gwyndaffandy

Thanks Col, my first casting attempt was a big fat fail. I used UV hardening resin and then put it in a nice dark box 🤦 I will get some other resin to try. If that fails I will revert to my other plan of building a street bike

Nailed it 👍

I do like an 037 but my first time building 2 of the same kit together Sometimes the only option is resin, and then it is a case of jumping in and seeing what happens. Look forward to seeing your Lotus Ian, I have a few Lotuses to build at some point and your builds give me inspiration… So far the resin work has gone well. I think the quality of the mouldings makes a huge difference to the experience. This is a simple one to get started on as there is no cutting required, the parts replacing individual pieces in the kit. one thing that is different is the crispness of the moulding. The lower grill hole for instance I don’t think is perfectly square. This made fitting the lower grill a bit tricky. I have used superglue gel for the resin additions and it has worked ok so far. Next up is paint so hopefully that won’t give any issues.

Two football matches today gave me an opportunity to do a bit more. I wasn’t too happy with the lower grill so I decided to make my own. I used some plasticard strip, a chopper to get consistent lengths and a load of time trying to get it all to fit. I think it is better, still not perfect but a lot of rally cars exhibit a touch of imperfection at times You can see the difference in the early and later versions when comparing them together, the early version is slimmer but wider. It is smoother and I would say less aggressive I then attacked some of the other changes needed for the early version. Comparing the side to the later version the changes are to the front of the side windows. I am committed to replacing the glass now. I have also removed the lower leading edge just behind the door The other big change is the rear. There is a rear bumper. This is almost identical to the kit offering but it is slightly deeper. The tailboard with lamps is also a key difference. On the actual car this is an open grill. I have passed on opening it up and will use a dark wash. Without the grill the later Totip version looks empty so the comparison for now is to a West sponsored version. A final 3/4 view. These two will now head to the paint booth and then it will be time for decals. Yay.

Another 2 weeks have passed and there is little progress. I expressed a desire to try casting the fairings in clear resin to show the workings of the front suspension / steering mechanism. This has taken me a lot longer than I expected. I have used some silicon moulding putty and some Lego to create the mould. Due to inexperience and poor planning I have ordered these piecemeal rather than in one go. I started off with some pretend Lego to provide a solid perimeter for my mould. I went for the cheapest option hence the mostly grey colours I built this up to reduce the amount of putty needed and made it the right size for the piece Next up was to add the silicon putty to the mould. This is a 2 part putty, you mix it together and when the colour is uniform you are good to go. I pressed this into my Lego box and then added the piece. The cocktail sticks are for me to add the resin I then waited a few weeks as I had underestimated the amount of putty needed. When the latest batch was delivered I set about making the other half of the mould. I tried adding some soap between the two layers as a barrier. It didn’t really work and I ended up with a knife to separate the two halves. I now have the 2 halves separated and am pleased to announce there is no damage to the kit piece. Next up will be to try adding the resin. I want this to work as I think it will give an interesting view of the engineering. I partly don’t want it to work as I will have to do the other side. As yet I don’t really have a clue what will happen next….

A small survival package arrived at weekend, along with an eBay purchase This one comes with the PE fret, but no markings for the tyres. I realised I was 1 short and had room in the box I enjoyed my Stratos build but didn’t fancy another Alitalia decal session Just in case the muscle car GB makes it I am thinking restomod. I also want to update Tamiya’s 500 SEC And finally from eBay the transkit for when I move onto the Delta And I have promised myself that that is it for the year. Telford bound on Saturday so this promise might be one of the shortest I have made….

Not wanting to hijack this thread but I saw this on a modelling group on Facebook and thought it may be of use? I have ordered some but not received them yet so can’t speak to the quality etc.

A little update on the start of the build. I usually start a car build with the body irrespective of how the instructions start and this build is starting with the resin replacement parts for the body. The biggest piece is the front bonnet. Fortunately the kit has a separate bonnet and this is a straight replacement. A visual inspection shows a couple of air bubbles at the front, some flash on the bonnet grills and a big casting lump at the top end. I started by removing the casting block. I had prepared myself to use a razor saw but scribed first with a fresh blade which was sufficient. The block came away cleanly. A quick test fit shows it fits well I used another fresh blade to clear away the flash in the grill. The inside has good definition of the slats and supports There is another grill to fit into the lower part. This is very thin and has either flash or is intentionally filled in at the back. I decided to remove the flash and had a couple of slats snap on me. My solution was to glue them back in with superglue and add some plasticard supports to the back. I did this with all the slats as there isn’t much to glue the piece to the sides of the hole. I have laced the main grill with the headlights in to see how it looks. This piece is very cleanly moulded and fits in place very well. I will be painting it away from the bonnet as it is black rather than white and it means I don’t need to mask. Next up will be to tidy up the lower grill, I am going to carefully sand it flush and sort out the grill on the top left on the bonnet as it looks wrong in the above photo. I didn’t notice it with my dodgy eyes earlier I have also decided that I will build the Hasegawa Totip version as well along side this one so I can show the differences as I add them to this early one. I suppose that makes the wip a Twotip build 😀

Good progress so far. Those windows have come out very well. And your paintwork on the dash has been worth the effort. This is coming along very nicely

Just the normal gel superglue. I sometimes use the deluxe materials pe glue but I haven’t taken care of the bottle so spend most of my time unblocking the tube..

Thanks, if there was a new kit I could see myself building more. Same with the Escort, I built the Rothmans version a nearly 4 years ago and whilst I was pleasantly surprised by the decals I really didn’t like the wheels… And build it? 😀 There is always the Tamiya group build…. 🤔 Thank you, it is a car whose looks have grown on me whilst it has been sat in front of me. It has a bit of a look to my eye of the E30 3 series. The kit is showing its age though so as long as you go in with those expectations you will end up with a nice car in the cabinet. Cheers Gary, it is a scheme where they pretty much covered all there was of the car.

Looking forward to seeing this one when you build it. The Reji PE set is my favourite I think of the ones I have used so far. The inclusion of the grill with and without the VX lettering is something I have only seen in the Reji set. I did struggle with the grills for the air intakes and their little tabs. Good find though. 👍

Ha ha, no, I tend to like my cars in the less common schemes, when it is then possible to run with a theme of them then it would be wrong not to. I guess though if there is a theme then they can’t be that common. I really do like the Martini scheme on most cars (and do have a pair of 037s lined up) but the first Lancia rally car I bought when I started stockpiling rally cars was the Delta S4 which came with the detail kit for about £30 if I remember correctly. That then led to the Hasegawa 037 which was the first 037 I got (and have pulled out of the stash). Then came the decals for a Super Delta, then this early version (ironically I couldn’t find the Martini version). At this point I got the 131 decals and then finally another transkit, this time for the Delta 8v which according to Royal Mail will be delivered on Saturday. And then I will be done with Totip. Thanks for the offer, I will see where I get to and will surely ask. Nice to have you onboard. This will probably be a slow build

Only 9 more to go 😳😳 unless they release a safari version and then it will be 10

Thanks, decals were mostly a joy on this one. I wasn’t a big fan of the 131 before I started the build but it does have a certain something now it is finished. It looks good from a distance….