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24 hour Le Mans racing vanship


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I suppose this would be regarded as Sci-Fi, so I'll place it here. When this kit was released by Hasegawa I immediately came to see it as something else, and couldn't resist getting one. It's Tatiana Wisla's fighter vanship, from the series Last Exile (which I haven't seen), the scale is 1/72. The kit also comes with a much smaller "vespa", used by another character in the series.

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When I saw this thing the first time I only saw a 1930's style 24 hour Le Mans racer, from some alternative dimension or universe. So that's what I will try to build from this; a Le Mans racing vanship.

There are smaller courier vanships with single thrusters that are also used for racing. But as I think of it the development would lead to the use of military fighter technology in racing vanships, using the type of over powered double thrusters as the ones in this kit. These racing vanships would probably be smaller than the relatively large fighters, so I change the scale from 1/72 to 1/43 which makes it about 6 meters in length, not counting the thruster coils, seems accurate to me for a 24h racing vanship.

Here's the kit contents, it's nicely moulded with quite a lot of detail. The light grey sprue contains the 1/72 pilot figures and the smaller vespa. First I thought the vespa would just be left over, but if my plan work out for the vanship I may actually try to build a 1/43 scale TT-racer from the vespa, in old bike racing style.

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To find a suitable driver/pilot I turned to Denizen's excellent range of 1/43 figures and found this seated -30's style racing driver.

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I'm not yet sure if the racing vanships are controlled by a stick like the fighter, or some sort of older style steering wheel, but in the latter case I found something in one of my scrap boxes. While searching in that area I also found the # 47 decals that I think I will use together with some of the kit decals.

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So let's see how this will turn out.

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Thanks. The cockpit will change as nessecary, not yet sure how much, but I have a plan. It will be a single seater in practical means, with a "useless" navigator/passenger seat, that must be present only to comply with the rules.

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Saw the thread title and thought "I like all those things". Delighted to find that it's you behind it, I suspect this will turn out rather well. It's a kit I've been eyeing as well but have so far resisted.

Did you see Stefano Marchetti's Bugatti-Tesla creation which took the big prize at Scale Model World? Similar but different.

Cheers,

Will

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Love the Vanships.

Got the series.

Brief synopsis.

Another planet. colonists from Earth.

Cut off for centuries. Two main groups battling for land etc.

There is a controlling group that still uses new technology.

But everyone else has resorted to a Steampunk/Victorian lifestyle.

The Vanships are raced & used as personal transport.

Loved the Tesla Too!

I'd love a larger scale model of one.

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Thanks a lot for the support and interest. I saw the Tesla Bugatti and I think it's brilliant. It's also a more original idea than this thing.

I've made a start on the project. First I glued the two upper body halves together , but only forward of the front cockpit opening as it immediately became clear modifications would be necessary. I also started a temporary assembly the driver/pilot using Kristal Klear. The base that I have to build this thing around is to make the cockpit with the figure reasonably suitable to each other.

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I also assembled a few more basic part halves.

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At once it became clear that I had to widen the top section of the rear cockpit to have any chance to make this work out, that's why I only glued the front part of the halves. I now put a piece of about 4,5 mm width just behind the rear cockpit. Once that had set I joined the rearmost bottom point, and then filled in the space with more styrene sections. After some rough shaping it looked like this.

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The 1/72 cockpit steps are no longer suitable so these where removed, and a little bit of filling was done on the sides to bring the shape together. A new stub for the rear light was made from Evergreen rod. The edge of the rear cockpit has also been removed as the opening must be modified.

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As we can see there is still quite some way to go before our hero can squeeze down into the cockpit.

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The cockpit floor has been modified and the rear bulkhead has been made from the part originally placed between the two cockpits. It will need a little more refinement. I think I will have to cut down the cockpit sides and extend the opening forward, something like this. It might make it look more like an old 30's GP racer, but I think it's a look I won't have a problem with.

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Thanks a lot guys, I'm glad you like the idea.

