Skip to main content

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've been working on was the rear bumper. The joint between the body and bumper parts isn't razor sharp. There were a few dents and deformations leading to a rough joint with several (small) gaps.
 
 
I decided to try and fill the gaps with pieces of styrene strip. After the glue had set I tried to get the joint area as straight as possible. Which proved rather problematic as there are some protruding studs for alignment on the body.
As the bumper appeared a bit too wide near the ends I used some pins to make fitting and gluing the rear bumper to the body an easier process. 
 
 
Initially everything looks reasonably okay. Now let's wait and see how everything looks under a layer of primer.

Next I took to the intake opening in the front bumper. I already removed most of the solid plastic of the main opening. But after studying the reference images I concluded that I needed to remove the two remaining sections either side of the opening too.
 
 
While I was at it, I also removed the plastic above the intake behind the Citroën logo.
For all the removed sections I have made blanking plates which will be painted flat black to give a sense of depth and to ease the painting (at least, that's the theory).
 
 
With the opening up of the holes, the work on the body was nearly finished.
Before committing to primer I wanted to add the towing eyes to the car. The moulded stumps passing for towing eyes were removed and replaced with PE versions.
This proved easier said than done. As I needed to make a small slit in the body to fit the towing eye.
After determining the position I first drilled a few holes with a 0.4 mm drill bit. After that I connected the holes to make a slit.
 
 
To aid the positioning of the towing eye on the rear I used copies of the kit decals and reference images. The front one was a bit easier to position luckily. I had to cut a piece of the PE part though, as the towing eye sits rather deep into the front bumper (as seen in reference images).


Now the body was ready for primer.
First I washed the parts in soapy water to get rid of all the sanding dust and grease and so on.
 
After a first coat of primer this is how the parts look.
 


 
As can be seen, the primer highlights perfectly the areas needing some additional work (and there are quite a few of them). Apart from that it appears that I need to thin the primer a bit, as the coat is very rough, which didn't happen when priming the Aston Martin several months back (using the same primer).

How this additional work will turn out I will show you in the next update. Until then.

Comments

  1. Thanks for these updates. I’m looking at (eventually) taking on Duval’s 2005 Rally Australia winning Citroën Xsara WRC, so I’m learning a lot about what to expect here!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Trevor.
      Thanks for you reaction. I'm glad you like my build reports and hope they will offer you some tips when you start your build.
      This is definitely not a Tamiya kit. But it can be made to look half decent I think. It just needs some TLC and good planning.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Euro Model Expo 2015

Last weekend I went to the Euro Model Expo event in Heiden, Germany. The event was spread over 2 days. I visited on the first day, Saturday March 28th. Just like last year the location was packed with stands occupied by a good mix of vendors and modelling clubs. The quality of the models on show, it being on the club stands or the competition area, was once again very high. During the day members of the Belgian modelling club KMK-Scaleworld were giving demonstrations of several modelling techniques. I decided to visit the demonstration of Jeroen Veen who showed the public several aircraft painting and weathering techniques. For me, as a n00b on aircraft, it was a very interesting and entertaining demonstration and I hope to apply some of the techniques I saw to my coming build of the 1/48 Tamiya Lancaster I got waiting. It was also a nice occassion to talk to some fellow modellers. Amongst others I had a nice chat with Sascha Müller who had a stunning diorama of a Le M

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 2)

As promised, only a few days since the first part, here's the second part of this build. Once in a while I tend to keep a promise... As mentioned in the previous part I have been studying the manual to figure out what needs to be modified for this build. A few things were already shown in the previous part. Here I will discuss the other modifications I'm planning. This will be a nice exercise for when I'm going to build Gigi Galli's slightly beaten Xsara WRC from rally Portugal 2007... Renaissance transkit 24/96 contains a PE sheet with mesh sections for the vents in the hood and the main grille in the front bumper. Renaissance tells you to glue the mesh over the appropriate sections of the body. But I'm intending to remove the plastic and create some sort of box under/behind the openings to suggest depth. The body needs some parts removed and filled. The molded quick-release bonnet and boot pins need to be removed as they will be replaced with PE items. The holes