Tamiya Lancia Stratos Turbo

[Spiny]

After all the time spent on the Skyline, I feel it's time for a shorter project. To that end, I figured it was time to restore another model from my youth. In truth, I don't feel I did too bad first time around on this given I was about 12 or 13, didn't paint it, and had nothing to do the decals with other than fingers, water and a duster.

 

However, 30 years have taken their toll on it with the decals having suffered a little over not to mention that it has got covered in dust and shows the effect of 10 years on a shelf next to a field - it got a fresh coat of dust every harvest time! This is what it looked like a couple of months ago.

 

 

 

So it's time to bring it back to life, courtesy of some Shunko decals and three sets of instructions - one in Japanese downloaded from 1999.co in Japan, one average quality scan from one I found on sale on eBay and a scan of a set of instructions for the Airfix model of this car courtesy of @theplasticsurgeon from this very site. Between those three, I'm reasonably confident I can get the painting about right too.

 

First job was to take it to pieces and get those decals off. Oddly, it was much easier to get the car to pieces (probably because it was stuck together using UHU rather than solvent cement) than it was to get all the decals off. But I got there in the end, and while I always suspected that the plastic had yellowed, removing the decals confirmed it. What did surprise me though was that the coloured decals appear to have stopped the plastic yellowing while the white areas hadn't.

 

 

Over the past few weeks, I've been getting the paint on this. First up was the primer, which at least returned it to plain white and covered the yellowing.

 

 

Next up was the paint. Not all that smooth, but as it's a racing car I'm not going for a perfect finish on this one.

 

 

Starting on it properly today, the first job was to add a wash to the panel lines and the bonnet grille. Generally not too much of a problem apart from that the wash started creeping both ways along the join between the door and the side skirt. I ended up scribing the bottom of the doors and trying to stop the wash going backwards with a blue-tack dam - not 100% successful and the wash is a bit heavy at the bottom of the doors but it was shaping up to be far worse so I'll settle for it. The chassis is also in the shot - very simple as this is one of Tamiya's earliest 1/24 models (serial number suggests the third one they did) and it's also motorised which eliminates space for an engine.

 

 

There'll be a bit of painting around the windows, but I'm aiming to get that decalling done early so as to get it clearcoated before temperatures drop for winter.

 

[JeroenS]

This is a nice project Spiny, I'll be following for sure. I must say: your effort from 30 years ago is not at all bad! My own projects from back when I was a kid certainly did NOT last that long 🙂 

[Spiny]

My 13-year old self is saying thankyou for the kind comments. However, whereas all too often the camera seems to show every flaw, occasionally it does a model a favour... and this is one such occasion - the pics especially understate the amount of grime, dust and general grubbiness this one has suffered. That said, one thing I do seem to have done well is keep a hold of my childhood models, with three having had a very light touch clean and polish, one (the Charger) having had a full rebuild on here. Now it's this one's turn with another six of varying degrees of difficulty (and decal availability!) waiting in the wings.

[JCH]

On 9/16/2019 at 4:10 PM, Spiny said:

My 13-year old self is saying thankyou for the kind comments.

Spiny - I envy the fact that you HAVE a model your 13-year old self can thank.  I'm sure as you were working this restoration there were memories of the original build.   Very nice work and I look forward to it's progress and completion.   

[Spiny]

Probably a lot is down to my parents who shelved out a wall of my bedroom for books. Needless to say, the top shelf provided a good place to put the models I built, even after I'd gone to university. Unfortunately, that didn't protect them from the dust, but by the sounds of yourself and Jeroen it did considerably extend their life expectancy

 

Unfortunately, my main memory of this build is struggling with the many decals. The rest of it is pretty simple as will no doubt become obvious as I rebuilt it.

[Spiny]

Had a chance to start on this in earnest this weekend, particularly with today being a bit wet, so got quite a few strands started on it. Unfortuantely, as most bits were detail work, the actual progress is better than the photos are about to make it look.

 

First thing in the instructions is the motor (makes sense this being a motorised kit). While I hadn't taken the disassembly to the point of disconnecting the cables, there was still the question of would it run since it hadn't been powered in over 25 years? Happily the answer was yes, and it ran smoothly once I added a bit of 3-in-1 to the shaft. I'm not planning on sending this scooting across the floor, but it's still nice to know it can.

