Lancia Beta Montecarlo

[afx]

Esci issued the kit in short-tail and long-tail forms.  

Short Tail:

 

Long-tail

Doing a build of the short-tail.  For the few that might be interested you can follow along here:

https://race-car-models.proboards.com/thread/2408/lancia-beta-montecarlo-short-tail?page=1&scrollTo=23079

Edited January 12, 2021 by afx

[Pete75]

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! ?

[afx]

Yea Pete not a very common kit with the short-tail being the more difficult version to find in my experience. Finally tracked one down.

[Rich Chernosky]

JC...the very best of luck with this build.  Soooo glad you found one and don't want mine.  I will be following this build on both forums since I haven't start mine. Thanks for posting. 

[Justin Porter]

The humble Scorpion sure had some monster cousins. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this. 

[afx]

18 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

JC...the very best of luck with this build.  Soooo glad you found one and don't want mine.  I will be following this build on both forums since I haven't start mine. Thanks for posting. 

Been making some progress Rich will post an update soon.

15 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

The humble Scorpion sure had some monster cousins. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this. 

It is amazing Justin what Lancia was able you do with this 4-cylinder engine across multiple chassis configurations and racing disciplines. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by afx

[Tortuga Kustomz]

looking forward for more updates

[afx]

An update Marcos:

Chose to assemble all the tube work now.  Will make painting and final assembly a little more challenging but I think it is worth it for the strength of the assembly.

Added detail to what I believe is the oil tank

Mockup to make sure I can fit it all in at least so far.

[afx]

Added an extension to the chassis plate to more closely resemble the 1:1

 

Devised secure mounting methods for the oil cooler radiators (drivers side) and the turbo intercooler (passenger side).

Edited January 20, 2021 by afx

[afx]

• Stance with the front suspension mocked up
• Reduced the size of the rear wheel openings and enlarged the front

[porschercr]

Very nice JC.

[89AKurt]

I like these cars, but have never sprung for a kit.  Look forward to watching this WIP!

[935k3]

Nice work. I was lucky enough to see the long tails at the Glen in 1980. There was two works cars and a Jolly Club car driven by Eddie Cheever. I   wish I culd get along tail kit or maybe Italeri  would reeleae it as they have with some old molds like Protar. One thing I would try is to replicate the screens that are part of the tail fins, not easy but doable. Are those rear tires the original? The long tail i built had bigger rims with lower profile tires. Notice the number were different at the Glen.

[afx]

10 hours ago, porschercr said:

Very nice JC.

Thanks Trevor

9 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

I like these cars, but have never sprung for a kit.  Look forward to watching this WIP!

The long tail kit is "easier" to find in my experience.

7 hours ago, 935k3 said:

Nice work. I was lucky enough to see the long tails at the Glen in 1980. There was two works cars and a Jolly Club car driven by Eddie Cheever. I   wish I culd get along tail kit or maybe Italeri  would reeleae it as they have with some old molds like Protar. One thing I would try is to replicate the screens that are part of the tail fins, not easy but doable. Are those rear tires the original? The long tail i built had bigger rims with lower profile tires. Notice the number were different at the Glen.

Thanks Dale.  The short tails ran 16" wheels front and rear.  The kit gives you the 19" rims for the rear.  I modified a set of front wheels from another kit to create the rear wheels.  The rear tires are Scale Production.  I'm contemplating doing the mesh screen intakes at the rear wing.  Still a significant amount of work to do to on the rest of the car to make a decent replica. Very cool you got to see the 1:1s run in anger. 

Edited January 24, 2021 by afx

[Gramps46]

Humble beginnings.

[afx]

As you know Gary, I'm sure the rules of this era were pretty liberal with what could be consider a production based racing sportscar.  The Porsche of this era stretched the limits as well.

[afx]

On 1/23/2021 at 11:57 PM, 935k3 said:

Nice work. I was lucky enough to see the long tails at the Glen in 1980. There was two works cars and a Jolly Club car driven by Eddie Cheever. I   wish I culd get along tail kit or maybe Italeri  would reeleae it as they have with some old molds like Protar. One thing I would try is to replicate the screens that are part of the tail fins, not easy but doable. Are those rear tires the original? The long tail i built had bigger rims with lower profile tires. Notice the number were different at the Glen.

Dale, sent you a PM.

[steveracer]

Cool build to follow!  My, how criminal it is to allow Lancia to fall to the lows it is today with one "fashion car" to sell in Italy.

I'm gonna subscribe to this.

BTW, I really love the dolly, did you build this or buy a kit of the trolly?  Makes the images so much more fun to look at!

[afx]

1 hour ago, steveracer said:

Cool build to follow!  My, how criminal it is to allow Lancia to fall to the lows it is today with one "fashion car" to sell in Italy.

I'm gonna subscribe to this.

BTW, I really love the dolly, did you build this or buy a kit of the trolly?  Makes the images so much more fun to look at!

Thanks, I made the dolly and did a tutorial.

 

[afx]

The hood out of the box is flat and doesn't follow the curve of the cowl.  To get the gentle curve in the hood and to hold that shape I cut a piece of aluminum sheet (roof flashing).  After shaping it I superglued and clamped it to the underside. 

 

Nice gentle curve now.

[afx]

Did a test, sanded off the molded spring detail and wrapped the shock body with wire.  A nice improvement I think without having to scratch build the entire coil-over.  Once the assembly is painted I will use the red coated wire to replicate the spring in lieu of the bare wire.

Edited January 26, 2021 by afx

[afx]

The body has no rain gutter to speak of.  If you look closely at the 1:1 you can see they are present.  Using .020" rod I created my own.  After glue had setup I lightly sanded them to reduce their projection and give them a more square profile.

 

Added 28 ga. wire mounting pins to the auxiliary lights and drilled corresponding holes in the hood again like the 1:1.  This allows me to display the car with or without the auxiliary lights.  Also made protective covers for when the lights aren't in use.

Edited January 30, 2021 by afx

[afx]

The kit parts for the radiator and brake ducts (on the red body) are lacking.  Especially if I want to display the car with the front clip off, so I went to work.  

[Pete75]

I don't understand how your projects look cleaner & tidier in the body shop than most finished models do: no sanding marks, nothing!! ?

[chaves pah]

On 1/24/2021 at 4:57 AM, 935k3 said:

Nice work. I was lucky enough to see the long tails at the Glen in 1980. There was two works cars and a Jolly Club car driven by Eddie Cheever. I   wish I culd get along tail kit or maybe Italeri  would reeleae it as they have with some old molds like Protar. One thing I would try is to replicate the screens that are part of the tail fins, not easy but doable. Are those rear tires the original? The long tail i built had bigger rims with lower profile tires. Notice the number were different at the Glen.

Hi Dale, I am a LUCKY owner of both versions of these kits, and can confirm they are really difficult to find...  specially the short tail version! Being just a "tale" I heard from two sources now, in some particular time, the moulds of this Lancia Beta Monte Carlo (that travelled to Revell and Heller) and other moulds(?) have been lost for ever (sunk in the sea) in an accident the carrier had, don't remember if it was a pane or a boat... I have two long tales from ESCI, one long tale from HELLER/HUMBROL (made in France - kit nº80741), being that the short tailed one, that I "tracked" may be for two years, show both brands, ESCI and REVELL, and was made in Italy, kit nº H-2371; If this story is true, we can not expect to see another one "made" by Italeri... it will be better if you start "digging" in the net...