Lancia Delta S4: Engine and chassis

The last of the Group B cars, the rules were rewritten the following year after an S4 was involved in a fatal accident. But meantime here's a 1.8 litre motor with both turbocharger and supercharger, sitting in the back seat of what had once been a little hatchback and making 600 hp.It will look fine next to the other Lancias in the fleet (Beta Monte Carlo, 037 and a pair of Strati).

Here's the motor, complete with intercoolers, before it disappears into the chassis.

Chassis bits are coming together, starting with the rear. 

There's an engine in there somewhere, buried under all those intercoolers. I think the air filter housing needs to be rubber-coloured, not this poor painted approximation of fibreglass.

The front is also together. Next will be the interior. 

A lovely kit by Beemax-Aoshima, everything lines up and fits with lots of detail rewarding careful painting and assembly. The dress-up kit is not as nice as some, though. The "fiberglass" decals are not terribly convincing but are better than flat desert sand. 

Stay tuned!

Triumph GT6+ update

Build a crappy kit they said ... the doors have been put into the body, and the dashboard attached to the interior as per instructions. A new windshield has been made from 0.010" clear sheet plastic. So far so good. 

But for the record: the door hinges, once the body has been stretched over the interior and chassis, don't clear the dash. So the body will have to be carefully removed and the Dremel brought to bear. 

 

 

This would have been a lot more obvious if the dash had been attached to the body rather than the interior. 

So it's on the Shelf of Doom for now. Stay tuned!

Thundering Lightning: Complete (#17 for 2021)

Started 3 years ago, this mid-engine, cab-forward Thunderbird joins my Starliner from 20+ years ago. The Allison will probably outdrag the 390, assuming the tires will take it... 

I am particularly pleased with the canopy, which is a clear plastic spoon from Costco. 

 

What's next? Hard to say. The GT6+ is still eyeing me from the Shelf of Doom... Maybe I'll try something easier, like a Model Factory Hiro kit. Stay tuned!

Thundering Lightning: update

About three years ago, inspired by the Model King Allison Thunderland kit, I decided to build my own version (click here) of an Allison-powered Thunderbird. It's been on the shelf of doom ever since, really just needing a bit of putty and sanding before putting on the paint. 

This involved a mid-engine design with a gearbox from a Freightliner and Corvette hubs on a transverse leaf. (Front suspension is the standard Thunderbird setup.) Yes, woefully inadequate at full scale, but this is at 1/25.  

It also involved a forward-control driving position under a clear canopy made from a clear plastic spoon from Costco. I also debated using the upper body and tail fin from a 1/48 WWII warplane (Spitfire or equivalent) but decided to keep it subtle.

The latest update involves a scratchbuilt scoop for the carburettor, more putty and sanding, and a final coat of primer. Colour went on and it's looking good in my view; just the suspension to fix and some final detailing. 

 What's next? Hard to say! There's a Triumph GT6 on the Shelf of Doom... Stay tuned.

Triumph GT6+: Chassis and drivetrain

Build a crappy kit, they said. It will be fun, they said. It will build character. Righto then. This Lindberg kit certainly qualifies as a lousy kit by modern standards, with its multi-piece body and opening doors. 

A lot of questionable bits had to be replaced, along with the usual plug wiring (which actually matches both firing order and distributor rotation). Modifications included replacing an unidentifiable lump with three Webers taken from the AMT Cobra kit, mounted on scratchbuilt manifolding. 

 

The chassis was lowered by modifying the axle mounting points. This in turn required carving a deep slot through the oil pan. Disc brakes and Minilites from Scale Productions round out the chassis. And yes, the calipers ought to be behind the axle line, not ahead. Sue me. 

Paint is a classic scheme of BRG with a yellow stripe. 

The GT6 was a lovely little coupe. Essentially a coupe version of the 4 cylinder Spitfire, it came with a smooth inline 6 of 2 litres. This was used in the Triumph 2000 sedan, but not the TR6 which had a different 2.5. I enjoyed driving them when in the garage, even if Giles is finding the cockpit as cramped as I did. 

 One odd feature, shared with the big Healeys, was the removable transmission tunnel that allowed the gearbox to be pulled out through the passenger's door when changing the clutch.

The interior is pretty basic but some careful brushwork highlights what there is. The chassis is on its wheels, and paint is drying on a couple of minor fixes on the body. Next is all the trim around the body and dealing with hinges.

At least the test fit looks sort of decent... It sits a bit higher than I would like in the front but is as good as it is going to get.

Wish me luck, the hood hinge in particular looks to be a major fiddle. Stay tuned!

1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B: Complete (#16 for 2021)

Although I prefer to build accurate motors and chassis, I have a number of curbside kits in the stash. Like this Alfa from Profil 24, they are iconic and unavailable anywhere else, let alone with engine or chassis detail. 

So given that the entire value of the build resides in the finish of the body, long one of my weak points, this is an opportunity to work on the paint and trim.

This Art Deco device, designed by Carrozerria Touring, was driven at Le Mans by Raymond Sommer and Clemente Biondetti, where it failed to finish due to a broken valve. 

The long, long hood is required by the long and narrow supercharged straight 8, which makes 220 hp from 2.9 litres. At 76 hp/l, this isn't bad, but is surpassed by the 80 hp/l developed by the 1949 Le Mans winning Ferrari 166 MM, a V12 with atmospheric induction. Big bores rule. 

There are a few flaws; but it will do. (No, I'm not going to point them out; you'll have to find them yourself). The Profil 24 kit is typical and requires careful fitting and cutting. 

My spreadsheet says 144 kits are done, 13 are Works In Progress (a.k.a on the Shelf of Doom), and there are 232 unstarted kits on the shelf. On to the next one!

Ford F100 (Cobra Racing Team) complete (#15 for 2021)

The just completed Cobra 289 came in a large package with the F100 and a trailer; here is the F100. 

 

 

A very nice kit, actually; I built the standard flathead motor complete with single barrel carb and crossover exhaust pipe, but the kit comes with a hemi option with lots of carbs and sidepipes.

I swapped the tires for bigger ones from the parts bin, and will find a better trailer hitch. Tools came from the kit and from a couple of photo-etched aftermarket bits by Highlight Model Studio.

Otherwise it is pretty well out of box. Unlike the decent level of detail in the rest of the kit, though, the trailer is pretty simple (no tail lights, no license plate, no ramps, etc.), so I will dig out the Aoshima kit of the Brian James trailer. Stay tuned!