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Italeri Ford Escort MK 2 WRC 1977


PatW

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I bought this........................

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But resurrected the decals from a ESCI 1992 Ford Escort 'Clear' bodied kit....................

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And so far............................

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Thanks Steve Noble. I used the 'Clear' body to build Ken Blocks Hoonigan Escort recently and had the decals left over, so two coats of clear gloss to be sure as they were from 1992, used on the white body of this kit.

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Hi Pat . Decals look good . Years ago I built the clear Escort , but painted one half white and then applied the BA  decals , leaving the other half see through . There’s a local rally driver to me who has a Mark 2 painted in the British Airways colour scheme . He’s Graham Haig and competes in the Northern Historic Rally Championship. It’s a Pinto engined car and I saw him on the Malton Stages last Sunday competing against local legends Steve Bannister and Mathew Robinson , also Mark 2 pedlars . This years British Champion Matt Edwards was also taking part in a Fiat 131 Abarth .  

  Gary . 

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Thanks Gary. Yes I know of Steve Bannister and watch on Sky as many rally programmes that they cover, British Historic, Irish stages with lots of MK2's plus a few MK1's as well. I buy a few kits from an ebay shop run by one of the Millington family that do the Ford engines for historic rallying.

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Pleased to see the original kit being made as what it represents - a normal works Mk2 (although from 1977 onwards they were no longer "RS1800" as on the kit box but "RS" - an homologated car that was never seen on a production line).

The 1979 Monte Carlo car the kit purports to be was not the usual spec works car but one of the "Alan Wilkinson tarmac specials". These were visibly different from all other works Mk2s. Most obviously, the arches and front spoiler were very different. The car was also rear biased by having the wheelbase moved forwards relative to the body shell. These changes are well know and were pushing the boundaries of what was allowed (beyond the limits in the view of many - but allegedly main rival Fiat were in no position to protest....).

A fairly fundamental error by the kit manufacturer, quite apart from the underside depicting the two link rear suspension of the standard car rather than the works 5 or 6 link rear end. 

However, the rear arches of the photo of the actual kit in Brit Airways colours of the 77 RAC rally actually looks far more like the 79 Monte car, unlike the box art !

Edited by FAL
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Thanks FAL. for the info.

A little progress, the engine complete adding fine tubing as plug leads and 'bluing' the exhaust manifold to show heat from engine. Also added engine to floorpan and small interior items, seats, seatbelt decals (used my own as kit ones are black and wouldn't be seen ) plus handbrake, gear stick fire extinguishers and pedals. Instructions suggest these are to be fitted after the rollcage which is the wrong way round.

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Edited by PatW
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Here's today's work.... rollcage fitted, then shave a bit off each side of the dash, so it slides in between the door cards........

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Test fit in bodyshell................

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The last photo (the larger arches) seems to confirm the kit (unlike the box art) is actually of the 79 Monte cars and is thus not the shape of the "ordinary" works cars including the 77 RAC Brit Airways car.  A photo of the front (cut away spoiler sides) should confirm it.

The 79 Monte engines had fuel injection. The 77 RAC cars had carbs (and no cross brace in the roll cage).

VHK47S (like VHK74S, the other 79 Monte car) had an earlier existence as a "normal" works car before the registration was put on the new for 79 Monte car.

 

WTW567S, the 77 RAC winner, is around today but is not the actual/original car. That was kept but was destroyed in a demonstration run much later on and another car was re-painted to represent it. 

 

So I'm afraid it now looks as if the kit is correct only for the 79 Monte cars and not any others.

 

I competed in the 77 RAC and was present when Bjorn Waldegard made his emotional acceptance speech for the winner's trophy at York Uni the day after the finish.

 

Edited by FAL
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Thanks Snowman, so if your watching I had better get it right!

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Wheels on, steering works  and test fit body. Low stance and slick tyres in the kit show it's a tarmac version. Windows in today.

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Thanks guys, windows in today, I hope to finish in the next few days.

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The problem is the kit seems to be of one of the three "tarmac special" cars built for 1979 (although, seeing the last photo, the front spoiler seems to be that of a normal works car).

Two were the striped Monte cars mentioned earlier and the third was used by Brookes on the 79 Circuit of Ireland and Manx in Andrews colours (and carried two different registration numbers in its short life - TWC234R on the Circuit and GVX489T on the Manx, but the same car). 

The 77 RAC cars were normal forest cars, not the lowered, changed wheelbase, ultra wide arched cars of this kit.  So, sorry, it's totally wrong to depict it in BA colours.

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OK FAL. I am sorry about the BA decals, but I build my kits as I like to see them. As you may see with a lot of my builds I change things, wheels /seats/decals etc to the way I depict them. Modelling is a creative hobby. For example I can't understand why some builders only build factory stock and take sometimes 12 months to find 'the correct paint colour' and get nothing done. When I got into modelling 60+ years ago I couldn't understand ( and still don't) modellers who had five builds on the go and hadn't finished any of them over say 12-18 months!

Edited by PatW
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2 hours ago, PatW said:

OK FAL. I am sorry about the BA decals, but I built my kits as I like to see them. As you may see with a lot of my builds I change things, wheels /seats/decals etc to the way I depict them. Modelling is a creative hobby. For example I can't understand why some builders only build factory stock and take sometimes 12 months to find 'the correct paint colour' and get nothing done. When I got into modelling 60+ years ago I couldn't understand ( and still don't) modellers who had five builds on the go and hadn't finished any of them over say 12-18 months!

 

Totally agree with you PatW it's your model build it the way you want! I have seen 1:1 1100/1300cc cars made to look like works cars but only from a distance the true base model shows up when you get up close. Keep up the good work your doing a great job!

 

  Roger

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Thanks Hamden. yes I vary my builds as I want to see them.

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Just finished. I only added Dunlop tyre decals. Tyre painting was added by the tyre companies some years later.

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Edited by PatW
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