Pete75

Very nice! Got this one lined up to go at some point so I'll be watching ?

Welcome to you both Randy & Mike ? - the more the merrier! Anthony & Randy, you guys need to get to work on those other club members! I'm not very experienced & only built a box stock car in last year's Run - it's all about the taking part ?

#5 - Audi Quattro Made some adjustments to the front end for the sake of faithfulness rather than the brief per se. The kit indicators are too fat and the bumper recess is set too far rearwards, so I cut down the light units and filled the recess/grooves with plasticard, which was then shaved & sanded back. The remaining gaps were filled with Milliput: Also had fun building a central console to go under the dash (omitted in the kit). The holes have been drilled ready for some photo-etch toggle switches and cable for a CB radio handset; breaker breaker watch out for them smokeys! ?

Thanks Marcos - appreciate it!? Some more first-time modification work completed. First up, I built a central console to sit under the dashboard as the kit doesn't feature one. After researching, it seems most rally Quattros had custom layouts and cars were seldom the same, which is cool because this is the first build where I'm allowing myself to go my own way! I based my design (loosely) on picture I found of a later Quattro S1: The top section has holes for some more toggle switches; the middle will be a police scanner and the bottom a CB radio - the hole will house the handset cable. Below is a rear view of the structure which uses angle strip and tubing to brace it. Next, some bodywork alterations. Here is a picture of what a box stock build is supposed to look like: And here is a reference pic of the '81 era road car. Notice that the upper indicators are somewhat different in width, along with the depth of the bumper recess: Not a big deal, perhaps, but as I have a chance here to experiment/learn I figured I'd try altering it. First I cut down the lights with my awesome new Zona razor saw: I actually cut too much away (great start!) and had to build the indicators back up slightly with two bits of 0.5mm styrene. Next, I used 2.5mm angle strip to create a solid square edge up against the lights, plus I glued strips of 0.5mm styrene into the recessed areas beneath: Then I shaved/sanded back the plasticard and filled the gaps with Millput. I also elected to get rid of the repeaters; an idea I got from Nigel's build (above) and because I've come to realise that no car ever had it's looks improved by them! (Where will this new found anarchy end?! ?) Had to sand & re-fill a couple of times, but it's pretty close to where I want it now. I'm guessing the primer/undercoat might show up small imperfections but I plan to sort them with a little Tamiya putty - if it ever arrives from Poland!

Scumbags. I got ripped off by a Hong Kong outfit last year because I wanted to believe. I didn't have to wait long to confirm it though - it took 30secs on Facebook to find people warning about them. Wish I'd done that first! I suspect most scams can be avoided that way: these days, why wouldn't international sellers have a Facebook page? And if they do (like my scammers) they probably can't keep a lid on negative publicity.

Thanks Snake! Stupidbird gotta breathe or she can't fly!! ? ? Looking cool. May be of interest to the vice squad though, so I know whose shadow to hide in! ?

#5 Audi Quattro Got some 3mm steel tube to replace the puny exhaust tips, but the rest of the (largely moulded) system was equally unimpressive and needed to go: Removed the moulding with a chisel blade & tidied up with putty. The replacement pipe is 2.4mm tube with a wire insert. Made the centre muffler from layered/shaped plasticard:

Got myself some 3mm steel tube to do some exhaust tips for the first time, but it wasn't going to look right on the end of the stock system which is puny and moulded to the chassis as far as the rear muffler: I decided to do away with the whole thing (well, almost all) and set about it with a chisel blade & sand paper. The centre muffler turned out to be hollow and left a big hole to be filled... When tidying up (above) I managed to sand away the rear muffler locator tabs, so I drilled them out and glued in some wire. Decided the easiest way to mount the mid section was to glue some 1.5mm angle strip to to the edge of the tunnel to sit under the pipe. Also found I needed to file/sand the corner section of chassis where the mid pipe meets the centre muffler. For the pipe I used 2.4mm tube. I always planned to use wire in the ends as locators but discovered it was best to run it through the whole length of tube to support bending it. I made the replacement muffler by gluing together then shaping plasticard. The final touch was to add a flange towards the front (drilled/shaped plasticard) and close up any joint gaps with putty. Back on the top side (above) I needed to build a bracket to mount the pedals, so got busy with plasticard & Milliput. Not the most elegant solution - it "evolved organically" - but all is now set for the pedal arms to sit exactly where I want & at the desired angle. Finally, I've gotten ahead of myself slightly and finished a replacement steering wheel as the stock one belongs on a station wagon...

? I'm a big fan of this "don't know what it is" category. I love cars to drive & look at, but I'm not hugely mechanical so am always having to research the purpose the oily/electrical bits of kits!!

Awesome job. Would love to do this kit one day

Awesome ?. A new one on me - I'll bet the kit is pretty darn rare! My first impression is that the square lines make it even cooler than the 037. Big fan of the Alitalia livery, if you're counting votes! ?

I must confess I hadn't thought of assigning the functions! I'll be adding a couple more to the centre console I'm planning to build but I imagine they'll all remain Top Secret. If the ultra-detailed tool kit in the trunk of your Ferrari 275 is anything to go by, your switches will probably be individually labelled!!?

