FORD ESCORT MK2 build (italeri kit)

[pau10wen]

4 hours ago, Steve Noble said:

The Zero red would be my choice, but I've never used Vallejo primer, I'm not sure if Zero will eat into it, as it's quite a 'hot' paint? I always use Tamiya aerosol primer or Halfords primer under Zero paints with no issues. 

Cheers Steve, I have some tamiya rattle can primer too, so I'll test both

[Hamden]

 

I'm blaming you @pau10wen for my stash growing over the weekend by one Mk2 Escort!

Years ago I was watching the Rothmans South West Stages Rally running out of Minehead the course opening car was a Rothmans Escort Mk2 driven by Ari Vat Vatanen, so if I can find any photographs of the event I plan to replicate that car. A quick question if I may where do the seat belt shoulder straps anchor, on the parcel shelf or the base of the rear seat pan. At present I can find no pictures of this area! Thanks for any help.

Your build is inspirational and I have book marked it for when I get round to building mine. Hope you have managed to sort out your decal/paint problems looking forward to the next update.

 

                      Roger

[Anteater]

It was most common for harnesses to be mounted on the seat base in the 70s and 80s. Escorts will have been built new with four point belts.

 

Parcel shelf mounting was a hangover from the 60s and harness bars only became common in works cars from Group B onwards.

 

When I had a Peugeot 205 prepped around 20 years ago with a harness bar cage, that was considered quite fancy for a clubman car. Still only had four point belts though...

[pau10wen]

13 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

I'm blaming you @pau10wen for my stash growing over the weekend by one Mk2 Escort!

Years ago I was watching the Rothmans South West Stages Rally running out of Minehead the course opening car was a Rothmans Escort Mk2 driven by Ari Vat Vatanen, so if I can find any photographs of the event I plan to replicate that car. A quick question if I may where do the seat belt shoulder straps anchor, on the parcel shelf or the base of the rear seat pan. At present I can find no pictures of this area! Thanks for any help.

Your build is inspirational and I have book marked it for when I get round to building mine. Hope you have managed to sort out your decal/paint problems looking forward to the next update.

 

                      Roger

That's great Roger, glad to be enabling your bad habits 😁😁😁

 

And thanks anteater, I hadn't even researched where to anchor the seat belts yet, so very valuable info. 

 

We're well on the way with the respray, I've realised with hindsight that I've primed again with vallejo (acrylic based) white primer, not something suited to zero paint use. So have gone with acrylic red. It suits my spray setup too as I still need to upgrade my fume extraction to use with solvent based stuff.

 

I do need to sort this however, as I've just invested in some zero airbrush cleaner and primer, and the zero paints mg metro 6r4 computervision kit from hiroboy. I also have a zero paint colour set for the simil'r focus rs kit too, as well as textured paints from them. So I'll have to get that sorted ASAP. 

[Hamden]

18 hours ago, Anteater said:

It was most common for harnesses to be mounted on the seat base in the 70s and 80s. Escorts will have been built new with four point belts.

 

Thanks for the confirmation @Anteater I had vague memories of the seat belts coming from the floor of the seat base but couldn't confirm it.

 

          Roger

[pau10wen]

21 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Thanks for the confirmation @Anteater I had vague memories of the seat belts coming from the floor of the seat base but couldn't confirm it.

 

          Roger

Still struggling to find any kind of reference images of the interior at all to be honest, whereabouts are we talking when you're saying the floor of the seat base gents? 

[pau10wen]

Are you thinking something like the pic below, so they're attached directly to the floor just level with the rear wheel arches? 

 

 

[Hamden]

1 hour ago, pau10wen said:

Are you thinking something like the pic below, so they're attached directly to the floor just level with the rear wheel arches? 

 

 

Yes that is how I remember them, I'm sure @Anteater will confirm.

I found it almost impossible to find any period interior pictures/diagrams as well.

 

           Roger

[Bonhoff]

That's how I remember them too - Current Escort I navigate in has a bar welded into the roll cage, belt mountings have to be level behind the seat +/-15 degrees to accommodate HANS devices these days. 

 

IIRC the rules used to state a maximum belt angle of 45 degrees to the floor.

