Heller: Renault 5 Turbo rally

[89AKurt]

Heller 1/24 scale Renault 5 Turbo Group 4 rally represents the 1982 car of Jean Ragnotti and Jean-Marc Andre.  Instructions say they won with treaded rain tires, but the kit comes with slicks, which is a pet peeve of mine.  I'm spending my Christmas holiday building at a remote location (undocumented wife's house on the other side of town), picked this kit because it has few parts, and should be a good warm-up for doing the Audi Quattro.  It's typical Heller quality, parts are well molded with little flash and mold lines to clean up, fit so far is very good, but detail is minimalistic.  If one wanted to detail this, many missing details are begging, but I'm doing Box Stock.

North windows are excellent daylight, view is nice. ?  Swept tools off the bench into a cigar box, no paint, no Dremel, no specialized tools brought along, using only superglue.

Engine is basic, don't think the turbo is accurate, moving on.  Sink depressions and ejection pin marks got filled with superglue and baking soda (from wife's pantry ?).  Exhaust tip is drilled with knife.  I *had to* fill the void under the intake plenum, would really have to look for it after it's assembled.

Cool feature of this kit, the round pins go in square holes, almost as good as snap-tight kits (better than AMT Batmissle), so I could mock up the complete assembly, then dismantle for painting.

Found some sink marks on the doors, filled with superglue/baking soda.  The mirrors needed the same treatment.

Ready for paint:

I went home, and painted all I could.

Masked and sprayed the light grey, last color for the day.

I skipped painting primer, started with gloss white on the body.  Good thing I'm not at home to risk touching the body and screwing it up. ?  The kit has almost no dash detail, just circles with no detail or decals!  I added the aftermarket gauge decals, added a clock on the block that should be the rally chronometer that really needs something!  The funny thing about this kit, the doors open, so you can see the seats are molded with the floor and have giant gaps that are toy-like, no dash detail, no pedals, no seatbelts, etc. ?

The interior is assembled!  Tried out Alclad 'white aluminum' for the engine, intake and wheels, the heat shield is chrome aluminum, exhaust is Testors flat aluminum and steel.

Plan tomorrow is to mask and paint the yellow on the body.  Don't think I should push it for painting black too.  Have an idea for making tread on the tires, planned to rough up anyway, and am going to weather for end of race look.   Race to New Years, 5 days. ?️

[DukeE]

Looks great Kurt. I've never seen the Heller unboxed before, just Tamiya. Looks workable, you're doing it up nicely. Great view there, hopefully you smoked the box empty of those Acid's. Great pastime waiting for paint to flash, just not in same place. 

[Rich Chernosky]

Kurt..is this your "finish by New Years" day project.  Its a great idea. I do this every year. Just havn''t  picked a project yet.  I have the Tamiya kit of this car done and have another I want to do in Martini colors. I passed on the Heller kit and now I know why.  Thanks for the reveiw.  Hope you get it done.  Its a cool car. 

[Rich Chernosky]

Just now, Rich Chernosky said:

Kurt..is this your "finish by New Years" day project.  Its a great idea. I do this every year. Just havn''t  picked a project yet.  I have the Tamiya kit of this car done and have another I want to do in Martini colors. I passed on the Heller kit and now I know why.  Thanks for the reveiw.  Hope you get it done.  Its a cool car. 

Who makes that decal sheet BTW. I am always scrounging for guages.

[cobraman]

Nice view out your window.  Headed up to your neighborhood today to spend a couple days at my BIL's place. I think there may be some white stuff on the ground.

[89AKurt]

11 hours ago, DukeE said:

Looks great Kurt. I've never seen the Heller unboxed before, just Tamiya. Looks workable, you're doing it up nicely. Great view there, hopefully you smoked the box empty of those Acid's. Great pastime waiting for paint to flash, just not in same place. 

I was pondering getting the Tamiya R5 Turbo, is is any good?  Those are good cigars, did not buy a whole box.  Watching paint dry...?

3 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Kurt..is this your "finish by New Years" day project.  Its a great idea. I do this every year. Just havn''t  picked a project yet.  I have the Tamiya kit of this car done and have another I want to do in Martini colors. I passed on the Heller kit and now I know why.  Thanks for the reveiw.  Hope you get it done.  Its a cool car. 

How did you guess? ?  Yea, it's a sad kit, no handbrake either, that's like part of rally racing.  No brand on the decals, just BBK-DCV003, think found on eBay.

3 hours ago, cobraman said:

Nice view out your window.  Headed up to your neighborhood today to spend a couple days at my BIL's place. I think there may be some white stuff on the ground.

There is!

P.S.:  Website or computer super slow this morning, outta here!

