Toyota Celica GT-Four - '93 Monte Carlo

With one buttoned up, time to get cranking on another build. I decided to do something a little old school. The '93 Celica was driven by Auriol and Kankkunen and dominated the season opening round at Monte Carlo.

The kit was obtained from Hobbylink Japan: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM24125 with my last Peugeot 206 build.

It's a kitset that I haven't seen for a while now on the forums so decided to delve into it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img853/6710/montecarlo1993toyotacel.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img525/5347/ot120711127815.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img27/8563/img3518vf.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img443/1350/img3519y.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img707/552/img3520pe.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img209/5694/img3522ix.jpg

Work starting tonight!

Good luck with this build. I made it a few years ago and the decals were REALLY difficult to work with so if you can source some aftermarket then I would recommend it. The kit itself is really nice.

Will you use PE-set for this kit?

@generationx: I have heard similar things so will see how they work out. I know this is a very recent production run of the kit thanks to HLJ being in Japan so will keep fingers crossed. :)

@Motometalix: This one will be OOB. I will add a little additional detailing in the cockpit but not too much. I will be running a photoetch belt set to the kit however as rallycars always look better being able to see the belts running though the rollcage.

The kit has been started. Everything has kicked off nicely, suspension has been installed along with the sumpguard and exhaust. The tooling for this kit is actually the 1992 Safari rally Celica which I noticed after spotting the snorkel in the kitset.

The cockpit tub on the older tooling has a lot of the detail built into the floor - extinguisher, footpan etc... A slight challenge for painting however it's a refreshing change.

One cool thing I noticed about the group A rallycars is that they had a 'beefier' sumpguard then, compared to now. Lots of ventilation was used on the older cars via the sumpguard whereas now the suspension is totally enclosed off from rocks as they snap the control arms, and other suspension components much easier nowadays.

Comments welcome as always!

http://imageshack.us/a/img571/8801/img3857c.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img560/2839/img3858m.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img191/1580/img3860rp.jpg

Nice to see one of my favorite rallycars in here. Looking forward to this! :)

Looking very good so far, look forward to seeing more as you progress..

A little bit more progress has been made. The cockpit tub which was moulded in grey was shot in white and then the black was painted along doors and transmission tunnel.

Rollcage was mocked up in the tub, then glued into one cage and painted.

Comments welcome as always!

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/4979/img4201fa.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img577/3066/img4202xj.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img13/8016/img4206u.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img694/8519/img4208q.jpg

WRCfan

Coming along nicely!

A smither of progress tonight on the car. I have assembled the cockpit properly now, added the spare wheel, and then installed some belts as I believe no rallycar model should be without them.

Wheels have had the tyre decals added to them as well and they look quite nice, not as bland as before.

Comments welcome as always!

http://imageshack.us/a/img254/3853/photokmn.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img196/1254/photo1lzg.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img651/5842/photo3qgm.jpg

This is one of the most enjoyable kits I ever built. Yours is coming along fine.

Looking really good so far.

very nice model. Just be careful with decals. mines simply disappear touching water..and cant finish the model for years.

Thanks for the heads up on the decals. Hopefully being a recent issue there will be no problems with them. Hoping to do decals tonight actually provided things go to plan.

Shall keep you all posted on progress! :)

Aaron

Nice, clean work!

Nice clean looking build, thumbs up

Thanks for the kind words R33. I just realised you are living in the same place as I am!? Insanely small world! I am a Palmy local too.

Tonight has been a productive one. It was almost murderous dealing with the decals, they are just as many said, indeed very fragile however with careful work, a damn brush, and loads of softening solution they have conformed not too badly. One problem however is I misjudged the rear fender front portion (i cut it into 2) and it is sitting higher than it should. I will be splicing a small piece of decal to smooth this abrupt edge out so it will be smoother once everything has set.

Now the hardest part of decals is over, it's plain sailing from here on in!

Aaron

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/7547/44753623.png

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/737/70684784.png

You did a great job with decals Aaron!

Decals look good.

Little progress, windows are in, and wing mirrors/wipers/wing is attached. One thing that I was stumped by was there were no masks for the window trims to be painted black. Of course we take these things for granted nowadays. This car has been hand painted in regards to the glass. Now that's a blast from the past!

So onto my next issue. Do I make this a night-stage version or not. Photos with pods included below and one without. What do we think?

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7149/img7993n.png

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8252/img7994.png

Definately with the pod - looks great this way and how I display mine.

A little sneak preview of the final outcome. The kitset is now complete and a finished thread will up uploaded tomorrow. I am pleased with the final result, it's an iconic livery that is for sure!

Comments welcome!

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3554/img9780y.jpg

Nice build of one of my favourite cars.....

Have a half-finished build of this car from the 92 Monte Carlo rally.... I might be inspired to finish this now....

Regards

David