Belkits Ford Fiesta WRC 2017

[Windy37]

Thanks for the comments , fellas . With the Fiesta being a smallish car and the constant strive for centre of balance on rally cars squeezing everything in is awkward . 
 Gary . 

[Windy37]

The time has come to begin the decaling process . The decal are going to show the D Mack tyres sponsored car on Wales Rally GB , not quite accurate , I know , but as mentioned earlier in the build it’s a tribute to Elfyn Evans winning his home rally in 2017 . 
The decals , from Renaissance . Not numbered , put printed in the shape of where they need to be applied . 

 

The first few then . Never made a car using black paint or black decals before . Around the headlights and bonnet vents I have cut the decals for a better fit and the nose band I halved with the join around the Ford badge . My advice is never be afraid to cut decals in places to make it easier to get them to comply . The bonnet vents are masked ready for painting . Any gaps in decals I will fill in with paint / marker pen . 

 

Leaving this to dry now 

  Gary . 

[keefr22]

Good start Gary, nice to see Elfyn's car taking shape!

 

Keith

[Windy37]

It’s taking a lot of planning of what to do in the right order , but in reality there aren’t that many decals to apply . It’s just they are covered by aerodynamic parts  ! 
 Gary . 

[Andy J]

Rather you than me Gary but good start mate 👍. The only advice I can offer is do so much then leave it alone, once you start to feel tired or frustrated simply walk away 🙂👍

[Windy37]

That’s what I did , Andy . Do a bit and walk away . Back at work tomorrow so more at the weekend hopefully . 
 Gary . 

[Andy J]

4 minutes ago, Windy37 said:

That’s what I did , Andy . Do a bit and walk away . Back at work tomorrow so more at the weekend hopefully . 
 Gary . 

The thing is if you carry on regardless and mess up your doomed. But if you walk away you can approach the build with a fresh mind which always helps. Also i found that leaving things alone gave me time to plan my attack if you know what I mean and think about solving any possible issues before the decals hit the water 🙂👍

[Windy37]

2 hours ago, Andy J said:

The thing is if you carry on regardless and mess up your doomed. But if you walk away you can approach the build with a fresh mind which always helps. Also i found that leaving things alone gave me time to plan my attack if you know what I mean and think about solving any possible issues before the decals hit the water 🙂👍

You and me are on the same page there , Andy . I set aside an hour and half to do those first decals and I reckon half that time was sat pondering and staring at my research photos just to get it right ! 
 Gary . 

[Windy37]

This is turning into a slow burner . I have been working on the front of the Fiesta for what seems like ages now . A combination of painting parts in the wrong order and fidgety detail painting that then has to be left to dry is slowing the build up . The car , in Belkits style , can be display , as , they say “night race “ or day light spec . I have decided on half and half , I will build up the light pod but the lower lights on this Fiesta are built into the front bumper assembly . Ford use LED light bars that, in my opinion , don’t look as good as old style spotlights . The bumper lights are designed to not effect the crucial aerodynamics . When not in use they are removed and the hole covered by blanking plates . These 4 LED have tiny clear plastic lenses that are easily lost ….

Also on this photo you can see I have added the grille , and the headlights . These then have paint masks ( not mentioned in the instructions ….) as the headlights have black surrounds to them  . A shame really as the chrome light fittings look really cool . The black decals on the lower bumper corners I removed and painted them instead , as I couldn’t get them to stay in place . The camera makes the edges look rough , but they will be covered by the front winglets anyway . 

 

On this one I have painted the headlight surrounds , and added the bonnet vent grilles . These , and the lower grille , are Photo Etch . I’m not a fan of this material , mainly because I can’t see the point of it ! Certainly with mesh covers , fabric mesh , for me , looks and works better . The bonnet vents should fit on top , but this leaves them flush with the bonnet ; on the actual cars the mesh covers are lower . To achieve this I stuck the PE mesh underneath the vent opening and this looks right . I have also placed the red stripe decal around the grille , a delicate operation that I nearly managed in one piece until the left hand side detached . I touched this in with red paint and a thin brush . 

The front end is finally done now , so time to move on to the next stage . 
Thanks for looking   

Gary . 

[Andy J]

Stick with it mate this will look great when finished 👍 

[Windy37]

32 minutes ago, Andy J said:

Stick with it mate this will look great when finished 👍 

Thanks Andy . 

 Gary 

[Spiny]

You've run into that slightly depressing stage where, as you say, the detail painting means lots of (literally) waiting and watching paint dry. And while it's doing that it always feels as though you're making no progress. The good news is that you are making progress, it's just that good prep always takes a long time but is vital to a good end result. The good news is that judging by your photos, the worthwhileness (is that a word???) of that prep is starting to make itself shown.