Looking good.

I was just thinking.....

A bf109F (desert) style intake each side?

Just forward of that front cockpit?

That might be a good idea. I'll have to raid my scrapboxes for something to try it out, or worst case get a 109 kit...

The front cockpit is thought as one of those rule complying useless excuses of a passenger seat sometimes seen in race cars. I will most likely have a small 1/72 windscreen and be covered. There will also be some suitable fuel (claudia) cap behind the driver/pilot's head.

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Here is the front section of the thruster structure. The forward extending round part looks like a weapon to me, as does the lower "outrigger" on the leaf spring. Too me they look meaningless on a racer, nor do they add to the beauty of the thing. I'm thinking I will cut it off at the line where the knife is pointing and form a nice front cone from the pointed end of the grey drop tank.

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The wheel spats(?) each have a lower supporting strut/wing, meant to fit like this. It may also act as a mounting point for weapons or extra tanks as it has some fastener detail on it, I'm not sure. This look doesn't totally convince me though.

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I'm playing with the idea of inverting them, more like this. I'm quite sure the 24h regulations allow this kind of design and I really like the look, but I'm not sure of it looks to modern? Removing them completely makes the wheels spats look quite large.

VS17.jpg

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I quite like the giant knife but I can see it's pointless on a racer. The struts should definitely change though, unless they're some kind of ground-conforming suspension, like double wishbones? I can't see any reason for them to be that way around otherwise, they don't provide any mechanical advantage.

Cheers,

Will

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Thanks for your comments, they really help think of what to do. :thumbsup2:

Does anyone know what that round forward extending section really is? Part of the engine/thrusters or a weapon piece? I've tried searching and reading about vanship technology but so far failed to find an explanation. It's not seen on the courier vanships with a single thruster.

There is no suspension function in the struts, so they will be inverted. The more I look at it the more right it seems.

I actually like the front grill. It reminds me of old style powerful car/machine/boat/plane things in a good way. Ideally it shouldn't have had the two weapon openings that I thought I would use as some additional air intakes at first. It's a tough job to remove them and rebuild the grill detail, but not impossible of course...

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Jorgen, the skid might be for another of those little annoying rules, where you have to touch down once every second lap and if you don't you have to refuel the next. Be good in ice racing though!.

Colin

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It's been a couple of years since I saw the anime

So I can't remember what the skid is for, But,

Some of the Vanships do have military uses.

The cylinder could be hydraulic to extend the skid?

Those oval openings? Lights? Coloured toothbrush handle material?

I think SMER? did some 1/50th or maybe 1/24th racecars similar in style to

the vanships. I've been on the lookout for a while to get one to convert.

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I'm playing with the idea of inverting them, more like this. I'm quite sure the 24h regulations allow this kind of design and I really like the look, but I'm not sure of it looks to modern? Removing them completely makes the wheels spats look quite large.

VS17.jpg

What would look really cool but may be difficult to accomplish is a curved aerofoil section coming down from the man body onto the spats... I wonder if you could get away with using part of a Stuka wing?

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Many thanks! Not sure how that curved section would be supposed to look?

I got a little more done today. Finished sanding the various modifications to the wheel spats and finished the alternative nose part for the underside.

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Temporarily taped together it looks like this. Still not fully decided, but I think I will go with this.

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I've only just spotted this thread, and it has Vanship in it!! I havent seen Last Exile in a while (since it came out actually). But I love what you're doing with the model. :) like most, I can't remember what that tank thing was for. I keep thinking fuel but I doubt it. I will look tomorrow while I am at work for you.

Keep up the cool work, Jörgen!!

Kind Regards,

Dazz

Edited by Dazzio
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Most of the cockpit is now finished. Apparently these racing vanships are often controlled by a steering wheel and two rudder like pedals, so that's what I did. The instrument panel is made up from the two kit panels.

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I also cut up the cockpit opening and made a new edge around it. This is what it will look like with our hero in place.

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The front opening is now being covered up.

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