Ford Escort RS 2000 - Italeri + C1 Models conversion

[triumphfan]

I pre-ordered the transkit as soon as it was announced. Originally I was just going to build a model of the car my brother in law owned back in the day, shortly after, I plumbed or the X-pack version as well.

This build will be the factory stock version in signal yellow. Unfortunately, neither me or Kev can remember the full reg number, it was LUV ***X as far as we can recall. I'll make up the numbers, it will have to do.

Initial work was removing the printed parts from the frames and cleaning up the body. There is much more here than I was expecting and the quality of the parts is superb. The bonnet has some fairly pronounced striation lines but I've sanded this back a fair bit so far. It will be more telling once the primer goes on.

A few pics to illustrate the contents.

 

The kits are well presented in stout boxes with all parts sorted in separate bags.

 

The body fits on to the chassis very nicely. The interface at the engine bay is quite good, the unsightly gap present on the kit parts is avoided. The chassis improvement work will be the biggest job in the whole build.

 

The wheels and tyres needed a bit of sanding to fit. Love the old fashioned 'deep' rubber on these 😊

Front nosecone and bonnet fit is good. I also tried the 'glass' part in the body. Fit is very good. An improvement would probably be to replace the side windows with clear sheet, 

 

Work started with prepping the chassis pan. The fuel tank filler piece is a great improvement, there are some more holes in the wheel arches, easy to fill with thin plastic card and a smear of filler. 

 

 

An example of the quality of these 3D printed parts. Front McPherson struts have the springs printed open 👍 Will be a headache to paint the springs a different colour to the shocks though !

 

 

Lots of cleaning up and test fitting to follow before any primer can go on.

 

Atb, Steve.

[cmatthewbacon]

Oh, I’m glad you’re on with this, Steve. My “Ray Doyle”  CI5 transkit arrived this morning, and looks very complete and beautifully rendered. But no instructions, so I’m very glad to have a guide pioneering the way! I’ll have to go and check out the ScaleProduction and Master Box 1/24 figures and see if there’s one would suit…

best,

M.

[keefr22]

I told you that yours would be done years before mine!

 

I have the same problem with the reg, number of my old 1600 Sport I'm building...!! 

 

Went to Halfords yesterday to get a can of filler primer for those bonnet striations - at £12 a can I left without one....!! 

 

I'm building mine cpmpletely 'curbside' so don't have to worry about the engine bay or chassis, but will watch with interest your work on them! I have the same idea to replace the kit's side glass. 

 

7 hours ago, triumphfan said:

An example of the quality of these 3D printed parts. Front McPherson struts have the springs printed open. Will be a headache to paint the springs a different colour to the shocks though !

 

 

It's the open mesh in the 'Fishnet' Recaros that got me - my worry on painting is not to clog it up!

 

 

7 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

But no instructions, so I’m very glad to have a guide pioneering the way!

 

Ditto! I would have liked a parts list to check there are none of the teeny tiny parts missing, but given how thorough Chris was with the packing I hope that won't be a problem.

 

Looking forward to progress Steve!

 

Keith

[Spottedlaurel]

I look forward to seeing how this progresses, the parts look like very nice quality.

 

Just this morning I discovered that I've ended up with three Mk2 Escort race/rally kits. Even if I build a couple of them as short oval racers (a Mk2 Escort National Hot Rod is one of the best-looking racing cars ever, in my opinion) then I have one spare looking for a purpose....

[triumphfan]

9 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

But no instructions, so I’m very glad to have a guide pioneering the way!

Errr, at the moment I'm just looking at the pics Chris put up on his FB page and the product sale page. Still not sure what the little C shaped parts are for - thinking rear axle maybe?

Also, the front panel needs cutting to let the radiator panel in. It looks pretty straightforward but I'm still a bit nervous with the saw in my hand!

The chassis pan needs a bit of work. I have some great pics to work from, the son of one of my friends owns KGF Classics. Karl only deals in the highest quality, unmolested classics and specialises in Fords, the website is a great reference source.

There is going to be a lot of scratch building required to fill the engine bay. An instant headache is the Pinto having inlet and exhaust opposite to the BDA ☹️ I managed to fiddle a spare manifold for the Mexico build so, back to burrowing through the spares box(es) Such a shame as the exhaust manifold Chris supplied is a beauty.

 

I think the lack of any build guide with the transkit is going to cause concern to some 🤔 

 

Atb, Steve.

