Tour de France support cars

I've been out of the modeling world for a few years. While watching the tour de France i decided it would be pretty awesome to have a decked out support car complete with bicycles/wheels on the roof. I haven't seen any on this forum yet. I need some help finding a kit that matches any teams current vehicle. There just aren't many sedans/wagons in the model world. My plan is to find a kit, then duplicate the team who uses that car.

My favorite is the Mavic neutral support car. It appears to be a Saab wagon.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/237/4781/25592390275_large.jpg

Cool team cars:
Footon-Servetto-Fuji Audi wagon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Footon_Servetto_Tour_2010_stage_1_start.jpg)
Garmin Slipstream BMW wagon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Team_Slipstream_Car.JPG)
Lampre-Farnese Vini Kia (lol) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tour_de_France_2009_Voiture_de_Lampre,_Girona .JPG)


Any ideas on kits? i love the Saab and the Audi, but couldn't find any kits that were even close. Then i need to figure out how to build a 1/24 bicycle :eek7:

I've always wanted to duplicate the Luquigas team vehicles - but found it was too hard to find the exact vehicles and to make my own decals!

P.S - who do you think will win? (Being australian, I should say Cadel Evans, but Andy schleck for the win!)

I agree this would be excellent. I am not aware of any current cars as models. I have thought of using Fujimi's Mercedes wagon, as it is at least Euro. Didn't Subaru sponsor a team riding Trek bikes a few years back? I wonder if the support cars were Legacy/Liberty wagons? Also, what about the bikes. I know Fujimi have done 1/24th MTB's but I do not know about road bikes.

And since we have an old Cannondale F1000 in the garage in race-spec from when Cadel was in MTB - go Cadel! Unfortunately I can't see him keeping the Yellow Jersey all the way to Paris.

Grant.

Glad i'm not alone in the love of support cars.

I couldn't find any trek/subaru team cars, but i did find a subaru/gary Fischer team car (http://www.mbaction.com/Media/PublicationsArticle/archive/SGFTeamCar.JPG). The paint is beyond my abilities though. It looks like trek recently dumped VW as a mtb partner. They even used a GTI (?) as a car, but it's not really a support vehicle article link (http://bicykel.com/?p=959). This is a possibility because i've seen a GTI model for sale.

The Liquigas cars look killer and they may not be too bad paint wise, but i can't even tell what make/model they are. It looks like something Euro. I would settle for an incorrect car if it looked similar.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Liquigas_service_vehicle_Frederiksberg.jpg/800px-Liquigas_service_vehicle_Frederiksberg.jpg

I also stumbled upon Bouygues Telecom whish uses a Subaru wagon, but i also found a picture of a VW painted in their colors (from the giro de Italia). the white letters would be very hard for me.
http://www.klyko.com/set/1124_g.JPG
http://www.bobkestrut.com/images/FaM_08.jpg

Right now i see my options as:

GTI Trek car and making it into a support car.
Bouygues Subaru even though the modelkit is a previous generation legacy.
making a 2 door version of the Bouygues VW :eek7:
Liquigas with a generic car :nono:
keep looking.

None are truly scale, more like representations. I originally planned on scratch building the bikes, but the fujimi bicycle will atleast give me an example. I predict i'll have to cheat a little to have the wheels stay together.

As far as the race, I'm a fan of Andy Schleck and even Tony Martin. I like the younger riders as i can relate to them. I would be pretty excited if Schleck could get/keep the yellow.

Thanks guys. any other teams/kits would help.

Hi Guys,

if you don't really care building former years support cars and are aware to 1/43rd scale, this one will offer to you some possibilities through "JEMMPY" brand which has release some models and cycles.

I believe the Liquigas is a Fiat Chroma, while the Bougas is a Volkswagen Passat Estate, I hope this can be of some help, very much doubt that you can get a model kit for either though

Yes, that Fiat is Fiat Croma, still hardly I believe available in 1:24. Fujimi had some accessories containing a 1:24 bike (mountainbike though, not road bike), the code was 110424:
http://www.fujimimokei.com/product/img/gandt/G&T07.jpg
Maybe you can use this bike as a base, it has PE wheels :-)

@Rallymaster: Thanks for the tip. I found the kits you were describing. I think 1:43 is too small for me though.

