Pics of Ford Focus WRC I'm working on...

This is the Sainz/Moya car from the 2001 Monte Carlo isn't it? Airfix did 4 or so different WRC cars from around this time all in 1/43rd. As its a tarmac rally car you're right it needed to be lower than the gravel car.

So far it looks really nice.

From the looks of it its the red decal which has given you problems which is a real shame because it helps to set off the overall colour scheme. What was the problem as the other decals look as though they have gone on well. The blue decal has plenty of compound curves around the rear wheel arch and the front bumper/mudguard or did you mask and spray (can I see a little overspray on the B pillar?)

From the looks of it you have added some nice paint detail in the interior (straps over the extinguisher etc). Are you going to add the roll cage and extend the seat belts back from the seats?

Keep up the god work and please post your finished pictures it will be nice to see the final model.

Looking good Murray!!! Keep us posted, and show us the finished product!!! What in the world possesed you to do such a small scale?? Very brave man indeed!!!

I forgot to mention Murray if you're looking for reference material go to www.rally-live.com and go into the archive photos for the Monte of 2001.

1/43rd is a great scale I've got 3 on the go at present a 1965 Elva, the GT40 spyder built by McLaren and driven by Chris Amon and a Ferrari GTO swb from the Tour de France.

Looks good Murray, keep bringing them on.
Lee

Nicholma,

Thanks for your kind comments and good suggestions! I think you're right about the drivers/year of the car. Don't have the box/instructions handy, but the names sound familiar.

I maybe should have clarified the decal problem, but basically it was more of a 'user' problem than a 'decal' problem. I used some PollyS decal solution on the one side and I totally wasn't prepared for it to be a really strong solvent (it's the strongest stuff I've ever used and I didn't even realize I had it!! -- too bad I spilt 90% of it in a later "incident"...). Had the decal totally in the wrong place and it melted it all up. If I would have left it, it would have looked much much worse. I keep changing my mind whether or not I'm going to try to 'paint' the missing decals on or not. To be honest, It'd likely be easier to just buy another kit and use the decals from it. Or, perhaps it's time to try printing some of my own decals....
The back part of the car is masked and sprayed blue (no decal). It's not a dead-on perfect match for the blue in the decals, but it's pretty close. The other decals did go on fairly well, which I attribute to the use of a hair dryer. I kept reading in ModelCars magazine (oops... don't worry FSM, I still buy your mag too...) how they use a hair dryer to soften the decals around curves. It actually worked very, very well. No setting solutions or solvents were used to put on the decals, just the hairdryer and water. The toughest one to put on was the "Telefonica, Movistar, Pirelli" decal that's on the front left/right corners of the car. There's no blue paint there, that's all decal.

I wasn't planning on adding much more interior detailing, but you've made some really good/easy suggestions. I suspect that a rollcage and seatbelt extensions will make there way into the finished product. If you have any other suggestions, I'll definitely consider them. I don't want to get too crazy, but I do love details...

Thanks for the reference site. I'll be spending some time there later today...

Thanks as well to everyone else for your kind comments! The finished produce will find it's way into the forums one way or another...

Murray

Looking great Murray. I have never done a car that small myself must be diferent for sure.

Murray I have occassionally stuffed up a decal and have got a replacement set. It may be hard to get one from Airfix but you could try anyway. There are a couple of other kits produced of this car in 1/43rd eg Scale43. I always use Grand Prix Models ( www.grandprixmodels.com ) and a couple of times I have written to them explaining the problem and asking for them to get me a replacement set. They generally come through although it may take a month or 2 and the cost is generally minimal. Of course you run the risk of a decal set made for one kit not fitting as well or the colour not matching.

Another build suggestion is to put a black wash in the bonnet vents.

You are right about the hair dryer. I frequently use one and with microset you can imagine how well it draws the decal into compound curves and tight complex bends.

Now you will have to get its stable mates.

