World Rally Championship Focus

I plucked this colorful kit off the clearance rack for $5.00 in 2004, and it's among my favorite models I've completed. I've assembled several diecast kits over the years, but this Burago kit was a little better designed than most in its (pre-clearance) price point, with excellent fit and finish and a nice assortment of detail touches. My main gripe is the visible cross-drilled brake rotors without calipers: a fairly glaring oversight. But that's a minor complaint compared to the decals, which left a quite bit to be desired: they simply did not always seem sized to fit properly, and I had to make some careful cuts and splices to align everything. On the plus side, they were durable and easy to work with as they set. Even so, careful paint matching was required to fill in the gaps.

The interior was extensively paint-detailed with simulated roll-bar padding, carbon-fiber seats, and molded-in detail receiving appropriate colors and relief. I did some photo research and ultimately decided to embellish the exterior slightly by coloring the headlight assemblies' oversized reflective design elements amber, touching up the paint in the panel-seam areas, and creating an additional decal set to personalize the model. Via custom-made decals, I changed the car number to 76 (of course), added the STC as a sponsor, and listed myself and Anna as the Driver/Co-driver team. Finally, a bit of weathering to gives the car an authentic, recently-raced appearance.

Oh yeah, the driver/co-driver team is definitely a bit of a in-joke! In WRC Racing the co-driver is largely responsible for navigation, spotting, and suggesting proper maneuvers for certain sections of the course. As anyone who has braved our road-trips knows, Anna and I usually threaten to kill each other when she attempts to navigate. A WRC race would certainly prove an interesting endeavor for both of us...!

It's always nice to have a finished product that looks better than the box art, no?