1/43 Ford Focus WRC

Hi everyone,

Haven't posted here in a while, so I thought I'd put up a few pics of my current project. It's the Airfix 1/43 Ford Focus WRC. Definitely a small little kit, but it's been fun so far. I had to lower the stance quite a bit because it just didn't look right (at least not to my eyes.) Still have some touch-ups to do on the wheels, too. Let me know what you think!

Murray

http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/focus1.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/focus2.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/focus3.jpg

Looking great Murray, don't know how you guys do such a clean job in 1/43rd. Only thing I don't like is the red seat - should be black.
Keep the pics coming!

Hello again,

I'm getting close to finishing this 1/43 kit, so I thought I'd post a few update pictures. I'm not going to do much more to the kit, even though I know there are some important missing items (like the decals from the side of the car...). A few things you'll see in the pics below:

1. I've added a pretty rough roll cage inside the car. Scratch-built from pictures I saw of a build-up of the Tamiya 1/24 version on the net. Not perfect, but it's better than nothing.
2. I also added some seatbelt anchors made from simple masking tape.
3. I attempted to put some of the 'lines' in the headlight lenses. I think you can see this on one of the pics if you look closely. I've never tried it before, but it actually worked better than I expected. But in 1/43 scale it's pretty tough. In retrospect, I wish I would have spent more time fitting the headlight lenses properly.
4. The kit glass is quite thick, and if the side decals would have gone better, I would have replaced the glass with some sort of replacement. Unfortuantely as it is, it's tough to see the details through the glass.
5. There's still a few details to clean up yet (windshield wiper channel, front grill, wheel centers...)

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions for future builds.

Murray


http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/IMG_2918_2.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/IMG_2919_2.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/IMG_2921_2.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/IMG_2927_2.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/m.k.kish/images/IMG_2928_2.jpg

i worked on 1.43rd so damned hard to do body work and shape things. and they dont have as much detail BUT looking really good!

Look's cool:sunglasse

Awesome. We'd be hard pressed to guess its scale had you not told us. Is there a 1:43 invasion going on or something?

Nice build. Those Airfix kit's look better than I expected. Are you planning any more 1:43 builds?

1/43 resin kits don't look better!

More nice work there. It's a shame you're not going to finish off the decals.

I worked with 1:43 scale, i know how hard it can be, Nice job man.

very nice build.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

The 'decal' story goes like this:
- firstly, I messed up putting one side on.
- later, I decided to go get another kit and just rob the decals to complete this kit. But, when I opened the kit, the decals were quite a bit different in the new kit. The 'red' in the decals is much more 'red' and less 'pink' (like in the kit I am building). After looking at them, I decided that mixing the decals from the kit would not be a good option. I considered painting the stripes on, but I'd be fooling myself to think I could do that and make it look good. Seeing as the blue/white edge looked pretty good, I just decided to leave it alone.
- So, seeing as I've got another complete kit now, I will build that one too, hopefully with all of the decals intact. I'll likely replace the kit glass too and improve on a few other areas as well

For now though, I'm going to finish this one off and call it done. Time to move on! Glad I built it though. I can see a couple more 1:43 scale kits in the future. I'd really like to tackle one of the Formula 1 kits (following lotus_man's thread closely!!!) Gotta get some experience and skills improved before I tackle the "good" kits!!

Murray

LOOKS GOOD,but i dont know why people like 43cars,it is cute,but its undetails,it looks like a toy more than a detailed model,the panel line is tough,the tires have no details.can somebody tell me why people like 43cars.even it is so expansive:(

If you think they lack detail, you're looking at the wrong kits! Tameo's WCT series are probably more detailed than Tamiya 1:20 F1 kits, and for ultimate detail, see if you can find some pictures of LP Creations work. They are amazing.

I like 1:43 for several reasons- the choice of subjects is enormous, they are easier to display in large numbers and they look good without adding to much extra detail. To my eye 1:24 looks like a toy unless you add a lot of detail to the average kit, where as with 1:43 you can add as much or little as you need and still get a model that displays well. There is also the different skills involved with 1:43. Often you have to work with different media (etch, machines, cast metal, resin etc), and the kit's don't just fall together. I guess it's horses for courses really...

Don't want to hijack Murray's thread, but thats my :2cents: !

It's very nice.
Just in time for rally model contest! :-)

I know that many 43CARS are well details,but its too expansive for its scale,and the carbon fiber on it looks very strange.obviously tough,is there some reason why people like mini scale?easy to display or easy to build?(i dont think so)mini scale always means hard work:(

Remember too that the pictures you see have been blown up twice as much as for a similar 1/24th scale car. See it in the flesh and it will look very different.

Good discussion...

I'll tell you why I built this 1:43 kit:
1. I've never done one before, so I wanted to try it. I like to try different things and don't like limiting myself to one type of kit/project. That's just boring (at least in my eyes...)
2. I wanted to improve my overall model building skills before tackling some bigger projects. Working in 1:43 REALLY encourages you to have a critical eye for details. There's lots of areas I could have improved on this kit, but I'm glad it's done, and now I'll move on to something else. Bottom line is that I had LOTS of fun building it and challenged some of my skills.

Bang-for-the-buck is not an issue for me in deciding what to build. I do appreciate the higher-quality kits, and generally don't have a problem with spending extra dollars for them. The dollars are peanuts compared to the time and hours you've put into the finished product. In contrast, this little kit cost about $7 CDN, so in my eyes, the finished product far exceeded my expectations.

Building this little kit has encouraged me to look at more 1:43 scale kits. I have a renewed appreciation of the skill it takes to build a good clean 1:43 kit. I have a lot of respect for these builders and the products they churn out. As lotus_man and rallyraider suggest, there are some really awesome 1:43 scale kits out there, and I fully intend to try one of them out. I am glad that I 'cut-my-teeth' on this little project as a 'learning-experience' and I will proudly display it with my small collection of other builds.

To each his own, but in the end if you really want to know 'why' I spent my money on it, the answer is simple: Because it was fun, and I learned something new!

Now, what should I open next?? Perhaps a 1:12 Racing bike!! Or maybe one of those Gundam kits!! Oh, I've got a couple 1:20 Formula 1 kits I'm dying to jump into too!! Whatever it is, it will be fun!

Murray

I think Murray has summed up modelling pretty well there. Build what you want, and build what you enjoy. Sure I build mostly 1:43 F1 and Le Man cars. But I do the odd 1:24 tuner, th odd 1:12 motor cycle, some 1:48 aircraft and I even paint some Warhammer figures on occasion. I do what I enjoy, and skills from one type of model help with what ever else I do.