@cfcrules: Excellent ID. I've always liked to build "everyday" cars instead of the exotics. I suppose i'm in the minority, hence the current kit selection.

@janositamas/Potsie: the PE wheels explains the price of the fujimi package. I'll have to experiment to see if any of my wheel building methods yield acceptable results. I should order the accessory kit just to see how they did it. I suppose worst case i stock up on the fujimi kit to fill the roof rack.

I'm still torn over what vehicle to use as a base. It seems like no proper vehicles are available, so i'll have to make a semi-fictional vehicle. I really like the MKV Golf model kit. It's modern and appears to have nice fit/finish.A 2 door suport car would be pretty useless in real life though. The Subaru Legacy looks a little dated in the box art, but maybe I'll pick one up just to have a look at the parts. I could probably use the practice as it's been several years since my last completed model.

I'm off to see what's in stock at the hobby shop.

I think you'll find the Croma in 1/43, I done a query and found some die cast on ebay.

Bike support cars has ever cool liveries, but base vehicles are not so interesting, mostly skodas and fiat.... sure not my tastes. Saab Mavic car looks better, much better ;)

BTW I opened a couple times the Fuji accessory box at LHS and didn't bought: Thule box aren't so bad but the bike has front fork molded in one piece.... with one only arm, melt with rays... Something like a Cannondale fatty with the arm in the middle...... :evillol::evillol::smokin: , in other words you must sratchbuild the fork...

Gionc, that's good to know about the fork of the fujimi bicycle. I would have been surprised when i discovered that. I checked out the diecast on ebay. The Croma is starting to look more and more like a minivan every time i look at it.
I could put the Mavic paint on another car because they don't appear to have any affiliation with Saab. If i can't make it truly scale i might as well build what i like. I'd just need to find something as sexy as that 1:1 saab wagon. It is a sharp looking car after all.

Side note:

I began experimenting how to make the bicycle wheels. I only had 0.75" aluminum on hand, so it's smaller than 1/24 scale, but so far my plan worked. I'd use a plumbing O-ring for a tire. I could make a hub and use wire spokes, or CNC some thick "CF" spokes/solid center to imitate a time trial bike.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y232/ToyTundra/Model%20cars/wheelprototype.jpg
the parallel it's sitting on is 0.125" (3.15 mm) thick. I'm getting excited.

You have probably a better chance with die cast.

For the Subaru Outback in Bbox colours you could use a Fujimi Liberty wagon and customise or use an older outback!

For the Subaru Outback in Bbox colours you could use a Fujimi Liberty wagon and customise or use an older outback!

i had been looking at older models that were easier to buy, but there is a Fujimi legacy kit that you were thinking of. It's my best option if i can actually get one. I ordered it today, but who knows if it's even in stock. The tuner kits are available from within the US, but they look goofy.

http://www.waile.com/shop/docProdBimg/fu03543.jpg

I also ordered a VW GTI from a US shop just because it looks so sharp. I don't know what i'm going to do with it. I don't do build threads, but i'll post up the completed model.

I was discussing this with my partner and she is certain that Rabobank also used Legacies as support vehicles at one stage. Whilst looking for photo evidence I came across this photo:

http://bikecultura.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/tour-de-france-20071.jpg

It would test your scratch-building skills, but at least Tamiya make the base kit!

It seems that Armstrong team uses Nissan cars (quashkay ??).

One of the possibility may also be the medical car, which is a Punto convertible.

It seems that Armstrong's team uses Nissan cars (quashkay ??).

One of the possibility may also be the medical car, which is a Punto convertible, but that's not very exciting.

But if we put interest on the "caravane" and its advertisement cars, possibilities are (almost) unlimited and fantasy is ! :naughty:

http://www.everymantri.com/.a/6a00d83451b18a69e201287730fbfb970c-500wi

In Australia the Radio Shack Nissan is a Dualis

I didn't really agree with RSH's decision to use a Dualis, doesn't really fit with the other team cars