it fills up the engine space all the way to where I put the rear bulkhead. If I cared less, I could happily settle for this!

However, I already skipped a lot of work to get that far on the engine - the least I could do is put some effort into it :P

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Thank you!

In the meantime, I have collaborated with TC member njmlondon on a series of supplemental decals for the re-release decal sheet. This allows me to get reprints of the decals I need, while hopefully lowering the cost of a single order per person:

27zm629.jpg

The decals I require are on the left. Those on the right represent almost every decal required to supplement the stock decal sheet to produce the 1985 Portugal Rally test car and/or the 1986 Safari Rally car, both driven by Markku Alen.

A model of the 1985 Portugal test car:

lancia-test-fly-28776.jpg

A model of the 1986 Safari Rally car:

ifabrp.jpg

It took a lot of measuring and reference material, but the sheet should provide the extra sponsors and logos to complete both cars from standard kits. Every attempt was made to replicate and scale them accurately, using my own Lancia 037 Rally and its decal sheet for reference.

Once this build is complete, I will look into drawing up decal sets for other liveries. The learning curve for Inkscape - the software I am using - is still something I am negotiating, but working on this sheet has improved my skill set immensely.

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Progress is slow on the:

3090it4.jpg

But with a few strokes of the hacksaw and a few more of the knife, my Lancia is now an Evo.2:

2vumyk6.jpg

My hacksaw is quite old and warped, so unfortunately I took a small piece off the rest of the shell, but all things considered it went well. The panel lines between the bumper and the rest of the car make it easy to line up one's cutting tool of choice, so all it took was my time and attention.

9aomu0.jpg

It really does open up the rear end of the chassis. I was not expecting to see this much car:

23ut0yo.jpg

Mud flaps are a must - something - anything - to address the rear:

3166bdj.jpg

On the other hand, that rear differential will be incredibly simple to work on! Such serviceability was not in the mind of Ing. Limone when he directed Evo.2 to lose the rear bumper (he gave his reason as reducing mud buildup), but it works for me here.

Having seen pictures of other Tamiya 037s with the rear bumper deleted, I was unconvinced about the look. However, the basis on the real thing is purely functional, so I will not argue with that.

1zyu4g8.jpg

On an unrelated note, I have been quite busy with Inkscape:

32zqurl.jpg

I am now at the point where I can recreate Tamiya's re-release decals, and so wondered what a Lancia 037 might look like, so done up:

fa4nb5.jpg

A future build (and I think there will be at least one!) will see me try out a scheme a little like this one.

All that work is merely a diversion, though, while I wait for painting weather. At least the shell is ready now!

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I ended up putting more work on the:

3090it4.jpg

It began as a casual attempt to fit the engine in the back. I cut out the parts from the engine bay I did not need. Since there were many complex curves to deal with, the polycarbonate was thin in areas, which reduced the effort required to cut. I looked at the potential fit:

a9pbpw.jpg

It then came to my attention that the rear of the cage was too narrow. The engine block is supposed to sit more to the right, since the supercharger inlet and other ancillaries take up space on the left (viewing from above the rear window). Clearly, there was insufficient space here.

The solution was to cut another sprue - the long ones are on the Lancia 037 driver/body accessories tree, so I chopped another one - and insert that between the rear cage assemblies. I glued the parts to the bulkhead first before gluing the new sprue to the assembly, so no "plastic soldering" was involved. All of this might complicate installation later on, and will definitely make painting less straightforward, but I am prepared to live with that.

I elected to attach the front in a similar manner, though how long that will stay on is anybody's guess. I ended up taping it in place for gluing:

2j0cinb.jpg

All this means I can now mock up the engine more seriously. The new cage piece gives me more room to work with, and is more accurate to the real thing. I have several more sprues and a damper oil bottle lined up to model the ancillaries and supercharger:

111i0k8.jpg

The inlet of said supercharger will require some plastic sheet scratchbuilding, as well as measurements. I will see where everything else goes before working on that part, or at least drain the oil from the bottle before starting on it!

A closer view of the rear cage:

21lvfk8.jpg

There are three more short sections of tubing on the front of the bulkhead that need modelling. I have more sprues for the job, but need to figure out the bulkhead window first. As it stands, I did not leave much space for its installation. That can be addressed after the glue dries on everything, however.

A search for more sandpaper also turned up a spare set of Lancia body accessories. I think I was going to use them on either my Wheelie Rally or my regular Lancia Rally. Neither car has provisions to install them right now, so they were placed on this shell:

2n8wy8m.jpg

Depending on the intensity of my driving, it might be useful to have spares - especially of the mirrors...

