Airfix 1/32 WRC Rallycars.

[PatW]

After finishing my turbocharged Meyers Manx I thought I'd have a go a couple of new Airfix kits. Smaller in scale but with plenty of detail..

I've painted the shell of the Fiesta, and started the Mini shell with paint today. Pics to come!

Edited July 16, 2013 by PatW

[Shelby 427 1965]

Awesome, haven't seen these built yet.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Shelby 427 1965

[PatW]

Well here we are with the first few pics of each car....Firstly the painted shell of the Fiesta..............

And then the Mini, the roof has been painted matt White and masked off for the first two coats of red on the rest of the body............

I will now give that a few days to dry, in the mean time i'm hand painting some of the smaller items, eg. the shocks, steering wheel . Then I will start to build up the chassis on the Mini first.

[cobraman]

They look like cool little cars.

[PatW]

Here we are with two pics of the shell before spraying the pillars matt black...........

[ScaleDale]

Is that Humbrol in the background? I love their enamels, nice and smooth. The cans are a bit messy, though.

Dale

[GTMust]

I've looked at these kits long and hard...... but just haven't got around to actually buying them.... yet!

I'll be watching your builds with great interest to see how they come together. Some of the other Airfix 1/32 scale cars leave a lot to be desired, especially such things as overly thick window glass that doesn't fit the openings, etc. But that was the older ones and it will be interesting to see if Airfix have improved their quality.

Your comments on fit, etc. would be appreciated.

Tony

[PatW]

I've been at it again! this time finishing the shell paint, some on the pillars and some around the edge of the shell.............

Next I've laid up some seatbelt decals, but as I have two in this scale from my decal collection they can only have one each instead one on each belt! Airfix do not supply any interior decals with this kit which is a great shame, as they would look very good on the dash as it has a very large circular speedometer, which I've just put an aircraft red roudel on as all other decals I have are in 1/24,1/25 or 1/43 so would either be too big or too small .......

I also put the belts on outside the car not when the seats are attached to the floor as instructions tell me.

I have also put together the steering column and the gearchange and atteched both to the bulkhead and underneath the dash. On WRC cars they have sequential gearboxes like a motorcycle gearbox. So the lever that you see at the top of the steering column, is pulled towards the driver to up the box 1>6 and pushed towards the dash to go down the box 6>1.....................

I shall have to a drop of matt black on the handle prior to fitting the Steering wheel on, when the glue has set up. The instructions tell you to fit this after youv'e put the floor section in with the seats attached. On this scale that would be particularly tight/fidly/difficult to postion with the seats in the way!

On the fitting front I obviously haven't got to the 'glass' parts yet but as I spray paint on the sprue or separately, all paint must be taken off of the joining areas as parts do fit prety tight! I have some vey small/narrow files so I can get into small areas to remove the paint and/or slighty open up the areas due to be joined together. I shall report back during the build on any other snags I might come across.

Edited July 21, 2013 by PatW

[Brizio]

Looking good! That's unfortunately that they did not supply decals for the interior.

[PatW]

Thanks Brizio, I can source them but they are rare, nowadays the decal makers concentrate on 1/43 and 1/24/25 scales. Anyway some more pics today of the RollCage in place but beware................

Edited July 23, 2013 by PatW

[PatW]

The comment on the above post is that the instruction no. 9 should have the steering wheel brace added to the drivers side of the cage on its fixing points before building the cage and putting it in afterwards as in instruction 12 as there is no space to get inside the cage to do it. I have experience of building rollcages down as small as 1/43 in photoEtch and white metal.

Edited July 23, 2013 by PatW

[Bennyg]

That's awesome! Love the mini countryman.

Ben

[PatW]

Thanks Bennyg and there's the fiesta yet to come, but before we do that I need to get some wheels on and some decals on the body!

[PatW]

Yes Dale and Tony I'd seen these for a while and thought I'd take the plunge and try something smaller. Yes that's Humbrol paint, it's made here by Airfix so it's plentiful (But only for small things), especially as they now have a range of spray colours.

Well I started the decals today. The first problem was the small thin one over the door that split in two whilst still on the paper as it soaked in the warm water, so I laid that in two pieces. Although the big chequered one went on a treat!

The roof decals also went on well, The large ones that is...................

I should finish these tomorrow and then let them dry over the weekend. On Monday if all dry I shall give the decaled area two coats of clear.

Edited July 25, 2013 by PatW

[Bennyg]

Very cool.

Ben

[PatW]

The Mini is done..............................

How this then guys! Now I'm onto the Fiesta WRC.

Of course if anyone watches the X Games Rallycross you will have seen these cars in a slightly different guise with 600 bhp engines instead of WRC 300 bhp motors!

[GTMust]

Nice work Pat. These certainly appear to be a vast improvement over earlier Airfix 1/32 scale modern car series offerings.

I think you may have got me hooked!

Tony

[lanesteele240]

Wow. I was gone pass on these cars but now i will search them on ebay till i buy one. Thanks

Your builds are awesome so far

[PatW]

Thanks guys, yes I didn't know whether to buy them until I read a build up of the Fiesta WRC in Airfix magazine. I was surprised to see the level of detail in a 1/32 scale kit, as I have been buying Airfix plane kits since the mid 1950's when I was eight years old. All they need to add to these kits are interior decals. That would be for the dashboard, the seat belts were good but no decals which is disappointing. Well as you can see from above I've already srayed the Fiesta shell so I need to get on with that one. I've a '49 Chopped Mercury to finish, my take on TJ Lavins Army/AirForce Ford!

[MikeyB08]

I've been curious about these kits for quite sometime. Glad to see someone building them. I was always nervous to take the plunge. However, you have convinced me. Doubt I will build them as they are suppose to be. 9/10, some customs will be made of these.

[PatW]

Thanks guys, I must be some sort of loon, because I enjoy laying up decals and getting them right! This is why most, nearly all of my kits are race cars or bikes. I've even built rally and Nascar racers in 1/43rd scale and decalled them!