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Ford Escort RS1800


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I am going to take a shot at building the old Esci kit. While doing research I stumbled across an excellent build by Petri Huhtala. Here is a link to his Fotki album of the build. I will utilize many of his ideas as well as a few of my own. I am still trying to decide on the livery.

Edited by afx
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As with any kit of this age there is lots of cleanup as well as fitment issues. The first one I will tackle is the hood. As you can see with the hood pushed all the way to the left the large gap that exists. This won't do.

DSCN1964-vi.jpg

I will close this gap up using .060 angle.

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I filed the inside edge of the fender to create a nice sharp edge. I then attach the angle with the vertical leg projecting just above the fender. Once it has setup I use a small flat file to trim the angle to the top of the fender. I finish it off with an 1800 grit sanding pad.

DSCN1968-vi.jpg

In addition to closing the gap the horizontal leg of the angle creates a nice ledge for the hood to rest and brings it into plane with the top of the fender.

DSCN1966-vi.jpg

DSCN1970-vi.jpg

Edited by afx
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There was always something that didn’t look quite right to my eye about the rear flairs on the kit. I have heard many people say that the flair should not extend above the body crease. Yes there are versions of the car with the top of the flair below the belt line. However there are also versions with it extending above the belt line. So that wasn’t it.

After studying many photos of the 1:1 car I think I figured it out. The top of the rear wheel well on the kit is too low. If you draw a line through the apex of the wheel wells it should be parallel with the belt line.

You can see this in the photo on the bottom unaltered car. The car on top I have raised this apex about 1mm (one scale inch) to bring the lines parallel.

DSCN1971-vi.jpg

Its subtle but I think it makes a big improvement.

DSCN1980-vi.jpg

Edited by afx
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Its shaping up well, and I'll be following with interest. I just built this kit and you will find the suspension to sit too far forward at the front and the rear needs a little work to fit as the pins for fitting it to are about 3mm too long so the springs won't fit properly. Also if you use the photoetch kit the bonnet/hood piece is fitted the opposite way to what the instructions say otherwise it sit a little high.

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Thanks for the tips Leslie. I am going to modify the suspension so I will make sure to correct these issues. I am currently waiting on the photoetch kit.

William / Geoff, If I am not mistaken the clear body kit is actually the touring car (Zakspeed) even though it comes with rally decals. The only difference between the touring car and the rally kit is the body & wheels. Everything else, chassis, engine etc. is the same.

Edited by afx
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Thanks for the tips Leslie. I am going to modify the suspension so I will make sure to correct these issues. I am currently waiting on the photoetch kit.

William / Geoff, If I am not mistaken the clear body kit is actually the touring car (Zakspeed) even though it comes with rally decals. The only difference between the touring car and the rally kit is the body & wheels. Everything else, chassis, engine etc. is the same.

post-2058-0-91901400-1416569792_thumb.jp

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The 1;1's were very cool back in the day & everybody had one here in the UK (stockers not RS1800's). Now they are worth a heck of a lot of money when restored / modified.

This kit needs to be reissued.

Revell of Germany was the most recent re-issue. They Issued the Escort along with the Fiat 131.

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I did remember correctly. Although the box art for the Crystal Escort shows the rally car the kit actually includes the touring car.

DSCN1984-vi.jpg

I believe this is all of the versions issued to date.

DSCN1981-vi.jpg

Edited by afx
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there is a clear view edition on ebay right now for 86$ shipped. I picked up 3 of them back 10 years ago at some liquidation place, for 3$ each. I should have bought 20...they had to have had at least a hundred there.

jb

Crazy isnt it? Ive got the clear body M1 and its not selling for nearly that much!

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