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Mitsubishi Lancer RS 1993 Monte Carlo Rally


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Right so I've been getting myself back into the swing of things with this since the end of Jan/early Feb.

I brought this little set last year sometime:

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I wont be using the Hobby-Design engine transkit though as I believe its designed after the evo IV-VI engines which were turned around 180 degrees compared to the evo I-III.

The decals for the '93 Portugal event are yellowed somewhat:

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So I took a root around in my Decal stash and decided on these for the 1993 Monte Carlo:

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The only noticeable difference between the Monte and Portugal cars, aside from the obvious livery changes is that the Monte cars didn't feature roof vents.

I have also decided to lower the ride height. But I'm leaving the building of the suspension pars until last so I can get a clear picture of how much needs cutting out the struts.

I started by assembling the roll cage, though I left off the rear bar were the seat belts attach for reasons that will become clear later lol.

I did have to repair the top bars as they had broken in transit. I don't think you can see the repair unless you look for it ;)

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After priming and painting all the parts that needed to be white I made a start on the decaling.

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The large red, silver and black swoops on the rear were a bit of a pain and I had a bit of trouble around the C pillar.

The decal instructions call for the rear spoiler to be painted TS-49 so hopefully if I decant a little I can touch up the tears. I still need to paint the red strip around the bottom of the car. The decals are useless so once I've clear coated the body I'll mask and paint them on.

The wheels are ready for clear too:

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The past week whilst the body has been left for the decals to fully dry out I've been working on the interior.

I did toy with the idea of using Kevlar decals on the sump and seat backs but I wanted a simple build to restart my modelling mojo and the seatbelts were daunting enough haha.

I used Humbrol 93 as the colour matches the Kevlar decals I normally use. I think it looks good lol.

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The last couple of days I've been working on the seat belts and finishing off the interior parts.

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Now some may notice the rear bar for the roll cage in that last pic. Hindsight from my evo IV build, which erroneously uses the same floor and interior as these, taught me that trying to mount the seat belts to the bar when its attached to the rest of the cage and mounted to the interior tub is very fiddly and this way is much easier hehe.

I've also got the dash 99.5% complete:

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I've just got to paint the bolts on the steering wheel and the row of switches above the kill switch.

I should have the interior finished later today and maybe the body will get clear coated too.

TTFN Ashley.

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Yes it was a very different livery to all the other ones used. I still have no idea why they had so many for the evo1 lol.

I think my fav is the Portugal one reminiscent of the Galant VR-4's. I have another with replacement decals for that to do in the future ;)

Ashley

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I did have to repair the top bars as they had broken in transit. I don't think you can see the repair unless you look for it ;)

What repair? :shrug::D

Very nice work so far Ashley! I have to admit I could never work in the sequence you do - if I applied the decals before trying to force the body onto the chassis as i always seem to need to do, they'd need more than a little touch up...!!

Shame about the yellowed decals, I really like that Portugal scheme on the box top!

Keith

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What repair? :shrug::D

Very nice work so far Ashley! I have to admit I could never work in the sequence you do - if I applied the decals before trying to force the body onto the chassis as i always seem to need to do, they'd need more than a little touch up...!!

Shame about the yellowed decals, I really like that Portugal scheme on the box top!

Keith

Haha that's the point. You can't tell the repair. Well you can in person but on the photo it's not visible lol.

The body fits over that chassis quite easily so it's quite easy to fit and remove it. Its been on and off a few times to test the fit of the interior tub lol.

I always decal the body off the chassis as you can clear coat it to seal the decals. That also stops the decals from being ruined if there is a fight to get the body on lol. I've also got to paint the inside of the shell and the window frames black. Again easier when there isn't any glass in the way haha.

Ashley

Edited by MetroRacing
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Just for you keefr22.

I brought this set last month from the same seller as the one I'm building here. I came with replacement decals for the Portugal Rally ;)

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Right back to this build.

Just a quick update for tonight. I haven't managed to get any clear onto the body and other parts but I have finished the interior tub:

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Excuse the finger partially covering the last pic but it doesn't hide anything important lol.

TTFN Ashley.

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Nice decals!

One thing, do you have any pics showing the rear harness mountings being bolted to the harness bar? Only reason I ask is that normally the only reason to fit a bar is so that you can wrap the strap around it and thread it into the buckles in front of the bar. This saves any ptential weakening of the bar that drilling could cause. Just thought I'd mention it, out of interest more than anything else....

