Volkswagen Golf - Manx International Rally 1997

Here we go, hopefully I can learn from all the mistakes of my Seat Cordoba build. 

Interestingly the kit was packed with scrunched up junk mail. I'm not sure if is deliberate recycling or just they ran out of bubble wrap. But it means we get an insight into the last year's top supermarket deals from Poland 😄 

Learning from mistake number 1 I have trimmed and washed everything up front. There were a few little breakages but nothing that can't be fixed. 

However my desk looks like that scene from Scarface. Learning from mistake number 2 I need to clean all of this up otherwise if is going to sick to everything later. 

So say hello to my little friend 

All tidied up and ready to go. Also all that dust is probably not good for the lungs. 

The lower grill not quite right and broke when I tried to trim i to shape. It took a bit of fiddling but I got it looking reasonable. I also filed too much off one of th headlights getting it to fit so I had to fill it. 

It wasn't clear how to fit the wing mirrors but with a bit of filler I got them installed. 

Repaired all the small imperfections and breakages. 

The roll cage looks decent but it will need a bit of work to get it to fit. 

Learning from mistake 3 I primed everything. The primer still didn't stick to well so I made a new mistake and miked some glue in with the primer. It stick a lot better but the surface was all rough and bumpy. I only did that on the underside so it is not a big deal. 

At this point I realised there were 2 parts missing from this kit. Firstly the pedals, I may fashion a replacement or just leave it. Secondly there was only one set of clear plastic for the windows. Now where am I going to get a suitable piece of clear plastic to replace it? 

I've found my replacement windows, oh the sacrifices I must make for this hobby! 

And now repeating one of my mistakes of the Seat build; not buying enough yellow paint. 

There are a bunch of non-yellow thing I can still do. The wheels look good. I wasn't sure what colour to do the springs, the instructions just said black but I painted them red because I thought it looked better. 

Rear wheel, they will need a bit of adjustment when it comes to fitting them. 

And the spare wheel done. 

Like the previous kit there are no interior decals so I just painted some vague details on the dash. 

 

And a few more interior details completed. 

I couldn't find any pictures of the interior but squinting at some exterior videos of the car I think the belts were black. I used some of the extra decals from the Volvo project which work nicely. 

That's the lights done. The front indicators on this kit are not right. I haven't made up my mind if I will use them as is or try and make something more accurate. 

Well that's as far as I can go without any more yellow paint. 

It's a Christmas miracle! I was not expecting this to get delivered before Christmas. Kudos to scalemates.com/shops/shop.php?id=589 for such prompt shipping. 

So the suspension is going to need a bit of work. 

After a couple of rounds of hacking out bits out of the suspension it is looking good. 

The final suspension set up. 

Stating to add interior details. 

A few more interior detail 

I thought the roll cage would need more adjustment but I think it will be okay. 

In the end I decided to add pedal. They are fairly crude but you will have to be looking at the model really closely to notice. 

I also decided to modify the indicators to add some more realistic vents. Again it is a bit rough but I'm glad I did it. 

The windows (including the ones made from the chocolate log box) and rear lights turned out well enough. 

The instructions said to glue the dash to the floor but it was nowhere near tall enough. So I attached it to the body with a chunk of putty. 

All the internal details fitted. 

The skid plate was really warped and snapped when I tried to straighten it. I glued it back together and the crack is not too noticeable. 

 

 

 

 

I added an aerial and a rear tow loop that weren't in the kit. ( I didn't add a front tow loop as I couldn't see where it was on any photos so I guess it must be not visible inside on of the front vents) 

All my VWs 

After Andrei's observations I have adjusted the rear spoiler. I think it looks much better now. 

 

I hadn't noticed before but the windscreen has started to come away at the top. I think I would end up doing more damage trying to fix it so I shall just leave it.