1999 Ford Focus WRC

[Exotics_Builder]

Well, I had a mishap on the Royal Pontiac 66 GeeTO and the body is being stripped.  Ned to figure out the decals though, as they were applied.  I did make a Hi-Res scan of them, so I at least have a starting point.

As that project is off the table for a bit, I decided that I have not done a race car for a few years, so went to the shelves to decide what genre to tackle.  I decided on Rally cars.  I only have four kits in that category.  I did not want to complicate a project as I have other things going.  I also decided since Testor Model Master paints are getting harder to come by, that I would try some of the Tamiya Acrylics.  I have used them in limited form in the past, namely the tinted clears.

Thus, I elected the 1999 Ford Focus WRC by Tamiya.  I got the kit in a raffle years ago and got the Scale Motorsport detail sets for it.  The kit is curbside but does have considerable chassis and interior detail.  So, on the bench it went.

Clean was generally easy, given it is a Tamiya kit.  There are some ejector pin marks that needed some attention, and some that would not be visible once finished.  After cleaning, I applied Tamiya Fine White Primer and then started the color painting using their acrylics.  In most cases the colors brushed on decently, including good blending.  In some cases, mainly semi-gloss black, there was some roughness needing attention.  In just about every case, a second light coat was needed and some additional touchup after parts assembly.

So far, the chassis bottom and suspension components are done and need assembly.  On the body, I scribed out door, trunk and hood lines to make them deeper and cut out the top grill section to make way for a PE piece. 

Next steps are chassis assembly, interior and body work.

 

[Exotics_Builder]

I pretty much have the chassis assembled and started on the interior.  For the wheels, Tamiya provides 3 decals for each one to reflect the actual car.  On top of that, I decided to add valve stems (from Decalcas).  The stems come in a set of 20, and, unlike the first time), I did not lose any in cutting from the base).  I also took some Evergreen strip plastic and scribed with a vee-shaped file to simulate stick on wheel weights.  The strip is thicker than I wanted, but I could not find a thinner one in my stash that would work.  Given where they are on the wheel, the effect looks good.

For the tires, other than spare, I sanded the treads to give a more realistic look.  Unfortunately, the Michelin decals supplied for the tires by Tamiya did not stick at all (dry transfer).  I don’t know if it is age of the decals or something else.  The waterslide decals seem to be fine (I store all decals in zip seal plastic bags to protect them.  I’ll need to figure out a solution for that, or just let them go.

 

[steveracer]

Cool. I will be watching this build!  
 

looks great. Have fun with it. 
 

one thing I found with tamiya acrylics by brush is they don’t have a good “ bite” to the surface.  And scratch off easily so be careful.  

[Exotics_Builder]

12 minutes ago, steveracer said:

Cool. I will be watching this build!  
 

looks great. Have fun with it. 
 

one thing I found with tamiya acrylics by brush is they don’t have a good “ bite” to the surface.  And scratch off easily so be careful.  

Agree on the Tamiya acrylics.  I have used a mixture of paint types on this.  Initially, Tamiya lacquers.  Then some Testor enamels.  Final, the Tamiya acrylics

[Exotics_Builder]

More work on the interior.  Carbon fiber templates from Scale Motorsport (SMS) and the kit decals have been used.  I also have used PE parts from SMS.  The real car has two lines running from the unit between the seats.  I added these by bending fine wire, sizing them, and gluing in place.  For the dashboard, I applied the templates and the kit decals.  Then I added labels from the Spot Model sheet.  I was debating how to replicate the dash dymo labels on the real car and found this decal sheet as I was ordering replacement tire markings (the Tamiya ones did not stick).  So, the dashboard represents 16 decals plus fine brush painting.  Need to do a little touchup on that and then onward.

 

[Mattilacken]

Nice build! Remember wathcing these as they bursted throught the forests at TV! 

[Exotics_Builder]

Interior getting close to being done.

I’ve worked on getting the spare tire and seats finished so I can assemble the roll cage.  I used some ribbon and PE parts to tie down the spare to its it mounting in the rear.  I then went after the seats.  Tamiya supplies decals for the seat belts, carbon fiber, and seat markings.

Instead of using the Tamiya Carbon Fiber (CF) seat back decals, I used Scale Motorsport which came in their detail set for the Focus.  There are 3 CF decals per seat.  I also applied the 3 Sparco seat markings from the Tamiya decal sheet and a seat manufacturer tab from a Spot Model Rally Decal Sheet to complete each seat.  So, each sheet has a total of 7 decals.

Next, for the seatbelts.  I decided to use a 6 point aftermarket set from Eduard as the Tamiya decals are not very convincing and I used ribbon for the spare tire.  If you are building out of the box, the Tamiya decals will work fine.  To apply the belts, I had to prep each seat for them.  This required cutting out the side slots and a cutting in a center slot in the seat bottom to accommodate the center belt.

I then assembled the belt components and applied them to each seat.  The upper belts are long right now as they attach to the roll cage, yet to be installed.  I now need to get the roll cage assembled (which includes the dashboard and side panels).  After that, it is on to the body.  70% through the build right now.

 

[Funkychiken]

Superb detail and excellent progress 

[Kingslug]

Very nice!

[David G.]

Spectacular detail work so far!

David G.