Lancia 037 Hasegawa 'chardonnet'

New project for me for the winter.
Lancia 037 'chardonnet' by Hasegawa.

Initial thoughts on the kit were great, very well made, a couple bits here and there to fix but not bad.
the front clip fits extremely well, maybe too good. its a bit tight so may have to shave a bit off so the paint doesn't make fitting too tight as i plan to have the front clip removable.

I saw on another WIP someone had added more detail in the front part of the chassis in the form of bar work. I thought this would be great as the front clip comes off to reveal it.

so i went ahead and started.
i didnt follow anyone else's build, just used as inspiration and another form of reference.
I will try to show all the mods here in pictures for others to use.

so this is how it started off, as you can see the suspension is dry fitted and it all look a bit plain.
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160520_211840_zpsunsmwlwh.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160520_211840_zpsunsmwlwh.jpg.html)

first thing i did was to fix up the firewall to give me somewhere to start.
I glued in place the standard firewall, which is nicely moulded, and added extra parts to fill gaps.
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160520_213800_zpslaxj7pex.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160520_213800_zpslaxj7pex.jpg.html)

I then made this from styrene and brass wire (for strength) which is part of the chassis reinforcement but also aids in the location of the upper suspension mounting plate (also standard part from the kit) this part isnt glued to the fire wall, it simply has a slot to fit into place, it gets glued where the brass wire is which fits into the suspension as you will see soon.
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160520_225747_zpsgw7awwkm.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160520_225747_zpsgw7awwkm.jpg.html)

some cutting needed to the added sections
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160520_230958_zpssjxw5som.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160520_230958_zpssjxw5som.jpg.html)

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160520_231012_zps8xfju9et.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160520_231012_zps8xfju9et.jpg.html)

now this is the major part.
there is no progress shots sorry but this is the completed bar work
this includes the main bars, the lighter guage radiator support and some radiator shrouding.
all is glued to the main suspension for now, it will be removed later for painting.
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160521_011329_zpsksmt0vvb.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160521_011329_zpsksmt0vvb.jpg.html)

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160521_011339_zpstzdbosl5.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160521_011339_zpstzdbosl5.jpg.html)

the suspension assy now gets cut off with a PE saw, it was just fitted to aid in the alignment of the bars.
This is what we are left with, all glued into place.
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160521_221125_zpsw7opsk0k.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160521_221125_zpsw7opsk0k.jpg.html)

This is the main suspension assy, all one piece, i will now make it look a bit better
http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160521_221159_zpsz2n8behw.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160521_221159_zpsz2n8behw.jpg.html)

it needs the ends of the flat plate to mate up to the bottom part of the suspension assy.
so i cut away what wasnt needed and made what had to be left purposeful, even if its not accurate, at least it doesnt look out of place.
i also added bracing to the bottom section so i could cut away the ugly bulky part., i dont have a good picture of how it was originally sorry, pictured below is the bottom section with the bars added, before it was just flat plate plus the A arms.

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160521_221203_zpsjeoari7h.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160521_221203_zpsjeoari7h.jpg.html)

And below is the end result of trimming the top section.
both parts of the suspension have now been made to look more like part of the chassis. No more ugly flat plates.
again, not accurate to the real thing but better than it was without re-designing all the suspension.

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160522_000600_zpspiq4jzrr.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160522_000600_zpspiq4jzrr.jpg.html)

this is with all the suspension dry fitted back into place.

http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160522_002527_zps8v6ftjfv.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160522_002527_zps8v6ftjfv.jpg.html)


http://i1283.photobucket.com/albums/a558/Benk01/models/new/20160522_002523_zpsbesxqhu5.jpg (http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/Benk01/media/models/new/20160522_002523_zpsbesxqhu5.jpg.html)

Coming along nice... Have you had any reference pics for that front end?

Coming along nice... Have you had any reference pics for that front end?

Thanks.
yes i found a WIP from someone else which i printed off, that was the main reference that i had for all the bar work.....but i dont know where they came from now, all i have is printed out pictures.
Also there is an actual photo of a 037 (the one you see in one of my photos) but that was more for the wheel arch and firewall area.
like i said its probably not accurate i just wanted an improvement!

Big improvement over what the kit gives you.

Big improvement over what the kit gives you.

thank you, I think so too.
It made no sense to have a removable front clip and next to no detail!