 

The next strand is the body, even if this doesn't appear until towards the end in the instructions. Before the decals, I wanted to get all the painting done, and following on from the wash last week, I aimed to get the window rubbers, headlight recesses, wing struts, kill switches and refiller caps done. This is it with the windscreen masked up and part painted.

 

 

I thought the curves of the windscreen would be a challenge, but as a happy surprise the 2mm Tamiya masking tape held the curve quite easily. You can also just make out in the blurry background the wing struts at the back, and if you're thinking they look a bit pale you'd be correct. The green had really rubbish coverage (odd how some colours cover great and yet other colours from the same range don't), and it had quite a few more coats applied after this. But I got there in the end... and added the first body decal above where the grille will go into the bargain (not that you can really see it in this photo).

 

 

The final strand for the weekend was starting on some of the other bits. The first decalling of all was on the rear wing which has had its 'Lancia Alitalia' decals applied above and below - a nice easy way to break myself in before the test to come. The Shunko decals do seem quite thick, but fortunately response very well to Microsol - I just need to remind myself not to try and force them in position but let Microsol and gravity do their work.

 

The rear window grille was sprayed white a few weeks ago. The instructions call for it to be matt black, but my original build of this showed that the black made the (Tamiya) decals look dull and different to the decals on the paint. As a result, I took the decision to spray it white and paint the inside of the grille matt black, a job completed this weekend.

 

Finally, there were the wheels. I only did the front wheels as I didn't want to mix up front and rear brake disks, but these were quite easy. Turns out the front disks are grooved which only showed up on close inspection, although better when painted, and I had them on the wrong way around before. The wheels appear to have been sprayed by Tamiya, but only on the outside. I kept their colour there, but painted the inside of the rims satin red to almost match, rather than the white they were before. And finally, I spent a lot of time sanding down the very pronounced ridge on the inside of both front and rear tyres so they look much more like slicks.

 

 

That's it for this week, hopefulyl next week I can provide some more visible progress.

[Spiny]

A little bit more progress on this one this weekend.

 

First up, the chassis. I was aiming to have the motor fitted and at least the rear wheels installed... and was pretty much there when I noticed one thing. The cog on the rear axle is quite large, and is also white so it would stand out like a sore thumb. Obviously I wouldn't expect paint to stand up to it being run for very long, but as I'm doing this as a stationary model that shouldn't be an issue so it's had a coat of satin black. Needs another one before I install it, but that is the only delay on getting the motor in. I also got the rear wheels assembled, and have painted the centre nuts too, so this is where the chassis is at the moment (that reminds me, I also need a second coat of silver on the rear light reflectors/body tabs.

 

 

After that rather uninspiring progress on the chassis, onto the body. As promised last week, it's showing quite a bit of visual progress from relatively little work. To be exact, it's had 12 decals (including the two on the rear wing) out of 60 installed so far, but I'd say 9 out of the 12 'difficult' decals are in place now. Unfortunately, they're not perfect and I think a little touching up may be needed in one or two places, but they could have been a lot worse. Needless to say, quite a bit of Microset not to mention copious amounts of Microsol have been used so far, and they are still doing their stuff on the more recent decals which should explain the bits which don't look to be sitting tight to the body yet. I had to make a decision on the bonnet (can you say bonnet on a rear engined car?) grille as the decal was only sitting across those grilles, and in the end I decided to cut each hollow then Microsol some more. Now I'm wondering whether I should do the same for the shut lines too... But for this weekend, this is where I am with the body - only another 48 decals to apply to it.

 

 

 

[theplasticsurgeon]

Cracking stuff!  Brings back a vague memory of seeing the real thing hamering past during the RAC Rally at Cirencester Park.   Must have been 1974.

The Stratos was always a favourite car, hence building that Airfix model, around the time I left school.

 

Spin on on to 1986.  I've just bought a house, and taken an interest in kit-cars.

I built a Marlin Roadster, but the original plan was for an Allura Stratos next. . .

. . .until I tried one at a Kit Car show at Castle Coombe.   Twin cam race-tuned Lancia mid-engine - it went like stink!

