Chevrolet Cruze WTCC TC1 - Tom Coronel (part 1)

And off we go with another project.
But this won't be a quick one (as if I ever had quick projects...) as there's quite an amount of plastic surgery involved...

Ever since I got the ZoomOn transkit in my possession (discussed here) I've been very eager to get working on this one.
But I tried to keep my cool and finish one of the unfinished builds first.

Well. I can tell now that that plan has failed...

As a matter of fact, I was so eager to get going on this one, that I forgot to take some pictures showing the original body of the car (as supplied in the kit).

So, what's the plan?
Base kit is the Aoshima/Beemax Chevrolet Cruze WTCC.
This will be enhanced with the transkit by ZoomOn.

Before starting with the chassis I wanted to get the body sorted first as I suspected this was going to take a fair amount of work.

First step was easy. To remove the front of the original body.
Well, okay, not that easy, because there was some delicate cutting to do. But all went well.

After seperating the front of the body the rear bumper and side skirts were next.
In the instructions is shown which parts to remove from the body. It would have been nice if ZoomOn had provided a template for this. But with some test fitting of the skirts it was possible to make my own template. A great test case for my newest toy...

Which performed flawlessly. But that's not to say that all went without a hitch.
Looking at the finished model that is shown on the ZoomOn site, I've got some filling and sanding to do to get it to look even close...

Fitment of the rear bumper is very tight at the moment. I'm still contemplating if I should remove more material. I fear that the tension left in the parts might result in the bond coming loose over time.

More to come in a next update (which migth take some time...)

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Citroën Xsara WRC - Francois Duval, ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2007 (part 6)

Welcome to the next part of this build report. I left you last time (or should I say long, long ago...) with the images of the primed body, floor and roll cage, showing that there was some work to do to get everything ready for some color. In this update I will show you how far I got with these parts. I'll start with the body and floor. Sanding everything back turned out to be quite a bit of work. And of course there were several areas still in need of attention. Especially around the wheel arches there was a lot of additional work left. Luckily, with the car in tarmac setup, there's not much room left to see the remaining rough spots that have survived the clean up process... Which leads me to the conclusion that I could have cut some corners in this particular area by only cleaning up the most visible sections. It's a good lesson to check beforehand what is actually visible when the car is built together. I'll definitely be cutting some corners for the other two ...

Citroën Xsara WRC - Francois Duval, ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2007 (part 1)

And off we go on another project. When modelling WRC subjects, you cannot ignore the Citroën Xsara WRC as it is some kind of legend. Especially in the hands of a certain French driver. That's why I have 3 Xsara kits in my stash. None of said driver, that is. But rest assured, he is also present in my WRC collection. With this particular build I'm going to build the car that Francois Duval drove so expertly to the runner-up spot in the 2007 ADAC Rallye Deutschland. Sadly, where the Citroën Xsara WRC is a bit of a legend, the same thing can not be said of the only injection moulded kit if the same car... As said, there's not much choice, as Heller is the only kit manufacturer for this car (although the same kit has also been released by Airfix and Italeri). For this build I'll be using Heller kit no. 80769. Let's just say,it's not a Tamiya kit... By far. For several reasons I chose this particular car because I like the livery and I like Francois Duval too beca...

Citroën Xsara WRC - Francois Duval, ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2007 (part 5)

As promised in the previous part in this update I'll show what I changed on the roll cage. The roll cage as included in the kit is far from complete. When looking at on-board footage and reference images found on the internet the roll cage needs some extra tubing added. Over the years the roll cage of the Xsara WRC has had several variants as I've noticed studying my reference images. Which isn't that strange as the crash test and safety regulations have changed over the years. The reference images I have of the specific chassis (#28) which Duval raced during the 2007 ADAC Rallye Deutschland are sadly inconclusive about which version of the roll cage was fitted. Which means that the adaptations I made are at best a good "guesstimate"... As long as it looks and feels right, it is right I guess... I used Evergreen styrene rod of 1.6 mm in diameter for the added sections for the rollcage. The added sections are highlighted in the images below. Another section I...

Axel's corner

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