malpaso Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 This was a birthday gift from my wife. Possibly a record in recent times for getting built within two months of acquisition and not suffering a diversion into the stash! On opening the box I was surprised and pleased to see the decals were for un-PC Rothmans rather than the boxart “Racing”. The real car is just down the road at Beaulieu if you want to go and see what its supposed to look like. . The kit itself is somewhat ancient, originally by Esci and having been reboxed by both Revell and Italeri over the years. Now I love cars with massive flared arches as much as the next child growing up in the 70s, but these seem to have been tooled by someone from the Matchbox or HotWheels design studio after plenty of wacky baccy! Whether to do anything about it was the issue, as they stand they don’t look anything like those from the RS Parts ads in the Motoring News we’d avidly read at school in the 70s. In the end I decided not to bother, as carpaint is a lot less forgiving than painting the filler-fest of some older aircraft kits! So after a few coats of Halfords Appliance White and the application of the excellent (best part of the kit) decals, I brushed on a couple of coats of Klear to get a reasonable period shine. The kit itself is OOB, I thought several times about the arches but they would need a lot of correcting, so I just stuck M3 washers from the hardware shop as wheel spacers to get the wheels a bit further outboard. I also suspect the mid-joint in a propshaft is unlikely, and whilst I opened up some lap-belt holes in the side of the seats, I ignored the need for the decal belts to stretch to the back of the car (somewhere); this seems a common failing of decal seatbelts. Anyway, for all its severely compromised accuracy, in this livery the kit looks quite striking and worth the effort. But any future cars will be Tamiya, Aoshima or Fujimi kits… Cheers Will 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Very nice build - the washer spacers have worked well and really improve the track! Neat finish and decalling too! 1 hour ago, malpaso said: someone from the Matchbox or HotWheels design studio after plenty of wacky baccy! 🤣 Having looked at and modified a few of these over the years I think Esci were trying to get an arch somewhere close to a 'Monte Special' tarmac Escort - which would be odd as Ford only built three of them! - and missed! I think I prefer your explanation though! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klubman01 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Looks brilliant! Classic colour scheme, with a legendary crew. Well done. Trevor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Yeah, great scheme, great effort!! Nick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince1159 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Three words 'Work of Art'..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitkent Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I like it very much,in one of the best colour schemes too. Chris. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 From what I've heard this is a most excremental kit, but this is a very good end result. As with everyone else it seems, I think it was an excellent move to push those wheels a bit further towards the outside of the arches - makes them look much fuller than they would have done otherwise. Good work on getting those decals to lay down so smoothly too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich G Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Well done mate, I literally just got bought the earlier version of this kit with the white and blue markings for my birthday and I'm having the same experiance as you, it's a fun kit to put together although clearly ancient! Rich 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windy37 Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Good build , excellent decaling . I have the ESCI original kit with Rothmans after market decals and its still the car most people ask about when looking at my display cabinet full of more modern stuff . Nobody ever realises it's not accurate. Until someone brings out a new Mk2 kit this does nicely I think . Gary . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 Nice work and good result from old kit. I built original maybe 20 years ago. What disturbed me at that time was tires, that are clearly for tarmac rally. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyChiken Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Great build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Fantastic! Love your decal work - quite a challenge to get right, I would think, but you have got it 100% Very inspiring! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High-Lander Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 Very nice indeed 👏 👏👏 I've just started the 1980 Eaton's Yale version and spending most of my time filling sink marks and removing flash. I also filed away ~1.5mm from the depth of the rear arches which has helped the aesthetics, but will also use rear spacers. Also, if you look closely you'll spot the drivers side front right arch is wider than the passenger side arch (not sure how they got that wrong!) If I feel brave, maybe post some completed pics in a month or so (my first build since 1992) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High-Lander Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) Some useful links for anyone else building, or thinking of building, an RS1800 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/95907-ford-escort-rs1800/page/25/ Edited October 29, 2020 by High-Lander update 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted October 31, 2020 Author Share Posted October 31, 2020 On 10/29/2020 at 6:05 PM, High-Lander said: Very nice indeed 👏 👏👏 I've just started the 1980 Eaton's Yale version and spending most of my time filling sink marks and removing flash. I also filed away ~1.5mm from the depth of the rear arches which has helped the aesthetics, but will also use rear spacers. Also, if you look closely you'll spot the drivers side front right arch is wider than the passenger side arch (not sure how they got that wrong!) If I feel brave, maybe post some completed pics in a month or so (my first build since 1992) Thanks for your messages. I had a suspicion about odd front arches but avoided measuring as that seemed like madness if I actually wanted to get on and build the kit! I agree about the sink marks. There is a particularly awkward x-shape on the outside of the bonnet, due to the framing inside, I filled and sanded multi-times till it was all as smooth as a baby's derriere, but it still caught the light at certain angles - luckily the Rothmans stripes and decals break up the X but plain colour liveries may be harder to resolve! Good Luck with your version Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swralph Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 Very nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now