Tamiya Monte Carlo Rally Alpine A110

[Spiny]

This one is a bit of a mixed bag, there are some parts of it I'm really pleased with how they came out and some parts I'm quite disappointed by. Probably most disappointing is that I had quite a few issues building the suspension up and as a result there is a very slight tripod to it, although it does appear to be settling a bit so I'm crossing my fingers in about a year it will be firmly on all fours. I also made a bit of a mess of the interior, particularly putting in the door cards, but am most pleased with managing to get magnets fitted to the engine cover so it doesn't fall off, and indeed fits straight into place if you get it somewhere near.

 

Anyway, if anyone wants to see the build thread it's here.

 

 

And if you want to see too many photos, they're here. Hope you still like them when you've waded through them all. One thing to note, when I was brushing off the dust I knocked off one of the metal transfer Alpine wing badges, which seem to be notorious on this kit for their complete lack of stickiness. By some miracle i found it clinging to my glove at the end of the build so it's not UV resined in place.

 

Anyway, on with the photos and I'll start with a close-up of the engine. That great big glob of clear resin which catches the light is actually invisible (or near as) in real life and I hadn't even noticed it until I blew the photo up on screen .

 

 

Next to the engine bay was another bit I was pleased with how it went - the grille bars. This is all moulded as one piece, but stripping the kit chrome, spraying it body colour then foiling the high points seems to have worked quite well.

 

 

I've already mentioned the interior, but one reason I think I might get away with the mistakes I made is that it's only the back which is easily visible through that large rear window. Of course, that does make photographing the interior quite tricky, and these are the best photos I could manage.

 

 

 

Back to the whole thing, and time for the usual 360degree trip around the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also tried to get it taken in natural daylight, unfortunately the sun was too high in the sky to fall into the conservatory when I was taking this so it's much softer light than I was aiming for.

 

 

And finally, the bit where you'll have to forgive me indulging myself with a few angled shots for artiness's sake.

 

 

 

 

And this one is to my eyes the best shot of the lot which makes it even more annoying that it's of the worse side of the model/

 

 

Hope you all like it and didn't get too bored of the photos. Overall I'd say this is a good kit despite being over 25 years old, but you need to have your wits about you as there are some ambiguous parts to the instructions. Unfortunately I didn't always have my wits about me, hence some of the lower quality parts to this build. There's also a curious lack of stickiness to the metal transfers which others have mentioned before, but the decals are top notch. If you want to build an Alpine, I would steer you towards this kit.

 

Thanks for looking.

[Windy37]

Despite your reservations I reckon it looks spot on . Remember  , no rally car is perfect in every way , certainly not from this early era . 

Nice work 

Gary .

[Neddy]

Wot he said.  It may be my failing eyesight (cataract ops due in 3-4 months now I'm told, YAY!!) but it looks damn' good to me.  I followed the build with interest and appreciated the hurdles you had to get over, the way you tackled them and the results.  Nice job, really nice job.

[cmatthewbacon]

Looks great to me, especially in the “arty” shots. Very neat build, and thanks to you I now have well-annotated instruction sheet in the box in my stash! It’s been an informative build to watch, and the end result is a very nice model of a very cool car in its best livery!

nest,

M.

[CrazyCrank]

Stunning build and gorgeous photos.

you’ve managed to give live to this car kit and in a very respectful way .

Bravo 👍

[ceeb555]

Loved following your build of this. Not always straightforward but overcoming issues along the way make it

so much more rewarding.  
Superb looking model of a great rally car

Chris

[Bengalensis]

Always great to see a well finished A110. All your time and troubles have paid off very well indeed 👍

[klubman01]

Very nicely done.  Great model.

Trevor

[Vince1159]

Beautiful job,love the colour...

[Watto]

I'm my own worst critic and am quick to beat myself up but, I think that as long as I learn something with each build and don't repeat the same mistakes, that's part of the hobby of model building and I enjoy it because of that. 

