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Nunu Audi Sport Quattro S1 .


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After the head scratching dramas of my last build , the Belkits Fiesta WRC 2017 , something a little easier for my next . Nunu is a strange name for anything this side of an Ann Summers shop but I’m sure in other parts of the world it means other things ….. Anyway whatever the kit manufacturers name ( Platz is also on the box ) this is a well turned out and detailed kit . Some parts are from Aoshimas Audi S1 E2 kit and will be unused . The kit portrays the car of American John Buffum that took part in the 1986 Olympus Rally , held in America , and was the last World Rally Championship event for Group B cars . I’m hopefully going to build the kit in the more familiar yellow and white HB tobacco colour scheme . The car itself was Audis first attempt at keeping the Quattro competitive in the wake of Peugeot’s 205 T 16 , but , although spectacular to watch , generally failed . The car having 450 bhp and a 63% front weight bias meant bags of under steer and the huge front sump guard actually created unwanted  lift ! Launched at the Corsican rally in 1984 it battled on until the winged E2 came along late in 1985 . The names of Quattros seem to have changed over time ; I remember the winged car being called S1 , now this car is S1 and the winged car S1 E2 ….. all very odd and confusing !   The better weather in Britain has allowed me to get some parts sprayed in the shed , so on with the show ! 
       Box and contents 

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I hate it when parts that need to be white are moulded in black and vice Versa …. these are them sprayed in primer

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And this is where I’m up to preparing lots of parts ready for a building session . 
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Thanks as always for looking   

  Gary . 

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16 hours ago, Windy37 said:

I hate it when parts that need to be white are moulded in black and vice Versa …. these are them sprayed in primer

 

 

Me too.  I'll be watching along with this build.

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I sprayed the chassis gloss white onto the grey primer , but deliberately didn’t go for a deep glossy finish to try and leave more of a rough only just painted look . I used tin foil to line the transmission tunnel and under the rear dif , as a heat shield .I have found some good pictures of the underside of a road going Sport and it has the silver heat shielding , so presumed the rally cars did too .  The power train is all one piece , with the exhaust threaded through , under the cross member which I painted white ; it looked better than black . The exhaust is gunmetal and I take time to paint the CV joint boots in Matt black . Some of the prop shaft bearings are gold as per real car . 
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This is the power train in place , a perfect fit as I have come to expect from these Aoshima Nunu Beemax kits . Unfortunately , this being a rally car , it will all eventually be hidden under sump guards ……


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Thanks for looking 

Gary . 

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Cracking on with the suspension and brakes in today’s build session . As I mentioned I found some good shots of the underside of a road going Sport and it shows the front and rear subframes have more holes drilled out than on the kit . The kit parts have recesses where the holes should be , so out came the drill . Cutting these parts off the sprues was delicate work as those long arms were just ripe for snapping ! 
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Both subframes fitted just where they should . The suspension legs are nothing special , so I painted them aluminium and did the coils with a black Sharpie . The brake discs have tiny holes recessed, which I have moderately successfully picked out in black with the end of a cocktail stick ; my aim and eyes not the best here ! The wheels will hide the discs anyway . Using the reference photos , I added a bit of gold detail on the bolt heads and rear anti roll bar joints . I would have thought there should be a front anti roll bar as well , but not on this kit . Here’s some photos of the completed chassis . 
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I have ordered the Reji decal set from the 1985 Portuguese Rally with Walter Rohrl driving from Spotmodels  , so painting of the body shell can soon begin . Thanks for looking   

 Gary . 

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8 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

Very nice and neat workmanship, I'm very much enjoying watching this come together

 

      Stay safe               Roger

Thanks , Roger  . 

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Just wondering about that roll bar, the quattro is famous for having the engine so far forward it was almost in front of the bumper, so I wonder if they did away with the roll bar to help reduce the understeer?

 

Your build is coming along very nicely too, I can't see any issues with your cocktail stick work here. So you use a magmifier at all? Just wondering since you said you were at the limits of your eyes.

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18 minutes ago, Spiny said:

Just wondering about that roll bar, the quattro is famous for having the engine so far forward it was almost in front of the bumper, so I wonder if they did away with the roll bar to help reduce the understeer?

 

Your build is coming along very nicely too, I can't see any issues with your cocktail stick work here. So you use a magmifier at all? Just wondering since you said you were at the limits of your eyes.

I sometimes use a magnifier , this I didn't , but I also didn't show a good photo of the brake discs ! They are  not that good  ! 

   Gary . 

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Time to prep the body shell . This comes with the front bumper separate and just needing holes drilling for roof aerial and rear boot lid fasteners . It’s a shame the big air vent on the right hand side of the bonnet wasn’t cut out .I’m not the best sprayer , so I just gave it a couple of coats of Tamiya pure white . This left a good shiny finish so not wanting to make a mess I left it at that . 
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As I am replicating the factory yellow HB colour scheme , quite a bit of intricate masking was then needed to be done . The bottom stripe , as I will call it , didn’t seem to have anywhere to pick a straight line from , but using reference pictures I think I got it something like . The top was altogether harder to mask , having to blend around the famous bulging wheel arches . It was made harder by the fact the yellow doesn’t reach the top of the front wings . 
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Once masked , it was time for paint . I know there has been discussions on this forum before regarding what is the correct shade of yellow ; is light or dark ? After looking at countless photos from the period to modern rebuilds , I have decided to go for Tamiya X8 lemon yellow . For lemons , it is quite dark and not that different to Tamiya Camel Yellow I used for the Manta I built last year . I have also decided to brush paint , because with the area I need to paint I was confident that with a good soft brush I can achieve a good finish , also less masking is needed .

First and second coats , good shine already . 