The weather continues its cold temperatures. Once it heats up a bit, I will look to spray the cage and engine piece, and mask off the shell for black-painted areas, including the inside of the shell.

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Not much love for the:

3090it4.jpg

It seems. Such is the lack of exciting updates and/or quality writing, I suppose. But regardless, here I am :P

Today, the weather showed signs of improvement. In anticipation, I began preparations to paint.

I have been thinking about how to approach this task. I previously painted a Lancia Rally shell on the outside, and then masked off to paint the inside and trim. The resulting bleed was not great; if I had means to clean off said paint, I would have, but at the time I just scraped off the bleed.

This time, I am doing the reverse, painting the interior and trim first. I am weighing my options on paint, given my access to spray cans and brush paints, so in order to be prepared I masked off the whole thing:

16abejo.jpg

Many areas had tape cut to surround curves or meet borders before application, but some were covered in tape and then had the areas of interest cut out. I swapped out my knife blade for this task, but ended up shaving some plastic off with the fresh blade during the tape cuts...

At least I did not have to mask all the individual slats in the rear bumper:

oh8q9s.jpg

I did have to cut a thin strip to run along the bottom of the rear grille, however.

Elsewhere, I made sure to leave the bottom sills unmasked for black paint:

30msld5.jpg

A previous Lancia I finished left the front fenders painted entirely in body colour, instead of continuing the black strip along the bottom. Most Lancias, including the 4WD-H, had the bottom of the front fenders in black, so I left it exposed.

The Martini Racing Lancias did not have the hood vents finished in black, but the 4WD-H does:

18790b_4c6c82acfa964bada2a6e43fe791d919~

22jgpf.jpg

I used a mix of Tamiya 18 mm and a generic 40 mm masking tape. If I get any paint bleed away from the borders I have masked, I fully expect it to be at a place covered by the latter, as much of it is already lifting at corners.

Meanwhile, tail lights are getting painted for both this car and my classic Lancia Rally:

358xrtu.jpg

I used to enjoy painting them, but next time I must try using permanent markers. In any case, I am taking care to paint the different areas, and they are so far rewarding my patience.

I will look to paint the trim and interior of the shell in TS-14 Black at the next chance I get, while giving the engine detail a quick coat or two of PS-55 Flat Clear. Following a curing period, I can then commence the hand painting of the engine, and masking off the painted sections of the shell for its distinctive red colour.

Driver heads are also coming together:

2ec3i8p.jpg

The two for the Lancia are in the mix. The excellent rally car builds of TC member Truck Norris had me convinced that I could glue the two halves of each helmet together and sand the gap down, though I had the putty out anyway to refurbish the other heads I had here and to fill in the screw hole at the back of each. I may swap one of those other helmets in for one kit piece.

On an unrelated note, all this time thinking about Lancias and the number of superb replicas out there, in addition to the lack of Lancia Montecarlos/Scorpions around here but a few 1980s Toyota MR2s, led me to draw this:

2enyyxc.jpg

I have neither budget nor skill, which is a shame because I would probably find a way to realize it with only one of those - or so I say :P

There are a few advantages to using the MR2 instead of the Montecarlo/Scorpion as a base car even if the ensuing machine cannot really be called a replica. A pastiche? Perhaps, but this whole thing is for another discussion...

Anyway, as I write, the tape is lifting in places. I am not as worried as I would be if I were painting black over the red, though!

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7 hours ago, Grastens said:

There are a few advantages to using the MR2 instead of the Montecarlo/Scorpion as a base car even if the ensuing machine cannot really be called a replica. A pastiche? Perhaps, but this whole thing is for another discussion...

I think it is a question of perspective. The classic owner would regard it as a pastiche, the kit builder would regard it as an homage! 

The classic vs kit thing can get quite contentious in the UK!

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22 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

I think it is a question of perspective. The classic owner would regard it as a pastiche, the kit builder would regard it as an homage! 

The classic vs kit thing can get quite contentious in the UK!

If I built one, I would just call it mine :P And wouldn't you know it, the near-perfect donor MR2 comes along... Unfortunately, transporting the thing from the west coast to the east will be several times as much as that price! For my sake, I hope it disappears before I do anything stupid; it is too late to hope it happens before I plan it!

To abate the excitement of a Toyota-based 037, I have taken to painting:

14wblav.jpg

I have elected to paint the rear end of this assembly, finishing the panel in black for the engine. The borders are masked off where I expect to be gluing it to the interior plate.

As previous, the shell is masked on the outside except for the parts which will be painted black.

