Hasegawa Ford Focus WRC 1999 - Safari

[galaxyg]

Background:

A great rally car, era, livery, event and driver - all in one package. The only thing not to love here is knowing the kit comes from "that" era of Hasegawa kits,

Pros:

It's the only kit of a Safari Focus that I know of. Overall shape and proportions look right. There's a photo-etch fret in the box and there's not much in the way of cleanup to be done. Few separation lines and only one sink mark of note. The ride height is correct for the event in question - not always a strong point for Hasegawa but more likely when that event is the safari.

Cons:

The interior of the car is only somewhat reminiscent of the real thing - there's a lot of detail either missing or incorrect. The spare wheel is all plastic rather than a fifth rubber tyre over a rim. The dashboard has a sink mark in it that would be obvious if not filled. Too many things are moulded in with other things making for a lot of tedious masking - the exhaust in the chassis being one example. The giant decals are a pain to work and to get to conform. The animal catcher bar at the front is twisted a little and only sits in place properly on one side of the car without intervention of who knows how much visible glue.

Verdict:

OK enough is all it is. If you've built anything else from Hasegawa of the late 90s and early 2000's, you'll know what to expect. On the other hand, it is a safari rally McRae Ford Focus, so a great subject.

Build notes:

Built over about 2 months in July/August 2025. Although the kit provides items for both the seatbelts and mudflaps, I've swapped these for red cardboard as it's easier to work with and glue. I also added some tiny red tow hooks to the front bars, otherwise it's built as from the box. I didn't superdetail the interior although now the car is fully assembled I can see that a fair bit of the interior is visible through the windows. With hindsight, I should have cut up the decals and spray painted the larger fluorescent red areas. A number of things went wrong with this build, none of them major and most of them decal related. Nonetheless it does look great sitting there on the display shelf in all it's safari-ness.

 

[iBorg]

 I'm impressed with this build. Until I read your cons my opinion of Hasegawa kits was raised. With those issues to get to this result is impressive. You did great with your fight with the decals.

[Jim B]

Great looking Ford.  Very well done.

[PappyD340]

Looks fantastic!

[Mike 1017]

Most Excellent

[titino]

Hi, it's a very nice model. You handled the decals very well. Congratulations.

I bought the half-built Revell Focus at the time, and I know what you're saying about quality, since it's a Hasegawa copy.