Audi Quattro 1981 Monte Carlo Rally

1981 Audi Quattro Monte Carlo Rally Complete

Fixed the windows, added the window brackets and the hood pins. Finally this is done. Will find time to take some better pictures with the good camera later.

Return to the workbench

Even though I still have a shit load of boxes to unpack, I returned to the work bench and worked on the Audi. Didn't do much, but it's a start.

Counting down

Only has a few pieces left: hood pins, windshield brackets, tail hatch latches and the big Quattro windshield decal. Very very close to getting it done.

Lazy

Got lazy again. All I did with this project was gluing 2 door handles. That's it. My progress is slower that glacial speed.

Australian GP will be held this weekend to kick off the 2013 season. In US, the broadcast right this season is switched to a cable channel that I have. So, I am getting ready to stay up late this weekend.

99%

Cut the axles and mounted the wheels. Car mounted to the old BBR case. I thought I used up all my old BBR cases. The same day I received the newly ordered BBR cases, the box of 3 old ones showed up. I'll save the new ones for later.

All that left are the tiny little things like hood pins, door handles, front license plate... etc.

Interior

Finally got all the belts done. That's all for the interior. Not shown in the pictures is the mounting nut. For F1 cars, ground clearance is small, so a tiny nylon washer is enough to mount them. But this time for a rally car, I need a standoff that is 0.25" tall which I don't have. So, I made one out of the wood dowel. Next up will be cutting the shafts to mount the wheels. But that will be for tomorrow. It's time to hit the sack.

80/20

 

 80/20 rule states that 80% of the outcome can be attributed to 20% of the causes. On the flip side, the last 20% of the outcome are from 80% of all the causes. Therefore, the last tiny bit to complete a project is always the most time consuming part. That's what I am facing now.

I am now discovering all this small details that I have to pay attention to. Last night, I found that there is the tow hook, all these hood pins, door handles, brackets... All tiny tiny pieces. Not to mention that I still have to finish the seat belts - out of the 8 shoulder belts and lap belts, I finished 3.

Even though I will still need a couple more days or weeks to finish this, I think I can start thinking about the next project. The 1/87 Porsche 911 GT1?

When masking tape is stronger than decal

Ran into some trouble last night. After a coat of clear over the decals, I was going to paint the window trim. So I put masking tape over. The problem is the bond between the decal and the white paint below failed at several spots. When I peel the tape off, there goes the decal.

Sigh... I was speechless.

Just checking

Spent Sunday working mostly on the interior. Put the wheels on just to see how the thing looks.

 

Back in 2011, I bought 5 cases with white base. The Ferrari 641/2 used up the last of that batch. So, recently I have been trying to find decent looking cases on eBay. I like the white ones, but no one is selling them anymore. I cannot leave the models not mounted, so last week I ordered a bunch of cases from BBR. I had BBR cases before. In fact, my first 1/43 F1 kit, the Ferrari F399 is in a BBR case. Took them a short while to process the order and just got a notice that they have shipped it. This time I ordered 6, hopefully they will last for a while.

Talking about display case. The model needs to be mounted to the base. I used to double sided tape and shims to hold the car to the base. It is not ideal. Then I started following blogs of other modelers and found that they drill and solder a nut to the base of the car and mount the car rigidly with screws. I started doing that since the BAR 006. For F1 cars, since only the cockpit is open, there are plenty of space that is not visible that I can mount the nut. Now, I am building this Audi road car, the center of the car is the cockpit, and it is not really a good place to put the mounting nut in. The only places left are the front and the back. I am still trying to decide where I should put that in.

Oil Cooler

When I first saw the rear wing, I was wondering why there is a vertical thing right under it. I've seen the road version of Ur-Quattro, there isn't such a thing there. Thank goodness I did not cut that off. In the 1981 rally car, Audi put the oil cooler right under the rear spoiler. The kit came with a piece of photo etched for the rear face of the oil cooler. But for the front that is facing the rear window, nothing but a piece of decal. That is not very realistic. The solution? Fabricate!

A couple pieces of brass rods, 2 pieces of brass; solder, file and drill; painted black and dry brush gun metal over...

Steering Wheel

Unbelievable efficiency! No wonder that giant online retailer is what it is. Book ordered yesterday, book delivered today. It has quite a number of historic rally photographs, mostly external shots, not many pictures of the inside of the car. That's a bit of a disappointment.

Back to the car. All I did was just fabricating the replacement steering wheel using copper wire and brass sheet soldered together. It does not look too bad. Should look ok once painted and is inside the car.