I kept in mind several tips from other TamiyaClub members with regards to painting below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the prescribed lower limit for using Tamiya spray paints. The spirit of doing so meant I brought everything indoors between coats, the scent which unfortunately permeated the space I was keeping everything.

The coats went on lightly at first, but eventually I gave in and put heavier ones on. Everything seems to be setting well considering this, though I intend to observe a strict moratorium on shell fitting and/or handling of a week, if not longer:

b3vq4h.jpg

The paint on the shell looks suitable even with some stray blades of dead grass collecting on the finish. At least it is on the inside - having that dark enough and minimizing light bleed will suffice. The engine bay panel is definitely rough, but the engine detail pieces will cover up most if not all of it. I am not too worried about fine presentation at the moment, given that everything will likely only be visible through the transparent plastic 'glass' or when the interior is separated from the body. As the last-named is not likely to happen once the model is completed, I am giving the quality of the finish little concern.

That being said, it does lend the project some professionalism if it turns out well...

At the moment, everything is curing:

x26y37.jpg

The front half of the cage will be painted with either TS-42 Light Gun Metal or XF-16 Flat Aluminum. It might come down to the weather, since a rough finish will also be forgivable for the cage, opening the door for hand-painting. It will also make painting the rear cage and bulkhead panel in that colour easier, with enough left over to tackle the engine.

I will do my best to resist peeling off the masking tape for at least a day, though there are differing opinions on the right time to remove such tape. The week-long restriction also means that I have a timetable for the red paint. If this effort with the black paint turns out well, I will consider painting the red sooner after the moratorium, but if not, I will wait more.

The whole thing took me less than a can of TS-14 Black, and I have one more. I am saving my TS-6 Matt Black for the assembled cockpit and engine bay. Despite the rushed nature of this work, it does feel like a milestone to have paint on the shell and other assemblies - especially since it means the body is a few coats of red paint away from being ready for decals ;)

Speaking of which: a misunderstanding between MCI Racing and me has led to delays securing reprints of the decals I still require to finish it... The shell will optimistically still take a week or two to prepare for that, so it is all working well so far!

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2 hours ago, Grastens said:

If I built one, I would just call it mine :P And wouldn't you know it, the near-perfect donor MR2 comes along... Unfortunately, transporting the thing from the west coast to the east will be several times as much as that price! For my sake, I hope it disappears before I do anything stupid; it is too late to hope it happens before I plan it!

Ah, Grastens. That is just the start. If you were creating by a 1:1 replica, I imagine you’d be doing something like this...

https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=43112&page=1

You can have sooo many more Tamiya for the cost / time / effort of a 1:1! That’s what I tell my wife, anyway!

The Lancia is looking great, bring on the next instalment!

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On 3/22/2018 at 8:14 AM, Badcrumble said:

The classic vs kit thing can get quite contentious in the UK!

it's difficult.  We all want a genuine Stratos or a SWB quattro Sport but it's never going to happen.  But then there are a lot of poor quality and frankly pathetic 'replicas' out there.  My own view is that kits/replicas/recreations have a valid place as long as 1) they're a reasonable attempt to capture the full ethos of the original, and 2) they're not being passed off as genuine.

I saw a V12 Jag-powered Daytona Spyder replica at a show once, it looked spot on, it sounded right too but the owner was very proud that he'd built it and was not attempting to convince anyone he owned a Ferrari.  He had about £50K in it too.  Can't fault that.  Driving a 1.6-powered plastic 'Countach' with all the proportions way off is very sad though.

Go for it with the 1:1 037 pastiche Grastens, I know you'll do it right.  Just make sure you have some "NO37" badges made up for it so everyone knows you have your tongue firmly in your cheek ! ;)

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8 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

Ah, Grastens. That is just the start. If you were creating by a 1:1 replica, I imagine you’d be doing something like this...

https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=43112&page=1

You can have sooo many more Tamiya for the cost / time / effort of a 1:1! That’s what I tell my wife, anyway!

The Lancia is looking great, bring on the next instalment!

Thanks! I have had various dreams of building either a Locost, a Factory Five Racing car, or restoring an old beater... I have the inclination, but not the means, and put the whole thing aside until this Tamiya build nudged me towards the precipice :P

The truth is that it really all is a dream at the moment. All my hare-brained ideas of raising funds for even a donor MR2 (on top of regular work, I nearly made six different listings for my entire RC collection, among other possessions, and even considered a TamiyaClub sponsorship scheme!) seem unlikely, and that is not even touching imported body panels, cage building, mechanicals, or road registration...