A journalist was driving - I always thought he was The Stig's dad.  Caned every single horse to way beyond the limits, until it ran out of petrol!

My abiding memory was that the car was impossible to see out of.  Forward vision OK,  sideways - the door-windows sloped   cutting visibility,  rearwards - forget it!

Great on a track,  useless for commuting to work or a trip to the shops.  And luggage space . . .

Hence that idea was dropped,  stick to the models.

[JeroenS]

60 decals?? What a nightmare... you're doing good so far!

[Spiny]

22 hours ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Cracking stuff!  Brings back a vague memory of seeing the real thing hamering past during the RAC Rally at Cirencester Park.   Must have been 1974.

The Stratos was always a favourite car, hence building that Airfix model, around the time I left school.

Sadly I've never heard a Stratos going flat out, in the flesh at least, only seen them stationary or stuck in traffic,. But from what I've heard about them, I can well imagine that it left an imprint.

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

60 decals?? What a nightmare... you're doing good so far!

60 separate ones, although the count only goes up to 48 as some numbers cover 2 or more separate decals for each side. But probably the best part of 40 are relatively small and not required to conform to too many curves so it might not be as bad as that number makes it sound. But the Shunko set doesn't have any decals for the driver's helmet unlike the original, so I may end up spending as long on Sandro as I did on Fred!

[Alan R]

I imagine that the Stratos sounded much like a 246 Dino. A similar engine, I believe.

I remember one of those turning up on our street many years ago. The sound was glorious!

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Spiny]

That's my understanding too in regard to them having similar engines. Sadly, I've only seen the Dino stationary or in traffic too

 

[Spiny]

Another weekend, and a little more progress.

 

First up, the chassis has moved on a bit compared to last week.

 

 

Or at least it's moved forward visually with the wheels being added, and the motor fitted. I did put some batteries in, and it does run across the floor, although the switch is a little bit funny in that it only operated when set halfway - more a function of the shape of the plastic on the switch than anything else. To be honest, progress looks good because it's such a simple kit (for example, only four pieces to the front suspension including hubs) so this was an easy win. The first missing parts appeared in the shape of the two front polycaps, which must have gone when I disassembled the car. Fortunately, the rear wheels are meant to have two each, so I 'appropriated' one from each rear wheel which doesn't seem to have done any harm, and fitted them to the fronts. Next up will be the interior, which is also pretty basic.

 

Meanwhile, the decalling has continued. It doesn't look like I've made much progress this week, but I've got the decals around the air inlets done on both sides, as well as fitting the rear window louvre and rear spoiler. But easier than describing it is just to show a photo:

 

 

And that's where it stands at the moment. The only real time-consuming bits on this build are likely to be painting the driver and decalling the body, so hopefully this one isn't going to take long (by my standards anyway),

[Alan R]

Hi Spiny,

I'm tempted to get the new 'silver' Stratos Turbo and strip the 'silver', get a set of those decals, and build one. I had this model so many years ago, that dinosaurs still ruled the earth!

I was thinking of making the underside more detailed. It may be more than I can do, but it might be worth it.

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Spiny]

I can't help thinking that it might looks pretty good if you kept the silver and added the decals? But maybe that's just me. I'd imagine it must be a tad disappointing buying the silver kit if you aren't aware of what this kit is like - probably 30-40 pieces at most with the decals being most of the challenge. I think this kit first came out in 1977, so it's almost as old as me, and so I guess when I bought this kit at the end of the '80s it had probably been sat on the shelf for a good part of the decade. By then, you're was probably fully completed, no doubt to a higher standard than mine was.

[Alan R]

I'm not so sure about the build quality of mine. It was one of the first I built after a long hiatus, and was a bit of a bodge up really.

That's why I fancy getting the silver one and scratch-building bits for it.

Of course, it may never happen...

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Spiny]

Well, a week off work meant I managed a bit more progress than usual, despite all the other bits I was doing too around the house.

 

First up is the chassis, which is complete now apart from the driver and steering wheel. As can be seen from the photo, this is not a high detail kit! Mainly it was just a case of filing and painting the parts - the 'lumps' on the seat are glue from where the driver was fixed before and it didn't want to come off. As the driver is going back in, I didn't worry too much about them.