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Unfortunately I don't have any reference pics for the interior of the early evo's. If there are any out there I'd be pleased to see them lol.

The bar itself comes with moulded on little posts for the etch to sit on so I just followed the instructons.

I know for sure that the Delta's used bolts for the belts. One was bolted to the rear bulkhead and the other to the side of the roll cage depending on which side of the car it is. Exactly like the Hasegawa instructions tell you to do.

So I can see them being correct for the Evo1's at least. However because Hasegawa then went on to use the same chassis and interior for all their Lancers, right up to the evo6. The accuracy of it for the 2 and 3 are subject to photographic evidence. The 4-6 evo's definitely didn't use this method.

The Evo1 itself was subjected to many changes and alterations during it's first year of rallying so I may indeed change the belts for later ones if any photos appear.

I'm off to read my rally cars book haha.

Ashley

EDIT: Looking again at the decals for the Portugal cars. The number plates are the same as for the Monte Carlo. Therefore the cars are likely the same. Or possibly re-shelled? If they are the same then they were completely rebuilt as the inclusion of the roof vents and complete livery change eludes to.

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Ok so as I'm now fully intrigued by the seatbelt mounting accuracy, I found this pic online:

http://www.juwra.com/images/kuvitus/1160_lancer_evo_i.jpg

It's a cutaway drawing of an evo1 in a late year livery with the green portions of the stripes. The number plate is the same as one used on the Monte and Portugal at least. Likely a re-shelling and not the same car, though it's possible. The picture shows the same roll cage layout as the kit but has the belts wrapped around the bar. For the Monte cars I think the bolted way like the instructions and what I have done could well be accurate. It's strange for Hasegawa to tell you to do this if it wasn't on the pic's or car they had to look at when making the kit.

The potential number of rebuilds or re-shells these cars apparently went through it's very likely that the belt mounting position changed if evidence of stress or fatigue as found in the bar.

The search for real pic's will continue and i'll see what I can turn up for the next proper update. However I wont be updating my build if I find contradictory evidence lol. too late now haha.

TTFN Ashley.

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My search haven't turned up any definitive evidence for the use of bolts for the seat belt mounts. However I found one pic in the Reinhard Klein Rally Cars book that shows a '93 RAC car. The same as featured in the link to the cutaway drawing. The pic shows that the belts didn't cross each other, which was a concern of mine. It also shows that they carried the spare wheel inside. Now that is something that's going to bug me :(

Although Renaissance do resin casts of the Enkie gravel wheels, they don't do the 5 spokes tarmac ones. Was hoping I could get a set and slip one in and have enough left for the other lancers I have. Oh well I guess I'm going to have to live with it lol.

Ashley

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The 'powers that be' can't make up their minds about whether crossing belts is a good idea or not! When I started rallying in the 70's, the regulations said they should be crossed. So my son and I did the same when we prepared his Ibiza Cupra for hillclimbing a few years back. Turned up to our first event and the scrutineer made us uncross them! Then last year we fitted a harness bar to our rally Mini, with uncrossed belts as the regs then required - the rules have now been changed again and in most motorsport events from this January HANS type head restraints must be worn. And they must have the belts crossed to be used......!!!

Klein's books are excellent, aren't they? I seem to recall that Evo's up to the VI had their spares inside, but I could be wrong about that. You could always just put the spare wheel straps in and say they used the spare on a previous stage and left the old wheel by the side of the road - I've seen that done to save time!

K

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My friend has always crossed the belts and has always worn a HANS system since they were invented. If someone told him to uncross the belts, even if they were a scrutineer he'd refuse to compete haha.

Reminds me of the time he had an argument with one about the engine mounts on the Metro. Could have been the C2 though lol.

Anyway he'd used poly filler to make them solid mounts. Again something he'd always done and learnt from Honda in Canada if I remember right. Anyway they told him he'd have to change them to standard rubber or be disqualified. We did plan on welding plates over them but someone kindly made us some polybush ones. Typically it was always the same scrutineer that had told him previously that the car was a peice of crap coz of all the welds and mismatching paint haha. Didn't stop us winning the Curborough championship with it in 2014 haha. Not bad for a price of crap Metro ;)

Ashley

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Typically it was always the same scrutineer that had told him previously that the car was a peice of crap coz of all the welds and mismatching paint haha.

Ashley

He wouldn't like our Mini either then....!!

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Haha no he probably wouldn't lol.

I've managed to get some clear on the body this morning. Will wet sand and apply a second coat later, with some pics.

