Belkits Skoda Fabia S2000 rally car

[Windy37]

Having finished the Audi , and thanks for all the comments on that one , I’m starting this kit I have had in the stash and kept putting off building it due to the constant stream of new kits that have took my fancy and wanted to build straight away . I’m also off work recovering from an operation at the moment , so need something to occupy myself . The Skoda name has been through the mill in the last 30 years or so , but being a rally fan I always new they were better than all the jokes that went against them . Take this model for example . Designed for the Super 2000 regulations of the mid 2000s , it is 4 wheel drive and powered by a high revving 2.0 litre , non turbo engine . It’s as well designed and developed as its competitors and just as successful . This being an early Belkits  , it actually looks reasonably easy to put together , far simpler than the last Belkits Fiesta I built. . We'll see ….    Anyway , the box and contents 

 

Bodyshell unprepared and then parts sprayed Tamiya gloss aluminium . 


 

Thanks for looking 

Gary

 

[Hamden]

 

First in mind if I take a seat? I always learn something from your builds.

 

   Stay safe               Roger

[Windy37]

You certainly can Roger . 

Gary

[Andy J]

That bodyshell certainly looks the business Gary I'm in 👍

[Spiny]

It'll be interesting to see how this compares to their early Fiesta (S2000). Sounds like a good way to recover from your operation - hope the recovery goes well.

[Windy37]

1 hour ago, Spiny said:

It'll be interesting to see how this compares to their early Fiesta (S2000). Sounds like a good way to recover from your operation - hope the recovery goes well.

Thanks , I'm doing fine . The Skoda is from the same era of rally car . Sometimes I think the sport ought to go back to this sort of car as the top class . 

Gary 

[desert falcon]

This should be interesting, will be following  

[JeroenS]

I do remember the Skoda's that drove here in the '70s and '80s... they were a joke indeed 😉 .... But I'm on my fourth Skoda now, never would have guessed back then. 

[Windy37]

1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

I do remember the Skoda's that drove here in the '70s and '80s... they were a joke indeed 😉 .... But I'm on my fourth Skoda now, never would have guessed back then. 

In this country , Skoda always tops or comes near the top of customer satisfaction surveys , usually beating their owner VW ! As the advert here used to say Suprising Skoda !

Gary

[desert falcon]

Nothing beats VW Group technology (we have had a total of 2 VW Polo, 5 Golf, 3 Seat Leon, 1 Audi TT and a Ducati over the past 25 years). Okay the Audi TT Mk.1 wasn’t the best of quality but it was great fun with its 260 hp and quattro all wheel drive, but the wifes Seat Leon did 300.000 km in a desert environment with close to only normal servicing. 
 

Will have to youtube some Fabia S2000 rally videos now  

[keefr22]

41 minutes ago, Windy37 said:

In this country , Skoda always tops or comes near the top of customer satisfaction surveys

 

And they were pretty dominant in the up to 1300 cc class in the RAC Rally back in the 70's/early 80's with John Haugland at the wheel (from Wiki - John Didrik Haugland (born 23 September 1946 in Stavanger) is a Norwegian former rally driver. He competed in 27 world rally championship events,[more often than not at the wheel of a Škoda. He had four Top 10 finishes in his career.Haugland debuted in his first rally in 1965,[4] and had over 100 class wins primarily in the 1970s and 1980s)

He really was fun to watch pedalling those little 'Porsche 911 wannabes'....

 

Looking forward to this build Gary, it's yet another one I've got lurking in the stash!

 

Keith

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks nice project. I took popcorn.

[Windy37]

I have sprayed the bodyshell of the Skoda Tamiya pure white . 

 

The metallic green sections are replicated in the decal sheet . This , you might think , is quite an easy car to decal . But closer inspection shows the whole rear end is decals , including those rear wheel arch’s . I didn’t fancy trying to get those to conform so I have decided to spray the green on instead . 

 

I have decided on Tamiya TS20 metallic green which looks a very good match . Once it is on I might try carefully cutting out the black to green edging decals to get that right . The roof and bonnet stripes I will use the decals and the front bumper will be painted black and detailed with a decal . After about 2 hours masking up this is where I am up to . Experience tells me you can’t apply enough masking tape !

 

This what it should look like eventually …..

 

Thanks for looking 

Gary
 

[Toftdale]

49 minutes ago, Windy37 said:

Experience tells me you can’t apply enough masking tape !

