Hi, guys!
I just made it back in Sint Maarten and I could't wait to get back to the bench.
Most priced souvenir I came with it was a Heller Renault R8 Gordini in 1/24th scale.
This car has a particular place in Romanian automotive industry, and it is definitely The Classic .
Manufactured under license by Uzina de Automobile Piteşti (UAP), it started all. Under the patriotic name of Dacia 1100 (ancient name of Romania followed the engine in cubic cc) it became the first mass manufactured Romanian vehicle.
The Heller kit is so-so; it has goods and bads and perhaps hard times lie ahead, but for the sake of subject I take the risk.
I have on my bench two examples. One it is commissioned, and it will be "light beige" with leather brown interior.
The other example it will be depicted as a fictitious rally car and I'm still debating with myself the final looks, but it is sure that will be "black and white".
I'll try to do the builds "head to head", but I doubt I'll manage a fast resolution.
For now I have prepared one of the bodies, I primed it with Mr. Surfacer 1200 with a Ginza GP airbrush with 0.35 mm setup. After the primer was dry, I slightly removed the overspray with Tamiya 3000 grit sponge


I'm not sure if you can see the pictures and I'll stop editing here; my tablet decided to die on me and I'm working on my phone now

Cheers!
Gabriel

Hi Gabriel.

Great to see you back at the bench. This sounds like a very interesting project, but I cannot see the image that you have attached, just the dreaded "X"

Was this thread meant to be in the Automodeler forum?

Cheers, D

Thanks, D.!
Yes, I misplaced it
My Transformer went dead and I've tried to make the thread from the mobile phone, but apparently I cannot get the right link from google photos

Gabriel

Nice project, Gabriel!

It reminded me of a moment in my youth, when I thought I've seen an alien

To make long story short- branded as Bulgarrenault, the Renault 8 was also assembled from CKD in Bulgaria-in my hometown Plovdiv.The cooperation with Renault produced also another model-the Bulgarrenault 10.

Moreover- the established French "connection" brought to Bulgaria another French sports car engineer and manufacturer.That cooperation gave birth to the most iconic product bearing the brand "Bulgar..."


The Bulgaralpine.
The vehicle, I saw one day(I was 8 years old then) parked in my neighborhood.An yellow guest from the future

WOW, Angel!
That was something! Somehow I have missed both Bulgarian licenses, although I am quite familiar with the East-European auto industry.
The Bulgaralpine mush have been something indeed and perhaps the only genuine sports car in the Eastern Block!

Gabriel

Thanks, D.!

I feel so frustrated that I cannot use my Google Photos features from my Android phone!
I'll try to post the link to the album, as a stop-gap solution, together with my apologies.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/V7Mkzzx7kEHZs7ax7

Gabriel

Gabriel,
Welcome home, and I'm thrilled to see you already at the bench. I'll be following your duel builds of the Dacia 1100, the Romanian licensed of the Renault R8 Gordini.

I can personally attest to the fact that done right, it more then held it's own on the track. I got to drive one for a short test drive, and I was more then impressed with how it handled with a lot less body roll then I thought it would have.

Sure hope that you solve your computer problems asap.

Joel

Joel

Thanks, Joel!

I knew you cannot miss a Romanian "party" since it is running in your veins .

Yeah, unfortunately my new laptop is some five weeks away - if anything goes smooth that is.

For now all I can do is to post the links to the album or to the pictures, and I know it is not handy at all, guys

Regarding of what you're saying about Gordini (Dacia 1100), there are many voices in Romania claiming that UAP should have continued producing and developing the R8 instead of adopting the R12 (Dacia 1300).

I never drove one, but I know that they are a real danger in the winter conditions because of the rear drive. Regarding the safety, front wheels driven R12 was clearly a major advantage.

Gabriel

Gabriel,
Going to be a very long 3 weeks. I freak out when I just need to replace hardware or software that I do myself. The internet is like my life line these days.

The Gordini I drove for a few laps was on the track, and setup as a full I believe SCCA class P/G or p/H car. So the rear wheel drive was perfect as were the brakes and the suspension.

Joel

Hi Gabriel,
I am envious of this as I trying to buy one of those Heller Gordinis for a while. It seeems each time J look there are none available. I like how they were continued by the Romanians, something that I have seen elsewhere in the world, especially in South America where out of date European models were built on long after production had stopped jn their original markets.
I hope you get your technology sorted out so we can see some pictures.

