Revell 1/24 Ford Escort Mk II

[Paul Brown 7,762]

Mrs PB instructed me to go up into the loft to retrieve the Christmas deccies. Whilst I was doing that I also retrieved this, so I'd better make a start.

This was as far as I got when I originally started this project, now some years ago.

White paint over a blue body shell, could be interesting. I won't be bothering too much with engine detailing, in fact I'll probably build it effectively as kerbside. One point to note is that the kit doesn't have a rad fan, neither is there anything to represent an electric fan on the matrix. An electric fan was on my stuff to do list for my own Mk II, but I was tragically robbed of my beautiful car (by a drunken idiot) before I got around to it.

[Mad Steve 20,611]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooh Kuuuuuuwell....

Looking forward to this Paul 

[PaulTRose 9,090]

is that a better set of tyres i see?.......always was one of the downfalls of this kit

proper jamjar! 😎

[Paul Brown 7,762]

2 minutes ago, PaulT said:

is that a better set of tyres i see?

Motobitz Minilites with mud/snow tyres

Quote

 proper jamjar! 😎

The greatest car ever made (cat, pigeons etc, etc)

[Mad Steve 20,611]

I always found the wheels were always set too far inboard on the kit, made the cars body look too wide and daft. (as well as the wheels being too small)

Have you seen Motorbitz's Mini Moke just btw. its excellent 

[Jessie_C 11,318]

1 hour ago, Paul Brown said:

The greatest car ever made (cat, pigeons etc, etc)

The best car for pigeons was the Ford Ka

[Paul Brown 7,762]

Yeah, I've had a good look through their catalogue.

I've been thinking about the wheel positioning, it may need some spacers. My 1:1 car had the full X-Pack and even with 215 tyres the wheels required spacers to fill the arches properly.

[Miggers 7,769]

Walking along West Street in Congleton circa 1981,there's a row of terraced cottages and an opening onto a private car park in front of an old 1930's building.

I spotted the unmistakable shape of a Mk.II 'Scort's white roof over the wall,I can see that it has a cage fitted inside plusa pair of high backed rally style seats.

As I get closer,I can see that below the windows the colour changes to a bright orangey yellow and that it has "Andrews" on the front wing,a Lombard RAC Rally racing number panel on the door and "Heat for Hire" on the rear quarter,thinking to myself "That's a nice Harrier done as an Andrews car",

I was shocked when I stood in front of it.

https://platesmania.com/uk/nomer11613684

The plate was STW129R,one of the ex-works,ex-David Sutton,ex-Russell Brookes genuine Andrews RS1800 BDA's.

It was still fitted out inside in rally trim,whether it still had the 260bhp BDA under the bonnet I don't know,but there it was,as large as life,on a car park in Congleton,Cheshire.

Some lucky blighter's possibly daily drive.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Miggers

[Paul Brown 7,762]

We used to live opposite a car accessory shop late eighties-early nineties, one of the lads who worked there had an RS1800 that he took rallying. Sadly it got trashed during a rally. After I had a minor shunt with the Harrier, him and a colleague fitted a new X-pack for me and gave it an OTT silver with candy blue Zakspeed go-faster stripes. The one thing I didn't replace was the faux Cibie spotlamps. The lamps were very good (you could probably fry eggs on them), probably too good, the relays couldn't hack it.

[PaulTRose 9,090]

can you imagine taking one into a normal garage today?

'sorry sir, dont know whats wrong with it........i cant plug in my diagnostic machine.........................carburetter?......whats one of those?'

oh the simple days, how i miss them

[Paul Brown 7,762]

3 minutes ago, PaulT said:

carburetter?......whats one of those?'

Never got around to fitting the twin forties! It was on the to do list.

[PaulTRose 9,090]

i had 2 escorts (poshiest was a 1600 ghia) and 3 escort based kit cars.........years later when i had to clear out my mams shed i was shocked by how many spares there was....axles and springs and gear boxes and all sorts of stuff....people these days dont know what they are missing........endless saturday afternoons down the breakers looking for bits lol

ive worked in the automotive industry and so know a bit about advancements over the years......i drive a car full of electronic wizardry thats safe and reliable,.....and boring!!!!......................most fun cars ive owned were escort (or escort based) or a mini (and not the modern bmw rubbish)

[Col. 7,396]

Ah, the joys, back in the day when you opened the bonnet and could actually see the engine as well as fix it. Nowadays it's all plastic covers and styling. Many years ago while working on an officer's new BMW and trying to find the screen wash fluid bottle a mate said to me, "You know donkey, it's getting so bad we won't be able to open the bonnet without invalidating the warranty soon." Seems that day has come.

[Mad Steve 20,611]

My Uncle had an RS 2000 and I loved it. Would never let me drive it...  

(Ok I was 12, but still... ) 

[Miggers 7,769]

6 hours ago, Paul Brown said:

Never got around to fitting the twin forties! It was on the to do list.

First one had a standard 32 DGAV and manifold with a stock exhaust,second had a pair of 40 DCOE's with a full

manifold back Janspeed on it.

[Miggers 7,769]

3 hours ago, Col. said:

Ah, the joys, back in the day when you opened the bonnet and could actually see the engine as well as fix it. Nowadays it's all plastic covers and styling. Many years ago while working on an officer's new BMW and trying to find the screen wash fluid bottle a mate said to me, "You know donkey, it's getting so bad we won't be able to open the bonnet without invalidating the warranty soon." Seems that day has come.

Mine has a sign that pops out if you dare to lift the bonnet, "No!!!,Close it now!!!!.

2 hours ago, Mad Steve said:

My Uncle had an RS 2000 and I loved it. Would never let me drive it...  

(Ok I was 12, but still... ) 

You lucked out there my man,they were one of the best toys of their time and are still great fun now.

Mid 80's,you could pick a nice one up for 2-3-4k,jump forward 30 years and that 3-4k now has 5 noughts

behind it.

[Paul Brown 7,762]

Since last posting on this thread I've failed miserable to get things properly up and running. There was a cold snap, Christmas then other issues to deal with. The cold snap is significant because my 'model factory' is a conservatory which means it's bladdy cold to work in. Now that I can go in there without fear of emasculation by freezing I will attempt to use the last remaining couple of weeks this is running to do something with the Escort.

I've been having a go at tidying up the body shell and tub/under pan, which is quite tedious because whilst the shell is properly shiny there's lots of moulding flaws and mould seams that need  dispensing with. Also there's a mighty shrink divot in the boot lid spoiler that's had a first application of filler. You can also just make out the raised mounds on the boot lid that result from ejection pins pressing too deeply into the moulding that will need sanding out. Just as well I have a pen sander!

 

The engine is ready for paint, but as I don't plan on having an opening bonnet it won't be highly detailed. As an aside I've found phots that appear to confirm that an electric rad fan was fitted to these cars. I'm also filling some pin divots on the pan, I didn't really need bother with those in the engine bay but the Mr Dissolved Putty was in use and I added it without thinking.