WIP: 1/20 2004 Sauber C23

[Grinchy]

Morning all.

 

My first WIP here... and a first for me also - a conversion build. In the 2003 F1 season Sauber ran their C22 car with a V10 engine 'badged' under the name of principle sponsors Petronas, however it was in fact it was a Ferrari designed engine, an agreement which Sauber & Ferrari had started back in 1997. 

For the 2004 season, although never officially confirmed, and in the hope to improve the teams fortunes after a dismal 2003 which saw only one podium finish (3rd for Heinz Harald Frentzen at the USA GP), it is understood that Ferrari actually gave Sauber their all conquering Championship winning (driver & manufacturer) 2003 car (the F2003). Certainly looking at images of both cars the resemblance is uncanny and barring some very small tweaks is it quite clear it is likely to be the same car. Considering how much F1 evolves over a single season let alone year by year, it was regarded as a desperate decision for team owner Peter Sauber to develop a year old car belonging to another team, a decision which was ultimately destined to fail. After another season of mediocre results for the team, at the end of 2005 the team was sold to BMW.

Here you can see just how close the two cars mirror each other. There are some subtle differences and the most obvious deviation is the barge board design.

 

 

I always quite liked the Sauber colour scheme at that time and when I came across the AMC conversion set, gorgeous Tabu decals and a Tamiya F2003 kit for sale on another forum I couldn't resist and snapped it up!

 

 

I have also picked up the Zero Paint Mica Blue for the paintwork...

 

 

All that is left is the C/F Template set from Studio27 which I have ordered and am just awaiting delivery, once that arrives were good to go and I will make a start.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Grinchy
Pictures did not work

[Grinchy]

Update...

 

A little preliminary work on the rear wing while I wait for the C/F decals to arrive. 

 

 

The mid and lower wing elements fit nicely into the white metal end plates and required only a small amount of clean up. The F2003 had four elements to its rear wing setup and featured a slightly curved top edge to its upper element. The Sauber on the otherhand had a straight top edge and only three elements, rather handy as it meant I could use the redundant piece to recreate the Sauber's top wing element.

 

 

 

The only other alteration required here is the two wing supports which I'll scratch out of spare photoetch. Finally I will also add a Gurney Flap for a little extra detail which was used for the circuits requiring higher downforce setups.

[Grinchy]

Update...

I've continued work on the front and rear wings...

Rear wing lower element

 

 

Centre element and bottom of lower element, the centre piece has a different C/F weave to the lower element which I've tried to match

 

 

Endplates... I added some etched bolt heads for the lower element

 

 

Top element and front wing end plates

 

 

The Sauber front wing is slightly different to the F2003 wing which needed reshaping and cutting, I added some plasticard to fill the indentations on the top edge.

 

 

 

Thanks for following 🙂

[gt6mkiii]

That looks like a very cool project. I've been building 1/20th scale F1 cars for a few months now and I'm thinking about trying a Studio 27 kit but this a pretty cool alternative. Following!

[Grinchy]

 

[JCH]

Do you think this is where Racing Point got the idea for their RP20?  Imitation is the sincerest form a flattery.   This looks like a great project and will be following too.