[DukeE]

Tamiya is decent, interior nice iirc. Curbside, electric motor ready. Not a ton of choices out there, so Heller bash with Tamiya may be OK. Stock kit has the sweet TRX's these had new. Love the cars, won't pay stupid money for resin R5 Maxi that'll join hundreds in the queue. 

BTW, cigarsinternational.com, no affiliation, happy customer, yadayada. Killer stuff. Try Punch Diablo, and Oliva V's for fun. Saves $ for more toys.

Edited December 27, 2019 by DukeE
spelling

[89AKurt]

3 hours ago, DukeE said:

Tamiya is decent, interior nice iirc. Curbside, electric motor ready. Not a ton of choices out there, so Heller bash with Tamiya may be OK. Stock kit has the sweet TRX's these had new. Love the cars, won't pay stupid money for resin R5 Maxi that'll join hundreds in the queue. 

BTW, cigarsinternational.com, no affiliation, happy customer, yadayada. Killer stuff. Try Punch Diablo, and Oliva V's for fun. Saves $ for more toys.

I was afraid of that, curbside, have enough of those, in fact thinking of starting one tomorrow just for kicks.

We should start a cigar thread! ?  Have banned tobacco decals as part of the discussion. ?

[89AKurt]

Made some progress today, namely painting the second color on the body, and I can't rush that!  Masking wasn't too tedious.

Thought the instructions had an error about one mirror being black and the other white.  Then I noticed the final panel for the decals shows the passenger as white, so had to scrape/sand off the black and paint white.  Gave me the chance to also paint a couple of the Ferrari NART parts too.  After that, I unmasked the body, and discovered some overspray, grrrrr...... 

Time to fix the tires.  Pet peeve, why do all rally kits have slicks?  How stupid is that anyway?  I know there are aftermarket tires now, but didn't wish to splurge on this model.  First thing was to make a jig for the tires, used the drill press, sanding disk, Dremel, wood chisel, calipers, crosscut saw, to make the Corian "wheel".  Rummaged through my bolt/nut stash, so it could be put in the drill press.  Matched the kit wheels but slightly larger and kept the surface rough.

Made a scrap wood handle, screwed the bolt into it after grinding a taper on the end.  Used two nuts, and a washer, so it would turn easily.  The most critical tool is the gun stock checkering rasp, which was C-clamped to the metal sander table.  Used a propane torch to heat up the file, then I rolled the tire across it.  This was one of those moments, which could put a project into the graveyard. ?

Almost screwed one tire up, but it will look really low on air.  Next step was using very course emory cloth to rough up and remove the squished out part.  The Heller rubber is more rubbery than AMT/Revell, but not as real as Tamiya rubber.

It's certainly not accurate, but goes with this kit. ?  When the mud weathering is done, think it will be convincing enough.

This kept me awake last night. ?  Next thing is to mask and paint the black, then decals, then the fun part.

[CabDriver]

This looks like a fun kit - ripe for some simple upgrades to make a really nice detailed-up if one was so inclined. 
 

Your progress looks great so far - I’ll be watching!

Edited December 28, 2019 by CabDriver

[Dann Tier]

Love these cars!!.....Very inspirational build!! -even if it isnt one of your complex builds -Well done so far, Bud!!!

[afx]

The Tour de Corse is a tarmac (asphalt) rally so slicks are correct.  However your tires, which I really like could represent rain tires with minimal tread.

[89AKurt]

15 hours ago, CabDriver said:

This looks like a fun kit - ripe for some simple upgrades to make a really nice detailed-up if one was so inclined. 
 

Your progress looks great so far - I’ll be watching!

One would really want to spend many hours adding details.  Not this time.

10 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Love these cars!!.....Very inspirational build!! -even if it isnt one of your complex builds -Well done so far, Bud!!!

Thanks mann!

4 hours ago, afx said:

The Tour de Corse is a tarmac (asphalt) rally so slicks are correct.  However your tires, which I really like could represent rain tires with minimal tread.

Thanks, I still should search for video or photos.  Tires would still be trashed.

Site is super slow again....?

[afx]

 

[89AKurt]

Thanks for posting the video!  Right off the bat, missing square Cibie driving lights.  I watched to see if the hood grill is supposed to be black, the instructions do not show, now I know it needs to be painted.   I guess that's why I didn't bother doing research, my OCD would kick in.

I had the electric heater on low setting overnight, so the yellow paint was cured.  Masked and painted the gloss black

Needed to mask the front compartment to spray flat black.  I did under the chin spoiler too, to help hide the overspray. ?

The instructions did not indicate what the inside of the doors should be, made the assumption the same as the rest of the interior.  So all airbrush painting is done (but now need to do hood grill for my OCD).  Have some touch up brush painting, then decals!