 

As for modelling Ari Vatanen's car, you'd better look up how to produce dented panels as it was rare for him to finish without some damage 😂

 

IanJ 

[pau10wen]

On 05/08/2020 at 15:01, Hamden said:

Yes that is how I remember them, I'm sure @Anteater will confirm.

I found it almost impossible to find any period interior pictures/diagrams as well.

 

           Roger

It's been impossible to find anything period as reference 

 

The Jason lepey motorsports website has a lot of good reference in general, but with modern appointments, so no period belt images

[pau10wen]

On 05/08/2020 at 16:21, Bonhoff said:

That's how I remember them too - Current Escort I navigate in has a bar welded into the roll cage, belt mountings have to be level behind the seat +/-15 degrees to accommodate HANS devices these days. 

 

IIRC the rules used to state a maximum belt angle of 45 degrees to the floor.

 

As for modelling Ari Vatanen's car, you'd better look up how to produce dented panels as it was rare for him to finish without some damage 😂

 

IanJ 

Pmslol Ian, he was a 'natural' wasn't he

 

A close approximation of Roger Clark's cossack escort, so no dents required, lol

 

Very useful info, thank you 👍👍👍

[Bonhoff]

A useful reference document is Ford's own "Ford Escort Rally Preparation" booklet which was written by the works team staff.

 

A quick Google will find you a free pdf copy. 

 

IanJ

[Anteater]

Yes, the photos above show the natural location for fixing the belts, as you have to be able to get to the outside of the floorpan to wind the plates onto the eyebolt threads.

[pau10wen]

Small updates, work still keeping me busy. Escort MK2, now available in red..

 

 

 

 

 

More to follow asap

Thanks for looking

[Andy J]

cracking paint job mate so glad you're back at this stage 👏. I know how you feel my work has gone crazy lately no bench time for me till the weekend 🙄

[keefr22]

I was sure I'd subscribed to this thread when you started Paul, but it seems I didn't so have missed some great modelling on a dog of a kit! Your boot and bonnet hinges are very impressive! Haven't had time to read through it all, but I will be doing later!

 

One note on the seats - Roger didn't usually use a headrest for some reason, just a low back bucket - I know this was the case on the 76 RAC as I had a nice chat with him when he was pulled over after a stage in the Forest of Dean waiting for his service car! The seat surprised me, as did the car having carpet on the floor! I have a pic of him somewhere sitting in the car but I can't flippin' find it.

 

One other thing I'll mention for interest although I don't know if you're doing the 76 RAC car (& you may know already!), is that POO 505R had a different grille set up for the RAC, with two small spot lamps set into the grille next to the headlights rather than the usual 4 external Cibies.

 

Keith

[keefr22]

Iignore my earlier comment about the grille lights as I've just read through all the thread and see you've sorted them nicely already! I know it's too late now, but in case you ever do want to build another early Mk2, do you want me to mention the back arches?

 

Keith

[pau10wen]

5 hours ago, keefr22 said:

I was sure I'd subscribed to this thread when you started Paul, but it seems I didn't so have missed some great modelling on a dog of a kit! Your boot and bonnet hinges are very impressive! Haven't had time to read through it all, but I will be doing later!

 

One note on the seats - Roger didn't usually use a headrest for some reason, just a low back bucket - I know this was the case on the 76 RAC as I had a nice chat with him when he was pulled over after a stage in the Forest of Dean waiting for his service car! The seat surprised me, as did the car having carpet on the floor! I have a pic of him somewhere sitting in the car but I can't flippin' find it.

 

One other thing I'll mention for interest although I don't know if you're doing the 76 RAC car (& you may know already!), is that POO 505R had a different grille set up for the RAC, with two small spot lamps set into the grille next to the headlights rather than the usual 4 external Cibies.

 

Keith

Thanks for the info keefr, that's more.in one post from you than I've managed to find anywhere. I was wondering about carpets too. Great shout on the seat, the decals i have are for the 75 RAC not 76, but I'll bear that in mind when I get to them!

