Subaru "Scooby" Impreza WRC WIP #01

It is amazing what you can pick up at a model show and for a reasonable price too. The previous owner of this kit probably had the same idea as me for this model, not to build it as a rally but as a road going stock/tuner example. They had already sanded away the moulded aerial bases and the bonnet safety catches from the bodyshell, and that was all they had done.

So five or six months back, I got this kit out and started to got through the options for changing the wheels on it. I toyed with a few different options from my collection of wheels, but none really stood out on the model. Plus they would have needed to be converted to the Tamiya fitments to go on the Scooby and also fit around the large front brake discs. So I decided to stay with the stock wheels in the kit.

After some thought about how I was going to build the model. Do I put the fog lights in the bumpers and the bonnet mounted fog lamps? The answer was no, this was not going to be a rally car so it did not need them. Next it was how was I going to change the general look of the car. I thought about building up the front bumper and spoiler, wings, rear bumper and the boot spoiler. Just like a big body kit that they add to these cars. But I decided not to go that mad and keep it more subtle.

On the front, all I did was to extend the lower lid of the spoiler using plasticard and plastic rod then later add a bit of filler to give it some more shape. Once I was happy with the basic shape of the spoiler lip, it was time to more onto the side skirts. My original plan was to do the same as the front spoiler, just extend them and add a little filler to shape them up.

After I had got the basics of the front spoiler and side skirts done, I moved to the back of the car. What was I going to do here? First, I wanted to put two large bore tailpipes on the car. So I did a little of modification to the kits exhaust, added an extension to add another tailpipe to the other side of the car. Te new tailpipes and the extension were made from plastic rod and tube. They still need a little bit of tweaking to get them right, but that will be done as I finalise the rear of the car. Next, i decided to add a rear diffuser underneath the rear of the car. The first one I built was a flat wide one, similar to what they fit on some racing cars, but I did not like how it turned out. Next it was a smaller one, but I got the angle and curve wrong on it. So I started to do a third one with a lesser curve to it, but packed the Scooby away for a while whilst I dealt with a couple of other models for Telford.

Anyhow, jump forward a few more months and I am off work on long term sickness after an accident at work. After finishing off a few other "On-hold" projects I have moved onto the Ferrari F40 (which will be updated separately) and the Scooby. I got the Scooby out of the box, had a good look at it then reviewed what the plan for it was. I was happy with the front spoiler, it just needed to have some filler added and sanded to shape. The side skirts now did not look right, so they had to be changed. I trimmed the extensions back to the original skirt edge, but left the plasticard underneath to add some more depth to it. Next, after sanding down any rough bits, I glued a strip of half-round plastic along the skirt edge to round it off. On the rally versions, there are location points for the car stands to slide into when the mechanics are working on it during a rally. I do not need these on the model so they have been filled in.

Then it was back to the rear of the Scooby.What was I going to do here? Well, to start with the diffuser idea has gone out of the window. But the rear bumper does still sit high off the ground, so I have to add to the lower edges of it and bring it closer to the ground. I started with a length of 2mm plastic rod, heated it up with a hair dryer and bent it to match the shape of the bumper. These parts were then glued in place along the edge of the bumper. I now added a length of 1mm plastic rod and glued them around the outside of the 2mm rod. To build up the rear ends, I added a short length of 1mm mainly to give the putty and filler something to hold onto. Mr White Putty was now added, left to harden overnight and sanded back. The shape and size was still not right, so a second layer has been added and sanded, bringing these areas closer to the shape I want. Next I will start with some filler to get to the final shape that I am looking for. 

Once I am happy with the sides, I will move onto the centre section between the tailpipes and close this area off to match the sides of the bumper.

At the minute, you can see that I have assembled the roll-cage and dry fitted it into the interior. I do not think I will go with the cage, but leave it out. But this gives me another problem, there is no rear seats with the kit. So I am thinking about paneling the rear space out and add a few amps and speakers where the rear seats were. well, that is one idea for now. I might also have a look at some of my other aftermarket wheels to see if any of them will firstly fit over the front discs, and also look good on the car. I have also got Bolton Model Show this weekend, so I might even have a look around there to see what is on offer.

