[P A D]

Although I have the Kyosho 250 GTO it's a race version with all the numbers etc and with the exhausts exiting at the sides under the doors. As nice as it is, I wanted a plain red road version and snapped up this HW model from Ebay. Obviously not in the same league as the Kyosho in terms of the quality of the parts and level of detail, so great for an upgrade project.

Visually the most obvious fault of the HW model is the short stubby nose as evidenced by this overhead view next to the Kyosho.

I'm sure it would be possible to correct this with the use of putty to extend the nose, but I'm going to pass on that and live with the shape as it is, concentrating on adding improved details where necessary and as much extra detail as possible. The engine is one of the poorest I've seen on any of the models I've worked on so far and a lot of effort will be required in that area. As it comes, the wheels are not too bad being different and better mouldings than those on the HW 250 LM, but I will still replace them with a set from BBR.

Pardon the pun, but this image shows again the shortcomings of the HW nose end.

I found replacing the wheels not as straightforward as it was on the Bburago E Type Jaguar and HW 250 LM, as the tracking is very wide on the model as it comes. On the prototype, the front track is 1351mm (75.05mm in 1:18) and the rear 1346mm (74.77mm). To get a more realistic appearance it is necessary to move the discs and wheel mounting inwards front and rear, as well as lowing the ride height at the front and removing metal from the rear of the BBR hubs. Here the rear disks have been cut off the axle and are being filed to allow them to fit closer in. The HW stub axles are too small for the BBR hubs and are replaced with 3mm OD brass rod.

This shows how much metal needs removing from the BBR hubs. I did this with a round cutting burr in the mini drill and great care is needed to avoid damaging the spokes. I did have a slip up on one of the front wheels and broke a spoke, but fortunately it is not noticeable when in place on the car. Final finishing of the hub was done with a riffler file but even with that only very short strokes can be made.

After reducing the length of the axle inside the discs, I drill through to accept the 3mm rod. Holes were also drilled either side into the main axle and the disks refitted with short lengths of the brass rod glued into the main axle. With these mods, I found the tracking to have reduced to 80 mm which was still too wide for my liking.

This image shows the 1st attempt at the rear with the front wheels replaced with the BBRs also. The front track was about 85mm at this point, even having removed metal from the rear of the BBR hubs.

Therefore I removed the discs again and further material was filed off the rear as much as I dared without cutting into the bottom mount for the moulded shocks. I wasn't happy with the short lengths of brass rod and decided to replace the whole axle with a length of rod fitted through holes in the springs. This give a more robust fitting and after some adjustment I had reduced the track to 75mm.

To reduce the front track requires modifying the front chassis frames as well as the suspension and steering rack.
Unfortunately I overlooked to take photos of the process but this image shows the completed chassis with both front and rear tracking reduced to 75mm. I cut off the front of the chassis frame just ahead of where the turn in straightens, cut off the front cross member and removed 2.5mm from either side, then refixed (drilled and pinned) with CA. The rear of the frames was prefixed to the chassis with 1.5mm brass rod and CA glue. The suspension mouldings with upper and lower wishbones incorporate the radiator which joins the left and right halves of the assembly at the front, with a cross member at the rear. The complete assembly has a locating hole either side to mount onto lugs on the front frame so also needs reducing in width by 5 mm. To increase the strength of the frame joints I flooded the joints with CA and immersed in water to get it to set quicker. This is the white residue seen in the image. These joints will receive further attention with filler and shaping to improve the appearance before painting. You can see the gap in the bottom of the radiator where I erroneously removed too much material, so I had to leave the gap when I rejoined with plasticard. The radiator was 35 mm over the width and I reduced this to 30 mm.

Heres a rear 3/4 image to compare to the earlier one when the rear track was still at 80 mm and the front at 85 mm +.

And a few more images as it is now.

The 3 ear knock offs and air valves are of course still to be fitted.

And compared to how it was with the HW wheels as it came.

I would really like to permanently fix the lower casting at the front to eliminate the joint but that will entail a repaint which is not my strong point. That said, I'm quite pleased with how the DB5 has turned out so far, so I'm undecided which way to go at the moment. Well see.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

I overlooked these three images taken with my phone, which illustrate the modifications made to the front frame and suspension to reduce the track width. This one shows where the frames were cut from the chassis and the shortened front cross member refitted with brass rod and CA glue. The U section of the frames are just right for 1.5 mm brass rod go be glued in place for refitting to the chassis.

