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Renault RE20 Turbo


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Today I decided to tackle the suspension...starting with the shocks...simple enough...wrong!

They went together easy enough...it was when I tried to clip them onto the top arm that things went downhill badly...whether it was the age of the kit (brittle plastic)...or just my heavy hands...either way...I decided to cut my losses and rebuild the top mount on each of the shocks.

 

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Fortunately...I had suitable bits in stock to do so...

 

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With them rebuilt...I then had to drill out the mounting point on the arm...with no room for error...and taking it very slowly...I succeeded in getting the arms and shocks mated and fixed to the gearbox...as usual...I used bolts to replace the kit screws...

 

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Now it was a case of assembling the lower arms...and the wheel hubs/brakes and cooling ducts...again...screws were replaced with bolts where required...then joining the gearbox to the oil tank sub frame...and finally fixing the brake light in place...

 

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I am relieved to get all that out of the way...and quite pleased with the result :)

 

Ron

 

Edited by silver911
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Bad news- the level of realism you've attained so far is forcing you to do even harder things.  :whip: Like the actual brake pipes, and line,  functioning ball joints and a dozen other things I can't even imagine. Unless I were assembling the real car.

It's not just the finishes - you're a master at fabricating all the linkages and fittings - there are no 'toy' connections or fastenings in your work - meaning what the kit gives you. Switching from kit screws and pegs to proper bolts is a huge accomplishment by itself. :phew:

You've been away too long Ron and now you're back with a vengeance. I trust further, even more complex projects have crossed your mind.

At least I hope so...:devil:

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1 hour ago, Codger said:

Bad news- the level of realism you've attained so far is forcing you to do even harder things.  :whip: Like the actual brake pipes, and line,  functioning ball joints and a dozen other things I can't even imagine. Unless I were assembling the real car.

It's not just the finishes - you're a master at fabricating all the linkages and fittings - there are no 'toy' connections or fastenings in your work - meaning what the kit gives you. Switching from kit screws and pegs to proper bolts is a huge accomplishment by itself. :phew:

You've been away too long Ron and now you're back with a vengeance. I trust further, even more complex projects have crossed your mind.

At least I hope so...:devil:

That's always the problem for me Mr C...so much of this kit begs to be reworked/fabricated/replaced...and...much as I enjoy doing it...at times you have to step back and ask yourself if it's really worth it...which...for the most part...it definitely is :)

Nowadays...there are so many more options available to the modeller...such as bolts/nuts/cables/hoses/fittings etc. ...it would be a crime not to take advantage of such benefits.

From a personal point of view...it doesn't make sense to replicate so many finishes and effects...if you don't follow through with the level of hardware detail.

I have to say...I am enjoying being back at the bench and...yes...I do have another project on the back burner...so to speak 😉

 

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Continuing with my battle of the kit parts...the very poor fit...missing detail...and general wish to improve the overall look of this piece...I decided to try and do something better with the 'intake manifolds'.

These need to fit very tightly to the main block...whilst avoiding all the previously added fittings and fuel lines/HT leads...which the stock parts refused to do!

Main issues were...the clearances of the down pipes to the inter coolers at the back of the engine...and the fit to the injector bases...with the down pipes not clearing the drive belts...and the incorrect spacing of the connecting 6 pipes to the injectors.

This meant replacing all the pipes with some ali tube of the correct diameter...and adding much of the missing details.

First up...the kit parts and the replacement ali tube...

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Now it was a case of measuring and cutting the replacement pipes...

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The two down pipes were made from 3mm ali...and a slide fit of brass for locating and fixing them to the kit parts...which were glued with CA and covered in heat shrink...

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Then it was a case of cutting away the surplus heat shrink...and adding some hose clamps...

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A test fit showed they would work nicely...

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Next came the removal of the moulded injector pipes...and the sizing of the new pipes with more slide fit tube for fixing...and some of the welds remade after removing them in the prep stage...

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With the six pipes now glued in place...I added the missing welds as per my reference pics...

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Lastly I made the missing sensors...which will be fitted after painting and weathering...

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I have yet to make the connectors to the injectors on the main block...which should be another fun session...then I can get them primed and painted/weathered.

 

Ron

 

 

 

 

Edited by silver911
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19 hours ago, PROPELLER said:

Fine job Ron! I like this kind of scratch...

Congrats, 

 

Dan.

Many thanks Dan...a big compliment coming from one of the best IMHO.

 

This small update should appeal to your like of scratch building.

 

As previously said...some of the kit parts are 'simplistic' to say the least...a prime example being this tie rod...at the top in the picture...so...a new all metal part seemed in order...using 1mm ali tube for the main rod...1.2mm brass tube for the collars...two 1.4mm fittings and two 0.8mm bolts and nuts for the adjusters...as layed out in the pic...a bit of cutting and some extra thin CA later.....

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A fun bit of scratching that greatly enhances a simple part.

 

Ron

Edited by silver911
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3 hours ago, silver911 said:

A fun bit of scratching that greatly enhances a simple part.

And so it does. Big improvement, Ron

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1 hour ago, rjfk2002 said:

Fabulous work. Thanks for sharing the WIP steps too. To get the bends in the pipe did you need to heat the tube first or can it just be bent by hand? I didn’t see any kinks or collapses in it

Thanks mate :)

WIP steps are...I hope...useful to others in showing what can be done quite simply to improve the overall depth of parts.

3mm ali tube was bent with this...(3mm ali tube above for size)...a miniature tube bender...no heat was applied for this size ali...although I would have for brass...

IMG-5738.jpg

 

Ron

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A quick update...have been pre-fitting some of the cables/hoses to the fittings on various sub assemblies.

Bulkhead lines are ready to receive the main block soon...

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Some cables/hoses from the engine and gearbox can't be terminated yet...simply because they would have gone beyond the bulkhead...to the area behind the drivers seat...and also into...and beyond the cockpit to the front bulkhead...which means I will have to come up with something to terminate them all at the back of the bulkhead convincingly.

 

A couple of other fittings and cables added to the compressor turbines and blow-off pipes...

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I have now reached the point where careful planning of assembly comes into play...and have also managed to get the last lot of parts primed for painting and weathering :)

 

Ron

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A difficult bunch of choices coming up. Also, this will get amazingly more complex as so many things come together in such tight confines. Hats off to your handling of these tiny parts and patience to create them.

I don't know how you can prevent damage to the fine finishes when handling them for assembly. You're a better man than I old man...:worthy:

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15 hours ago, Codger said:

A difficult bunch of choices coming up. Also, this will get amazingly more complex as so many things come together in such tight confines. Hats off to your handling of these tiny parts and patience to create them.

I don't know how you can prevent damage to the fine finishes when handling them for assembly. You're a better man than I old man...:worthy:

It will be a challenge for sure...fortunately...the finishes are robust...it's the fit of it all that concerns me most.....

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On 10/3/2020 at 11:08 AM, harveyb258 said:

As always, Ron, superb workmanship.

A little bit of scratchwork goes a long, long way....:thumbsup:

Thanks H...there is a fair bit more I am still considering a bit of scratch work on...even at this late stage....,

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