Thanks Walt, appreciate the input, and that would definitely be "extra rally!" I recall seeing that on in-car footage when I was young & not knowing why they did it ?. The likelihood is that I won't be employing it here, though, as the dash has embossed dials/needles to match the decals (see below). I'm not a fan of this, to the point where I've even considered drilling them out, but the effort/risk is pointing me in the direction of just playing safe. I am taking a lesser leap into unknown with the dash, however, in prepping for unbelievably small PE toggle switches: I've cut/sanded off three raised buttons in the centre & drilled holes with my very smallest bit ?. So far ok, I think... That's a real beauty there, Nigel! Definitely useful for reference too, as the Tamiya kit seems to have a more accurate front end than the Italeri one - which I'm currently doing some minor surgery on...

That's inspired; and the kind of thing that could only come from (what sounds like) an ENORMOUS stash! Looks a strong contender ? ?

Very interesting stuff. Don't get how the bonnet/hood shut lines look tighter than the moulded lines on the kit before you cut it?! (Knife > scribe > razor saw, if I read correctly?) I've got a really fine saw but it looks wider than that... ?

Just beautiful! ??

I have to say, a Thule box with a hidden spot lamp is brilliant... Give the man the trophy now! ?

Love that grill construction - fascinating ??

Great work. You've owned some pretty cool cars between you both! ?

Hi Steve - welcome! ?

Nice factory you've got going there! I knew that was from Grease!! ?

Now THAT'S a custom project! Awesome thread - so much info I can come back and refer to, it's like a scratch builders handbook! ??

Thank you sir - appreciate it ?? Thanks Kurt, that's exactly the kind of input I'm looking for, and the earlier the better! I had a great time reading through your "Celexus" build, although it made me regret including the word "custom" in my thread title... so I changed it!! ? The kit does have correct gauge decals: they're clustered and supposed to be laid over the multiple raised dials in one go, but I'll (probably) try to cut them out and lay each one individually. It may take a while... ?

#5 is now a WIP, too: Audi Ur-Quattro "canno-flage" street-rally. Amazed at how far some of you got in such a short time!! Some awesome scratch building going on - really interesting to watch. My progress is going to be more sedate & rather less ambitious, but I'm getting into it nonetheless. Because the Quattro WRC exterior easily converts to that of a road car, much of my efforts will revolve around making the interior "extra rally". Discovered that the Italeri kit doesn't have anywhere to anchor racing belts so I've tried scratch building a copy of the 1:1 roll cage rear section: Another first for me is making my own styrene arms for PE pedals (I also filled in the foot wells, which were too deep):

This project is part of the 2021 Cannonball Run group build. The theme this year is "race cars in disguise": competition vehicles modified to travel the highways under the radar of law enforcement - in every sense! The '81 Audi Quattro WRC 1:24 by Italeri is my chosen kit: My aim is to turn it into something similar to this (a later model, but you get the picture): It must be said, from the outside, there aren't huge differences between rally & road cars once they've been to the spray booth. This led me to consider whether I should actively "dorkify" the thing (like some non-Quattro Audi Coupes of the era) but I concluded that I'm not prepared to spend time building something I don't think looks cool: it won't look like a race car, but I'm not going to turn it into a shopping trolley either! I plan to lower the high gravel suspension and switch the wheels, plus tint the rear glass (to disguise the rally interior) and remove the front windows (for display purposes). And, apart from upgrading the exhaust system, that's pretty much it for the exterior - the rest of my effort will be channelled into the interior. I don't have the skills (or mechanical knowledge, frankly!) to be dropping an engine in, but I plan to extend my scratch building knowledge with some creative cockpit upgrades. While the exterior may easily switch to looking like a road car, I plan to make the interior "extra rally". Many of the techniques I intend to use will be a first for me, so any suggestions/tips from experienced builders are welcome. First thing was to mock up the cockpit to see what's what. (The only thing I glued was the roll cage, but not before spending a LONG time sanding off all the flashing). After comparing it with my reference photos, I would say it's pretty accurate: it's not Tamiya, but it's not bad. I was keen to see how to go about fitting aftermarket seat belts. The 1:1 WRC car had its belts tethered to a bar running between the rear struts, but the kit doesn’t have this rear cage section. I had hoped to be able to simply “weld” in a simple alternative, but no dice. The kit (accurately) has angled bars close to the headrests and in a position where the belts coming through the seats can only pass either side of them and anchor somewhere behind (like the 1:1 car), or the belts would have to be very short and tether immediately behind the seat. I didn’t like the second option so I gathered up reference pics and decided to try my hand at roll cage fabrication… After taking measurements with the body shell on, I drilled fixed anchor points above the wheels then worked upwards from here, gluing several sections of 1.6mm rod together before then sanding off sharp corners & adding putty to neaten up. A candle was used to bend the small vertical sections, but I should’ve done it before I started assembly because I burned the horizontal bar! I noticed from the mock up was that the kit seats are positioned too far forward on their runners compared to the typical position seen in my reference pics. A nice straightforward fix here using a razor saw/file to increase the length of the front notched section. (Also, I had to shave off injection nodes from the base of the seats to get them to sit right). I decided that the designated position of the handbrake & gear shifter is too far back, even with the seats retracted. I’m planning on doing something non-stock here anyway, so best to just sand off the mouldings - together with the pitiful “pedals”. Whilst doing this, I noticed the foot wells seemed too narrow to put proper pedals in: it took me a while to figure it out, but I think it’s because they’re too deep, so I made some paper templates and laid some plasticard panels in: Finally, I had a go at making styrene arms for some PE pedals. VERY fiddly, but I found it really satisfying! I’m thinking I’ll spray the assembly with black primer then sand the paint off the pedal faces? (If that doesn’t work, they’ll have to be all black – the chassis is silver so it’ll look cool either way.)