This is the lower section of the wishbone assembly after removing the mid section. Plasticard strips glued inside for spacing and rejoining. As mentioned previously, I over did the cut so had to space the two halves to get a width over the radiator of 30 mm.

And the upper wishbone assembly which is asymmetrical due to the mount for the steering rod. When I get back to the model I'll take some further images with the body off to give a clearer idea of the completed process. Those slots in the top of the radiator are to allow clearance for the bonnet hinges, but as they are now closer together, the hinges foul the outer edges of the slots. I'll deal with that later.

Here are some more comparison images of the HW vs Kyosho. I think it will be clear in each case which model is which.

Note the very wide flange at the rear of the boot opening on the HW. It is in fact the actual thickness of the rear section and will take quite a bit of work to thin it down.

I think I'm coming round to the idea of a full strip and repaint as with the filing in the boot and here at the front to remove the cast in side lights, the existing paint is bound to get chipped no matter how much I mask up the model. That means I can glue the lower front casting to the body and fill in the joint for a much better front end appearance.

Clearly the HW model was used as a toy as evidenced by the rubbed down lower edges of the exhaust! Or do collectors zoom their models around on course surfaces ripping the bottom of them? 😁 I did once see a guy driving a Ferrari along a wide exceedingly pot holed canal tow path to avoid a stretch of road works on the Leeds ring road. He was zig zagging from side to side trying to avoid the deepest craters but was still scraping the bottom. Plonker!

And finally the very spartan HW engine bay.

Not really a fair comparison when you consider the price difference of these models but it gives a good idea of what I'm aiming for.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

Although I have decided to strip and repaint the model, I began working on the body modifications whith the original paint on. As a guide to where the flange on the boot was to be reduced to, I scribed a line parallel to the edge with my spring bow dividers offset from the spoiler. As the boot lid is not detachable I used a strip of masking tape to prevent it from interfering with filing.

After 45 minutes or so working with these.

The flange was now more acceptable.

I had run out of Nitromors and my local Screwfix store did not supply it, so I used their "No Nonsense" brand which was much cheaper but worked just as well. Here's the front end after filing off the side indicators and grinding down the relief cast side lights.

I found a seller offering spare door and boot handles for the 250 GTO on Ebay, so the cast handle has been filed off the boot lid.

Next, I attacked the blanked off rear brake air vents, first by drilling three 2mm holes then cutting through the metal between them and then filing. I would love to do this on my Kyosho model but it would be very difficult to avoid damage to the paint and I ain't repainting that!

It will make a big difference to the rear three quarter view of the model and it's a shame that HW and Kyosho didn't make the vents open to start with.

Behold, the Silver Machine (Hawkwind 1972)

Cheers,
Peter

 

[vulpex]

I really enjoy to follow your progress, Peter - thanks for allownig us to join you on your fascinating projects!!

Next, I attacked the blanked off rear brake air vents, first by drilling three 2mm holes then cutting through the metal between them and then filing. I would love to do this on my Kyosho model but it would be very difficult to avoid damage to the paint and I ain't repainting that!

Indeed it's a pity that Kyosho didn't open those rear break vents - even not on their so-called high end GTOs.
It seems only CMC did a good job here...

 

[P A D]

Many thanks Vulpex. I'm glad you enjoy the builds.

My Kyosho 250 GTO is a high end version, but from what I've seen there's not a lot to chose between it and the standard version. The vent behind the left hand door is also blind which is a shame and the bonnet straps, which many alude to as leather are in fact coated textile! I know this as the ones on mine were frayed when I bought it and I replaced them with some very thin leather cut from an old credit card wallet. I'm not a big fan of leather when used on seating as the 1:1 grain pattern is much too large, but for strapping I think it's better if you can find some that is thin enough. With hindsight, I would have preferred the dummy plastic straps of the standard model as the real straps are a real pain to buckle and unbuckle so I end up leaving them loose, which looks untidy.

As to the vent behind the door, fortunately not all the cars had them, so I don't need to go to the trouble of replicating it.