[Windy37]

25 minutes ago, Spiny said:

You've run into that slightly depressing stage where, as you say, the detail painting means lots of (literally) waiting and watching paint dry. And while it's doing that it always feels as though you're making no progress. The good news is that you are making progress, it's just that good prep always takes a long time but is vital to a good end result. The good news is that judging by your photos, the worthwhileness (is that a word???) of that prep is starting to make itself shown.

I don’t think I ever spent so long on the front of a model car ! Thanks for the encouragement  .

Gary 

[keefr22]

32 minutes ago, Windy37 said:

I don’t think I ever spent so long on the front of a model car !

 

Time well spent though Gary, it's looking really good! 👍

 

Keith

[galaxyg]

Coming along well. That front end looks like a decal-conforming nightmare. Especially that red-stripe decal.  Looking at my one (and only) Belkit, some of the decalling looks as optimistic as some Tamiya kits.

[Windy37]

11 hours ago, galaxyg said:

Coming along well. That front end looks like a decal-conforming nightmare. Especially that red-stripe decal.  Looking at my one (and only) Belkit, some of the decalling looks as optimistic as some Tamiya kits.

The current trend for complicated colour schemes on Rally cars is done with no thought of the needs for us scale model builders  !!!!! 

 Thanks for your comments 

 Gary . 

[Windy37]

More decaling progress on the Fiesta today . Annoyingly the big left hand side decal is not as it should be on the real car , the right side is though . It doesn’t follow the window line and rather than rising at the rear three quarters , it doesn’t , but instead cuts underneath on the red stripes …. Hopefully these pics show what I mean 

 

 

The decals are very orange peely when dry as the camera highlights far too well ! The black stripe at the bottom of the doors I cut before I applied . I didn’t fancy trying to conform it around the air vent in front of the wheel arch so I will paint that black , along with the sills below it . I use a hair dryer ( yes , I know … ) to help smooth decals down and this helped on the ones around the wheelarches  . Cuts also help as can be seen here 

 

This view from above shows the difference in the two side decals ; look how the right side is how it should be . I reckon a steady hand with black paint will be needed to correct this . 

 

Finally for this update , a better shot of the bonnet vents with the PE mesh applied underneath , giving a sunken look as it should be on the real car . That red bonnet edging is going to need touching up as well …..

 

There’s not really a lot of decals left now , as I will be painting in some areas instead . 
Thanks for looking   

  Gary . 

[Toftdale]

Great progress, good luck with the touch ups - Andy.   PS for your own sanity my I suggest your next build is a road car 😉 

[Windy37]

10 minutes ago, Toftdale said:

Great progress, good luck with the touch ups - Andy.   PS for your own sanity my I suggest your next build is a road car 😉 

I don't seem to get phased by complicated decals  , it's strangely calming for me , odd I know , but if I built a standard road car  , my rubbish spraying abilities would stress me out more !!

 Gary . 

[Spiny]

Can I suggest making the outline with some thin (e.g. 1mm or 2mm) masking tape? That should make the painting quite a bit easier. Being black you shouldn't need to worry too much about colour matching either.

[Windy37]

2 minutes ago, Spiny said:

Can I suggest making the outline with some thin (e.g. 1mm or 2mm) masking tape? That should make the painting quite a bit easier. Being black you shouldn't need to worry too much about colour matching either.

Yes , Spiny I will be using masking tape and a steady hand !! 

  Gary. 

[Alan R]

19 hours ago, Windy37 said:

I use a hair dryer ( yes , I know … ) to help smooth decals down and this helped on the ones around the wheelarches

I have recently started using a hair dryer to help the decals snuggle down. It really does seem to work! 

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Windy37]

3 hours ago, Alan R said:

I have recently started using a hair dryer to help the decals snuggle down. It really does seem to work! 

 

Cheers,

Alan.

I’ve used this method for years on hard to conform decals . As long you don’t get too much heat on they just mould to the shape needed . I never used the setting solutions , in fact up until joining BM , I had never heard of them . 
 Gary . 

[alteregoni]

Nice build there. I am building this too at the moment, but in Ogier Red Bull livery. 

Agree with the instruction very rubbish, but I also got Citroen C3 and got to say there is huge improvement on that. 

Rear wing is quite fiddly and fragile. I broke mine during assembly, due mediocre fit. 

[Windy37]

1 hour ago, alteregoni said:

Nice build there. I am building this too at the moment, but in Ogier Red Bull livery. 

Agree with the instruction very rubbish, but I also got Citroen C3 and got to say there is huge improvement on that. 

Rear wing is quite fiddly and fragile. I broke mine during assembly, due mediocre fit. 

These are not the easiest cars to build , but the end result will be satisfying . Shame about your rear wing .  I don’t think I will be getting the C3 as I was never really a fan of that car . Never look right to me . Shame there isn’t a Toyota Yaris WRC to build  .

Thanks for your interest . 
Gary .