Pause

Finally found a reference book on the Audi Ur-Quattro rally car from that giant online bookseller. It will arrive on Friday. So, I'll stop working on the car and resume when the book is here.

Oh Crap!

I thought I won't be fabricating any more pieces for the Audi. I was wrong.

I forgot to turn down the soldering iron temperature and melted the steering wheel. So I will have to make a new one.

The windshield wipers were modified. They're drilled and pinned now instead of just gluing it.

And then the seats, the chassis, the dash, the mirrors and the wipers all got a coat of primer.

I suppose I should also plan this build using MS Project. At the minimum, the exercise forces me to think through what needs to be done.

Tomorrow I will have to take a trip to the art supply store to get the right size wire to make the steering wheel.

Get back on the horse

It took exactly a week, my apartment is finally back together. Cabinets put back, walls patched and repainted, floor and carpet cleaned.

Just when I had a routine going to build my cars little by little, it was interrupted by the busted pipe. Now I need to get my routine back. So, I started to work on the Audi again. Just some decal work, but it's a start.

Self torture

I started to think all of us who build 1/43 scale cars have mental issues. We enjoy torturing ourselves.

Why did I say that? I will explain.

Today, Tameo and MFH could be the only companies that produce precision white metal cast parts. But precise is a relative term, they are no where close to mass produced injection molded plastic kits. This is the result of limited resources of most of these companies, and the limited amount of development time in creating these kits. Now, CAD and desktop rapid prototyping is becoming affordable, kits can be more accurate.

This Audi kit is pretty old, and the quality is not that great. There are so many things that are messed up. Even though since day 1 I have been fixing one thing after another, I found myself getting more and more excited about building it. I have been spending more time on it than the Ferrari! So, why am I doing this? My only conclusion is that I simply enjoy torturing myself.

Back to the build. I got most of the stuff fixed and test fitted the major pieces. Looks ok so far. For the body, there is a boss right underneath the hood. Because of that, a dimple was formed. Got the dimple as well as numerous little dings and dents fixed with putty. I also drilled and pinned the rear spoiler for mounting. Then I sprayed a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1200. That's about all for tonight.

Got bitten by the bug

If you saw the time stamp of my last post, it was quite late last night (or early morning today). January in Chicago is supposed to be cold. It was no exception this morning - below freezing and with gusty wind). On my way to church, I was only thinking about how comfortable the heated apartment is and THE ROLL CAGE.

Yes, when I call it a quit last night, the roll cage still needs 2 more members. I got home around noon, fixed myself some lunch and I started working. Cut 2 pieces of brass rods, bent and solder it to the cage.

So now the roll cage is done. Not a bad start. I may make more parts for this kit as I move along.

Eat my own words

Ok, I was only going to build the Audi out of the box, no fabrication of anything. Unfortunately, when I really look at the parts, I found this:

A broken and all banged up roll cage! Oh well, white metal is basically some sort of really soft alloy with tin and lead. And packaging is usually an after thought for all these little manufacturers. So, this kind of things happened.

I am going to try fabricate the roll cage out of bronze bars. In the old days, it would be an easy job since I have access to my tiny little machine shop at work. But now, I don't have clamps and jigs to hold things. We'll see how well I can get this thing made.

I went down to the art supply store, got some 3/64" brass rods, a bending jig, and got to work. Cut and bent a couple pieces, and solder them together. The result is not bad. It looks better then the cast white metal one that is for sure.

Everyone, let's build!

I have been reading several Japanese master modelers' blogs. One of the Masters, Ws43 san has been organizing an annual online modeling festival called "皆で作ろう", loosely translated to "Everyone, let's build". Past themes include Fiat, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. This year is a little bit different. This year's theme is Racing43. All the participants will need to complete a kit from the manufacturer Racing43 from Italy.

I am always amazed by the skills of all these master modelers when they fabricate little parts to add details or correct the errors. But for me, as an amateur, I won't be doing those kind of things. I will only build it out of the box. And I hope I will be able to complete before the deadline.

I will be building 1981 Audi Quarttro for Monte Carlo Rally/Swedish Rally. Driven by Mikkola and Hertz as the navigator.

It will be a departure from what I have been building. First of all, it is not going to be an F1 car, second of all, it is not Tameo. I did started working a little bit on the Provence Moulage Nismo GTR LM, that will be set aside until later. Something happened during Christmas. I was able to snatch up the No. 22 to accompany the No. 23 that I have already started. I will build them side by side!

This will be my first Racing 43 kit. The kit is not a complicated kit without much details. So, hopefully it will not take too long to build. But the main obstacle for me is my yet to finish Ferrari 641.