Cheers
Michael

Hi, Michael! Thank you for stopping by !
I had big problem getting the Heller kits as well, as they were pretty much absent from the American market, bar some stockists with outrageous pretensions. However, Scalehobyist started importing them recently. They don't have Gordinis (yet), but I added in my basket some European antiques and classics.
Yes, Lada, Dacia and Skoda were for the Eastern block what the VW Golf was for the West: rugged, stretched to the very end of development line, simple mechanics and no electronics. There is no wonder they found a new lease of life in harsh environment, since any bush mechanic can fix them. Being a mechanic in the communist countries was hard time, since almost everyone was tinkering with his own car.
I just came back from a Romanian vacation and they are still Dacia 1310 (improved Renault 12) driving on the road! I didn't see any Dacia 1100 in motion, but I have seen a beautiful Oltcit!

Gabriel

Hi Gabriel,

Great to see you’re back! Looking forward to this!

Cheers
Nick

Hi Gabriel!

great to see you back!

Following along with interest. Can't see that first photo though, but hopefully the next updates will show up

Thanks, Nick!
Yes, I'm mightily glad to be back at the modelling bench.
As for further updates, I really don't know now: I am already pretty advanced with the build and my next laptop still far away.
I guess I'm going to drop the step-by-step blog and I'm going to do a feature / build review.

Gabriel

Thank you! Glad to see you again!
The link I published is the link to the photo album in Google Photos. The album is shared publicly; if you cannot see it, I don't know what the issue is.

However, as I was telling Nick, it may be that I'm gonna drop all together the build blog and I'm going to do a build review instead, when the project will be finished.
Gabriel

Gabriel,
Personally, I rather see a build blog as we can follow along with your adventures. Just a review kind of leaves us out of the build till it's over.

Of course you can also do a build review for those members and visitors that just stop by to see the News, reviews, and Features.

Joel

Yep, I'm with Joel! Build logs are preferable for us spectators

As for the pics, yup, no problems viewing via the link, although it's always better when they're visible in the thread: Sheesh! I'm complaining a lot. I'll stop now

Joel and Russ, I'm right behind you on that one!
This is the reason why I put this builds on hold and I kept myself busy with a commissioned build - a stock '66 Mustang hardtop.
Now is the time to break the news: I have ordered my new laptop with a week earlier than anticipated and it should arrive on 15th August.
I have lots of updates to share with you and hopefully I will have the time to make for my enforced absence.

Gabriel

You know me, Build Logs Rule!

I have no problem checking your work via the link, but having images accompanied by text describing the products and techniques just cannot be beaten.

Looking forward to more progress, this is a very cool dual!

Cheers, D

Gabriel,
Glad to here that your new laptop will be here by the end of the week. Looking forward to an update on your 66' Mustang build.

Joel

Excellent news Gabriel!

Looking forward to seeing all the updates!

OK, guys!

Let's get going seriously this time: I started working on the first Gordini while still in Bucharest, as a small demonstration I hold for couple of fellow modelers. The objective it was to demonstrate spraying large surfaces with minimal over-spray. I had to use my old Ginza airbrush, which I gave away on the occasion and I didn't have my favorite Mr. Surfacer 1500, but the 1200. Even so, the result was OK:


Little sanding was needed, which I did in Sint Maarten. At that point I wasn't sure yet which version this body will belong to. Eventually I decided that this first one will go for the rally version, since it had a head start and the painting scheme will be a little more elaborated:


Here are the two bodies in a head-to-head start:


Checking my references, I noted the Romanian version of the vehicle never had the chrome "baguette" along mid-line. It worth to mention at this point that the "luxury" version is commissioned as well and the owner desires the chrome inserts. Heller provides these as ready to glue chromed parts, but the injection gates render the effort useless. I have decided to add the baguette at this early stage and to bare foil it at the end (luxury version only). On the rally version, the same baguette it is to simulate the crimping line along the panel:


The main stylistic difference between the two versions is the absence of the second pair of headlights on the Romanian produced one. To fill up the gaps, I used the empty light buckets from the kit and Liquid Green Stuff from Citadel. Although I was ensured the putty doesn't shrink, it does, and it does a lot. That decision is still haunting me:


