Renault Dauphine
Repair & reshaping above side window and above rear glass. A numberplate & illumination light added. Rear lights - foil-covered plastic card frame, painted 'bullet' lenses. The rear bumper has been repaired and covered in Bare-metal foil.
The source for this project started with my acquiring an Airfix 1/32 static kit of this car, which had already been assembled & painted. I disassembled it & stripped the paint. In this picture - glue damage above windscreen repaired, and a new windscreen built ( original missing ). Rain guttering has been added above side windows, and side windows detailed up with foil-covered plastic card frames / strips.
The original kit lheadlights were discarded - too damaged by glue. The headlamp has been drilled out, and will be lined with foil. Clear lenses made up, from thin clear sheet, scored vertically, punched out with a paper hole punch ( the right size! ). The missing panel lines for the bonnet have been scribed in. Front number plate added, and bumper covered in foil.
This shows the seat insert section in place over the chassis. The front spot lights are slot car spares.
The kit floorpan has been opened up to take a section of slot car chassis ( Scalextric Metro ), including rear axle mounts. The front area has been reinforced, and takes an MRRC Ackermann steering unit. The motor is Airfix. The wheels are the kit wheels on the outside, mated to airfix slot car wheels. The tyres are new MRRC. In the background is the interior insert I've made up - sits over the motor, and has the kit seats.
The MRRC Ackermann steering unit is more visible here. The braids are Revell. And some exhaust detail has been added.
The driver & co-driver ( with flat cap, and looking at a stopwatch in his left hand ) are made up of various bits from 1/32 and 1/35 WW2 military figures. The driver has a spares box steering wheel ( the kit original was a bit too large to fit easily ).
Here's everything painted up. The dashboard is off-white, with chrome / black details. The seats are done in an matt enamel tan colour, oil-washed with diluted burnt umber to pick out the detail, and then given one coat of Klear floor polish, giving them a sheen. The crew are painted in various matt enamels. The body colour is a Vallejo acrylic (pastel green). The body was glossed with several coats of Klear. The rally spotlight on the roof is a slot car spare, with scratched mount.
The chassis now mated to the body. The chassis locates by the front of the chassis slotting in to the front valance of the body, and by a screw at the rear, going in to a post glued to the inside of the body.
Finsihed -
Racing numbers made from a rectangle of blank white transfer sheet, plus generic numbers. Note detail of the air intake in front of rear wheel - Bare-metal foiled, and openings picked out in black.
Far left, front - note the finished headlamps - foiled inside, clear lenses, chromed frame.
Near left rear - numberplates and blue/white rally plates made up on the computer. Note GB plate as well !
Some later revisions -
As the original cube motor was weak, and I couldn't quite get the drive to the rear axle lined up correctly, I changed the motor pack / chassis for a chunk of Scalextric motor chassis, with a Mabuchi motor.
I added a better roof light.
And - especially - I revised the wheels, removing the external screw through the front hubs, putting them in from behind instead, and repairing the damage, to give a better appearance. I also repainted the wheels in cream.