Gamma Models 1/43 BMW 318i 'Castrol' Superturismo '94

[Jinxman]

Here's my offering - a good, old 1/43 resin car kit. 1994 was the eighth season of the Italian Superturismo Championship.  Roberto Ravaglia won the championship in 1993, hence his no. 1 car number for '94, however a run of poor luck in '94 scuppered his ambitions. The kit is a mix of all sorts; resin main parts and details, vac formed clear parts, turned aluminium wheels, rubber tyres, some small lights, and screws for the chassis body joint. Also a 1/43 bog-standard injected sprue, (😲!), for the roll-cage and brake parts - might not use these as I am not sure if they are appropriate yet. Unfortunately the etch sheet for the kit has gone walkabout, so some scratching will be in order. The decals look very good.

 

[JOCKNEY]

Nice one, I've seen white metal and obviously injection car kits but never a resin and vacform one !

Best of luck mate.

Cheers Pat 

[Mjwomack]

Huzzah! It's a car!! I'll b e joining you on the starting grid. 'It's the casual, oh there's some parts missing, I'll make my own' which makes me think your's will be the better one. Missing parts? I don't think I've got that problem but it is missing the instructions so time will tell🤪

[Jinxman]

3 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

Huzzah! It's a car!! I'll b e joining you on the starting grid. 'It's the casual, oh there's some parts missing, I'll make my own' which makes me think your's will be the better one. Missing parts? I don't think I've got that problem but it is missing the instructions so time will tell🤪

Currently scrubbing around to see what I have available in the spares box - I think the six-spoke wheels will be the biggest hurdle - Gemini ModelCars will hopefully come to the rescue. The instructions for this one are the usual fare of one exploded sketch of all the parts, but I have some pics of the real thing so that should help. 😀

[Jinxman]

A squirt of Halford's primer gets us going - I'll give it half a day to harden on the radiator before progressing. The shutlines need toning down to my eye, and there is one pin hole on the whole lot, so I am pleased with that. The body looks accurate from what I have seen of photos.

 

 

These beauties turned up from Gemini Model Cars - lovely stuff. They are Alfa wheels, but they look like the ones used by the Ravaglia in '94, so they'll do me. Certainly better than they would have looked using the missing photo-etch from the kit. Thanks to David for getting them across so quickly.

 

[Jinxman]

The process of cleaning up the castings progresses - there are always things that a coat of paint shows up. There are a couple of areas to amend - the number plate area needs flattening out, there needs to be a touch more flare above the wheel arches, and the shut lines are being reduced in width.

The interior looks good - I have tacked the front coaming in place so I can work out the layout for the roll-cage.

 

[Jinxman]

An update of sorts - on and off been working on the body, but it's slim pickings in terms of progress. 

 

[Jinxman]

..and in reverse now. I couldn't get a decent pan-to-body fixing, even with the fixing screws - it was as baggy as me aunt's bloomers in the wind. I lined the body with cling film and forced some Lechler spat-o-rapid stopper into the gaps between the bits. The end result is a nice, firm seating. I'll probably tidy it up with some milliput in due course, even though it won't be seen.

 

[JeroenS]

That's right, that'll teach it!

[Jinxman]

Slow, slow, here is where we are. I'll be doing a resin kit for the Blitzbuild GB this weekend which will be finished before this one. The body shell has had more attention - shut lines are getting better. Getting into the nooks and crannies was a bit of a pain, and I ended up knocking up some bespoke sanding sticks to get into the corners. I didn't like the kit approach of a one-piece vac formed 'clear' section. It didn't work for me as all of the windows were far too recessed and didn't look right - it looked like a cheap die cast toy. Now in the process of cutting and sanding each one to an individual fit, and then onto polishing them up. Great fun!

 

[Mjwomack]

I'm sure the individual windows will make a huge difference, I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to try.

[Jinxman]

2 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

I'm sure the individual windows will make a huge difference, I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to try.

Bravery is not required - just being daft, hence why I did it!

 

[Jinxman]

What's the best thing to do when a build is miles behind? Scratch up some brake discs, because you don't like the ones that came with the wheels. Also gave the body another squirt of primer - it does look better for the work that has gone into it I think.