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1/24 Italeri (ESCI) Fiat 131 Abarth Rally Gr.4


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The Hase Celica was a rather easy and nice build while this might be something totally opposite. It doesn't look that bad though, but when compared to the "modern" Hasegawa kit, this won't be a shake'n'bake build.

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The body looks nice, but the fender flares are for a tarmac car. The picture shows the original and the modified ones. The gravel wheels were also different from the ones that come with the kit. They can be found from the rare Fujimi 131 Abarth which will also provide part of the decals, mainly the 1000 Lakes related, which came with this kit (providing they still work...). Otherwise the Fujimi kit is completely outdated with its almost non-existing interior (this is a motored kit and the batteries occupy most of the cockpit) and toy-like chassis.

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Since some of the dimensions differ from the kit wheels and also the wheel attachment is different, I might have to delete the brakes altogether. The Renaissance transkit includes nice calipers and perforated discs - too bad the 131 rally did have solid ventilated discs. The struts seemed a bit toyish with their molded spring detail so I decided to do new ones from metal wire. (The Fujimi wheel on the right)

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This should be good! I may have to try my hand at something along these lines. I like real cars, but for models I prefer a more utilitarian look and build. Race cars definately have that, and rally cars really have that. I look forward to being inspired by your build. I got my notebook open and ready to start taking notes. :woot.gif:

Bill

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Another janman rally build. SWEEEEET!!

You should put it in the ARC Festival of Speed GB.

-Dave

Sure thing! Mods are free to relocate this thread.

This should be good! I may have to try my hand at something along these lines. I like real cars, but for models I prefer a more utilitarian look and build. Race cars definately have that, and rally cars really have that. I look forward to being inspired by your build. I got my notebook open and ready to start taking notes. :woot.gif:

Bill

Well, let's see what comes out of this. But I have to agree, I've never been a fan of ordinary street car models - you see them everyday anyhow! That's why I've always been to military jets and rally car models, although this will be only my fourth properly made car model.

Edited by janman
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Another janman rally build. SWEEEEET!!

You should put it in the ARC Festival of Speed GB.

-Dave

I don't intend on hijaking this thread (sorry Janman) so I'll keep this short...but I suppose police cars wouldn't fit into the festival of speed GB correct? I guess it's the antithesis of it in reality.

I'm with you on the fighter jets versus car thing. I can admire what the car guys do, it's amazing. But with few exceptions I don't really want to build newer street cars.

Bill

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Bill, you would be correct on the no police cars build. One exception might be the Tom Foti LAPD Camaro pro street car, but then again that technically isn't a police car. Head on over the GB and see what is allowed, you might find something that interests you!

-Dave

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I think the only person who can move threads is Sbarc. I suggest you just start a new thread in the GB Jan and copy what you did here in your first post or just link to this. Then continue on in the GB. We're honored by your greatness.

lol

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The kit comes with a two liter Fiat twin cam engine consisting of several detail parts, some of them pretty nice, some rather inaccurate. The timing belt pulleys (and the belt itself) were the first ones to be replaced (the original kit part above the engine). I also added an alternator and some pulleys for its belt (the belt is still missing). Part of the original kit item will be left on the right side since it will be quite invisible after the engine is installed. Next I'll add some coolant hoses, ignition wires etc.

I also added some mesh for the injector stacks.

Before:

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After:

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The instrument panel in its original form looks the part. Some further detailing was added for a more realistic appearance though.

The gauge decals were yellow whereas on the real car they were orange. Easily corrected with Tamiya's clear orange. The co-driver's side lacked all the instrumentation so everything was scratch-built including the two Heuer stopwatches in front of Ilkka Kivimäki and the trip meters on the left. The footrests and the perforated gas pedal come from the Renaissance transkit. The switches above the heater levers knobs (also scratched) are by Hobby Design.

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  • 7 months later...

The engine bay is starting to look reasonably busy. I've added coolant hoses, electric wires, fuel lines and some scratch built items like the ignition pack (on the right upper corner).

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The cockpit is nearly finished. This is the first time I've used fabric seat belts. They certainly look the part, despite of the bad off-focus photo.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks, pacheco!

Arguably one of the best things about this kit is the Cartograph decal sheet. Surely the kit as the only passable 1/24 model of this particular car is decent too, but I can not exaggerate the quality of the Cartograph stuff. It's a real pleasure to work with them. The old Fujimi sheet (from the not-so-accurate Fujimi 131 Abarth with very nice 1978 Thousand Lakes winner markings) seems to work pretty well too, although the model at this point is still without them.

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  • 2 months later...

The decaling is now done. The only thing that bothered me was the text on the grille. It shouldn't be in italic ("FIAT ABARTH") like on the otherwise excellent Italeri sheet. I scraped the decal lettering off and painted the new text free hand.

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The safety cage caused some troubles as well, so I had to do some modifications (it sat too low and was too visible both from the side windows and when viewed from the front). Now everything (including the tranparencies) should fit under the body when it's mated with the chassis.

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Thanks, Dave!

My next one will most probably be another Alen car. Which one, I still can't say for sure. The one with ready markings is a 1993 Impreza, while Alen's 1991 Legacy would need some tweaking since no after market decals for his car exist. As far as I've understood, some of the Hasegawa boxings did include his car. An Integrale would be the third option but for some reason no decals can be found for Alen's car.

Older group 4 cars certainly are very tempting subjects as well (for instance, I have kits with markings for Hannu Mikkola's -75 Corolla and -77 Celica), but many of the kits need some extra work for an accurate model, so I might be tempted to stay in the nineties and Hasegawa's easier and more accurate kits.

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Some PE parts added. These include mesh for the intake between the auxiliary lights and air outlets on the bonnet. I'll probably add some mesh for the bonnet air scoop as well. None was provided with the Reneissance PE/resin set, so I'll have to check out my spare parts box.

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The PE emblems under the boot lid (by Reneissance) give a nice final touch. I painted the letters with black, let them dry and wiped the excess paint off and voilà, we have a pair of very realistic looking lil' emblems!

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Edited by janman
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, Shawn!

Time for installing all the detail parts before the final assembly.

The turn signal/parking lights were too large for their mounts and needed some tweaking. Their reflectors (not very visible) came from the Reneissance set as did the side repeaters made from turned metal. The rear lights didn't fit very well either. The registration plate backings and the tow hooks also by Reneissance.

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On the Abarth rally version the original fill cap was faired over and a racing type cap was installed on the boot lid. This detail was not included on the kit's C-pillar, but was easily executed. (The Reneissance set actually includes PE side air vents with a faired-over fill cap on the right side but they didn't seem to fit that well.)

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I also added a scratched sump guard. Otherwise the chassis is not very accurate from the underside but I chose to leave it that way.

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