Ari Vatanen Peugeot 405T16GR

[WRCfan]

Have brought the 1990 Paris Dakar rally winning Peugeot 405T16 rally car of Ari Vatanen.

Thinking I had a great find, I brought the kitset home and discovered that the body has been squashed after coming out of the mould. At this stage the kitset was rendered useless. However I went home in March and found my fathers broken kit. I have brought the body and remainder of the model back and will has 2 kits to make one.

This kit is particulary special, it is the car of my all-time favourite rally driver - Ari Vatanen. Another reason it is special is because Ari and I are in contact and in August I will get to meet the man in person.

One benefit of this kit being a Japanese release is that the Camel tobacco markings are included in the kit standard. My father's one brought in New Zealand did not include these markings so that is a bonus.

I did some research on the car and found out that this is a base model of the Peugeot 405 however all the technology for this car was taken from the 206T16 GroupB rally cars of the 1980's. The pre-runner to this car was actually a 205T16 long wheel base, then this was the machine specially designed for the Dakar itself. They used some real talent in the early stages with this car, Ari Vatanen, Bjorn Waldegard and Juha Kankkunen. Some of the most famous names in rallying were behind the sucess of this machine in early days.

Here is a few photos of the real machine, and also the model. Up to now the body has been separated off the old machine and will be cleaned up to new paint and decals.

Any advice, additional photo resources you know of would be much appreciated! (especially engine bay and spare wheel)





A webpage with some reference shots of the car: http://classicrallymodels.piczo.com/...linkvar=000044

[924_CarreraGTS]

Sounds like a cool project. I'm looking forward to seeing more progress. Lucky that you were able to get that other kit!

Alex

[ChillyB1]

Always nice to see another one of these.
Check out this thread:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...ht=peugeot+405

There are a couple of forum members who can help with information and photographs. I'm sure they will be checking out this thread.

[rallymaster]

Originally Posted by WRCfan

This kit is particulary special, it is the car of my all-time favourite rally driver - Ari Vatanen.

yes, a new friend of mine !!!!
shall I call you buddy ?
Because Ari is also my everytime favorite driver !!!
I try to reproduce as much 1/43 models of his cars as possible...
And pf course also have some 1/24 models to build as this Peugeot 405 GR !
PM me your email and I'll send you everything I already sent to the other member.
(pictures from Peugeot museum for example)

[WRCfan]

That would be awesome! It seems this car is the least documented rally car of all time. It is very hard to find pics of and possibly was not sold on after events like other historic rally cars...

It's great to see another Vatanen fan. The guy is so down to earth, I found his original Ford Escort RS1800 from the Rally New Zealand (rego IF780) and forwarded him on some pictures. He was shocked it was still running after how many times he crashed it in the event. Since then we have been in regular contact so it is really cool.

Will hold off on too much of the 405 until I can see some of you photos

Much appreciated.

WRCfan

[zakspeed]

I like what you are doing..Cool too see..
I am glad to see that i am not the only one who has ari vatanen as their favorite rally driver.. I love the way he drove the rothmans escort rs1800, peugeot 205 t16, bmw m3 and so on......

Good luck with you project

[sam01contact]

Yeah! It's great to see someone else building this great car!!

I have a ton of photos I can send you! PM me and I'll send all the goodies!

[rallymaster]

Hi Aaron,
I sent the pics, did you receive them ?

[sam01contact]

Me too! Please let me know if you got the pics.

[WRCfan]

Good moring all. The weather in Japan has entered 'rainy season' and this makes is all but impossible for spray painting with all the moisture in the air.

The Peugeot is slowly progressing. I have put the back suspension together and put the engine block together. The wheels are in their 1st coat of primer too. Rallymaster and sam01contact have sent me photos of the real car for references and this is VERY much appreciated. Great to finally see the photos of the real machine and not rely on Tamiya's painting guide.

I have pulled this one out again today to continue on with what I can, tomorrow is bright sun and hot here so I can spray paint what needs spraying which is great. Here is a couple shots of where I am up to now. One bonus of having my father's old kitset is that for the spare wheel I will not need to use the plastic spare wheel. I am drilling the nuts off one of his wheels and will use the real sized wheel with rubber tyre. Will add straps to the spare also so I can display it with back canopy off.



Thanks for all the interest in this build.

Aaron

[rallymaster]

Ok good to see you got the pics !

Replacing the poor undersized molded spare wheel by a real size spare wheel is part of my plan for this model, too...
good to have a spare kit, I will have to sacrify one for that, but it won't be a too big problem as I already have one built kit of the model (my seconde build ever years ago) and it will leave its place to the new one so it can give a wheel !
I also would like to open the doors but humm I will see when building the model...

I'll follow your build, go on man !

[WRCfan]

Have progressed a little today. I shot the back guards in a sand/earth colour spray. I want to look at wiring the back diff a little although will see about that tomorrow. Also shot the cockpit floor in first coat of primer and will hopefully get that put in paint as well. I will be detailing the cockpit with some wiring also as this is the most obvious part of the kitset. Opened up the holes in the seat for the harnesses as i was closed. Seats will just have belt decals from a Tamiya WRC car put on them and so on. The pics are great for referencing the car so will make the work on cockpit easy.

Photos to come tomorrow.

[WRCfan]

Have been making slow but steady progress. I have shot the cockpit tub in primer and white. Wheels have been painted and stickered up.

As everyone experiences with this kit, the exhaust pieces are HOLLOW in the kit. Thus I am stuck on this part of the engine until I am able to get into the local hobby store for some putty to fill it.

Here's a couple of teaser photos...



WRCfan

[WRCfan]

A little more progress on the Pug. Engine is in, I have decided to leave detailing it as it didn't come out very nice in my opinion so will leave it covered up and hidden away. I have added some wires to the cockpit and will detail that up more.

Wheels are now on, and once cockpit is finished I need to strip the body of old decals and paint then the kit is on the home straight to be finished...

Comments welcome as always
WRCfan

[sam01contact]

I like it!!

The model looks clean and flawless. This is a hard kit to detail and you are doing great!!