Fiat 131 Abarth

[afxracing]

I've been working on part fitment and refining the wheel arch shapes so not much interesting to show lately.





I've decided to have a go at customizing Fujimi's Hayashi Street wheels to represent Campagnolo.



Here is what the wheel will look like with Replicas & Miniatures' acorn nuts and an axle nut made from solid hex rod added. I rather like it.

[corrrado]

Those scratch Campagnolos look really great JC! Good improvements on the stands as well! I am currently working on the 131 wheels, trying to marry those printed sides with the Hasegawa patterns, putting them over the turned rims with the decalcas center part. Sounds complicated, I'll send you some photos!

[afxracing]

Originally Posted by corrrado

Those scratch Campagnolos look really great JC! Good improvements on the stands as well! I am currently working on the 131 wheels, trying to marry those printed sides with the Hasegawa patterns, putting them over the turned rims with the decalcas center part. Sounds complicated, I'll send you some photos!

Thanks Attila. Look forward to seeing your wheels.

[afxracing]

Looks like the team used two different style Campagnolo one with the shorter reinforcing webs on the spokes.







And other times the web extends out to the first step in the rim.

[360spider]

Very nice work!

[afxracing]

My Decalcas wheels finally arrived. I think this is the winning combination for the gravel spec car. Decalcas certainly got creative with the resin color they cast the wheels in. Tyres are from the Revell/Italeri version of the kit.

[afxracing]

[360spider]

Wheels look real good!

[afxracing]

I have read that Fiat produced lightweight and heavyweight versions of the 131. Despite being a mixed surface rally Rohrl's winning 1980 San Remo car has been referred to as a lightweight car. I believe the lightweight version did not include a full roll cage only the hoop behind the seats. These photos appear to show that is the case. Does anyone know what other differences there might be between the two versions?

[chris24]

There is definitely a full roll cage in the lightweight versions. I have to check but the differences between reinforced shells and lightweight ones were not especially noticeable at first sight.

Besides, did you know that all the Fiat cars at the '80 San Remo were private cars ? A massive strike was going in Turin (Fiat hometown) and all the works cars were taken in hostage. The works team had no other choice than requisitioning 3 private cars : Jolly Club for Rohrl, Quattro rombi for Alen and River team for Bettega.

Keep on the good work !

[afxracing]

Thanks for the interests and the comments chris24. I was aware of the strike in 1980 and Rohrl did indeed drive a privateer's car in lightweight spec to the victory.





These excerpts are from Rally Giants - Fiat 131 Abarth by Graham Robson:





This cutaway drawing shows only the roll hoop with cross and rear bracing.

[afxracing]

Added acorn nuts to outer rim of my modified wheels.



Modified the kit wheels into the very shallow version of the Cromodora.



I need to order more acorn nuts to finish out all of these wheels.

[afxracing]

Got my Campagnolo wheels painted with bolt/nut detail installed.

[corrrado]

Hi JC, your wheels look really spot on!

[afxracing]

As Boreham had noted the engine does appear oversized. It wasn't until corrrado sent me this series of photos that I understood how out of scale the kit engine is.




Kit engine:


Hasegawa Lancia 037 engine or Esci Lancia Beta MonteCarlo - both used the Fiat Twin-Cam as the base engine same as the 131


The Beta engine compared to the Fiat 131:


Can't accept this discrepancy so I'll have to go the scratch building route for much of the engine. Down the rabbit hole we go!!