Looks great, Murray.
Make sure you post photos when it's finished.

regardless of the decal problems the build looks good so far. thank you for giving us a peek.

joe

Murray,
Your kit looks great! I've always liked 1/43 as an automotive scale, and you certainly appear to have done it justice!

Just one comment.....The axles appear to be----uhhhh---a little----errr---how should I say it----LONG

(You could always mount knock-offs on the axle ends--no one would dare pass you....)

Keep up the good work, my friend.
Gip Winecoff

A quick update here:

- I did buy another kit (a whopping $7.95 Canadian). However, the decals in the new kit definitely have more 'vibrant' colors. The red in the decals is much more red, where the ones I've been using are more pinkish. They even look like they're on different paper. Given that, I'm not gonna mess with trying to mix/match the decals. I'd rather just save the new kit and build it a second time.
- I am going to take a stab at building a roll cage... not really certain how to tackle that, but I figure I'll just jump in head first and see how it turns out...
- Gip, my friend.... I just can't pull anything past you...... yes, you are definitely correct about the axles. They will of course be trimmed down at some point. However, the 'James Bond' option isn't such a bad one... It'd definitely make for an interesting race...... Speaking of which, I didn't like the wheels, so they now sit in a bath of CSC in preparation for a repaint.
- I also saw some of the other WRC cars in this scale at the LHS today. Tempting... but not tempting enough. I'm working on reducing the stash, not adding to it (I know, I know.... so call me a rebel). However, I may take the 2nd kit I just bought and see if they'll let me exchange it for a different WRC car?
- I'd like to give this car a little 'weathering' to make it look like it's been on the road for the day. I'm going to check out the site that nicholma posted, but if anyone else has any tricks or suggestions on how to do this, I'm all.... eyes? (I guess saying "I'm all ears" wouldn't really work since we're on a forum??)

Thanks again for your kind comments.

Murray

Hello everyone,

I'm getting close to finishing this 1/43 kit, so I thought I'd post a few update pictures. I'm not going to do much more to the kit, even though I know there are some important missing items (like the decals from the side of the car...). It's not as 'clean' as I'd like, but it's about time it was 'done' so I'm going to accept it for what it is and move on to something new. A few things you'll see in the pics below:

1. I've added a pretty rough roll cage inside the car. Scratch-built from pictures I saw of a build-up of the Tamiya 1/24 version on the net. Not perfect, but it's better than nothing.
2. I also added some seatbelt anchors made from simple masking tape.
3. I attempted to put some of the 'lines' in the headlight lenses. I think you can see this on one of the pics if you look closely. I've never tried it before, but it actually worked better than I expected. But in 1/43 scale it's pretty tough. In retrospect, I wish I would have spent more time fitting the headlight lenses properly.
4. The kit glass is quite thick, and if the side decals would have gone better, I would have replaced the glass with some sort of replacement. Unfortuantely as it is, it's tough to see the details through the glass.
5. There's still a few details to clean up yet (windshield wiper channel, front grill, wheel centers...)

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions for future builds.

Murray

taking this to Bridgecon, I assume??

That is awesome!!! I admire your skills on such a small kit!!! I wish I could get my fat fingers to work so nimbly!!

Well done, I'm sure you're pleased you made up the roll cage as its a feature of any rally car. The seat belt extensions are good too and again just finish it off. It sits nicely, just right for a tarmac rally car.

Great stuff, I think you should do some more.

That's quite nice! I really like the scratchbuilt roll cage, especially considering the odd small scale

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments.

M1 - yes, I'll have it at Bridgecon this weekend. See you there!!

nicholma - thanks for your encouragement. Your advice and suggestions played a big part in the final stages of this build.. Looking back, I'm glad I did the roll cage and seat belts - they were relatively easy, and fun too. I still have the 'second' kit of this car, and when I build it, I'll try to step it up a notch. I'll definitely replace the kit glass with something thinner and that will help in viewing the interior a bit more.

I'm planning to build a small 'base' for the car (nothing fancy) and will post a final pic in the next few days.

Thanks everyone!

Murray

wow. well done.

joe