I'm replacing the moulded chromed headlamps with clear items so I've cut out the lamps and added a backing plate to the surround. As I'm glueing the lower front casting to the main body, the surrounds will be permanently fixed.

Here they are in the car after glueing the the lower casting in place with epoxy and filling the gap. Some filling around the lamp surrounds was also necessary.

I ground away the mould pips on the inside of the bonnet, but the one in the lower left hand corner was quite deep and needed filling.

And I've drilled a hole for the replacement catch on the boot lid.

I'll be replacing the over scale bonnet catches with scratch built items, so the large holes for the moulded ones have been filled and re-drilled to accept smaller items after painting.

And primer has been applied.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

This is the front suspension unit after gluing and filling the gap in the radiator.

The chassis has also been extensively modified to give a better representation of the real thing.

After removing the superfluous and fanciful HW details, I used a mixture of styrene, brass and copper rod as appropriate, plus some brass 'U' section for the two stansions. The styrene parts are all drilled and pinned at the joints and the brass rod/stansions soldered with 145C solder. The stansions are fixed to the chassis with CA reinforced with a brass rivet. Brass rod is great for straight parts but at 1.5 mm OD is a little tricky to make bends, so then I switch to copper wire which is easier to shape. It comes in reels but is easy to straighten by cutting a lenght, roughly straightening in your fingers, then role it under a piece of wood on a hard surface. The brackets for the bracing struts on the axle were made from brass sheet. Again, the are fixed to the plastic with CA and a brass rivet for strength.

In the the cockpit, I removed the moulded triangles behind the seats and replaced with brass rod to represent the strengthening struts. There were two similar triangles at the rear of the transmission tunnel representing struts, but on the real car they are covered by an upswept cover. This was made from styrene card and then two further struts added either side. The cross bar at the front was wrongly represented with a sort of inverted T section and was too far back. The two forward extensions need to be closer together where they mount on to the front suspension, so the crossbar was replaced with brass rod, further forward and shorter than the original.

The strut in the passenger footwell has also been added.

The fuel filler pipe looks like a peddle bin stuck in the corner and there is no interior to the boot.

First off I got rid of the peddle bin and the short panel on the right.

And then built up the boot interior from plasticard with styrene tube for the fuel filler pipe.

And then did some spraying.

And the same with chassis. The rear discs/shocks are not fixed on the axle yet as I need to paint the shocks. As I've modified the wheel hubs to get the tracking width correct, there's no room for the calipers, apart from these simple representations which will be picked out in metallic grey.

Here's the two subsections together.

I widened the radiator with plasticard extensions either side and added the oil cooler. Both the radiator and cooler have a PE grill but they are not visible in this image.

And some shots with the wheels on.

And the body.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

Here's a better view of the radiator and cooler after painting.

I've made a start on improving the engine by reducing the width of the sump at the front, adding the missing lower part of the bell housing and filling the gaps in the transmission.

And started making mods to the front end. It's still pretty rough and ready and needs further sanding and smoothing etc.

I'm sticking with the original mounting of the engine which is the reason for the gap in front low down.

A quick check in the chassis shows that the additions at the front clear the suspension.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

Here's is the engine front end after adding the drive and belt to the alternator, the oil filter plus pipework and caps.

And the starter motor on this side.

And cooling pipes on this side and the rear, plus I've drilled holes for the plug leads.

It's starting to look a bit more business like now.

A dry run in the chassis showed parts of the suspension fouling the alternator so some chopping was needed to get clearance.

And all's clear with the with the sides and cross bar of the engine bay.

Here's the main block etc after priming and spraying with aluminium. The drive belt is a length of 0.5mm OD cable glued to the pulleys.

And some shots with the rocker covers and carbs on.

Next job is to make the distributors which I'll fasten to the rear of the rocker covers.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[slartibartfast229]

Nice work!
For copper wire I look at areas where electricians are at work.
They usually throw away end cuts of electrical cable, which has solid core wire inside.
Depending on the size I need, I may or may not remove the coloured sleeve before use.
I have found it ideal for inserting into aluminium tube before using a bending tool when making exhausts.
The wire usually prevents any collapse - even if I am using more expensive brass tubes.