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Four coats was needed to get a nice finish , a lengthy drying period in between each .  
The reveal . 
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The pictures here look terrible ! The camera has picked out all the bleed through , which to the naked eye can’t be seen . But I’m really pleased how it has turned out , with no brush strokes visible . There is a bit of bleed that I can sort with a sharp cocktail stick but the edges of the yellow have gold pin stripes decals , so these will tidy the edges up anyway . I’m really looking forward to putting them on …….!!! 
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So now a bit of time tidying up and it will soon be decal time , when they arrive from Spain . 
Thanks for looking 

Gary . 

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The Reji decals arrived from Spotmodels , really quite expensive for what they are but , well , you know ……  Some delicate cutting out will be needed, just like I found on the Reji decals I got for the Manta build . 
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Meanwhile I have been busy with the interior . I originally sprayed this white , but research showed the 1985 Portuguese cars had black interiors and rollcages , so I resprayed it accordingly . There are some moulded in pipes and hoses on the floor that I have highlighted in silver , a tedious job as I over painted by a mile , then had to tidy up with semi gloss black . Most of this will be hidden by seats and spare wheels anyway . The footrests are moulded in as well , they just needed painting .
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The seats on the actual cars are a grey material , not too dark , not too light so I chose Tamiya German Grey , as that was the nearest I had in my box . The backs are Tamiya Dark Yellow which I think replicates the Kevlar material well . I used the decal seat harnesses , which I then coated with a matt coat , which unfortunately left the seats looking a bit shiny . Weird that !
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Next thing to ponder on was how to anchor the harnesses , as they fix into the rear bulkhead . As there is no provided holes or slots , I used left over PE harness buckles and glued them , facing up , to the bulkhead . I needed to dry fit the spare wheel so I could get the spacing correct . 
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I cut some spare ribbon to size , threaded , folded and glued it onto the decal harness , then dry fitted it through the buckle . Dry fitting just in case I need to move it to allow easier rollcage fitment . 
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Thanks for looking 

Gary . 

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11 hours ago, Spiny said:

Good work on this, shame they didn't provide a full seatbelt kit, but your joining of the ribbon and decal is probably as good as you can get from that.

There is an upgrade kit available , with the ribbon and PE bits and bobs , but it's expensive so I didn't bother with it . 

 Thanks for your comments  , Spiny.  

  Gary . 

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Excellent work so far, looking very nice. I did read somewhere that the correct yellow is RAL 1021 Rape Yellow. 

Be careful with the headlights. They were smaller on the Buffum car. The works cars were bigger. I did hear that someone used light lenses from the Beemax Toyota Celica GT4 as they are the correct size. But the grille needs modifying to suit the larger lenses..

Edited by Steve Noble
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12 hours ago, Steve Noble said:

Excellent work so far, looking very nice. I did read somewhere that the correct yellow is RAL 1021 Rape Yellow. 

Be careful with the headlights. They were smaller on the Buffum car. The works cars were bigger. I did hear that someone used light lenses from the Beemax Toyota Celica GT4 as they are the correct size. But the grille needs modifying to suit the larger lenses..

Thanks , Steve . I hadn't looked at the Buffum American car as I was always doing the Portuguese car . Will have a look regarding the headlights . I hadn't really seen a Sport with the spare wheel where it's suggested to put it either , unless the African cars had them in the back . Must have been awkward to get them out in a hurry ! 

 Gary. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all , I haven’t forgotten about this model , just been busy with other stuff . I have never been happy with the big vent on the right hand side of the bonnet . As moulded it is not how it is on the the actual cars . Not being one for doing a lot of modifications to my builds , I took the decision to cut the vent out and try and rebuild it to look more as it should look . 
  First I drilled it , to make it easier to cut 

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The point of no return ! 
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I used plastic card to make a base , larger than the hole , then painted it Matt black and stuck it on underneath . Trying to cut the angles on the lats to cover the vent was traumatic , and took many attempts .

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And after much fiddling this is the end result . Still didn’t quite get the angles to match up , but it looks ok in my eyes - better than it was . 
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Ive started to apply the decals starting with the pin stripes that give a clean edge to the yellow . Surprisingly they went on easily, following the wheelarch bulges with no ripples . Cutting them off the backing sheet was another matter , with no room for a slip of the knife !
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Thanks for looking 

Gary . 

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I blame @Steve Noble for bringing to my attention the difference in headlights between the kit John Buffum car and the Rohrl car I’m recreating .   It wasn’t until I researched even further that I noticed the differences .  The Buffum car has small headlight units that don’t fill the aperture fully , which I built up , and they looked good . But the Rohrl car , and all other Sports , has large units that fully fill their aperture . It would seem the winged S1 E2 Quattro also uses the small headlights too , maybe it’s a weight saving thing . 

  Buffum car 

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Rohrl car 

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Now not being one for chopping and modifying , I thought it would be an easy job to correct the lights . First I popped the kit lights out then using kitchen foil  , pressed it into the hole , using the ledge where the original lights rested as a backing ledge . I then smoothed the foil down . Then using some clear plastic from a lid due for recycling I cut and shaped the lense to fit the backing ledge . A bit of glue to hold both foil and plastic down and I think it’s more representative of the Rohrl car I’m building . Once dry I might lightly score the plastic to recreate the directional markings on the lenses .
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In other news I used a cocktail stick with the pointy ends cut off to make a strengthening bar across the top of the dashboard as per research . Cocktail sticks are the same size as the kit rollcage parts and when painted , you can’t tell the difference . The rest of the cage went together well , the bars below the spare wheel being fiddly to secure . 
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Fitting the door cards . I painted the inset of the doorcards to replicate the Kevlar outer skin of the doors .

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Thanks for looking 

Gary . 
 

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