 

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, triumphfan said:

Errr, at the moment I'm just looking at the pics Chris put up on his FB page and the product sale page.

 

I've been looking at the pics on the website, didn't think of Faceache - are there different ones on there?

 

K

[keefr22]

11 hours ago, triumphfan said:

Work started with prepping the chassis pan.

 

Don't forget a standard RS2 would have rear drum brakes Steve - if that bothers you....

 

Keith

[PeteH1969]

2 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

Don't forget a standard RS2 would have rear drum brakes Steve - if that bothers you....

 

Keith

Also the standard RS 2000 had the 2ltr Pinto OHC engine not the OHV cross flow.

 

Should be nice when done.

 

Pete

[FunkyChiken]

Looks like a cool pair of upgrade kits.

You've git your hands full with these, good luck!

[griffsrw]

Thanks for your thorough review, I'm certain that will encourage many to make a start on their escorts. 

[Noel Smith]

Interesting to read about builds of the new C1 Escort releases just starting, and will be following this thread.

I believe that C1 also supplies just a full interior to fit the Italeri Escort kit. Good marketing on their part to make a quick switch from rally to road car with minimal work.

 

C1 has a nice range of resin trans kits as well as the Ford Escort bits.

 

Incidentally, they also make a very good chrome polishing powder too. You just buff it straight onto a gloss black, and it is quite robust when being handled afterwards.I did a Napier Railton body with it to good effect over a different base colour to get a polished aluminium effect.  Good stuff in a generous pot.

Edited June 30, 2024 by Noel Smith

[triumphfan]

On 6/29/2024 at 10:33 AM, keefr22 said:

Don't forget a standard RS2 would have rear drum brakes Steve - if that bothers you....

Thanks Keith. I think the X pack version will have the rear discs as it will be more of a resto-mod build. The drum brakes should be easy to scratch up by punching some suitable sized discs out of plasticard and sanding to shape.

On 6/29/2024 at 1:23 PM, PeteH1969 said:

Also the standard RS 2000 had the 2ltr Pinto OHC engine not the OHV cross flow.

 

Hi Pete. I have the Pinto covered thanks to Richie Griffiths resin accessories.

6 hours ago, griffsrw said:

Thanks for your thorough review

Cheers Richie. You can probably see where you are already helping... 😊

 

6 hours ago, Noel Smith said:

C1 has a nice range of resin trans kits as well as the Ford Escort bits.

Cheers Noel. I really got into C1's products when Chris produced the MGB GT transkit. I did a few of these and also the Sebring race car. I also have another Sebring car in the stash to build as a road version 😉

 

Thanks for the tip on the chrome powder, I had seen this but not heard anyone talk about using it until now. Sounds like it may be worth a punt.

 

Atb, Steve.

[PeteH1969]

Are you going to cut open the doors and the boot?

 

It would be a good thing to do.

 

Pete

[keefr22]

2 hours ago, triumphfan said:

I think the X pack version will have the rear discs

 

Mine definitely will as it'll be a tarmac rally car!

 

2 hours ago, triumphfan said:

Thanks for the tip on the chrome powder,

 

I've got a similar product from years back called SnJ polishing powder - this was meant for aluminium natural metal finishes on aircraft models, but put onto gloss black paint & buffed up it also gives a nice chrome finish - so the C1 stuff should be equally good if not better as it's actually intended to be chrome.

 

One thing with the SnJ is that the particles are super fine and go everywhere....!! 

 

Keith

[Noel Smith]

The consistency of C1 polishing powder is super fine granules like the S&J product.

The best way to describe both is that they are as fine as graphite powder to give some idea.

Not tried using graphite powder as a metallic finish on a model, although I have some that I can experiment with come to think of it.

[triumphfan]

19 hours ago, PeteH1969 said:

Are you going to cut open the doors and the boot?

 

It would be a good thing to do.

Not for me thanks. Quite happy building as they come mostly. Never been keen on 'working features', leave it to the diecast manufacturers imo.

 

Atb, Steve.

[triumphfan]

The chassis is receiving some attention. Just thought I would share this little tip with you, apologies if it's already something you do regularly.

I've cut some card to fill the holes in the wheel arches, it's difficult to glue in place because you cannot access the underside to hold the filler plate in place. I just put a blob of blutak in there and press the fill piece into position, the blutak holds it in place while you glue it, ensuring even edges without the piece 'falling in' to the recess.