 

 

The driver is also close to completion, just needs his face painting and head sticking on then I will have this bit finished, hopefully next weekend. Similarly, the other time consuming bit, the bodyshell, is also pretty well decalled up (59 out of 60 on there). All that's left it to fit the roll hoop, add the decal to that then I ought to be able to clear coat it.  There's still some touching up of the decals to do as well, I've had a coat of green but some areas will need a second coat, and a red touch up will also need doing.

 

 

After this week, I'm reasonably confident of a November completion.

[Spiny]

Hooray! This weekend I got the roll bar fitted which meant I could finally fit the last decal - all 60 are in place now

 

 

Next job will be to clear coat it. I'm planning on airbrushing it with Pledge Revive It (aka Future) as that brushed nicely over the decals on the Charger without causing any issues, it seems to be milder than most of the rattlecans and being water based I would hope can survive being used in higher humidity than most clear paints which is another important consideration this time of year. I could have got it done this weekend if it wasn't for the fact that the Microsol is still in the process of doing its stuff, so fingers crossed I get a chance to clear it soon. In the meantime I will try to get the bits to add on painted and ready so I can get it assembled soon after painting.

 

The other major task finished this weekend was the driver. I didn't bother going through a Fred-style step-by-step on him this time, but don't feel he's come out too bad apart from his eyes maybe looking a bit dopey. Again, it was just a case of being steady with the painting and taking my time. It generally follows the instruction call-out colour wise, although there weren't any decals in the Shunko pack for the helmet so I had to paint on yellow in a sort-of-simialr style to the original Tamiya decal.

 

 

With the driver done, it was a simple task to fit him and the steering column which means that the chassis is complete now.

 

 

And finally, the door card. One has somehow gone missing over the years, so I've done my first bit of (very basic) scratchbuilding to recreate it. At least I have one to use as a template, but this is not going to be a modelling masterpiece as I'm just going for a simple look here. I may need to trim down the door pocket as mine will not have the indent of the original, but I'm hoping as it will be black and next to the driver when finished it won't really show anyway. Still need some filling and sanding, and my need to file down the pocket a little to ensure it doesn't foul the driver's seat, but this is the first baby step. All made of flat plastic card cut to shape, with cuts on the inside of the strip forming the side of the pocket to enable it to bend to shape.

 

 

I'll never achieve the standard of some of you on here, but hopefully I can get halfway to respectable with it.

[Andy J]

Looking forward to seeing this one finished great work so far

[Thatguyontheinternet]

This has been a great build to follow, one of my favourite cars

[JeroenS]

Great job on the decals Spiny. Must be nice to have those finished. Driver is looking like nothing will faze him, that's probably a good thing when you're driving one of those rockets on wheels 🙂 

[Hamden]

 

Your on the start of that slippery slope of scratching detail! You'll start looking at kits in the future and thinking what can you improve or add.

Nice work on the Stratos really looking great now.

As a rally car should it not have a co-driver as well?

 

    Roger

[Spiny]

13 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Your on the start of that slippery slope of scratching detail! You'll start looking at kits in the future and thinking what can you improve or add.

Nice work on the Stratos really looking great now.

As a rally car should it not have a co-driver as well?

 

    Roger

I will do my best to avoid scratching - I've seen too many threads where the build has stalled as the builder has got bogged down in detail. Of course, that's not to say I will succeed in avoid all scratchbuilding

 

As for the co-driver, I must admit that when I started on this rebuild I was thinking along similar lines, and thought it seemed off to just provide a driver. Then, as I started checking up on a few bits for the painting, I discovered that the Turbo isn't actually  rally car, but instead one of the Group 5 'silhouette' race cars, hence the stretched rear, massive spoilers and fuel tanks in the side skirt so your impact in a side-on crash is cushioned by all that lovely petrol(!). So odd as it seemed initially, it seems that a lack of co-driver is correct for this one.

 

And finally, thanks to everyone for the encouragement - it might be a simple build but it's still great to hear that people are enjoying following.

[galaxyg]

I love restoration projects. This is so cool and the results are really nice.

[Codger]

You are the decal champion of Brit!

Suggestion - tone down those black shut lines (after clear) with flat light gray on white and lighter green on green. Then they won't conflict with the graphics.