[afx]

Sorry Kurt, didn't intend to cause additional work.  Paint looks great.

[89AKurt]

23 minutes ago, afx said:

Sorry Kurt, didn't intend to cause additional work.  Paint looks great.

No worries!  I just did it. ?  That's one of those details that is easily overlooked, by the manufacturer, and the builder.  It just bugged me to see what should be a grill, not black.  It also does not violate the Box Stock rules, such as adding lights.

[Dann Tier]

Freaking SWEEEET!!!!...i may have to get one of these too!!

[89AKurt]

5 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Freaking SWEEEET!!!!...i may have to get one of these too!!

Uh, if you really REALLY love inaccurate and simplified kits that require lots of ...... oh wait...... ?

Applied the decals!  I found out they are the achilles heel of this kit, they are printed perfectly, but they are immune to Solvaset, and do not conform to corners and curves.  Tried diluted Elmers glue, no help.  Since it's Winter, have the wood stove running, so thought of taking a water soaked paper towel, holding it on the stove and let it sizzle for a few seconds, then pressed down on the offending section.  I knew it would be a risk with the paint, but it wasn't effected.  So I basically ironed on the decals.

The instructions have something to be desired.  First off, the copy of a copy of a copy is just cheap.  The decal placement page is a joke for colors, they have all the colors depicted with various grey scale, which is lost in translation.  The other thing I noticed, the roof decals, not proportional in size.  I have some silvering too, not much adhesive, but not going to OCD stress about it.  Looking at that back window blemish is driving me nuts.  Added the Heller decal just because it was on the sheet. ?

The headlights are the hated flat back, square hole with round pin on the lens.  But still wanted to apply Bare-Metal Foil to all the lights. ?

Next is detail paint, touch up many places, then the fun part! ?

[89AKurt]

Today is the last stage (pun intended ?).  Found another video, just to see how much I should weather it, narrated in French.  So many more details that could be done, extra lights, hood pins, roof antenna that's about a meter long, racing seats, small window in the door, rally plaque on the hatch, list is very long.  Also found that Tamiya makes this race car, I would definitely check it out.  For this project, I needed to know what color the gas cap is (semi gloss black), noticed a chrome strip in the windshield rubber, and the Cibie lights are yellow.  Looking at the other cars, will do grey grime, no mud.

[Dann Tier]

Getting close to that finish line, Bud!!!!   Question; are you gonna paint the negative space in the spares wheel flat black?, or is it a solid wheel?

[89AKurt]

6 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

Getting close to that finish line, Bud!!!!   Question; are you gonna paint the negative space in the spares wheel flat black?, or is it a solid wheel?

Some people just can't wait. ??

One thing that the instructions don't cover, is the chrome strip in the windshield molding.  Noticed one car that was for sale, was all black, not the rally action pictures.

Used Scotch tape and a drafting circle template, to make the wiper track masks.  Drew the wiper arms, pivioted to determine the sweep area.

Final assembly!  The fit is better than average on this kit, the snap in pins for the windows worked perfect.  Took some pictures before I weathered.  Used AAA Insurance sticker for the door mirrors.  Lights were painted with Testors acrylic.

Restrained myself from going overboard.?  Airbrushed Testors flat clear with a tiny bit of flat black, white, and Africa Korps color, adding more for each coat.

Final step was painting the edge of the wiper tracks with gloss clear and colors.  I kept the right door mirror white, it's supposed to be black, but instructions call out as white, so that will comply with Box Stock rules. ? The headlights are not glued in, when the body snapped into the chassis, the pins pushed them out.  Sink mark on the light is annoying, but a fix would be just as obvious, would love to make Cibie covers.

Started December 25, after 23.75 hours can call it DONE!  For such a simple kit, it's not too shabby.  One could assemble with no glue.  I learned a trick for decals.  I'm still terrible with brush painting details. ?  I have the Audi Quattro kit, with detail parts coming, that will take forever compared to this, but I wanted to practice with painting yellow.

[Dann Tier]

AHH....thats looking waaay better now, Bud!!   -MASTERPIECE!!!!

[DukeE]

Really great build Kurt. Love these cars. One could go nuts with one of these I think, much better than I expected. Fun. HNY, time for a Torano 1959 and look at the scenery. 

[89AKurt]

On 12/30/2019 at 12:04 PM, Dann Tier said:

AHH....thats looking waaay better now, Bud!!   -MASTERPIECE!!!!

? Thank you!

On 12/30/2019 at 12:20 PM, DukeE said:

Really great build Kurt. Love these cars. One could go nuts with one of these I think, much better than I expected. Fun. HNY, time for a Torano 1959 and look at the scenery. 

Thank you.  Rally cars are fun because THEY SHOULD BE DIRTY!!!!!!