Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 Rally Sweden 1991 1/24

[Scargsy]

So alongside the predictable Draken build I'm doing, I'm also going to be building this in the GB...

The 1991 Rally Sweden winner, as well as being the winning car, it had a Swedish crew - Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander.

It's a fairly simple kit, with a limited part count, no engine, etc.

 

It does come with some material to make seatbelts from, some rubbery plastic sheet to make the mudflaps, a metal rod for the antenna and a small PE fret. I've also bought some aftermarket PE set that also comes with some seat belt material too.

The decals look pretty good, though that's to be hoped for as other than the decals the exterior of the car is mostly white, other than the blue rear corners/boot which has to be painted onto the body - hopefully the line of the decal covers it, I hope the blue/white crossover doesn't show through the decals!

The instructions look clear (well there aren't many parts), the English information panel is full of translation mistakes and misprints (though I kind of enjoy that).

The only niggles are the clear parts aren't great, the tyres have a seam and the bonnet has a 2 nasty imprints that will need sanding out - I imagine that's because they based the shell on the road car version/other versions which have 2 large air-intakes louvers there - hopefully that'll sand out nicely.  

Edited January 19, 2020 by Scargsy

[trickyrich]

welcome along and finally a car!!!!

 

I was so hoping to see a car in the build, a Saab may have been too much to ask for but a rally car will do and fits the bill perfectly.

 

The Hasegawa ones aren't quite as nice as the Tamiya models in my opinion but it should still turn out looking awesome. I do like the extras you have for her, they should help heaps.

 

Good luck with the build, it should be a great model to build and I look forward to seeing her in the gallery.

[Col.]

Cool subject choice and some nice aftermarket bling to add into the mix

[Scargsy]

With my other two ongoing GBs (Draken and Stuka) ready for primer, I figured it was time to make a start on the Galant, wanting to do a marathon priming session rather than constantly cleaning out the airbrush!

Firstly after all that 1/72 fiddliness it's a bit of a god send for my aging eyesight to be back at a larger scale, though I suddenly had that 'sinking' feeling when I looked at some of the (rather hard brittle feeling) white styrene:

Firstly there's somewhat of a sink mark on the co-drivers fire-extinguisher...

and some rather 'flashy' wheels...

The body shell will also need some serious cleanup - I think I previously mentioned the blanking of the bonnet vents (which I guess the Swedish rally version wouldn't have needed and there's some flash in the front intakes, sorry the white doesn't show up too well on camera.

I test fitted a few parts - the dash attachment might be a bit of an issue,

The dash is entirely supported by the central 'pillar' with gaps either side but the aftermarket PE would have me cut the lower pillar off completely and replace it with the PE part which could be an alignment and support hell: I'll need to bend up the PE and compare the sizes, it looks from the profile that the middle section of the plastic that points into the cabin sticks out more but maybe I can just remove that section and wrap the PE around the sides, it it's wide enough. I've no idea what colour the PE part should be painted, it seems to represent some perforated aluminium sheet, whether it would be bare metal or painted the interior colour I have no idea.

 

I built up the rollcage, but without attaching it to the interior tub (just using it for alignment), so I can remove and paint it separately - that was a bit of a challenge, lots of pieces with unset glue flopping around everywhere, but in the end it seems solid and to fit the alignment points.

I did a bit of searching online and came across a YouTube video that does show some good shots.

One thing I've noticed is the roll-cage seems inaccurate in the kit, the actual car (no 4) doesn't seem to have a large, single, diagonal rear bar (appears to have some quite low X members behind the seats), also with regards accuracy I'm fairly sure from memory of owning an AWD Galant of the same vintage that the transmission tunnel should be a bit more raised than that in the kit (but memory is a subjective thing).

Other than that, I have the seats out and I've cleaned them up.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Scargsy

[trickyrich]

there is a bit of flash, but for a model that's 30yo it's not holding up too badly.

 

That roll cage does look like you need to be an octopus to put together!  

 

Great to see her underway.

[Scargsy]

So a micro update....

After watching this YouTube video...

I felt like a bit of shameless copying with regards his seat texturing method, so with a tin of black Humbrol enamel and some Micro-balloons ordered I set to work...

Opening the enamel was an instant trip down memory lane, they say smells can bring back memories and I can honestly say that this being the first tinlet I've opened in what must be 35 years I was instantly reminded of my childhood.

The technique was pretty much as shown in the video - paint the enamel directly onto the plastic part, then dust on some of the micro-balloons which is a very fine particle substance (designed I think for thickening glues). I dare say any slow drying paint or adhesive would have sufficed provided it sticks well to plastic. The black paint on white plastic though was a good call as I could easily tell where I'd applied paint (would have been a nightmare with black on black).

You can still see the crude diamond check pattern but the white micro particles should hopefully provide some texture once I've painted over them. 

Other than that I've made a start on some of the other interior parts, the PE additions to the handbrake and gear-shift being added.

I attempted to do some soldering on the gear-shift base but it just didn't seem to want to take (even with flux), I might just add some filler to the gaps.

I also cut out the front part of the center console/dash part to fit the PE (not currently glued).

 

I was potentially going to leave the PE unpainted but it's a little too shiny to represent aluminum at scale I think.

One thing I'm wondering about is how I'm going to paint these tiny radio/control boxes - does anyone have any good tips?

I get the feeling that if I paint them all that detail is going to get lost, they don't seem sufficiently recessed (previously with recessed bits you can just sand the part again gently on a flat piece of sand paper to remove some of the paint - that works sometimes though if the PE is plated brass you run the risk of sanding through the plating.

What I might attempt to do is build up the boxes, mask off the detail faces and paint the other sides black or whatever (to make them look like ABS plastic boxes with metal face panels), then somehow use very thin paint - e.g. panel liner type stuff to flow into the detail.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Scargsy

[trickyrich]

that's very clever, I may have to try that.

 

Paint PE is always a pain, I'd give all the PE to be painted a light rub down with 800 grit or finer to help the paint. You should loose any detail

[CliffB]

Just catching up with this one.  What a great choice! 

 

Cheers