The Yorkshire Black Sheep Modellers

Now for a little break from talking about my models and onto the subject of the club. After the group of us that broke away from our old club, we set up this new club, The Yorkshire Black Sheep Modellers.

The idea of it is to return to a calm, relaxed and joyful atmosphere at our meetings. At the first meeting, there was eleven of us and the membership has grown to eighteen. We took over the local library after the old club moved to new meeting rooms down the road and still have our meetings on the first and third Saturday mornings of each month. The members come from the areas of surrounding Hemsworth, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Leeds, Selby and even one member who travels up from Luton when they can make it to meetings.

Right from the creation, we agreed to apply for IPMS(UK) branch status, which was granted soon after the club's formation. We are a fun loving bunch of modellers, that will take the Mickey out of each other. This sense of humour also carries on over to the club stand when we are at shows, with the presence of Black Sheep on the stand (sometime flatuant sheep). We just go out to a show to have fun.

Below are some photos from one of our meetings when we had a visit from David Francis, the editor of SAMI magazine. Other photos are of the stand at a couple of shows and some of our humour on the subject of Black Sheep and how we include them onto the stand.

English Electric Lightning F.6

This has to be one of my most favourite builds so far, the Airfix E.E. Lightning F.6 in 1/48th scale with a whole lot of extras added to it. These extra detailing items are as listed as listed below.

CMK: Full cockpit, air intake and front undercarriage bay, control surfaces, main undercarriage bays, air brake doors and housings, electronics compartments and upper engine all in resin.

Aires: Resin engine exhausts.

Eduard: Etched brass cockpit access ladder.

Master-Model: Pitot tube.

I will not bore you with a complete build description, it is basically the same as the F.1 I had built earlier.But I will give you some tips about fitting the CMK resin parts as the instructions that they supply are not very clear. With the cockpit, there are two small thin panels which look like according to the instructions, get glued directly to the cockpit tube. They do not, these are glued directly to the inner surface of the of the fuselage once you have worked out the position of the tube. For the tube to locate properly, use some strips of thick plasticard and glue them to the fuselage for location guides ready for when the tub gets glued in place. With the air intake, drill out some of the waste resin from the cone and the radar body, then fill these voids with some liquid metal for nose weight. The engine bay needs plasticard guide to locate it just like the cockpit tub. Also drill out some of the waste resin from the engine as it a solid piece and adds tail weight to the model. The actuator rams for the airbrakes are the wrong way around in the resin kit. The replacement resin ailerons are smaller than the ailerons on the kit. Finally, the main undercarriage bays need a lot of filing and sanding to get them to fit within the two halves of the wing surfaces. Remove any of the moulded undercarriage detail from the inner wing surfaces, then bit by bit, file and sand the resin bay until it fits in between the two halves. Once you have got it all fitting perfect, take measurements from this one and transfer them to the other undercarriage bay to repeat this process. I hope this helps you. The Aires resin exhausts were not problem, they are a straight swap for the kits plastic ones.

Now that I have got that all out of the way, the rest of the build was straight forward as a normal model. I used Xtracrylix paints for the camouflage scheme on the model with other various paints for detailing, etc. The engine unit was painted using Alclad metal finishes followed by some washes to weather it up. During my research on this build, I noticed that when the upper engine bay cover was open, there was a brace fitted across the opening. So I scratch-built this brace and the cover support from plasticard and plastic rodding. The model was finished off with some light weathering and the Eduard cockpit ladder.

Adding all of these resin parts does increase the weight of the model, it nearly doubles it. If I had of known how much it adds, I would have ordered some cast metal replacement undercarriage for the model. But whilst building the model, I drilled up the centres of each undercarriage leg and inserted a length of thick brass wire to strengthen them. This so far has worked and there has been no breakages of any of the legs yet. But I will advise you to use the metal undercarriage legs if you are going to add this much resin to your model.

As I said at the beginning, this is one of my favourite aircraft builds to date. It will take something special to beat this model, of which there is several in my stash that are up there waiting to take this title.

Some photographs of both of my 1/48th scale Lightnings together.