Hasegawa Lancia Delta Repsol

[galaxyg]

Background:

I was always going to build a Delta at some point, it was just a case of which one. Hasegawa offer a lot of liveries and though many of them were tempting - especially the Sega Rally classic,Martini. However in the end I went for the Carlos Sainz car, the 1993 Jolly Club Repsol Delta Acropolis Rally. I've learned that Hasegawa's kits of this era are frequently gravel height regardless of the intended subject or event, so at least I knew choosing this one for the Acropolis Rally would not have to have it's suspension modified to look correct.

 

Pros:

It has a Photo Etch fret included, and material for the seatbelts and mudflaps. More or less goes together OK. Some areas have a good level of detail - the dashboard is good for example. Ride height is correct for a gravel setup.

 

Cons:

The moulding for the body is quite scruffy and soft, especially around the windows. The glue points for the rollcage are tiny and weak. The front suspension is weak, vague, fiddly and has far too much play in the steering - with everything connected correctly you can point both front wheels in opposite directions. The tyres are too big and look like tractor tyres, I had to swap them. The front lights and grille could have been engineered better to aid painting. The instructions show one of the decals on the roof incorrectly - 180 degrees from the correct orientation. The supplied decals combine the Repsol logos for many parts with the colours behind them meaning you don't have the option to paint these big areas instead without obtaining other decals, which is doubly annoying since the blue parts of the Repsol livery on the decals are almost black and therefore automatically look incorrect and in need of replacement.

 

Verdict:

Not terrible but certainly not good either. It's an OK model the produces an OK but slightly scruffy result (which at least for a rally car can be partly disguised by some weathering). It's typical of many kits from this era of Hasegawa. It's certainly not good enough to make me think about buying a second one, as I had originally planned.

 

Build notes:

Built over the course of one month in Feb-Mar 2024. Changes to what came in the box are: Tamiya driver and co-driver figures added, seatbelts added, hoses and wiring inside added, new decals for the Repsol logos, changed tyres, weathering and a diorama base. 

 

[Windy37]

I think your too hard on yourself.  It's looks just right to me it being an Acropolis car , they always tended to ride high anyway . Its quite a complicated colour scheme,  which again looks very good . Top marks I think !!!

Gary .

[Spiny]

Despite the long list of 'cons' I think that one has come out fine. Nice idea to put it on the base too, gives you a good excuse to put that weathering on.

[Potsie]

Great outcome for what was a complicated build. The little diorama sets of the model nicely. I would certainly be happy for this to be sitting on my shelf!

[keefr22]

I think that's a really good reult and it looks great on the base!

 

Keith

[Davi]

Congrats in a good result here! Original livery, I like! And it looks really good in the sand, great effort. And I think you nailed it in terms of weathering; enough to add to the realism but not to much so nice details are lost.

[Vesa Jussila]

This looks good as always your work.  I have soft spot this period rally cars. In Finland we fans/racers loved Carlos.

[Toftdale]

Looks top work to me as well and the base is a perfect way of displaying her in her natural environment - Andy

[kapam]

I agree with everyone.  It looks great!

I'm wondering, where you got the tyres from if you didn't use the kit ones?

Were the kit tyres really that bad?

Anyway, it's a fine build.  I love WRC cars.

👏👏👏

[galaxyg]

On 4/3/2024 at 7:46 AM, kapam said:

I agree with everyone.  It looks great!

I'm wondering, where you got the tyres from if you didn't use the kit ones?

Were the kit tyres really that bad?

Anyway, it's a fine build.  I love WRC cars.

👏👏👏

 

Thanks.   The kit tyres were not *really* bad, just a bit too big for what I thought looked right. I have a big box of spare parts, and the replacement tyres came from that. The spares box is populated by things left over from 100+ builds so I can't remember exactly where they came from except they were wrapped around a set of RS Watanabe wheels.

 

[Noel Smith]

Interesting thread.   Lancia have remained high profile in rallying throughout the years and the brand still sells well on on the continent. Really nice model of this well known rally car and well presented too.

After Lancia's disastrous episode quite a while back in the UK with serious rust issues on their cars, the brand has stayed away, apart from the Chrysler Ypsolon that was a little Lancia under another name. They will have got their quality issues well sorted out by now so I am surprised that they have not set up a dealership network again in the UK. Ford used their rallying successes to great advantage to market their cars. A newer generation of UK buyers will probably not be aware of why Lancia pulled out all those years ago, so maybe the time will be right to reintroduce the brand in the UK.

Edited April 12 by Noel Smith

[galaxyg]

3 hours ago, Noel Smith said:

A newer generation of UK buyers will probably not be aware of why Lancia pulled out all those years ago, so maybe the time will be right to reintroduce the brand in the UK.

 

Sacrilege as it is*, they could relaunch as an EV-only brand, as at least it's a badge with some heritage rather than all these no-name EV brands that are popping up all over the place.

 

*all brands are going to be forced to do this anyway, heritage or not.

[Keeff]

As previously mentioned .... a big list of cons!  

Overall, you've done a splendid job .... great colour scheme and the subtle weathering is a nice touch too 👍 

 

Keith 😁