 

 

It doesn't show well in this pic but the edges are almost perfectly flush. Just a smear of filler will now be needed to finish the job.

 

The engine bay has had the strange lumps and bumps ground and sanded off. The hardest ones to do is the rear corners, lots of material to remove to get to the proper engine bay shape. The strut tops and associated bolt fixings will be added later, I used punched out discs of card and resin bolt heads in my previous builds.

The front panel has been modified (hacked out) to fit the new rad panel and radiator. The resin Pinto now fits in quite nicely. Very pleased with how this is going so far.

 

 

Atb, Steve.

[PeteH1969]

Looking very good and Escort Mk 2, don't forget the chassis / bulkhead corner strengtheners on the lower rail sections.

 

 

watch from 6 mins

 

Pete

 

[triumphfan]

13 minutes ago, PeteH1969 said:

don't forget the chassis / bulkhead corner strengtheners on the lower rail sections.

Hello again Pete. Not sure if you have the ESCI Escort kit in any of its forms but the inner wings bulkhead is very poorly moulded. To make it look like the car in the video would mean completely cutting out the inner wings and moving them outward to render the chassis rails and then add the bracing. 

Sorry, but I think my build of this car is going to disappoint you somewhat 😕 

 

Please, please keep the detail posts coming, there will be someone on here that is going to need them.

 

I will be adding a lot of scratch stuff to the engine bay, such as battery, brake servo, master cylinder, engine plumbing and wiring loom, etc

 

Thanks again. 

Atb, Steve.

[triumphfan]

I spoke to Chris at C1 earlier. My guess that the small C shaped parts where for the back axle was correct. They locate after the springs have been fitted, the rear discs (drums in my case) then slide on the axle and up to the hub locators.

 

 

Atb, Steve.

[PeteH1969]

The esci/italieri 24th cars are the same just re boxed kits.

 

The escort is ok but needs a lot of work to make the internals accurate.

 

Pete

[keefr22]

On 01/07/2024 at 22:02, PeteH1969 said:

The escort is ok but needs a lot of work to make the internals accurate.

 

Basically the Esci kit is rubbish! The body shape is OKish but the wheel arches are awful, looking like some kind of mish mash of forest, normal tarmac and 'Monte Escort' ones - what Esci were aiming for I don't know, but they missed anything accurate by miles! The sit of the wheels (which are also pretty dire (not to mention the tyres) but can be worked on) in said arches is dreadful, making an o.o.b. build look like a (badly drawn) cartoon. There's numerous other shape and detail problems, but at the moment it's all we have so it is what it is!

 

Thank heavens for transkits from people like Chris, at least now we can get an accurate Mk2!

 

Keith

[keefr22]

Apologies Steve, should have said that progress looks good - also good to hear the build's  going well so far!

 

Keith

[PeteH1969]

31 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Basically the Esci kit is rubbish! The body shape is OKish but the wheel arches are awful, looking like some kind of mish mash of forest, normal tarmac and 'Monte Escort' ones - what Esci were aiming for I don't know, but they missed anything accurate by miles! The sit of the wheels (which are also pretty dire (not to mention the tyres) but can be worked on) in said arches is dreadful, making an o.o.b. build look like a (badly drawn) cartoon. There's numerous other shape and detail problems, but at the moment it's all we have so it is what it is!

 

Thank heavens for transkits from people like Chris, at least now we can get an accurate Mk2!

 

Keith

It's a pity as the Esci Range Rover, Landy, Toyota, and G wagon are very good kits being nearly 45 years old they are a good starting point.

 

If only they were all designed to the same level of detail.

 

It's coming along well.

 

Pete

[griffsrw]

On 6/29/2024 at 8:12 AM, Spottedlaurel said:

I look forward to seeing how this progresses, the parts look like very nice quality.

 

Just this morning I discovered that I've ended up with three Mk2 Escort race/rally kits. Even if I build a couple of them as short oval racers (a Mk2 Escort National Hot Rod is one of the best-looking racing cars ever, in my opinion) then I have one spare looking for a purpose....

 

On 6/29/2024 at 8:12 AM, Spottedlaurel said:

I look forward to seeing how this progresses, the parts look like very nice quality.

 

Just this morning I discovered that I've ended up with three Mk2 Escort race/rally kits. Even if I build a couple of them as short oval racers (a Mk2 Escort National Hot Rod is one of the best-looking racing cars ever, in my opinion) then I have one spare looking for a purpose....

Quite agree about the hot rods, I've built a few myself