... But without ambition, I would not be pushing it so hard in the first place! I guess we can look forward to a build thread on that some 10 years later ;) By then, I will have spent 10 years thinking about it, so it should all go smoothly, right?!

7 hours ago, StrokerBoy said:

it's difficult.  We all want a genuine Stratos or a SWB quattro Sport but it's never going to happen.  But then there are a lot of poor quality and frankly pathetic 'replicas' out there.  My own view is that kits/replicas/recreations have a valid place as long as 1) they're a reasonable attempt to capture the full ethos of the original, and 2) they're not being passed off as genuine.

I saw a V12 Jag-powered Daytona Spyder replica at a show once, it looked spot on, it sounded right too but the owner was very proud that he'd built it and was not attempting to convince anyone he owned a Ferrari.  He had about £50K in it too.  Can't fault that.  Driving a 1.6-powered plastic 'Countach' with all the proportions way off is very sad though.

Go for it with the 1:1 037 pastiche Grastens, I know you'll do it right.  Just make sure you have some "NO37" badges made up for it so everyone knows you have your tongue firmly in your cheek ! ;)

My attitude exactly! I did not think about the "No37" badge, though - will have to include that :lol:

In the meantime, that will be a long-burning fire while I sort out my future, so let us keep feeding it with updates on this 1:10 037:

2di3uaf.jpg

Having removed the few bits of masking on the cage and engine bay assembly, I felt motivated to unmask the shell:

9tgvev.jpg

I was not expecting perfection, and did not get it:

2ir6yyt.jpg

As mentioned previously, I used two brands of masking tape - Tamiya 18 mm for many of the borders, and generic 40 mm for covering large areas between them and when my 18 mm tape ran low. I think I will just pay the extra for Tamiya tape from now on:

vpxgfm.jpg

Almost every bleed you see here is a result of using the generic 40 mm tape. There were 2 - 3 problems where I was using Tamiya tape, but they were early on in my masking job when I was a bit rusty. The generic tape came later, but still did not stick that well:

dwb7sl.jpg

This side of the car looks better. Though not perfect, it is a visible improvement, and the Tamiya tape was largely present here:

2zhr3hy.jpg

I will rethink my techniques for masking off the grille:

2lji2z4.jpg

At least I can touch up these areas. Any future Lancia of mine will probably have these areas either brush-painted or cut out entirely.

The Tamiya tape was employed extensively here, and it shows:

2mwio3.jpg

And it appeared on easily the best paint on the entire shell:

4taxs4.jpg

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the paint turned out on this back end, especially as it is so large and smooth. Blemishes would be quite prominent here, though nothing of substance has shown up.

As poorly as some areas have turned out, this is why I painted the black sections first, as I believe it will be easier to mask them off to paint the body colour than to do it the other way around. There should be enough coats - and decals - to hide the mistakes, unless I make new ones!

I had also masked the engine bay to near-perfection:

w0guwn.jpg

You can tell where I laid the oil damper bottle for test-fitting... At least the panel outside of the cage assembly is smoothly-finished; the space between the members will no doubt get roughed-up anyway once engine preparation commences.

The plan is to mask off that panel to the best of my abilities so that I can either spray or brush-paint the cage and bulkhead. Since I will be applying tape directly to the paint, I will be sure to give it all a week, minimum, to cure. I seem to remember making a mistake on my original Lancia Rally by disobeying that, long ago.

Up next for paint will likely be the engine piece. While the shell and engine bay were being painted, the polycarbonate engine block was drying from a wash. I will be using PS-55 Flat Clear on the inside and will first attempt to paint the block that way. If it goes well, I will give the engine a spray with PS-55 on the outside to dull it, but if not, I will use PS-55 on the outside regardless to facilitate additional painting there.

If I can, I will also begin on the engine auxiliaries/ancillaries.

Draining the damper oil bottle I was going to use for the supercharger will not work unless I build up another damper or waste that oil. This has to do with the fact that I was going to drain the smaller bottle into a large one I found of the same oil, but both of them have fixed nozzles, so simply unscrewing the caps and nozzles and pouring one into the other was not going to work.

Since I do not have another damper to build up, I am thinking of switching up said bottle with a tube for holding 1150 bearings - a little like these:

201541161430695532.jpg

The diameter is not as authentic, but in addition to being easier to cut and possibly giving a place for my numerous 1150 plastic bearings to go (it is a flimsy tube, so the bearings can give it structural support), its smaller size will hopefully free up some room for the other pipes and tubes to go into the engine bay. It also looks like it will take well to paint. I have at least one of these tubes ready to go.

Of course, I could just cut the nozzles off each bottle and do my transfer that way to free up the bottle; I do not need its nozzle for the build, anyway.

