MSRP: $29.95 USD Hasegawa's kit of the Lancia Stratos
HF "Stradale" represents the production version of this first-ever purpose-built rally car. With its Ferrari V6
originally built for the Ferrari Dino 246GT, the Stratos showed her heels to the rest of the field for several
years. The kit is crisply molded in white, black, and clear plastic, and fit is
generally very good overall; a few molding lines needed to be cleaned up on the body shell. Reference to the
instructions shows a large proportion of the parts "not for use"; these represent the equipment used on the Rally
version. Several rally features must also be removed from the body by careful sanding. The chassis and interior
are built up as one assembly; no engine is included other than the surfaces which can be seen from below, so the kit
is basically a curbside model. The spare tire and other interior details are included but are also covered up by
the body shell. (That's OK. **I** know they're in there.) The builder needs to
choose a color scheme right off the bat, as nearly every part must be appropriately painted prior to assembly; I
settled on a yellow body color, which specified a gold interior and blue seat surfaces. Color callouts are given
for Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color paints, with the equivalent Gunze acrylic colors listed in a separate table. I deviated
slightly from the color instructions as I thought the specified H9 Metallic Gold was fine for the rally wheels but
not entirely correct for the interior. I used Gunze H71 Middlestone instead, which is a gold/ochre. For the
blue seats, I used Gunze H56 Intermediate Blue, which, applied over the black plastic, gave a dark denim color.
The front and rear suspension assemblies fit nicely and the front wheels are poseable, though not steerable; each
wheel is retained by a neoprene grommet which is sealed inside the inner wheel housing once the brake rotor is glued
to it. Optional headlights are given if the builder wants to pose them in the extended
position but I opted to leave mine closed for a sleeker look. After painting the body
shell with Gunze Acrylic H4 yellow and allowing it to dry, I used Bare-Metal "black chrome" foil to depict the
window moldings. Big mistake. This foil doesn't have much give, and won't stretch around curves like BMF's
"chrome" foil does---and the Stradale's windows are ALL curves. Knowing what I found out, I'd recommend masking and
painting this black border instead. I next assembled the interior door panels and
dashboard, and applied the instrument decals using Future Floor Wax. These decals have a fair amount of clear
carrier film around them, which I trimmed off so they'd fit within the instrument panel bezels. The decal sheet
gives a choice of rally and standard seat belts, but no instructions as to their placement; I used the standard lap
belts on my model. Because I'd used the black chrome foil and it wrapped around into
the interior, the one-piece windshield and side windows didn't fit in place precisely, but this was my fault and not
the kit's. I used Sobo craft glue to hold the clear parts in place. I foiled the door and window handles with BMF
“chrome”, and fitted the interior door panels into the body; this wasn't as defined a fit as other parts had been,
as there's just one locating tab for each door interior and a fair amount of play once the part's in place.
Once the chassis is assembled, it greatly resembles a Baja Dune Buggy, but the lack of an engine and other interior
details give it away. The instructions state, "once the body is fitted to the chassis,
it is very difficult to remove" as the fit is very tight and the body shell must be spread in order to insert the
chassis. They aren’t kiddin’, either. The implication here is that the builder had better make sure interior
details are glued securely in place, as if something comes loose you're going to play hob retrieving it. After I
mated the body to the chassis, I noted that the right rear wheel is slightly too far forward in the body opening; I
don't know if this was my fault or the kit's. The few decals I applied were thin and
went on nicely, but like the instrument decals, had a fair amount of clear carrier film on their edges. Hasegawa
also supplies some parts they call "Metal Seal" which are perhaps mirror-finished Mylar, for the chrome bits and
mirror faces; though a little tricky to remove from their backing sheet and apply, they look great.
In summary, this kit builds up into a nice replica of the real Stratos and has few vices; the most tedious part of
the build for me was the multiple colors which had to be applied to most parts. The tooling is top-notch. The kit
could be slightly enhanced by using photo-etched mesh for the front grille and other such slight exterior
improvements. The builder who wants to open the "bonnet and boot" to display what's under the Lancia's body shell,
however, would need to do some pretty serious scratch-building and/or kit-bashing to build up an engine and
acceptable inner body detail. My model was built out-of-the-box for this review, but I
couldn't resist applying a vanity plate to the rear fascia as I figure that's the view a lot of WRC rally
competitors saw of the Stradale during its heyday on the circuits. Thanks to Hasegawa
and IPMS for the review sample, and thanks to Chuck Herrmann, Steve Jahnke, and Joe Salzburg for their helpful input
while I was building this kit. |