Mr.Zombie Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 (edited) Hello, This here is the most annoying and the most irritating model that I ever put together. It’s the Escort Mk1 Rally from Belkits, converted to a street version with help of some stuff by Scaleproduction from Germany, and Highlight Model Studio bits by Eero Kumanto from Finnland. When Belkits annouced the kit I got tons of mail from friends. Me, the Ford nut will sureley be happy about it? No. Not really. The kit shows the bubble flared version on minilites (which I can’t stand) and I’d much rather have normal car (actually it’s very sad that it needs a sports version to make a very popular family car like the Escort). However, on my daily hunt for old junk I found an ad, someone was selling a really evil looking Escort that had the wide wheelarches, shortly after I found the kit for cheap and I got it thinking that it will be a nice break from my usual rusted out junk. My initial plan was to build it OOB and just to paint it like the real thing. Heard much good about the kit, the car I wanted to put together is gutted, how hard could it be? The conversion was basically closing the many holes for lights in the front, after that I primed and painted the body in the original Sebring Red, the doors and wings in TAMIYA matt black and the rear arches in primer grey. Then I mocked it up... And decided that it looks soooo cool that I scrapped the idea of a rally car and went for a full replica of the real thing instead. The result of that late change of plans are the rally gas caps instead of a stock gasfiller, and two or three other details that are not 100% accurate to the real thing. Knowing what I need I went shopping. The rims are 13” Ford RS which are white metal and aluminium items by Scaleproduction, just like the Raid steering wheel, the Recaro seat and the boot tie downs. The tools, wheelweights and some other tiny bits are photoetched and from HMS. The kit itself is a fairly new one by Belkits. The body is superb, nice cast, not much work to clean up. It also looks like an Escort, even though I have my doubt about the angle of the rear pan. The interior is sadly mostly made up (floors are flat, wrong dimensions), and it’s quite a job to make it look like it should. My plans were big, but the kit is so frustrating to build that I skipped some things and concentrated on correcting only the most obvious mistakes. One of them is the wall between the passengers compartment and the boot that was scratchbuild, I added groves and some structure bits to the floor, added bezels around the instruments and general scratchbuild junk that could make out on the pics of the original car. The rest is more or less as Belkits wanted. Everything that I touched on this model was cursed. I polished thru the paint multiple times, broke the wheels, lost hoodpins, scratched the glass, broke the grille, I cut apart the window piece as it did fit in place only with brute force, but then the side windows don’t fit propperly. As a result of that the sidewindows broke during final assembly and I had to redo everything. Even today, while retouching the white letters on the tyres a drop of paint landed on the rear window... The result is by far not the worst model I ever put together, but it isn’t the best either. At least it’s an interesting item, and you probably won’t see another Belkits Escort without the rally trim anytime soon. Enjoy! Edited February 23, 2019 by Mr.Zombie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Zombie Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Zombie Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Zombie Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Zombie Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 And the last few pictures, thanks for looking and have a nice weekend! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classicgas Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Nailed it I would say. Very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belugawrx Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Great result !! Looks just like the real deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Looks very nice despite the trouble it gave you. I agree it would be nice to have a standard body version of the Mk I. I have the Belkits and will take it on someday. I bought the Scale Productions engine bay insert and have the twin-cam or BDA engine to install. I did a super detail build of the Esci Mk II RAC rally car awhile back - worked on it for 2 years (!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramps46 Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Very nice interpretation of the 1:1. If it weren't for your had it would be hard to tell from the real car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc-57 Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Wowser, I really like this! Got one at home waiting for me to get around building it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 All great builds will struggle against you, but this one ... YOU WON! This is so good ... my kind of build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Zombie Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, afx said: Looks very nice despite the trouble it gave you. Well, a certain bit of the trouble was caused by changing the direction of the model halfway thru the build, since it's a curbside the idea was to build it inbetween projects. If you plan to install the photoetched F-O-R-D letters, and then decide that you'd rather have it like on pics and have to drill the 16 microscopic holes in finished laquer then it's stress you made for yourself... If I knew where it will end up at, I'd have installed an engine and redone the dashboard, cut out the floors of the interior tub and corrected it, scratchbuild the glas and whatnot. But to be honest, I found the build so irritating at times, that I'm simply happy not to have binned it... Edited February 22, 2019 by Mr.Zombie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoopdog Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Outstanding representation of the 1:1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmb0319 Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 That is just AMAZING..... I’m speechless. ???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 I kept looking back and forth from the pictures of the 1:1 and your model and it is easy to get lost in between. You have an amazing number of scale tools and extra parts for display. I have always thought these were a handsome looking little cars, and I watch a lot of the classic rallying on You Tube and these are outstanding performers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewetwo Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 That is perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yahshu Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Very cool, growing up in NZ & Australia I seen many a Esky as a kid, still one of my favourite Fords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Po Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 The detail that you put into this build is outstanding! I especially like all of the tools and clutter within the interior. Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Amazing build. Great details. Glad you didn't bin it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 That's a dynamite replica. Well done sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 3 hours ago, Hi-Po said: The detail that you put into this build is outstanding! I especially like all of the tools and clutter within the interior. Great job! x 2 - extraordinary !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olschoolkid Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Really nice Escort. I like all of the small details you put into this such as the tools and other items. I just wish they would've had an Escort like that here in the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Incredible detail, well done my friend!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyglue Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 This is brilliant love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Very nice and nice photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.