There is time to think about this further, since I will be working on either the engine tubes or supercharger inlet before tackling the intake body. It is between that and waiting for paint to dry...

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I sure enjoy working on the:

3090it4.jpg

I also enjoy working with sheet styrene: it does not require much commitment in terms of setup. All I really need is a cutting mat, a knife, and some raw material. Of course, that is oversimplifying, since I also need a pen, a metal ruler, and - if I add sandpaper - some respiratory protection. Nonetheless, it is easier to casually/impulsively set up a work space for cutting sheet styrene than for something like painting.

And such a spur-of-the-moment session is what happened today.

The paint had cured sufficiently on the shell for me to start handling it. The use of rubber O-rings and tubing on the body posts under the shell meant I could mount it on the chassis with less fear of scratching the paint on the underside. Sure, it matters less than the paint on the outside, but I still worked hard on it!

The question of how to configure mudflaps was something that I had been mulling over for some time. As explained previously, the full-size 037s have inner wheel wells on the bodywork, and the mudflaps attach at the tail-end of those. Hence, when the rear bodywork is lifted on an 037, the mudflaps will come with it:

524596

One exception would be this gorgeous replica 037:

1ddbd0eeac4f75dd1c33a66d6e6007d7.jpg

Simplifying things for me somewhat would be this image of the actual 037 4WD-H:

2yufv60.jpg

Sometimes, I forget this is the car I am modelling!

I am not particularly interested in doing full inner wheel arches at this time, but I can certainly make an effort to build mounting points for mudflaps. I found a scrap piece of plasticard (I will refer to sheet styrene as such for the duration of this post) and temporarily taped it to the shell, to get an idea of how such a piece should be cut and fitted:

r20u12.jpg

I ended up with a radiused piece like this:

9g8vaf.jpg

That would suffice for the shell alone, but I needed to remember that an interior piece will be sitting in the shell, too...

And while I am here, why not attempt a plasticard spoiler:

116j41l.jpg

I eventually ended up with these three pieces: the two mudflap mounts and the spoiler:

xpy4p5.jpg

The odd shape of the mudflap mounts is better explained here:

96cpau.jpg

This will leave room for the interior piece while still giving the mount multiple places for gluing. The mount will be cut down as needed for clearance of the rear tire.

The mudflap itself is still ambiguous: ideally, a thin piece of white/grey rubber/vinyl, from weather stripping or something similar, would be available. Bicycle inner tubes are also considered good, and I have an old patched one lying around. As it fits a 700 x 25C tire, it is even a great width for the tires on this model. Another idea still is to fold a piece of Gorilla Tape into itself and attach that to the mount; the thickness and pliable nature of such a piece would make it a good mudflap, and it would be the simplest one to make.

The pattern of the mount and the resulting increased contact with the shell will increase what little strength the arrangement might have. I have noticed my tendency to build complicated things that do not last all that long; that did in my Wheelie Rally...

As bad as thinking about my Wheelie Rally made me feel, a test-fit of the interior exacerbated everything:

262rs6f.jpg

Seriously? Where was I when I was supposed to be measuring this stuff?!

2zxqkhf.jpg

And it gets worse:

9k1bev.jpg

I should have known it would end up like this. I think it all came from building the cockpit piece and the engine bay separately, and fixing the cage to the bulkhead could not have helped, either. Notice, though, that the cross-member on the roof near the windshield might still be covered by the windshield banner that will go on this car.

It is also worth remembering (I said to myself) that this test-fit was done without glass or the adhesive Velcro that will attach the interior to the shell. There is not much else I can do for the engine bay half, but the cockpit half may still turn out to fit well.

Such a sight inspired me to pursue a more accurate rear bulkhead, after all: 

1z1v869.jpg

The white plasticard pieces will hide a little more of the engine bay from view through the side windows. The full-size 037s have something similar in place, though ostensibly for a more functional purpose! They will be painted in the same colour as the bulkhead and cage, and then glued separately after painting has concluded.

The whole setup is still not completely accurate to the real 037s, which has been a source of frustration at times, but I must remember that this is my first attempt at scratchbuilding, if not the first one in an enormously-long time. At the very least, I am learning new techniques and acquiring new skills.

... It really does give my plans for an eventual 1:1 build a sizable dose of reality :P

All plasticard parts were then washed for future painting:

5eekgk.jpg

Things got interesting with the helmets...

