Tamiya Ford Focus WRC 2001

[galaxyg]

Background:

A cracking looking WRC car, in a fantastic livery, from the best (in my opinion) era of rallying. And it's McRae. The only thing it really lacks is a championship, and a re-release from Tamiya to stop those prices spiralling further out of control.

Pros:

Usual high Tamiya quality of moulding. Lots and lots of detail - for example moulded parts of bits of the engine to sit under the bonnet vents, and a jack and wheel nut spanner in the interior. Driver co-driver figures included too. All fits together perfectly and easily except one thing, as below.

Cons:

The rear windows are a bit tricky. They fit perfectly into their holes, but there's nothing to hold them there. If you're averse to decalling and curved masking, there's a lot of the former (over 100 decals) over some tricky multi-direction surfaces, and some of the latter for that rear blue area. I'd also have preferred the Telefonica/Movistar decal over the roof-rear wing to be on-transparent and spray the blue myself.

Verdict:

Fantastic, albeit a lot of work, even for a rally car.

Build notes:

Built over the course of 6 weeks in June-August 2024. I added some seatbelts, a microphone each for the driver and co-driver, some photoetch bonnet and boot pins, the curving pipes behind the x-member behind the front grille, air valves in each wheel and two aerials made from flower-arranging wire. There's really nothing else it needs that you don't already get. The only change I made to the kit was to use the second door mirror on the co-driver's side. It's in the kit but this car at the Monte Carlo didn't have it. However I dislike asymmety, so on it went. 5 or 6 of the decals split into two or three pieces as they came from the backing sheet - certainly due to age. I managed to rescue them all (well, nearly) with some care and luck.

 

[Jim B]

Great looking rally car.  Really well done.

[1959scudetto]

Excellent build - very impressive !

[Nacho Z]

Another fantastic model, Michael!  I really enjoy the photography, too.  What's next on the bench?

[Roger U]

Really nice looking rally car. Very clean paint and decal work.

[galaxyg]

6 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

Another fantastic model, Michael!  I really enjoy the photography, too.  What's next on the bench?

Thanks. Already on the bench is another rally car, a 1999 Subaru Impreza.

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[PappyD340]

Looks fantastic, well done!

[Funkychiken]

Really wanted an RS as a riad car, your build of this rally car is amazing.  Love it!

[rrb124@sbcglobal.net]

Rally car. Yes! Super result. Fun to see the livery and shape.

[slusher]

Fantastic rally car build!

[Sonorandog]

Great job.  Rally cars are so much fun

[89AKurt]

Aw.... I was expecting an after the stage is run job.  ?  Love rally, working the Prescott Rally next weekend as Stage Captain.  Like how you wrote the narrative.

[Chinacar]

Great job on a replica of an iconic car. I had the opportunity to meet Colin in 2000 when I was working for ford in Germany. Nice humble guy. Great days in racing.

[kelson]

Nice build! ,i built the 2002 Tamiya Rally car a couple years ago the color/decals sold me on this kit.? 

[PatW]

Superb! Just as I remember them as a Rally Marshal in the day!

[Brudda]

Very nice!!!

[titino]

Very pretty, well made. The typical Tamiya decal thing.