Revell Audi R10 ALMS 2007

[Sabrejet]

I am on a bit of a 1/24 trip at the moment, but this one is out of my comfort zone because it's made of plastic! So I'm prepared for things being a bit clunky and soft, but I have MANY resin delights in the stash, so we'll see how long it takes before I'm missing the smell of polyester.

 

Anyway I had wanted to do an R10 for a while, and though Le Mans Miniatures does a really beauty in resin, it doesn't have an engine and I kind of wanted to have that option. The Revell kit hasn't been out that long, and in fact is due a reissue sometime, but for now these kits are going for daft money. Luckily enough, I followed a few on TheBay and spotted one in France which looked like it had been started and maybe missing a few bits. So it cost £20-ish but seems to be complete and with only the parts cut off the sprues and nothing glued or painted. Result. 

 

Here is the box and the bits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's more 'Tamiya' than 'MFH', but I think it will build OK. The decals look like Cartograf and include some nice CFRP elements too. 

 

The car is a 2006 Le Mans car, which is a fairly plain scheme (all photos mine unless stated):

 

 

The 2007/2008 scheme is better - this is the Le Mans winner:

 

 

The plan is to do an ALMS car however, and thankfully the Studio 27 decal sheet is still available:

 

 

 

But the Studio 27 sheet gives you the impression that you just add decals to the Revell Le Mans car to make an ALMS version. Sadly it's not so. The ALMS cars featured dive planes and prominent wheel arch louvres (photo below via Audi Sport), so they will need to be included in the build. There is a resin conversion set out there, but it's long OOP and one store in Singapore still shows it in stock despite them confirming they have none! Anyway, those bits will need to be made (circled below)

 

 

More in a bit. I think I'll be doing Tom Kristensen's 2007 Sebring car, because it's TK's car after all!

[klubman01]

A great subject - God bless turbo-diesels, and their prodigious amounts of torque!

 

I wasn't aware of the ALMS differences, so I will watch with interest.  I have the 1/43 Marsh Le Mans car somewhere in the stash.

 

Trevor

[Kitkent]

Nice! I've been looking at doing one of these too,I'm sure I read that it's to be re - released this year. Chris.

[keefr22]

This'll be good, shall watch with interest! Don't recall ever seeing one of these built....

 

Keith

[Sabrejet]

1 hour ago, Kitkent said:

Nice! I've been looking at doing one of these too,I'm sure I read that it's to be re - released this year. Chris.

 

It's an on/off re-release. I'm sure I've seen it as a 2021 release but it's now missing from the upcoming "+3D model" range.

[Vesa Jussila]

This  will be re-released this year, I saw that too. Nice subject. I built this when it was originally released. Decals in kit are typical Revell, so lot of softener is needed to get those in place. And some moulding is quite heavy for my liking, but who cares.  And good to see these built.

[Sabrejet]

So to those louvres. First thing is to cut out the 'Le Mans' panels from the wheel arches. Luckily the plastic is thin and so if the louvres didn't work I could at least glue the original bits back in:

 

 

Then I measured the size of each louvre and cut a thin strip of plastic card; this was given a radius along one corner. This radius forms the leading edge of each louvre. Next, I cut each strip to a suitable width (wider than the widest louvre) and began gluing them to a sheet of plastic card.

 

 

When dry, it was easy to trace the shape of the wheel arch aperture on each of the two louvre panels I made, and cut them out. So far so good...

 

 

These new panels were by now pretty stiff, so the next step was to form a curve in them by pouring boiling water over each in turn and then draping them over a wooden former.

 

 

The final bit (still needs some tweaking) is to curve the end of each louvre before sticking the panels in place. Looks OK so far.

 

 

 

They aren't glued in yet, so sit a bit low in the wheel arch, but it looks like I can throw the kit parts in the bin

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks good. And nice idea how to make these lovers.

[keefr22]

Yep, excellent job on the louvres! I have a long stalled Panoz in 1/43 that I haven't touched for years as I also wanted to put louvres in the wheel arches and I ruined the kit pieces! I was hoping to find suitably sized quarter round plastic rod, but eveything I tried was too big. 

 

Keith 

[Sabrejet]

Just a quick one. The cockpit surround is a bit 'soft':

 

 

I managed to cut it out sort-of OK:

 

 

Then tidied up a bit. I also filed out the body clips (arrowed) and backed them with plastic, ready for some more '3-D' replacements.

 

 

[Toftdale]

12 hours ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Looks good. And nice idea how to make these lovers.

I agree whole heartedly,  if I would have attempted this I think I would have tried cutting each louvre to size first.  Resulting in twice as much work and a worse result 🤣

[Pascal]

First class job on the louvres, they look great !

 

Are you gonna paint the red over the louvres ? I think the decals might be to small with those louvres installed.

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

[Sabrejet]

28 minutes ago, Pascal said:

First class job on the louvres, they look great !

 

Are you gonna paint the red over the louvres ? I think the decals might be to small with those louvres installed.

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

 

My aim at the moment is to spray the red and black (no decals). But things have a habit of changing!

[Sabrejet]

Starting the engine/gearbox assembly. Unfortunately the gearbox in the kit looks nothing like the real thing. The kit item is heavily ribbed, like an old-school gearbox, whereas the Audi's Ricardo-designed part is totally devoid of any external ribbing.

 

 

I did toy with sanding it all smooth and giving it a mild makeover, but it's often easier to start from scratch. So I cut the gearbox from the kit engine block, then four sheets of thick (2 mm) plastic card were glued together and fashioned into a rough shape.

 

 

 

 

Mounting pads and flanges added; I had hoped to use this PE Audi logo but it's a bit too large for the cast-in version on the real thing.

 

 

Final bit for now is blending in all those additions to represent a homogeneous casting:

 

 

Still a long way to go on this one, with the torsion bar suspension items (which are not represented on the kit parts), anti-roll bar etc to be added. Sounds like a nice job for a rainy Saturday  

[Vesa Jussila]

Really nice work with gear box. This will change look of engine area.

[Sabrejet]

I do hope so! I've just bought a Profil 24 Audi R15, so they are becoming a bit like Porsches in my collection

[Malc2]

The new gearbox is looking good, I will be following along.

The Profil24 R15 looks like a good challenge!

 

M.

[Sabrejet]

Still cracking on with the gearbox but there's a lot to make and add. So the main bits are the torsion bars, links and (I think), anti-roll mechanism.

 

 

 

 

It's still a bit rough round the edges and for sure those lower wishbones need to go too!

[silver911]

Superb craftsmanship...gearbox is an absolute gem.

 

Ron

[Toftdale]

Great work on the gearbox, again you've taught me a lesson as I would never have dreamed from starting from scratch.  I'd have wasted my time on the old one.  Andy

[Sabrejet]

So this is it just about finished:

 

 

And test-fitted:

 

 

Few more bits to add when it's in the car and painted. Wishbones off and engine next I think.

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks really good. Clear improvement to original part.

[johnlambert]

That's some great work on the gearbox.  At present it makes the other kit parts look quite crude in comparison, but I have no doubt that you'll bring everything else up to the same standard.

[keefr22]

Cracking job!

 

Keith

[Nick Belbin]

Clever louwvrees!