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Gumpie22B wrote:

Thanx man. Yes, i like to make pictures and share my techniques.
Have you seen the result pictures? I've put my model on a Winfield flag.

Yes most definitely I have seen the results

To go on with traditions, a sideways action pitcure. Taken at Drifted Circuit in the Netherlands

With a so nice body, I couldn't run it.
But in action, it is wonderfull

I agree. But i want a few action shots of all of my creations.

I practiced with a body for use . Than i switched from the wheels i use most to the Tamiya wheels. They have a few mm lower offset, so they feel a bit different. When i was confident with these wheels, i did a few rounds with the Winfield body.

When i present a finished project, i think everyone could guess it's an Impreza again. And yes, another 22B. Or not..?

The Impreza GC8 from Team Orange Japan (world famous amongst drifters) moved from Japan to KD Racing in France. They "undressed" it and painted it yellow. Sha_Do Graphics made a nice Dark Dog livery for it. As you can see in the pictures, it's no 22B but a narrow version with a body kit.



Before Tamiya re-released the Impreza 22B, i found a second hand yellow body in France. Almost every Impreza body is painted blue, but this one was my chance to make a replica of the French version. Unfortunately the complete car was already sold to someone. With an ad on the same site, i found the new owner and bought this shell from him.

This came from Tamiya kit 58259, German rally champion '99. Intended as the orange/blue WRC of Armin Kremer. It was used, but a good base to start from.





As i alwas do with second hand shells, i polish them. While polishing with fine paper and water, i noticed the paint became weak by the water. The paintwork wasn't very good. So i decided to put the shell in a bucket with water and after some hours i could scratch all the paint out.



Unfortunately both rear wheel arches were cut to far. I made the cutting lines straight and made parts to fill the gap.



Here i'm painting window trims at the outside of the clear shell.



I sanded the shell a bit, wrapped it up and covered the windows inside. Ready for yellow paint, backed with white and black. I also wanted a different front bumper. So i took the risk to cut the original one.



I used this Demi Works 180SX bumper. But that car has a longer and narrower nose than the Impreza. Quite a job to make it fit.



A lot of the bumper is cut away. First fitment here.



Fixing the bumper on the body. There's already some Wrap Up Next 3D decal, but i'll change that later.



Making a front splitter. Later you'll see i've cut the holes in the bumper a bit larger.



Attaching home made side skirts. You can also see reinforcements on the body and the extra pieces at the rear wheel arches.



Cut round parts out of the rear bumper to make new skirts fit. Also the lights are work in progress here. Wrap up Next 3D decal, sandblast effect vinyl and grey vinyl. I cut away the sandblast vinyl where reversing lights and reflectors are.



Attaching rear fenders. Some parts on the real car stayed orange. A legacy (what's in a name when we're looking at a Subaru) of Team Orange.



Mirrors from a Matrixline Impreza, roof scoop, rear wing and windscreen wipers are from a Yokomo Syms Impreza. More orange...



3D printed coolers, WUN 3D decal smoked with Tamiya PS-31 and something to fit this all in the rear end.



More home made parts: air intakes on the rear side windows. Also fitted the correct wheels here: Yokomo Enkei RPF1.

I wanted to have light buckets in this body. So i made my own moulds. I made them in another project shell that has not started yet.



Finished moulds and the results. Also made negatives of the rear moulds to push the hot lexan in it. The light buckets are painted white and backed with black. The front ones have a thin layer of silver.



I scanned the original light decals and printed them on transparent decal paper. The upper ones are for this project and come on the inside. The yellow ones are for another project and come on the outside.



This is where the light bucket will come. The led will sit above the light, shining down. In combination with the vinyls this will give a diffuse light. Below some grey vinyl. Beside the lights will come light grey vinyl to look about the same as white light buckets.



Applying decals wasn't easy because the whole body has round shapes in every direction. Stretching and cutting the decals did the job.



I've done some other things you'll see on the final result. Wrap Up Next 3D decals, partly painted. It looks like a big intercooler in the bumper and front grille. And beside it an oil cooler. And some home made parts in the front bumper. The rear end has a splitter under the bumper and a Team Raffee exhaust.

Hidden at the inside but it looks good at the outside: a P!PES led set with exhaust led and brake lights. I also soldered leds with resistors for headlights and tail lights. Warm white in the front and off course red in the back. The corner lights in the front and tail lights have bigger resistors for less light.

This was my craziest project by far. Too much effort on a shell, now Tamiya sells them again. But i don't regret i finished this one. It went from a basher to something people are jealous of. You can find the final result in my showroom.

Very impressive work

Wow, Lexan bodywork!
Impressive, and I hope there's a new article brewing

Thanks people. It was a lot of work. But i'm happy i did the effort .

I didn't speak about decals yet. I had decals on 1/10 from the sticker company of the real car. Super quality, but too big for this Impreza. So i scanned them, worked on better colors and resized evrything to fit this shell. I have almost all decals double, so i'm making a team mate on a Carisma Impreza NBR 2013 now...

I can make a new article Lars. I also have a nice video from the real car that we can add there. And i'm waiting from some action pictures that a friend made. Yes, i used it for drifting .

Impressive work on the body. Congrats. Another pure built