Red Lobster March 83G IMSA GTP

[Phildaupho]

The Red Lobster Restaurants sponsored March 83G IMSA GTP  has one of the coolest liveries of all time. When I discovered back in the late 1990’s that there was a resin kit available of that car I could not resist ordering it especially when it came from a Canadian company – Formula Canada.

This is a curbside model so does not have the small block Chevrolet engine of the real car which made 83G’s very competitive until the Porsche 962’s arrived on the scene. There is some work I intend to do on the body like reshaping the wheelwells and recontouring the lower sides. The kit includes both resin and photo-etched parts. There are two sheets of decals featuring the fabulous Red Lobster livery. I plan to both reseal the decal sheets and scan them in case I have to make up an extra set.

For reference I am going to refer to a great article in Vintage Motorsports. I have also looked at lots of images on line and a YouTube video on the car.

Edited January 21, 2024 by Phildaupho

[cifenet]

The kit and decals look very unique!  Interested to see how this will turn out.

[absmiami]

Rare - rare - rare … 

the best IMSA livery ever …

mine is still unbuilt - will enjoy following your build  …

[IanH]

Very cool livery, should look really good 

[Phildaupho]

On 1/7/2024 at 6:54 PM, cifenet said:

The kit and decals look very unique!  Interested to see how this will turn out.

 

22 hours ago, absmiami said:

Rare - rare - rare … 

the best IMSA livery ever …

mine is still unbuilt - will enjoy following your build  …

 

20 hours ago, IanH said:

Very cool livery, should look really good 

Thanks. Definitely the primary aspect of this model is the livery and the shape of the body.

[Phildaupho]

I have started cleaning up the body which is basically a very thick hunk of resin. The build process appears to be very straight forward and relatively simple. It is a true curbside in that not only does the engine compartment not open but other than the rear diffuser there no underbody detail meaning no suspension, steering gear  or brakes. The wheels are mounted with pass through metal axles like some of the first model cars I built back in the early 1960's. The challenge will be that there are no mounts or holes for locating the axles. That being said my first steps of this build will be fixing up the wheelwells and mounting the wheels and tires.

Edited January 9, 2024 by Phildaupho

[Phildaupho]

Although the kit came with rubber-like tires at this point I am going with parts box tires which are of the same dimensions and may even be the same tires on which the kit tires were based. The rear tires and wheels had to be narrowed by about ¼ inch each side so the tires would fit within the body between the outside surface and the diffuser. I plan to glue a tube onto of the diffuser through which the rear axle will pass and maintain the rear stance. To mount the front axle slots were cut in the foot box and a fair amount of material had to be removed from this assembly to give inner clearance for the wheels and tires. Once the exact stance is established, I will make up a holed mounting plate from sheet styrene to glue on the side of the foot box. Both the front and rear wheels wells required reshaping for the tire diameters. While I had the dust mask on I also recontoured the lower side of the body to give a nice flare to the bottom sill. I also re-scribed all the panel lines.

[Rossa156]

Howdy, would it be possible to get your axel measurements? I have a kit, but no instructions. Your build is very helpful to this builder.

[Rossa156]

Hi. I have this kit but no instructions, decals.  I was building blind until I saw your post.

[Phildaupho]

On 1/16/2024 at 2:17 PM, Rossa156 said:

Howdy, would it be possible to get your axel measurements? I have a kit, but no instructions. Your build is very helpful to this builder.

Hello Patrick - Cool to see someone else working on the same kit. The more I work on it the more impressed I am with it. Chris Mann did a great job mastering the kit. I shortened both of the supplied metal axles. The front axle is now 61mm and the rear 59mm. As mentioned earlier I narrowed the back wheels and tires about 1/4 inch or 6mm per side. I have started work on the interior and plan to complete all of the under body before moving back to the top sides. Here is a larger version of the instructions.

Edited January 17, 2024 by Phildaupho

[Dave B]

Looking forward to seeing this built Phil, it's going to look great.

Dave B

[Phildaupho]

I have completed all the under-body construction. The kit comes with a nice set of photoetch seat belts to which I added self adhesive material. I really like the look of the wheels with the brass photoetched centres. I used Revell Spray chrome on the rims. I do not have a lot of experience with old resin kits. I did clean all the parts in a dish soap solution and primed all the parts before top coating but I am having problems with paint adhesion which is more obvious in the photos. Those areas have been touched up by brush. I just recently read someone on the forum saying "resin does not like paint". I definitely plan to use more aggressive cleaner on the body parts and do more sanding.

Edited January 19, 2024 by Phildaupho

[Pierre Rivard]

This should be a formidable build Phil. The livery is so beautiful. I only built one resin car and like you I soaked it and then I did a progressive wet sanding of the body (800-1000=2400=3200) to help give it a bit of mechanical adhesion for the Tamiya fine primer. Maybe I just got lucky but no paint peeling events.

[Phildaupho]

On 1/16/2024 at 5:15 PM, Dave B said:

Looking forward to seeing this built Phil, it's going to look great.

Dave B

Thanks David

48 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

This should be a formidable build Phil. The livery is so beautiful. I only built one resin car and like you I soaked it and then I did a progressive wet sanding of the body (800-1000=2400=3200) to help give it a bit of mechanical adhesion for the Tamiya fine primer. Maybe I just got lucky but no paint peeling events.

Thanks Pierre - I have already touched up some of the cockpit bits and will rewash and re-sand all the body parts.

[Phildaupho]

I got the diffuser  with rear axle and exhaust pipes attached to the bottom plate.

[Rossa156]

Hold everything! Thanks for the timely warning about body prep. I was going to paint after washing with soap and hot water with a sanding. The bigger view of the instructions was very helpful, thx. I struggling with the livery, but I'll chose eventually. 

[Phildaupho]

The aspect of this build that I have been most anxious about is the decals which being very old I was concerned with their condition. I have scanned them so I could make up a new set although getting the true red appears that I might be impossible with my ink jet printer. I also considered resealing them. The main body has not been painted yet so I decided  to try decaling the wing which is completed and painted.  I am happy to report that the decals appear to be in very good condition without resealing. The next challenge will be getting the large lobster decal to conform to the contours of the body.

The wing has brass photo-etched uprights, a air-foil shaped resin wing section and a photo-etched Gurney flap.

[absmiami]

Well done

[Phildaupho]

On 1/24/2024 at 4:45 AM, absmiami said:

Well done

Thanks. Completed and Under Glass. 

[Rossa156]

I'm progressing well with mine. Thanks again for the instruction sheet. 

[Phildaupho]

I really like the MOMO livery. I built a 962 with MOMO livery and a future Ferrari 333SP will also have MOMO sponsorship

[SpeedAndViolence]

This is so awesome!  Nice job! 

[nitro_alltrac]

Very cool to see this post.  I was unaware that March GTP car had ever been kitted.  The Red Lobster car has to be one of the coolest liveries ever put on a race car.  

Looking forward to seeing how this comes out.

[Phildaupho]

Thanks guys for bringing this forward. Here is a link to the finished model