The engine blocks and transmissions assembled. The Heller rendering is rather simplistic.
Interesting fact: although the kits were bought in the same time from the same supplier, they belong to different lots. In one, the sprue holding the engine / interior parts is molded in hard grayish-blue plastic, in the other it is molded in "soapy" whitish plastic. No big deal, of course, yet the detail retention id different between the two, with the gray plastic showing sharper detail than the other:


That was the moment where the two bodies really drifted apart. The luxury version is wearing a cosmetic mask of Tamiya white putty, while the rally version had received the reinforced fenders (front end only):


Testing the diameter of the "spark plugs" holes:


The kit distributor modified to accommodate the four wires (I know, they should have been 5, but...):


The "spark plug connectors" trimmed from the wires, and the engines primed the painted with Tamiya Titanium Silver (sorry for the bad focusing of this image)


The bottom pans primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 gray, then sprayed with Tamiya NATO Black:


The engine of the rally version was painted dark green, using Tamiya XF-70. The oil filter and the spark plug wires were painted with a brush, using Liquitex paints, while the distributor was painted with MRP-F051 Orange Leather. The transmission box was painted with Vallejo Air 71.063 - RLM01 Silber, also by brush. Everything was afterwards sprayed with Alclad Aqua Gloss, in preparation for oil wash:


The other engine was kept in Titanium Silver. The other details were painted as above, with the exception of the spark plugs wires, which were painted black. In the last moment, I recalled the owner desires the engine head painted black - to be done:


The Rally version sprayed with Mr. Surfacer 1500, thru H&S Evolution 0.4mm. The result was almost faultless. The luxury version mask turned into an endless story. The "phantoms" of the deleted lights reappeared after re-priming, under MLT's action. What it can be seen here is an acrylic "mask", meant to insulate the previous work from future thinner reaction:


The bottom pans received a coat of Aqua Gloss to steer the finish from matte to satin:


The rally body painted with the first (of the two) colors:



For that I have used ACE Almond Gloss enamel, diluted with xylene. It was a whole following conversation on the Roumanian FB group after I published these last two pictures. Almond gloss falls almost precisely over what the Romanians call "Alb 13" (= white # 13), a very much endeared "classic" auto color in my home country:


The engines finished:


Definitely the worst ever benches: Heller's vinyl benches! Molded in soft vinyl, they are impossible to clean of flash (and they are full of flash) and impossible to polish. I have the faint consolation that the ugliest parts are out of sight, but I cannot figure out what the Hell..., ahem! Pardon Me!... Heller "engineers" are smoking. I cleaned them nonetheless as good as I could, primed them with Mr. Surfacer 1500 and sprayed them with MRP Orange Leather thru my H&S Infinity 0.15mm @ 20psi

Here it stops today's update, but I'm not yet up to date. More to come! I know tomorrow it's Saturday but no day off for me!

Cheers
Gabriel

Gabriel,
Like I said, you sure didn't waste any time getting back "into the Saddle", as now you have 3 builds going at once. I still struggle to stay focused on just one build.

The side by side comparisons as you go through the two Gordini builds really shows off the differences between them, and how you solved one issue after another.

I really felt your frustration with the Liquid Green Stuff shrinking even after you were assured that it wouldn't. I learned the hard way after many aircraft builds where I used a lots of filler in places, that it eventually started to show even months after the build was completed. I posted and complained to anyone that I thought could help, and finally the reasons became apparent . Anything that contains a liquid thinning agent will shrink into its final solid stage over time as the thinner eventually completely dries from the inside. How long that takes varies by the type, amount, humidity, etc. but they all will shrink. That's why epoxies are best as there is no shrinking unless of course you add some thinner yourself.

You didn't mention if you glued a plastic backing plate to the headlight holes. That would also help to stabilize the putty. These days I go even further with filling the cavities with scrap plastic so that there is as little filling as possible needed. And I do that with epoxy or Gel CA glue. only a final skim coat for blending of a traditional type of putty.

Excellent comparisons of the two engines and their detailing. As for those seats, you did a fantastic job considering what they looked like and were made of.

Looking forward to your next update. In a few I'm heading over to checking out your YT vid on the build.

Joel

I have driven a virtual version of the Dacia in an online game called Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). Don't know the version, as that is actually the first place I ever heard of this car and I am not familiar with its development. I only knew it was from somewhere around Eastern Europe as a lot of imagery in the game is Soviet looking rather than strictly Russian.