Subaru Impreza S202 STI Version

I'm working on this:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/m_logo.gif (http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/s202/)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/01.jpg

If my notes are correct, the S202 special model was the first Subaru to openly break the "Gentleman's Agreement" and post a power rating of 320 PS.

Of course, I'll be working from the Tamiya Subaru WRX STi kit (24231), since it's the only "bugeye" kit.

First, I filled the hideous bumper holes:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/Bumper.jpg
A) Recipie for fixing the bumper: stupid oversized holes + body-colored sprue.
B) The sprue was stretched over an open flame. Takes a few tries to stretch it without just pulling it apart.
C) Just like when you get a nose bleed...
D) Trim, file, sand, done!

The S202s came with no audio, to save weight. Let's get rid of this head unit!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/Dash.jpg
A) The real thing, wrong-side drive and all...
B) The kit part. I noticed the HVAC controls are missing the bottom slider. Oh, well. My 1/24 driver will have to just use the forthcoming roof vent if he wants outside air!
C) A paper mock-up, so I could figure out how to deal with filling my newly created DIN slots.
D) No, I'm probably not going to worry about etching the tiny lines and "SUBARU" logo into the slot cover.

You can see the S202 uses the STI sport grille. This is only part of the body that's significantly different from the kit. Because of the shape, I cut the grille part from the front end/headlight assembly, and attached it directly to the body. You can also see the STI grille uses a finer mesh than the kit part, so it had to go, too...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/grilleA.jpg

Then came the shaping work. I tried a couple times to make the shape out of styrene, like a good little modeler. But, because of the complex curves, the alteration of the panel lines, and me being a bit lazy, I gave up and slapped on the putty. :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/grilleB.jpg
A) Another look at the real car. Complex curves are not my friend. :(
B) I was very careful to mark out how far the grille should come out on to the bumper...
C) And then I slapped on the putty anyway! HA!! Take that, careful planning!!
D) Taking shape, but plenty more work to do. My half-round file has done the brunt of this work, and I'm very pleased at how the outsides are matching up with the shape of the headlights. The middle section is basically flat and tapers down to the bumper, but there's a distinct edge where it stops, and this has been the tricky bit. If I started over now, I'd have a better idea of how and where to add the first bit of putty, but too late! At the moment, more putty is curing around the edges, destined to get shaped by more filing.

I've also started painting the super-duper 1-piece chassis, but no pics of that until later! ;)

Stay tuned!! :) Comments? Questions?

IB"OMGJaysbuildingamodel!!!"

nice i like it

nice progress!love the step by step pics and descriptions!

OMGJaysbuildingamodel!!!

Great to see you back working the putty and styrene Jay. Keep up the good work! :)

Nice project and great progress!

Also, quite like how you put the pictures with the description,it's like you are planning it more then you think!

Oli

Nice project and great progress!

Also, quite like how you put the pictures with the description,it's like you are planning it more then you think!

Oli

:werd: looks great and liking the little comments with the pics:)

Glad to see you building again.

Wait, who are you?

can't wait to see the finished product! :D

Looks awesome so far, can't wait to see the finished car! :D

WTFUBAZ?! Looks great so far :sunglasse

Nice offbeat subject. More. Please. :icon16:

And so it was...the moderator formerly known as Jay@AF has stepped down..and givin his member# and modship to...his alter ego..such forth..Jay@AF will now be known as...Fubaz? :rolleyes: Come on..you couldn't think of anything Subarooey? ;) Lookin really cool Jay...We gotta cast these or something...Your S202..the wagon that I'll prolly never finish..and the RS..which is still in motion. Glad to se you are back in FULL FORCE Jay!!

And so it was...the moderator formerly known as Jay@AF has stepped down..and givin his member# and modship to...his alter ego..such forth..Jay@AF will now be known as...Fubaz? :rolleyes: Come on..you couldn't think of anything Subarooey? ;) Lookin really cool Jay...We gotta cast these or something...Your S202..the wagon that I'll prolly never finish..and the RS..which is still in motion. Glad to se you are back in FULL FORCE Jay!!

SUBAFUBAZ :evillol:

So what color is it going to be Jay? Will you be matching the factory S202 color?

Thanks for the comments, guys. :)

it's like you are planning it more then you think! Planning the what-to-do is easy. The how-to-do-its are the hard part. I have 250+ S202 reference pics on hand, full of neat little details.