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The helmets, with the plasticard pieces cut today, following a wash:

5eekgk.jpg

Today was also the day I sanded them down, smoothing over either seam lines, excess glue, and/or putty to fill in screw holes. Two of them are from the Lancia 037 Rally kit, while one is from my original Lancia Rally body set, and still another is from what I believe is either the Frog or Boomerang - a long time ago, I ordered the driver parts separately.

It goes to show that practice goes a long way in execution - I used the same method as TC member Truck Norris for the heads, but someone of my less-distinguished skill should have probably stuck with putty and sanded that down to hide the seams.

The plastic is not blistering; water drops are visible on certain pieces.

Do you notice anything different?

nch4hw.jpg

You know, besides the photo being out of focus :P

I intend to model a specific person either in the driver or co-driver seat. Anything I recalled from TC member JennyMo's Wild Wanda figure build was what I attempted to put into the driver head on the left; the one on the right is unmodified.

In short: I used my X-Acto knife to sculpt the nose and the corners of the eyes. I should probably refine the cheekbones, now that more of that build comes to mind... These driver heads also have prominent brows, so I pared those back, too.

Whether or not I succeeded in making the modified head appear more "feminine," at least I made the two appear different from each other by my standards. They are seen here with the Frog/Boomerang driver head:

e8sqjq.jpg

I am actually keen on replacing the unmodified rally driver head with the one from the Frog/Boomerang, in the interest of differentiating the cockpit figures. Initially, I was under the belief that drivers and co-drivers sometimes used different helmets, though at last check many of them used rather similar types. The idea still persists - certainly, for a pair driving a neoclassic rally car, it can be possible.

At some point, I had filled in pupils for the non-kit head. At present, I am unsure why I chose to do that.

What intrigued me was comparing the Frog/Boomerang kit head, similar to the rally cockpit head in size, to the one in the original Lancia Rally:

2rgm33o.jpg

The Lancia one is identical to the Buggy Champ/Rough Rider type, using a 2 mm nut matched to a 2 mm machine screw to attach the torso to the head. The old-style head is visibly larger, and I was a bit surprised at the facial detail on the older moulding; the features seem better-defined.

Everything is here with the car covered in this build thread:

1iivzl.jpg

I was originally planning to paint the driver helmets white, seeing this picture of Giuseppe Volta and Claudio Lombardi in the 037 4WD-H:

e8nwv6.jpg

However, I have more red paint than white, so I am considering matching them to the body of this car. The Lancia Rally driver head will still be painted white, as the car it will be matched to is, of course, white.

While I have my choice of driver and co-driver, perhaps it would have been fun to adapt some Tamiya open-face-helmet driver figures to model Volta/Lombardi, right down to bending wire and cutting out small lenses for their glasses...

... Am I really setting myself up to start a collection of Tamiya Lancia 037s? :ph34r:

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I was a bit discouraged, so I decided to motivate myself with a photo shoot.

The headlights are the broken spares from way back in this thread. Those, and the painted tail lights, were taped to the shell. The glass was installed, as were the detail parts for the shell. The headlight covers were attached with double-sided foam tape, an arrangement that works well enough to possibly feature on the finished car.

It might be only in primer, but I can still appreciate its looks:

2you4ao.jpg

2j5jpfb.jpg

2q316qd.jpg

103elwl.jpg

2ch54s9.jpg

2ezmjxk.jpg

Of course, even at this point, it would still need its interior attached.

I was inspired to use my Lancia 037 book, manual, and drawings as props. This page shows a detail of the Evo.1 homologation form and Markku Alen testing it ahead of the 1982 1000 Lakes Rally:

rwv5ac.jpg

This next page shows the Evo.2 homologation form in more detail:

ioenur.jpg

And then, a preview of the Lancia 037's most triumphant year:

1znndsp.jpg

The manual, book, and drawings:

2hd5wet.jpg

I hope to mask off the shell again in the next 1 - 2 days; I hear the weather is supposed to be nice on Monday. If the black paint is up to it, I look forward to finally laying down the red!

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Looks really good with the high cut rear end. The shocks and transmission case look surpringingly scale.

Get some red paint on it!!

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Will do ;)

A short update for today, as I put on the first decals. These were for the already-painted headlight covers, which were addressed when I was painting my Lancia Rally white. The 037 4WD-H has these parts in white, while the rest of the car is in red.

Now, I can tell the headlight covers apart between my re-re-release and original:

2rnkec3.jpg

This necessitated a closer look at the decal sheet:

rr6t82.jpg

... Am I the only one having a bad time with MCI Racing?

Everybody else seems to be having spectacular success with their orders; meanwhile, I am kept waiting on full-price reprints and "text" like this. Sure, it is a small decal, but one of those blocks is a 1, which was already printed successfully on the same decal... It was going to read "elaborazioni 1919," as per the full-size car, but I might just scrap that script after seeing this.

