ski-doo Nordic 371 Snowmobile

[Casey]

I found this kit cruising eBay late one night last winter, and decided to start building it tonight, so here goes. It's not a very complex kit, but I think it captures the "feel" of an early '70s sled very well. The black vinyl parts have held up very well, but they are a bit too glossy looking and uniform (i.e., no variation between the seat cushions, drive belt, handgrips, etc.), so that seems to be the only thing I foresee changing. Not going do much more than add a few engine details on this one, so pretty much box stock.

Here's the box top:

 

And here's step one on the instruction sheet, showing most of the engine parts after most of the chrome plating was removed. I found a few good reference pics on the web so I will use those to add a bit more detail here and there:

 

I will definitely be staying with the factory ski-doo yellow color, or close to it.

[shoopdog]

Oh  man, can't wait to see this one finished. Looks pretty cool.

[unclescott58]

Very cool. Another kit I wish Round 2 would reissue. 

[Casey]

On 11/14/2017 at 6:32 AM, unclescott58 said:

Very cool. Another kit I wish Round 2 would reissue. 

Believe it or not, MPC released two 1/12 scale ski-doo sleds, the TNT being the other one. I wouldn't mind seeing either one reissued.

I made some minor clean-up and assembly progress on the engine parts, sanding mold seams, filling sink marks and generally evening two-piece assemblies out where they join:

 

Close-up engine shot from the back, showing the carburetor at the center:

 

Now, to find more reference pics so I can add the two plug wires, etc.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Casey

[Casey]

I made a bit more progress last might, opening up the engine case opening and thinning out the edges:

 

I also did some pre-fitting of the gas tank and the support brace for the steering pivot (pitman arm? Not sure what it's called on a snowmobile), and it became clear very quickly that the kit supplied part wasn't going to cut it. Not sure why it was made so narrow, nor why it fully rests on the gas tank(!), but looking at the real sled, it's clear the support brace is wider and  is welded with the pan, so I'll have to scratchbuild that part:

 

Not sure how I'm going to pull off the blow-molded plastic tank look, though. Never have been able to get that to look realistic on any washer fluid reservoirs, either.

[peteski]

You could try casting it out of translucent milky resin. Or just paint it flat white, mask the top to the level of the fluid and spray it with more white with just a bit of the color of the fluid (blue, green, yellow, red, or whatever) mixed in. That will simulate the fluid visible through the tank walls.  I used the paint trick on coolant and washer fluid reservoirs of a 1:25 scale Chevy S-10 truck. It looks pretty realistic to me.  This photo only shows the coolant tank.  I suppose I could have made it even more realistic by adding tiny bit of black to the stark white paint. That would look even more like the plastic used for those tanks.

Edited January 1, 2018 by peteski

[vintagercr]

That is a rare kit.  Look forward to seeing the progress pics

[64Comet404]

When I built this kit, I found that the yellow pigment was strong enough to tint the white lacquer primer I was using, giving the look of a filled fuel tank. It wasn't exact, but it was close enough to work for me.

[Casey]

Good ideas, guys, thanks. I decided to skip making a new steering support bracket and stick with the box stock piece, but I still need to address the fuel tank.

I haven't made a ton of progress, but have kept busy off-and-on by sanding and preparing all of the parts for paint-- mold seam and ejector pin mark removal, etc. I also replaced the styrene foot loops (not sure what the correct term is) with brass tube as the box stock pieces had some deep ejector pin marks:

Edited August 5, 2018 by Casey

[unclescott58]

Hope to see more soon. 

Edited August 8, 2018 by unclescott58

[Brudda]

I love this!!! Soooo cool!!