So what color is it going to be Jay? Will you be matching the factory S202 color? The S202 was available from STI in 4 colors:

Astral Yellow (same as USDM Sonic Yellow)
http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/s202/image/data_color_yellow.gif
Pure White
http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/s202/image/data_color_white.gif
Midnight Black Mica
http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/s202/image/data_color_black.gif
WR Blue Mica
http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/s202/image/data_color_wr.gif

And, yes. It'll be one of those*. ;)


*Or as close as the nearest Tamiya spray color comes... :dunno:

I've only seen S202's in the blue or white, go with the Yellow I think, the bugeyes look awesome in sonic yellow. I think Chrome Yellow is a good match to sonic yellow - it's the color my bugeye will be. :)

I've only seen S202's in the blue or white, go with the Yellow I think, the bugeyes look awesome in sonic yellow. I think Chrome Yellow is a good match to sonic yellow - it's the color my bugeye will be. :)

Yellow is good. But every time I see a bugeye in yellow (not the pale yellow from '01, but later) I think only of "Velveeta".

Ray, I'm expecting a new WIP thread from you. Three kits; Revell WRX + Hasegawa WRX wagon + Fujimi's new WRX + much cutting, gluing, and cursing = The New Ride. You can finish it by our NNL, right? :icon16:

Lookin good so far.

Thanks again, guys. Doing my best to keep moving on this. The fact they just released GTA:LCS for PS2 isn't helping! :p
I've only seen S202's in the blue or white, go with the Yellow I think, the bugeyes look awesome in sonic yellow. I think Chrome Yellow is a good match to sonic yellow - it's the color my bugeye will be. :)
Yellow is good. But every time I see a bugeye in yellow (not the pale yellow from '01, but later) I think only of "Velveeta".
Well, before you guys get too far ahead of me, I'll give you a peek of what's still to come...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/th_P6200001.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P6200001.jpg)

Did you know that all 400 of the limited edition S202s started out as white Spec C Type RAs? :sunglasse

Okay, still working... :uhoh: :naughty:

I'd built a Tamiya STi before, so I knew the chassis was ... simple. No die-cast plate mind you - but still. Come on, Tamiya!

Here it was, when last we saw it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P6200001.jpg

Then I came to my senses and realized I needed to knock out the muffler... and part of the pipe ... and you know ... as long as I'm down there ...

One of the highlights of the S202 is the suspension, which features the best of all available STI parts. Like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/20020702lifted_r.jpg

Look at all the pretty colors! Cherry Blossom Red, STI's signature color!! Well, magenta, mostly. Pink, if you must.

Hmmm... Chop, chop, putty, plastic, glue!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P6250006.jpg

Plus the heat shield for the new slimmer muffler:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7040032.jpg

Not good enough - lets go nuts... :evillol:

Minus a little bit of this... Plus a little bit of Revell WRX rear end...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7090050_50crop.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7090053_50.jpg

That's starting to look pretty promising. The only real weird part so far is that the frame rails between the Tamiya and Revell kits don't quite agree, so right now that sway bar is bolted to some nice empty space. I'm still working that one out...

Oh yeah, S202s all started out as Spec C Type RAs, remember? The Tamiya kit has the STi Version 7 sideskirts, but a Spec C Type RA has no side skirts. Off come these...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7030026_25.jpg

The non-sideskirts are pretty flat and straight forward:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/auto-g002.jpg

Since they're so simple, I spent a couple days trying to build some up from scratch, but it wasn't really working out. I was digging around in my pile of Imprezas, and figured out that I got the Fujimi '06 STI Spec C (but won't be building it as such.) And the side skirts were exactly right! And molded as a separate part!! Thanks Fujimi!! :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7090056.jpg

You can see there the attachment rig I made up based on the attachment points of the Fujimi kit.

Next, one of the real visual highlights of the S202 is the sweet little oil cooler peeking out from the lower grille...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/24719tune_01_05.jpg

Will was kind enough to source me the oil cooler from a Supra kit, and I made it fit...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7030013.jpg

And mocked up:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7030016_50.jpg

Upon review, I need to narrow it a bit and file down the depth of the fins on the face, so when I add the "STI" decal, it keeps it's shape.

What else...?

S202 seats are remarkably like version 7 STi seats (a.k.a. the seats in the kit), just with a special all-black color scheme:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/auto-g004.jpg

But I wanted an element of "used" in it to give it some character, so I made a minor adjustment:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7090049_crop.jpg

I also trimmed the seat rails so the passenger seat will be set back further than the driver's seat. That's how it always is in my real car, so why not?

Still working on the shape of the front grille. Add putty, add Mr. Surfacer, file it down, sand it smooth, rinse, repeat.