 

She's coming together very nicely and yes I definitely agree with you on the masking front - Andy

[Windy37]

6 minutes ago, Toftdale said:

She's coming together very nicely and yes I definitely agree with you on the masking front - Andy

Thanks Andy . Seemed a big job to mask for what is a small area to spray  , but it'll be worth it .... I hope 🙏 

Gary 

[galaxyg]

Something like that is always worth masking over painting when possible IMHO, and you'll get a better metallic green too.

[Windy37]

23 minutes ago, galaxyg said:

Something like that is always worth masking over painting when possible IMHO, and you'll get a better metallic green too.

I've been trialling the green over Tamiya gloss aluminium . It seems to give a slightly darker , more metallic finish  . 

Gary 

[keefr22]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the green turns out Gary as I've been considering spraying instead of using the decals, not only because I think it'll be easier but I'm not sure I like the colour of the decals. May just be me, but I think the green on them looks too light and lime greeny (if that's a word!)

 

Best of luck with the spraying!

 

Keith

[Windy37]

I don't remember having a good look at the actual cars at the time as they competed in the Eurosport IRC series which I never saw , but looking at reference pictures the decals are  not far off . The current Fabia R5 cars I have seen and the works cars are a bright green , similar to Kawasaki motorbike green . I saw these driven by a certain Kalle Rovenpera.....

Gary 

[keefr22]

I've only been going off digital and print images so you're probably right re the decal colour. Spraying will still be easier than decalling I think though.

 

K

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks really good so far. This definitely will look good when completed.

[Windy37]

This is the Skoda before being unwrapped. So much overspray for so little actually painted …..

 

And the big reveal 

 

The colour is slightly darker than the decals and the downward stripe could run to more of a point , but overall I’m happy with the results . The metallic green is gorgeous . Makes a change from reds , blues and whites . 

 

The difference 

 

I have had a mammoth parts painting session over the last few days . One thing with Belkits is they don’t leave anything out ; the tiniest part is replicated and this being a modern rally car there is a nice variation in different colours of all the parts , certainly not all black or aluminium like on older cars . Here’s the front end built up . Experience with Belkits models means dry fitting is a must . The instructions are really only a vague guide . For instance it shows to fit the engine first , but if you do that you then can’t get the exhaust to fit as there is a fixing hole under the engine …….. Fit the suspension drop links before the half shafts too , much easier this way . I have also added some foil on the exhaust tunnel for heat reflection and painted black wear strips on the inner wheel arches , as I found on research photos . 

 

Moving to the back end and I found the halfshafts when fitted were touching the chassis rail and not letting the differential sit down in place properly . So to sort this I cut away at the rail to allow more room for the shafts . Oddly , there is cut outs on the exhaust to allow for fitment of the shafts . Also the black A frame needs fitting before the exhaust , so this is probably the first part to fit to the chassis , as I found out when I moved to the back then found it needed to be fitted once the exhaust had set …..


 

This is the completed chassis , before the shock absorbers are fitted . Not really noticeable at the front , under the engine, I painted Matt black as it would look dark looking from underneath with the bonnet shut . 

 

Thanks for looking 

Gary . 

[Windy37]

As usual with a Belkits model , there is yet another method of fixing the suspension and steering systems . Dry fitting is again essential , but even after doing this I realised there was parts I should have glued together before attempting to assemble . If only the instructions were better …. 
This photo shows the front ready for building . The grey parts attached to the struts needed gluing earlier , really , to set as this then holds the track rod end . 

 

Threading the steering arm through and coupling up then became a nightmare ! So I had a rethink and attached the subframe in place , allowed to dry then went back and squeezed the struts and steering arm in place . Rather than clipping in , the track rod ends are held in with pins . The whole process could have been made so much easier .  To help set ,  I clamped both sides over night . 

 

Moving to the back and a similar set up is used , whereby the grey part is stuck to the half shaft end , using a half moon pin so it goes on in the correct position . The strut is then glued to this . 

 

When I came to mount the subframe, some of the arms fouled the differential ( remember this didn’t sit down properly  ) so I needed to carve some corners off to allow better fitment . Again , holding everything in place while trying to keep it all in line and true was a big job , over an hours work in fact . 

 

Hopefully when I fit the brake discs they will be something like in the right position after all this effort ! Both ends of the chassis need a touch up of paint to tidy them up next job . 
Thanks for looking 

Gary . 

 

[JeroenS]

Good thing you have some Belkits build under your belt. All sounds rather complicated! I like that metallic green too. 

[Windy37]

10 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Good thing you have some Belkits build under your belt. All sounds rather complicated! I like that metallic green too. 

Thanks Jeroen . I certainly expect trouble with Belkits suspension fitting as they go for correct details , but sometimes they make it too hard to then build up !

Gary