I've come to a decision with regard to the spare wheel. I've found some pics of the Portugal car and it reminded me that they also ran on gravel. Therefore I'm going to steel a wheel from that kit to use as a spare and order the gravel wheels from Renaissance. Ahhh my ocd can relax lol

Ashley

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Right so my OCD was giving my the run around so as mentioned I robbed a tarmac wheel and tyre from my other Portugal rally kit.

I'll be replacing them with gravel ones from Renaissance for when I come to build that. Though with all my other Lancer evo1's it'll eventually leave me short a set of tarmac wheels and tyres. But I'll deal with that when the time comes lol.

I drilled out the centre hole and the wheel nuts. Could be better but it wont be noticeable with the straps in place and obscured by the seat belts and the small windows lol.

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Now some pics of the body after the first coat of clear:

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I've decided I'll apply the second coat of clear after I've painted the red around the bottom of the shell.

So tomorrow I'll be masking and painting that. I'll also decant a bit of the TS-49 and touch up the tears in the decals around the C pillar and one front wing/bonnet, before the second coat of clear goes on.

That's all for tonight.

TTFN Ashley.

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Thanks Guys. :)

It's been a bit of a mixed bag today. More on that later though.

Firstly I primed and painted the spare wheel. I decided against robbing some Enkei and Ralliart decals for the wheel as the straps would obscure them anyway.

The tyre decals came from the spare box and are Tamiya ones.

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Then I applied the Hasegawa tyre decals to the road wheels. I have a new found hatred for these as although the same style as Tamiya ones, their application method is crap. Took me well over an hour to fit all 8 and much fiddling, tearing and profanities was to be had.

Worth it after a few hours to relax haha:

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Just got to paint the centre hole, wheel nuts and the valves.

Next up was the exhaust. Simple Mr hobby stainless steel and its ready.

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Now for the major headache of the day. It all started out so well haha.

I Masked off the red strips around the bottom of the body and away with the TS-49.

Then came time to unmask....

A fair bit of overspray in all the wrong places :( I also remembered something that to many is probably second nature. Alas I seem to lack that lol. There were a couple decal casualties:

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I also lost the towing indicator arrow on the rear as well. I think I can salvage the situation but I'm going to have to inspect my 1994 Monte Carlo evo1 decals carefully. I have a 'good' set of original's and 2 sets of Shunko replacements in the stash. Hopefully I can work out if I have any spare one's. The last resort is using the yellowed ones from the Portugal livery. In that case some weathering will be necessary lol.

After that little set back I went ahead with touching up the red decals. I decanted a little of the Tamiya spray and brushed it over the problem areas. What I wasn't expecting was that the paint would clean my already clean brush. The results were dark stains in the red :(

On the up side I used a lot more paint than I needed for the touch up, so once dry I wet sanded it back to the clear coat. (Thank god I did clear coat the decals first)

This is the result:

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It could be better but I was just starting to go through the clear so I had to stop. The other side is similar.

So just a couple shots of how the body looks now.

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I think it's time for an upside now. So I previously mentioned that stealing a spare wheel from another evo1 would eventually leave me with kit in need of tarmac wheels without said tarmac wheels. Well I remembered that a spares and repair Delta I have has similar wheels. The Esso boxing comes with some 5 spoke wheels. So I retrieved it from my for sale pile and looked inside and too my dismay the sprue said '93 OZ at the top. Therefore they were the same frets from the '93 Celica kit.

Later out of curiosity I took a look at the sprue for the wheels in the evo's expecting it to say Enkei but no, adorning the top was '93 OZ. So I have a full spare set of wheels after all haha.

And here endith todays update.

Tomorrow I have the decal issues to solve, the brakes to finish and the spare wheel to install.

TTFN Ashley.

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Thanks Keith :)

As it so happens. I think I've got the decal situation covered haha:

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Surprisingly fitting the spare wheel wasn't as much trouble as I thought it would be lol.

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I think it completes the car too. And stops my nagging brain haha.

I finished off the rear lights and the brakes. Hub's painted Humbrol 56, Rotors 53 and Calipers Mr Hobby Stainless Steel.

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I've also got the majority of the black trim and seals painted on the shell. Just a few touch ups and the grill and bonnet vents to go:

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The windows are masked up ready for the black painted details. Then I'll do the final decals for the windows, the jacking points and the repairs all in one session.

After that the body can go on and the suspension modifications can begin lol.

TTFN Ashley.

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