 

Having said that, I think your Alpine is a fine example and you should be very pleased that you've achieved a grand build and learnt a few things along the way. 

 

Congratulations on a smashing end product..👍

 

Watto 🍻

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks really nice! I must agree with others that this is spot on.

[Jouko]

Well done, looks almost real one to me. Photos are also great.

[galaxyg]

Great looking Alpine build.   Many of my builds also have a good side and a less-good side, and like your probably only noticeable by the builder.

 

Nice photos too.

[Spiny]

First of all, thanks to al of you for the kind comments, probably a bit overgenerous but good lighting can hide a lot of ills (it can also reveal a lot of ills too, but at the end of the build those photos can have the delete build pressed on them). But the comments are very much appreciated, especially in the middle of a manic week at work so thank you again.

 

To address a couple of you more specifically:

 

22 hours ago, Neddy said:

Wot he said.  It may be my failing eyesight (cataract ops due in 3-4 months now I'm told, YAY!!) but it looks damn' good to me.  I followed the build with interest and appreciated the hurdles you had to get over, the way you tackled them and the results.  Nice job, really nice job.

 

Good luck with the cateract zapping. It sounds as though the timing may be just right to escape the completion of my next build.

 

22 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

Looks great to me, especially in the “arty” shots. Very neat build, and thanks to you I now have well-annotated instruction sheet in the box in my stash! It’s been an informative build to watch, and the end result is a very nice model of a very cool car in its best livery!

nest,

M.

 

Coming from a top-notch builder AND photographer that counts for a lot. It's also a shot in the arm knowing that my build thread has been of assistance to at least a couple of you - that counts for a lot to me. Other people on here do similar sorts of thread and I always find that I'm more interested in both the build and the model than I am the ones where nothing more than a picture of the finished model is seen.

[Fnick]

Nothing more to add to what had already been said. You wouldn't know about the banana skins the alpine gleefully threw under your feet during the build! Very well executed model.

 

Photography top notch as always. Your arty shots certainly spurred me on to try to take photos of my models from unusual angles. Some work some don't (as in my pics! 😄) but it's certainly fun trying.

 

Looking forward to your next build.

 

Nick

[keefr22]

That's a beautiful model of a beautiful car spiny! 

 

Really like your 'arty ' pics again, but must say I particularly like the tenth shot down (against the all dark grey background) - that looks like it could be a studio shot of the real thing!

 

Top job again!

 

Keith

[Spiny]

Must have a word with Hobbycraft - that's meant to be black paper!

 

@Fnick - great to hear that I've encouraged you to play around with your own photographs. The ones I've seen you do have looked fine to me, and remember, unlike the modelling WIP threads I  only put the photos which (sort of) work on here - there are others which don't work at all.

 

Speaking of photos, I decided to try something new again, basically the "parked in a puddle with a background" type of shot. Not going to pretend it's anywhere near perfect as I knocked this one up after work, but it gives me a few ideas for how to go about some different shots next time around.

 

 

[keefr22]

Very cool!

[Neddy]

Oh I do like that, very effective!

[Toftdale]

When you come this late to the party its very hard to add anything new, so all I can do is echo everybody else's richly deserved praise and thank you for your usual interesting warts and all build thread.  The only downside has been I'm finding it increasingly difficult not adding on to my ever increasing stash.  - Andy 

[Spiny]

6 hours ago, Toftdale said:

 The only downside has been I'm finding it increasingly difficult not adding on to my ever increasing stash.  - Andy 

 

Plenty of places have it available now And who wouldn't want an Alpine break this winter...

 

As an aside, your new avatar always makes me chuckle - reminds me of some sort of poison tree frog!

[Old John]

Despite your reservations It looks good to me. All of mine have things I am less than happy with. Great colour & decals. A fine build.

[Spiny]

Thank you. The colour (and decals come to think of it) are down to Tamiya though - in fact my understanding is that the TS-53 blue was created especially to match the Alpine blue.

[Pouln]

I fully agrre with the others. This model looks really good. Well done!