Rondeau M482

[Scale-Master]

McCormack & Dodge 1984 Le Mans. Finished 13th place.

This is a 1/43rd scale resin Starter kit from 1984. I have two of these kits and figured I'd build the one with the cleaner casting, if there was a difference. Turns out they are about the same quality, but they aren't exactly the same castings. I found photos that show the single scoop/vent is correct for this version so I'll use it, but I wonder why the difference…

[Scale-Master]

The mirrors come with rather larger square blocks at the base of the pylons, but they don't really match the shape of the rectangular holes in the fenders. I filled the holes and replaced the blocks with steel pins.

[Scale-Master]

Before the first sealer coat of primer I added steel pins to the rear wing too.

[Scale-Master]

Tamiya LP-6 Pure Blue for the base color.

[Scale-Master]

The wheel centers are very undersized (almost 25% too small in diameter) and missing a significant part of the wheel detail.

I found some really clear photos online of the Gotti wheels for this Rondeau. Since I'm only going to make the inserts and retain the kit provided metal rim blanks I had to cheat a little, but in this scale and with the other discrepancies of the kit I'm good with them. I know I'm pushing the limits of my printer so I may go back and adjust a few things if needed… I'm surprised at what I get away with sometimes.
Front:

Rear:

[Scale-Master]

These are the new wheels I made; they are painted Tamiya Gloss Aluminum.

The tire decals are brittle, only one of the eight did not break into two pieces and one other broke into three. Actually that made it easier to re-arc them to fit the tires better.

[Scale-Master]

No surprise that the other decals on the sheet are very brittle, although I was hoping the blue might be usable. (That was supposed to be one piece.) The rest of the sheet was clear-coated with gloss acrylic. I'll just paint the light blue areas.

[potsie]

Very interesting project! Looking forawrd to seeing progress.

[Scale-Master]

The light blue on the rear is done and the headlight covers are installed so I can apply the light blue decals to them.

[Scale-Master]

I painted the headlight decals the same light blue while they were on the sheet and then applied them.

[Scale-Master]

It looks like the clear coating of the decals is going to work. Most of the pinstripes are applied as individual decals. They are all straight lines on the sheet so a bit of solvent is in order. This might take some time…

[Scale-Master]

The clear parts were yellowed so I soaked them in peroxide and exposed them to the sun for a week.
The leftover material in the upper left shows the" tint" from before; a nice improvement. (The kit did not provide the little window on right side near the windshield so I made one.)

[Scale-Master]

I'm noticing there are a lot of inaccuracies in the graphics and for the most part it doesn't bother me; it's what's to be expected from these kits. But the light blue stripes being printed over the Ford and Rondeau logos is too much for me, it jumps out as an error. So I will make new logos.

[Scale-Master]

All the decals are on now; it took about two weeks adding a few at a time a few times each day. It's been cleared too.