Hasegawa Lancia Rally 037 Alen Kivimaki Tour de Corse 1984

[corrrado]

The Lancia Rally 037 is inarguably one of the best looking rally car ever built second to the Stratos from the same manufacturer. It's imposingly sleek figure was designed by Pininfarina after the extensive developpment led by Sergio Limone. It's controversial rear wheel drive and supercharged engine was an odd solution in 1982 against the mighty Audi Quattro with its turbocharged four wheel drive configuration. Yet, thanks to the extensive expertise and knowledge of Giorgio Pianta and the extremely ambitious drivers like Röhrl, Alen and Toivonen, the car clinched the manufactures' title in 1983 against al the odds. There is this video with Jeremy Clarkson who show the stoy in his funny interpretation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lo4dGTrzr8 Tour de Corse in 1984 marked two important things: the debute of the infamous Peugeot 205 T16 and the last victory for the 037. It is an all asphalt event with an expectation of yieldinng the lighter 2WD cars but Vatanen put an extraordinary effort to lead most of the rally until he crashed out. Alen was consistent and inherited the lead until the end. By this time Lancia knew they have to come up with something against the Peugeots - which they eventually found in the 1985 RAC rally The Hasegawa kit is an ever classic model, been around for decades. I've been collecting all the aftermarket parts for years to have enough material to start the kit. The green light came when I came across the engine compartment kit, 3D printed by Claudio de Bellis. It is an astonishing kit which replaces all the shortcomings of the Hasegawa engine and it's sorroundings. So, I started the kit with improving the front frame/suspension area to give some visual balance to the excellent rear part. Here are some pics of the process:

[bullroad]

impressionate, very good start..
Bravo

[corrrado]

Grazie Bullroad! I made some progress on the front suspension, added the lower and upper arms to the frame. Also started to build the coilover-shockabsorbers. I used 2, 3 and 4 mm rods and scribed 6 grooves on each for representing the adjustability on the shock heights. For the arms I used RB Motion rod ends. Until the final setup of the arms angles I'll keep the kit's inner arm to keep the height and position to the original. After painting and glueing the arms in position, I'll remove the inner arm

[JesusM]

I did not see this project until now!! Really impressive!! This is the kind of projects i love!! I'll take a lot of tips of your amazing work!
Well done!!

[corrrado]

Thank you Jesus! Yes this is a kit I always wanted to do and now with the excellent engine kit from Claudio it can be completed in a proper way. Although I haven't got much time for modeling recently... I added 0,5 mm wire to the lower front frame as a stronger support for the radiators and the hood. I finished the shocks and started to work on the radiators. I wanted to make a fiberglass airbox for the oil cooler so I made it from 0,3 mm plexi to have a transparent effect, the same as fiberglass has. Then I glued one layer of some tissue paper (handkerchief) on it with Tamiya Cement. Than I painted it with a mix of transparent yellow, smoke, gloss and matt clear in this ratio: 2-1-5-5. The colors have to be diluted well with the clears to be desaturated. I hope to put together the front part soon so I can start the exciting engine compartment

[JesusM]

Wow...this is the kind of tips i love!! The plexi and the colors!!!
Thanks for sharing!!

[puffyrs]

This is coming on well

[denilsonvm]

Excellent!

[JesusM]

Cerrado, is that plexy a bit opaque? Or is it the common transparent evergreen?

[corrrado]

Hello Jesus, it is normal transparent plexi or styrene, in fact was some fruit container box. I sanded it only to be able to see the lines I drew on it where to cut it. Once you paint it, it will fill the sandmarks and will be transparent again. That is why I applied some tissue to loose the transparency. I am just making the battery and for this I used the same method but in this case the paint was clear, matt clear and white in 5-5-1 proportion. I like the result which gives the semi transparent feel to the battery

[JesusM]

Absolutely!!! Good tip!!! Thanks for sharing!!

[corrrado]

Through the years I looked at several 037s in real life and on photos and I felt that the Hasegawa kit is perfect, except the front. It looks too blocky and too squared compare to the original. It also looks a bit too wide compare to the photos. So I cut out the grill first then cut off the front and made it 1.5mm narrower to get the same feel as the real car. This is the beginning, I'll post some more photos of the result

[corrrado]

[JesusM]

Good improvement and dificult!! But you Will do it fine!! I've seen it in a FB friend.

[corrrado]

I almost finished the front correction of the Lancia, only the lower side areas and filling the center parts needs to be done. I like the shape much better now, it is closer to the original curvy shape