Subaru Impreza WRC 2003 Rally Cyprus Solberg

[potsie]

A few photos of my Subaru Impreza WRC as driven by Petter Solberg to his second WRC win - and first for the 2003 Championship year. I actually started this project because for some reason I thought it was Petter's first ever win, as I had forgotten about his win in Rally GB of 2002 - my first mistake!

I used the Tamiya 2004 Rally Japan as a starting point, and consequently made my second mistake. Apart from some differences in bumpers and aerodynamic fiddly bits, the main difference is the inclusion of a roof mounted air intake in 2003 Cyprus. I did not realise this until far too late, i.e. after painting/decalling/waxing, so my model is without the roof scoop.

Speaking of decals, I used the Crazy Modeller decals for this project - reference #CM-DC0051. This set comes with full decals (including appropriate "555" decals) for Petter's and Tommi's cars from the 2003 rallies of Argentina, Acropolis and Cyprus. It also has the number plates, but not rally plates, for the 2003 Monte Carlo. Of particular interest is the Argentina livery, which included some commemorative markings to mourn the tragic early death of Possum Bourne. As a bonus, Crazy Modeller have included a full second set of the "555" decals (at least in my set), due to some very slight problems with the original print. Thus it is possible to make two cars, from two different rallies, from this one set of decals, albeit with slightly lesser quality decals on one car.

On the topic of decal quality, I must say I was pleasantly surprised with these decals. Given their relative price, and unknown printer (not Cartograf, but ??), I was expecting a few problems. However, the decals behave very nicely, and responded well to MicroSol/Set. They are perhaps a little thin, and I managed to damage one or two during waxing. Also, the yellow colour is perhaps not as bright as it could be (see photo below with Tamiya decalled 2001WRC Impreza). The only major criticism I can level at these decals in that the number plates are in fact incorrect - they are all in the format 'S 80 SRT', with different numbers for different drivers and rallies. However, the correct plates for the 2003 season (at least according to my reference photos and season review DVD) should be 'S 80 XRT', etc. Again, I unfortunately realised this error too late - I really must study my reference material better

Other than that the build is pretty much OOTB. I used the Tamiya PE set. And before anyone points it out, the rear spoiler/wing was all blue in 2003 - no exposed carbon = easy paint job!

Sorry for rambling on. Here are the photos. As always comments/feedback welcome.

Grant.

[hompe]

Nice love it!

[hrmodeler]

Very nice work, even you said that have mistaks!

[RallyRaider]

Great work Grant, really looks the business in those shots!
And always a good idea to point the inaccuracies out before somebody else does it for you.
If I could make one suggestion it woud be to replace those antennas with some thin stretched sprue or metal rod. Would make the whole model appear more in scale IMHO.

[Eero15]

Really nice and clean build!I love it!

[stevenoble]

Very beautiful model,nicely built.The interior is impressive.The third picture down looks great,there is a slight glint off one of the lights,looks real.

[PatRedmond]

Awesome !!

[MidMazar]

Looks good, very clean job.

[potsie]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Phil, your are correct in that the antennas (antennae??) look out of scale. Do you use one of the aftermarket kits for antennas? If so which one? Or do you just use the heated sprue / small gauge wire? I've always preferred the little bit of rod you got with the early Hasegawa kits. I was thinking maybe trying the coiled fuse wire I have seen others use.

Cheers,
Grant.

[RallyRaider]

I used to use stretched sprue Grant, but too many broken or bent antennae at comps forced me to change to metal rod like in the Hasegawa kits. I use Sakastsu .2 or .3mm nickle metal rod along with antenna bases from M&A or Sakatsu.

[DerXL]

That's a great looking model of a great subject. I love those rally cars.
A very nice and clean build. I really like it.

Concerning the post of RallyRaider about the antenna's:
Could you (Phil) please tell me (but I don't think I'm the only one who is interested) where you buy your Sakatsu items ?
I tried MediaMix, but they always seem to be out of stock.
I've several rally cars to build, and I must say that those antenna-bases from Sakatsu look the biz.

[RallyRaider]

Axel, I've bought Sakatsu items from the usual suspects. Rainbow 10, HLJ and Mediamix, tried hobbyworld once but they are a bit of a ripoff IMHO. No other special sources I can recall sorry. Yes Sakatsu parts are often out of stock, you just have to be patient and buy in bulk when they do become available.

For rallycars the M&A antenna bases are even better than Sakatsu's. However they are also harder to find. Only place I've seen them online is Rainbow 10 and they only ever have them in stock once a year or two.

[NissanSkylineGTR98]

Looks great, the detail is superb.

[dmacb]

Very well done!

[rallymaster]

Hello,

nice build !

My tip concerning antennas:
Try toi find piano wires, that's almost the same item that what is put on hasegawa kits and even better, because i find hasegawa antennas a little bit to thick.
piano wire is strong but relatively soft (that could be twisted) and very cheap.
I used some in 1/43 scale, heated sprue being too weak (or doesn't keep straight line and only give twisted antennas when it shoudn't !)

Phil