 

I've noticed the headlamp situation thanks, and was planning to use a photoetch grille. I've currently planned to use some fairly flat lights I've made rather than try to cut the etch. But nothing is set in stone and there's always the kit grille to cut up 😆😆😆

9 hours ago, Andy J said:

cracking paint job mate so glad you're back at this stage 👏. I know how you feel my work has gone crazy lately no bench time for me till the weekend 🙄

Thanks Andy, it's quite a relief to get back to this stage,lol

[pau10wen]

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

Iignore my earlier comment about the grille lights as I've just read through all the thread and see you've sorted them nicely already! I know it's too late now, but in case you ever do want to build another early Mk2, do you want me to mention the back arches?

 

Keith

Lol, mention anything you like keefr, any info is good. Too late on this body though. I've reshaped all of the arches to a shape that I liked the look of, so it's fine by me as is.

 

Its not going to be a 100% faithful replica, I want to use tarmac tyres and stance with some incorrect looking minilites too. . I pondered it for ages and ages,but I can't see me making this kit again for a very long time, so ive resigned to make the body shape, stance and wheel setup as I'd want to see it.

 

Otherwise i'd have to build another one of these kits, which makes a shiver run down my back 😆😆😆

[keefr22]

42 minutes ago, pau10wen said:

so ive resigned to make the body shape, stance and wheel setup as I'd want to see it.

 

And more power to your elbow! 👍 It's coming on really nicely!

 

As to the arches, the rears on early Mk2's were commonly known as forest arches, and the top of them ended below the swage line of the body. These were later changed to 'tarmac' arches (although also used on forest cars!) which are 'sort of' what Esci did on the rear of the kit.

 

The thing is, they seem to have got mixed up with the car that Italeri depicts on one of their box arts (the white Monte Carlo works car with blue side stripes). Problem is that car was one of three 'Monte specials' that Ford built just for that rally in 1979 and they were nothing like your usual MK2 rally car!. These really bent the rules (probably past breaking point!) with the engine being moved, wheelbase altered etc etc. They also had much bigger, squarer  (looking from the front) arches and the kit seeems to be somewhere between these and normal tarmac arches!

 

48 minutes ago, pau10wen said:

the decals i have are for the 75 RAC not 76,

 

If you're talking about the sheet you showed in post #123, it appears to have most of the decals for Roger's 75 & 76 RAC cars and his 75 Scottish rally car. LAR800P was his 75 RAC (door number 6) & 76 Scottish car (door number 1) & the famous POO (POO 505R) was his 76 RAC Rally winner - & it was only POO that had the different 4 'headlight' grille. It was also start number 6.

 

HTH & sorry about all the waffle!

 

Keith

[pau10wen]

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

 

And more power to your elbow! 👍 It's coming on really nicely!

 

As to the arches, the rears on early Mk2's were commonly known as forest arches, and the top of them ended below the swage line of the body. These were later changed to 'tarmac' arches (although also used on forest cars!) which are 'sort of' what Esci did on the rear of the kit.

 

The thing is, they seem to have got mixed up with the car that Italeri depicts on one of their box arts (the white Monte Carlo works car with blue side stripes). Problem is that car was one of three 'Monte specials' that Ford built just for that rally in 1979 and they were nothing like your usual MK2 rally car!. These really bent the rules (probably past breaking point!) with the engine being moved, wheelbase altered etc etc. They also had much bigger, squarer  (looking from the front) arches and the kit seeems to be somewhere between these and normal tarmac arches!

 

 

If you're talking about the sheet you showed in post #123, it appears to have most of the decals for Roger's 75 & 76 RAC cars and his 75 Scottish rally car. LAR800P was his 75 RAC (door number 6) & 76 Scottish car (door number 1) & the famous POO (POO 505R) was his 76 RAC Rally winner - & it was only POO that had the different 4 'headlight' grille. It was also start number 6.

 

HTH & sorry about all the waffle!

 

Keith

Apologies Keith,you are 100% correct. I was on the wrong year 😂

 

[keefr22]

4 minutes ago, pau10wen said:

I was on the wrong year

 

That's OK Paul, I often forget what year we're in now...!! 🤣

 

K

[FunkyChiken]

Sorry about the decals dude! But it's a fantastic build, really enjoying following along!

[pau10wen]

On 11/08/2020 at 23:04, FunkyChiken said:

Sorry about the decals dude! But it's a fantastic build, really enjoying following along!

Thanks funky,work slowing me down now!