Subaru Impreza WRX STi S204 edition

[modelaholics]

Hi guys, joint AF for not long but I've already read a lot of amazing yet very inspirational WIPs and builts.

This is my first thread at AF and it's my recent completed Subaru Impreza WRX STi S204 edition. This Fujimi kit was picked up last year and I started collecting reference materials of S204 on the internet.



Not much modifications planned but wished to focus on the details and make it a realistic street racer. Starting with the body, primed with GSI 1200 surfacer, removed mold lines and sanded the body



Then start working with the chassis. Painted flat black. Some of the components painted and weathered a bit.





Then chassis was then lowered for about 2mm. Put the lower lip of the front bumper for a test of ride height.





By the way, the rims were changed to Fujimi Work Meister 18-inch, looked a bit too shiny, see if anything can be done to them...

Stay tuned and more progress is on the way...

[jla]

I cheated and looked at your blog, looks very good! Are you planning on making the correct rear wing too?

[Maverick117]

Interesting project, very interesting project. This SUBARU is very nice car.

[da_ashman]

Cool project!!!

[blubaja]

Woooowooo yes indeedy!!! This will be a great one mm hmm. Good luck on this!!!

Looking good so far, keep up the good work!

[modelaholics]

Thanks for all your feedback.

As some of you may have visited my blog, the final completed pictures have not been posted yet...so please bear with me and give me some time, sorting out all the pix then present in my project closing note.

I think I'm still green in car modeling so any comments are more than happy to listen to.
Hope you all like this built.

[modelaholics]

When the basic stuff are nearly finished, it's time for some extras.
Look at the official reference, the S204 wing is a bit too small



and this's what I'm looking for...




styrene board and AB putty...







Don't really like the OOB exhaust, removed the original one and cleared the fitting area of the pipe. Styrene sheet and tubes of different sizes are trimmed to fake the new pipe...







Get back to the body, primed and sanded then layers of gloss black and re-sanded.





I should say reading my blog may not be a real pleasure as it's half English half Chinese and it's bit jumping around depending on the mood of the day. I hope a much organised version can be shown in AF for your enjoyment.

Thanks for your feedback and patience. More progress and the finals to come.

[Entau]

nice progress, i got this kit too

what colour did you use for the body? light gun metal?

[modelaholics]

that's correct. TS-42

[rollin80s]

nice looking scooby. keep up the great work.

[modelaholics]

When body paint is nearly done, other extra body works went on. Built a front grille just for fun, still not sure if I would put it on



First time using S27 CF, planned to put on the hood, front bumper lower lip and the wing.





Thanks for reading and more update is coming.

[modelaholics]

Time for working on the interior. Equipped with Crazy Modeler's WRX PE



Not used to handling PE, what I'd done was not very neat. Need some more practice.

The other day wandering in a arts supplies shop, bought some sticker materials which can be used for interior carpet. I thought it would be too large for 1/24, but anyway, just a few bucks, why not give it a try. If things went bad, flockings next time.

Did some rough measurement, cut it out and stick it in...



Well...for the 1st time, not too bad. Go on with the rest...







Planned to change the Subaru seats to a racing bucket seats. Got these from an old Hasegawa rally kit. The seats are relatively smaller in this Fujimi kit, so styrene boards are used with the seat mounting bracket to raise it and titing it forward a bit. Too lazy to do anything such as CF, belts on the seats. May be next time as plenty of "next project" in the line...haha



Thanks for reading and more updates coming.

[jabel]

Nice CF work! This is the HQ (or HD???) carbon?

[modelaholics]

Hope this is the final episode of this built.

To fix the exhaust to the chassis, I took 2 brass rods, make holes on the exhaust pipe and the rear diffuser. The key point is putting those rods in the exhaust with a large glob of CA glue, which after painting, became the welding point of the support upon installation.







One of the techniques that I learnt in the past is: The most reaslistic part of the glass covering the head lights is the rubber rim for waterproof, some of the modelers would put directly the bare transparent part on the "eye socket", which turns out to be very plastic and toy. Here's what I did to the tail light cover:



I used a thick Gundam marker to run around the cover (evenly!) and it's done.

Another technique that handling of head lights is make sure the under side of the cover and the socket are cleaned. It would be fuxked when you found dust INSIDE the head light after you glue it to the socket...







Windows are also prepared and painted flat back at the inside



When the interior was nearly finished, put on the rest of PE i.e. the speaker and final touch op the wheel and shift knob. Notice that to try to mimic the real S204, the tried to highlight the steering wheel by drybrushing bright red to make it look like the S204 signature red stitches. If the seat were not replaced, the lining of the stitches should also have to be in red.



The reference of the S204 aftermarket wing should have the brake light, Scratch built it by using the transparent left over materials, cut, filed, sanded, painted and glued to the back of the wing.



When everything had come to the finishing point, take a look at what had been done so far.









When everything is ready, it's time for the final assembly and the touch ups.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the built.