If I complain about the quality of their work, I must accept that I am no better, having already made several errors that probably do not justify having top-notch decals on this project, anyway. I am grateful they offer a service within Canada, and certainly I can do no better - but at the same time, these guys are the specialists that I trust to get the job done. Evidently, I trusted them too much, since I completely overlooked this when I first received the sheet - or it could have been because there were other larger errors on that same sheet...

Anyway, attracting these problems must mean that you will have a trouble-free order with them, so get to it! I am sure I will either forget much of this or gloss over most of it when the car is complete.

The black paint appears to be cured sufficiently, so I am going to wash the shell and mask it off for that all-important red coat!

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We continue with the:

3090it4.jpg

In anticipation of the weather warming up, I masked the shell.

I had three types of tape on me for the job:

evcpat.jpg

This vinyl tape was an acquisition from long ago:

et9u6o.jpg

It taught me the value of model-specific masking tape: this vinyl tape, while promising and in abundant supply, was too thick to overlap on edges while ensuring a reliable seal. I even preferred that terrible 40 mm tape to this stuff.

A combination of 18 mm on some of the fine details, 40 mm on the large open areas, and the vinyl tape around the window seals and sills (where I discovered how bad it was) allowed me to successfully mask off the shell for the body colour:

2gtsnwy.jpg

Even then, I am preparing to touch up many areas of the paint following the red. I can take comfort knowing that my method of painting this shell makes said touch-ups easier, for much of it will be in either textured or low-visibility areas, where brush strokes will be less relevant.

After painting the gas caps black, I elected to leave them unmasked after reaffirming that the 037 4WD-H does not have the surrounding bodywork painted black, instead being covered by the stripes:

s3joc32u_restyling.jpg

I will see if I can successfully replicate this effect, but if not, I will still leave it in red.

After finishing up the shell, I realized I could also paint the cage and bulkhead, so I masked that off, too:

2h58nlx.jpg

It was a matter of threading the tape underneath the cage members, which was still possible. I inserted additional members to better depict the 037 4WD-H's cockpit:

2dbt935.jpg

Note the central member spanning the rear window. The picture below, among others, showed me that the 037 4WD-H has this central bar extending downward in the cockpit, in addition to the two other bars that bracket the bulkhead window:

0024780l.jpg

I also devised these pieces to help provide the interior piece with some reinforcement:

risxoo.jpg

The engine bay will sit in the space between the two pieces attached to the long one. These parts will then be glued to the interior piece on the underside. The thin styrene limits its stiffness, but it should provide a little more support than nothing.

I am debating right now on whether to assemble the interior and then paint it flat black, masking off the cage and bulkhead, or paint the interior flat black and then connect the engine bay and cage to it. I could also just touch up the interior piece and assemble it later.

The build might pick up some momentum, now that many parts are available for painting - between the shell, cockpit cage/bulkhead, helmets, and engine parts, there is lots of colouring to be done! And I have not even started on said engine parts... The weather can only improve for painting, though, so I may get several chances to finish everything!

Next will be painting the shell, air scoops, front splitter, and driver helmets in TS-8 Italian Red, followed by the cage, bulkhead, and bulkhead parts in TS-42 Light Gun Metal, and then the mudflap mounts and possibly the interior in TS-6 Matt Black. I am mostly writing all this so I can remember what I need to do next chance :P

If possible, I might delay on painting the shell, for there are rumours of temperatures over 10 degrees Celsius that day...

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Today was the day of reckoning, I reckoned, so I took everything out for painting...

... And in short, I felt like the painting kicked me in the can :unsure:

It started innocently enough:

es1fnm.jpg

The shell was rolling, as were the spoiler and air scoops. The mudflap mounts were a little rough, but no worries, since they would be largely hidden on the finished car. The roll cage even turned out quite well, and all according to plan:

f42te.jpg

2dkwj8g.jpg

I elected to start on the helmets in white. After the first coat, the persistent wind picked them up and dashed them to the ground, leaving me with a bag of disappointment:

b55h51.jpg

No choice but to wait for it to dry, and then sand it down...

I touched up the interior, electing for a quick coat of TS-14 Black instead of TS-6 Matt Black in the interest of consistency:

a2dr1g.jpg

And so we get to the story of the shell:

nlo9e9.jpg

I had underestimated the excess black paint buildup from my attempt to paint the window rubber trim, and as the red coats went on, it became clear that the extra paint would not simply disappear under cover. An attempt to gently scrape it off ended with me taking some large shavings out of the shell :(

Never mind that the gouges would be impossible to hide - the white plastic was showing, and the red paint there would ultimately be quite off compared to the surrounding grey-primer-backed bodywork.