That's about it for this update. Comments, notes, red flags, criticisms, ways to do stuff better, etc... All welcome! :D

Great work!
Brings back memories of my old STI!

This is so cool! Love the oil intercooler and major suspension/exhaust mods!

Modifications are great,I looks forward to your finally :grinyes:

Fantastic build!

wow! keep it up, dude!!

Wow Jay!! I'm still taken back that you are actually building agian! Keep up the great work!

Glad to see ya back with a impressive build, keep us posted.

nice work,

Great make every details.

Wow! That's all I can say. What attention to detail. This is going to be a great Suby!

Winston

lovely convesion so far. looking forward to more progress

Wow, dude. You're all good at building and junk. Why don't you do it more? You're spray-work stand is coming so it'll be there in time for paint.

I'm still amazed by the suspension work. Too bad the oil cooler isn't quite right, I don't know of any others with fins that go that way. RMoM makes amazing oil coolers, but the fins go around the short way instead of the long way. Maybe the oil cooler (cut in half) from the Z-Tune GT-R (and Tamiya detail-up parts) would be better?

those are some great mods! :D

OMFGJAY'SBUILDINGAMODEL!!!!! There, I had to say it.
Hooray! Good to have you back on the team, Jay. :)
Oh, and great looking model, I love the little details you're adding. It's almost like you've done this kinda thing before.....

Thanks for the support, everyone! :)

Was just doing a bit more work on that wacky front grille and painting the interior last night. Updates to follow...

Damn, you're really good! You should consider fabricating real cars for a living (if you don't already).

Last night, an unfortunate series of events led up to me pitching the body of this model off of my second story balcony down into the planter full of desert rocks below.

All unintentional, of course. Jacked up the primer coat I was spraying at the time, but the plastic is fine. Will be recoverable.

:banghead:

Anything to postpone the modeling even further:rolleyes: Sorry Jay:( Hope things turn around.

Here you can see several of the places I had to the knock down the primer for respray after its off-road excursion. Also, this is really, really close to the final shape of the front grille...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7270018_crop.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7270014_crop.jpg

Also, these mirrors were painted like this, clipped back to back. The one on the left has nice, smooth paint. The one on the right curdled up like bad milk and will need to be redone:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/P7270020_25.jpg

More to come...

Oh..It's not that bad Jay.

you're lucky jay. my 2003 calsonic gt-r and lanevo7 body fell off the balcony, both split in half :(

luckily the dogs downstairs didn't chew on em, just watched them. :lol:

that was 2 years ago, when i was finishing their clearcoat in preparation for an IPMS competition the next day.

Hey Jay, look im in a position were modelling time is minimal so when i get a chance to build i rush things, then they go wrong, and the build is forgotten about.... Point being, at some point along the way the building process is fun and gratifying, and thats what counts. Dont let it get you down and keep the build alive. Its all worth while when you finish one... something i havent done since November last year. So keep in there and dont intimidate yourself. Now if i could only take my own advice....

Its a great build conceptually and i look forward to seeing it done, but something we all have is time! Dont lose the spirit.:nono:

wow, lookin good. Keep up the nice work.

That's coming out awesome, big time inspiration for me to do something with my STi WR limited kit.

Glad to see you building again.

Wait, who are you?
:lol: :lol: :lol: I thought the same thing! Great stuff, Jay!!:sunglasse

Hey, is this Subaru stopped?

It's nice to see a WIP not starting from a 90%-completed-model :)

Wonderfull work... very detailed!!

Hey Jay,
How's the Subie going man....??

Love wotya done so far....inspiration to get mine going again.....now that I have a real one to check details against..(thanks Steve/Hiroboy, see wot you've done..:wink: )

Cheers man
stump :aus:

I like the attention to detail that you've incorporated into the model. I would've never even noticed the little things you've done to make it more accurate if I hadn't seen the progress of your work. Keep it up!!

[
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/SilverS2000/24_S202/20020702lifted_r.jpg

Look at all the pretty colors! Cherry Blossom Red, STI's signature color!! Well, magenta, mostly. Pink, if you must.

do you know how to do this color the pink , magenta color???

do you know how to do this color the pink , magenta color???
I have a good pic of my pink paint selection next to an STI badge, but I don't seem to have it uploaded anywhere. My favored of the batch is "Hot Magenta" in Testor's Model Master line of enamels. The others were the 50¢ craft acylics from wal*mart in various shades of pink to magenta. I'll dig up the comparison pic soon.

Gonna bump this, any updates ?