Progress: Lancia Stratos 1977 Monte Carlo

[winstona]

Hi all,

This is the Hasegawa version. Mostly OOB but added seat belts and modified the chair by adding two metal looking rods made by paper clips.

I have been building this for a while but the progress has been very slow...

I have seen this built quite a few times here in this forum and I would like to submit my version of it. I know it may not stack up to some of the best, but I really would like to share it here with everyone to may be get some feedback!

Here is the interior 80% done:



Wheels with a slight black wash:



Close up shot of the front:



Side shot of the body 80% complete:



Finally a shot showing the polished body:



I know the scariest part of this model is yet to come...attaching the body to the chasis can be a nightmare from what I read here. Hopefully it will be smooth when the time comes.

Winston

[sportracer02]

Looks cool, great job on the decals on the front cover !!!

[stevenoble]

Excellent work so far.

[generationx]

Excellent work on the body with great decal application over the front grille and a lovely shine. Seatbelts look great, and I like the wash on the wheels, give them a real depth".

Keep it up, and take care with getting that body on! I took it very slowly and gently, it goes ok if you're careful.

[NissanSkylineGTR98]

Looks awesome!

[cinqster]

The paint finish and weathering looks really great winstona - looks like Hasagawa just about got it right

I've just started the 1/12th Doyusha version which I thought was quite accurate until I did some research - now looks like Doyusha threw this thing together!

1. Decals are from the '75/76 Alitalia version and are blotchy (Alitalia logos for rear wings too small, no green for the sidelight cutouts and Bertone logos in white rather than black) Looks like I'l be painting the green then.

2. There's no tyre for the spare (first job is to cast a new one - Grrrr)

3. Exhaust tips are incorrect.

4. Molded numberplates have the numbers for the earlier sister car TOM 54374. There's decals for the correct numberplate but the rear one is square which is incorrect for the Monte!

5. There's no fuel cap flaps provided.

Why don't these manufacturers do their research before they put these kits into production!

[RallyRaider]

Good luck getting that body on, everything is lookin stellar at the moment.

[winstona]

I have made some progress today...

However, the worst fear I had happend! @#@$#$#! The body Cracked after I 've placed the body on the chasis! A few other parts fell off too...I sort of expected this to happen, as I should not have filled that area with putty...

Even though the crack is not too noticable when viewing from the side and front, it still is heartbreaking...

The Crack:



I don't think this is fixable...Arrgghhh. I wanna cry.

But on the brightside, the car seems to be looking great aside from that crack. Here are some more pics:

The interior:



The seat through the window:


The weird seating of the wheel:


Side view:


View from the back:


This is close to complete and even though for the crack on the body, I am still enjoying every minute of it.

Winston

[robrex]

That crack is heart breaking!
Everything else looks excellent!

[RallyRaider]

Yes I can imagine it would be heartbreaking, and coming at at point when there is nothing much you can to about it either. Did the plastic crack or did the wheel arch pull away from the body? If the latter what type of glue did you ust to attach the wheelarches?

[David Napier]

Things were looking so good there, you must be gutted, dont give up on this model though, maybe try weathering it? A coat of dirt around it will soon hide the crack, go on do it into a diorama :-)

[winstona]

Originally Posted by RallyRaider

Yes I can imagine it would be heartbreaking, and coming at at point when there is nothing much you can to about it either. Did the plastic crack or did the wheel arch pull away from the body? If the latter what type of glue did you ust to attach the wheelarches?

I used super glue and epoxy putty to attach the arch to the body. Then I used putty to hide the gap and sand it smooth. Before doing that, I did not realize I have to stretch the body so much to get it on the chasis. If I would have known earlier, I probaly would not use putty at all. I looked at some reference pictures and that arch should not be smooth anyways...But I have already done it.

So basically, the arch pulled away from the body.

Winston

[Marco T]

Nice job so far, crack aside.

Has to be one of my all time favourite rally cars. I have the Hasegawa kit and would like to get on with building it soon. The body to chassis thing seems a bit daunting but a cracked arch is much better than left in the box unbuilt & gathering dust.

[RallyRaider]

Perhaps in hindsight you should have used liquid plastic cement. The type that dissolves the styrene and welds it together. Forms very strong bonds between parts as it basically fuses them into one. Doesn't help you but may be a good warning to those who build this kit in the future (including me!).

[935k3]

I was afraid of building this kit because of the stretching of the body. My solution was to cut the rear deck loose. This allows you to pass the chassis through the back with out stretching the body. I just made some tabs and made the rear snap back in place. It has to be done with the wheels off. I was also able to extend the front fender wells to fill the body better. I highly recommend this method to any one who has been intimidated by this kit.