The air scoops took an awful turn: I had painted them to perfection on the parts tree, so cut them off afterwards. Of course, there is unpainted plastic where the tree was connected to them, so I decided to touch it up with a quick spray of paint.

That quick spray ended up overturning the parts onto their outer sides, and said outer sides stuck to the overspray on the rest of the mat. Flipping them back up took a large chunk out of the layers of overspray already on the mat (I paint on the same one for many of my projects). The perfect finish was ruined, and sanding them down took me right to the plastic. The same problem that I had encountered with the window trim overspray was magnified here, and as a result the colours are visibly inconsistent.

I am thankful the camera hides most of the terrible deviations:

zwawqr.jpg

It appears the 037 4WD-H covers much of this part with the Martini stripes, so at least most of it will not show. Still, I am bitterly disappointed that so much would go wrong with a part so close to its finish.

The front splitter was showing inconsistencies, too, and the colour is still not solid even after five or so coats each side. At least it took paint:

179ypw.jpg

I was quite frustrated with the shell at this point:

2zoaver.jpg

The camera hides the magnitude of the errors, but in person that black splotch at the door seam is more prominent. And that will not be covered by a decal... The weather was warm enough for the paint not to freeze, but the wind was my nemesis today, with the odd gust coming in at some inopportune moments during my paint session.

I feel awful right now, like I will never be able to do this magnificent car justice :( I felt that way even before the bodywork started in earnest, but this just makes it worse...

At least the other parts of the car look acceptable from a distance:

orklc6.jpg

This side is a little better:

jq6az6.jpg

Two cans of TS-8 Italian Red, and I had better be able to cover all of the front end:

96c6sx.jpg

Despite this, I still failed to cover the bottom of the right front bumper.

The roof, at a distance:

11w9edt.jpg

... I am actually amazed by how little the camera picks up on the flaws - I should start taking self-portraits with this thing :P

1535v79.jpg

This photo brought to my attention that I failed to cover the seam between front fender and door:

2epo94j.jpg

A quick spray, and it is covered, although the finish might be compromised.

I guess I can be thankful the cage and bulkhead bits turned out well, but I had a terrible time with almost everything else. I just hope the result is better than what I think it is, because the whole experience has been quite disheartening.

In a few days, I will be removing the masking tape. I am almost scared to find out what happened under there, though at least I will be working with brush paint for the subsequent touch-ups.

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You have my sympathy, I sprayed my Lowride Pumpkin the same shade and was shocked at how badly it covered everything.  A black shell, with white plasticard mods and grey filler - i thought red would just cover it but it took many many coats before all the differences were (mostly) hidden.  Next time I'll use primer of course.

We're all super-critical of our own work.  I very nearly lobbed my Unimog shell in the bin, though now have to admit it looks OK actually.

It'll get there.  And I'm enjoying the updates. ^_^

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Keep going! You’ll get there! You’re making more progress than I am at this stage...

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Don't let the painting process get you down!  I have similar problems with dust, pollen, bugs, parts flipping, etc. when I work outdoors.  That's pretty much why I haven't worked on a hard body in ages -- Lexan is so much easier.  It's maddening to watch a mosquito land and stick in fresh (10 seconds old) paint.

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If you're having issues with TS paint, try some automotive paint instead. I've found it a bit more forgiving than TS paints. It's a bit thicker, less liable to run and dries a lot quicker. In the UK we have a car accessory store called Halfords, and I use their Gloss White and Satin Black for various projects and can achive better results than I can with TS paints. It's also much better value for money. In the UK a 100ml can of TS paint cost £6. A 500ml can of automotive paint costs £8. I'm sure you'll have a similar shop in Canada.

Keep up the great work, I'm watching the project with interest as I love the 037.

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I would suggest the same as Andy above in using Automotive paints on a hard plastic body - I have recently been spraying a FAV/Wildone cross using a Tamiya TS yellow paint and the coverage is utterly terrible. Its practically translucent and even with a light coloured undercoat still shows all of the edges and corners through the paint. Considering how expensive the small cans are I don't think I will ever use them again just because they seem to lack any guts in the colour and the pots are pretty useless to brush paint with, my 25 year old Citadel paints seem better. I will probably be using Halfords spray paints from now on I think particularly as they have a range of coloured primers specially for plastics.

Although the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer is very very good.

Is it worth stripping and starting again if you are not happy with it? 

 

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