TOPIC:

As my nickname suggest, i'm into Subaru's first WRC model. I do drifting, and when i found a WRC 1997 shell, i decided to buy it.

It was in good condition. But the decals became very pale, compared to new decals. So i decided to replace them.



Unfortunately, it was very obvious where the decals have been. It left me no option but polishing the whole body. And that went quite well with polishing paste for real cars.



I don't like stickers around the windows. I've painted them.



A few steps ahead: The new decals are applied. Time to take it out on the track...





But than came another issue: The wrong type of paint was used and it cracked and peeled of the body. I tested with several products that didn't work, but finaly Revell Paint Remover did the job. It took me a lot of elbow grease.



Again, a few steps ahead. All paint is gone and the body is sanded for a better adhesion of new paint. The windows are masked, ready for paintwork.



And also the outside is covered.



After the first layer of PS-16. You can't see anymore the body has been sanded.



Also the rear wing needed the correct colour. Here you can see what UV does with plastics, even through paint. Decals seem to block sunlight more.



After some TS-19, this one was ok again. And the body was ready.

But how would it look with rally lights? The best option seemed ABC Hobby EVO III lights.





It took me some time to let them fit the Impreza. Especially the lower light pods are modified



All parts are stuck together with Bison Rubber Repair. Because the body has no light buckets but decals on the lights, i decided to give these the same look. The back of the lights is white and i printed decals. I used Micro Set and Micro Sol to make the decals fit the convex shape of the lenses. The light pods are removable, because i applied magnets on them and at the inside of the body.
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OK, let's jump to another WRC restauration. Having also a WRC 1999 would be nice. I've found a second hand shell, but when i came at the seller to pick it up, it was far from expectations. Luckily he had also a '97 shell in beter condition for sale, so i decided to take that one.





The windows were almost black. I removed that paint with Revell Paint Remover. Probably a result of applying paint remover too long, the windows have a lot of small ckacks. When finishing the body, i tried to fill them up with smoke paint, but that didn't work well. The only result were too dark windows again, but better than before. The blue paint was full of clouds. I sanded the most of it away.



The rest of the paint is sandblasted in an improvised cabine, made of cartboard boxes.



Windows masked and outside covered: ready to paint.



Blue again.



I also made the wheel arches better round with sandpaper aroud my finger. And i made the bottom straight with sandpaper on a small plank.

Same as with the other body, i polished this one too. And i painted lines around the windows.
And of cousre this body gained new decals and matching wheels...

Very nice! The 22B is my favourite impreza.

Very cool buddy, Thankyou for the story & the great pictures

Here they are. More pictures of both restaurations are in my showroom .

Which chassis are under ? A TA03???

Your pictures quality is awesome

Thanks .

I don't have complete cars, only shells. There is a TT-01 under the '97 and a TRF416WE under the '99. The TT-01 was a friends first drift chassis, but it was worn and worthless. So i use it for static display now. The TRF was my first drift chassis, but is in race spec again and roller. I use these body's sometimes on my MST MS-01d VIP chassis.

You miss this one

Not at all . I'm happy with the shells i allready have. More to come here...

Ok, here i go again for another boxart Impreza WRC. Not for myself this time, but for the owners of this car. They asked me to find a car for on their shelf, after they have seen my models. The picture is made during an event that i help organising.



I have found an unused Impreza '97. Not bad, but it could use some cleanup and detailing.





There 's a piece under the front bumper that must be cut away.



And also under the rear bumper a small piece isn't cut away properly.



But first of all i cleaned the shell. I also tried to stick the black decals around the windows better on. They are a pain on this type.
Without succes, as expected. So i painted the black lines, as i always do. Ready for it...



This is better.



Looking throughout a shell via the windows an wheel arches isn't nice for a shelfie. So i wanted to smoke the windows.
Here, the shell is wrapped up at the outside.



And the inside is also ready to smoke windows.



Also the rear wing needed some attention. Some parts weren't painted properly.



The decals are covered and the wing is ready for more blue.



That's all about the shell. On the chassis i used magnetic body mounts. And to widen the track i used 6mm wheel hexes and extra spacer shims. Some pictures of the final result are in my showroom