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Belkits 1/24 Ford Escort Mk.1 London-Mexico Anniversary Rally


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On 3/31/2019 at 9:47 AM, Windy37 said:

Ford's Heritage Centre always amuses me . All those pieces of motoring history parked up in a shabby old shed !!

I agree, most car makers would bite their hands off to have vehicles of this type they could exhibit in a visitors centre. Henry must be spinning in his grave.

A while back I tried to get some info out of the Heritage Centre regarding the original London-Mexico Rally Escort but despite my request being passed on by Ford customer services the blokes in 'the shed' couldn't be bothered to reply, Probably would have interrupted their card games and 8 hour tea breaks.🤔😲

Edited by mbdesignart
auto correct corrected, grrr.
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They used to have a few of the cars in a nice glass rotunda building at their Swansea plant. Despite being inside the plant gates and inaccessible to non staff, they were clearly visible from the road outside. Unfortunately they obviously went when Ford shut down the plant....

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 01/04/2019 at 10:37, keefr22 said:

They used to have a few of the cars in a nice glass rotunda building at their Swansea plant. Despite being inside the plant gates and inaccessible to non staff, they were clearly visible from the road outside. Unfortunately they obviously went when Ford shut down the plant....

I remember that from my 10-year stint on the Gower. Jersey Marine isn’t it - I remember the Gulf liveried ‘68/69 GT40 being in the rotunda.

 

Coming on, Mark.

 

Nick

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Another two things that I've spotted on the car in the 'shed' that have changed from the time of the rally, the front indicators should be the combined side light with indicator type and the spotlights were Cibie.

I've plumped for a Recaro seat from Scale Productions for the driver's side and the passenger looks like a Ford RS2000 type Recaro but with a different lacing to the headrest.

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3 hours ago, Bonhoff said:

Front indicators came from the Hillman Imp on the early works Escorts

 

IanJ

Lucas L792, also fitted to the Sunbeam Alpine. I doubt Ford went around nicking them off Imps during the night😂 Makes me wonder why the car wasn't kept as original when it was 'refreshed' after it came back from Mexico.

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On 4/1/2019 at 10:37 AM, keefr22 said:

They used to have a few of the cars in a nice glass rotunda building at their Swansea plant. Despite being inside the plant gates and inaccessible to non staff, they were clearly visible from the road outside. Unfortunately they obviously went when Ford shut down the plant....

I once ended up doing some work (tv news) in the factory and managed a visit into the rotunda,there were a couple of rally escorts mk1 and mk2 a gt70 with a BDA engine,Gulf liveried wide wing mk1 GT40 and a 1.6 cvh turbo mk3 GT40. (actually the first KVA gt40 kitcar) Ken Attwell was a senior plant engineer , somewhere I have several pictures. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi . I’m following your build project and thought you might like to see these pictures I took today at Mintex Rally Yorkshire. It was a non competitive classic car run around classic Yorkshire venues . These were taken at Harewood Hillclimb . The Escort is , I believe ,  a genuine car and seeing it close up , I really noticed all the detail changes you are incorporating into your build .  

Gary . 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for the delay in replying, great pictures thanks for posting Gary. It certainly looks genuine going off the Reg and with the fuel cap recesses in the rear wings. According to Graham Robson's book FTW 47H was hit by a truck in Yugoslavia on the 3rd night of the L-M event, returned to Boreham and re-shelled. Pity I missed the Harewood event as it's not that far from me, I'd have had a field day taking photos.

 

As to build progress some priming of parts has been done and the roll cage build is in progress. I need to check photo refs as I have a sneaking feeling there are differences.

 

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Edited by mbdesignart
auto text correct correction
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A few updates, the roll cage has had some extra bars added, the joints require sanding once the sprue goop has set.

 

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A roof vent made from 0.25 plasticard 10x7mm with a bit of thin rod for the hinges. I shied away from doing an open version due to the kit roof thickness and lack of time.

 

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and the C pillar inner panels added, I just hope the glazing fits.

 

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Edit: You'd think on a model making forum 'Plasticard' would have been added to the approved words listing🙄

Edited by mbdesignart
Auto correct again!
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The roll cage has been adjusted slightly although I'm not convinced it is truly accurate, but due to lack of definitive photos for the part aft of the B pillar it will have to do. I've added some helmet hangers from thin wire and a bit of padding from masking tape as the heat shrink idea ended up in the bin. Most of the chassis components have been painted and await assembly. There are some drilled aluminium footrests to fab from plasticard as the next job.

 

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Such a simple rollcage,  compared to rollcages in modern rally cars . They are works of art . They do the job though , as Thierry Neuville proved on Rally Chile last week . Don't think he would have walked away from that crash if he'd have been driving a Mk 1 !

 Gary . 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/25/2019 at 9:22 PM, Windy37 said:

Such a simple rollcage,  compared to rollcages in modern rally cars . They are works of art . They do the job though , as Thierry Neuville proved on Rally Chile last week . Don't think he would have walked away from that crash if he'd have been driving a Mk 1 !

 Gary . 

Indeed, I'm amazed the crews walk away these days following some of the offs. I looked at a video of the Lotus Cortina Mk1 on the East African Safari Rally recently and it was like a Sunday afternoon jaunt, no roll cage or even crash helmets and smoking whilst driving.

 

Anyway the build continues... the replacement rear bumper is underway. I have yet to cut some stiffening plates from plasticard to go under the rods to the rear valance, I remembered this after priming the body shell, doh!

 

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And this is the front bar completed, but unpainted. Holes for the upper locating arms need drilling through the grille so that's another job to do, these will be installed after assembly. The AVO lamp brackets have had the upper arms removed, as this car only carried lower auxiliary lamps, so they can be added prior to a final primer coat.

 

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