Regarding the next car I am presenting, I decided to get into this mess when I saw a draft of a user of the extint "Docslot" forum. It was a car that already knew and have seen pictures in magazines at the time but it was thanks to the work of that user when I decided to become one.

The car that I intend to play (as far as possible) at 1/32 scale is the Metro 6R4 rally car, which was developed by MG to the mid-80s to participate in the World Rally Championship in the category of group B. Motorsport British Leyland had abandoned the development of the Triumph TR7 rally car and began developing a new model to compete at the highest level in the rally championship. That model was based on the Austin Metro fitted with a V6 engine in central position (obtained form remove two cylinders to the Rover V8 engine) and was added four wheels drive. This first prototype was tested in February 1983 and continued to develop over the next twelve months, first appearing in competition at the York National Rally 1984.

The car may like more or less, but as their group mates at the time, does not leave anyone indifferent .. I personally think one of the most extravagant group B, with these extensions of the body and wings but has so much charm, especially with the "Belga". Another fantastic decoration of the car is this, with Didier Auriol´s at the steering wheel racing in the 1986 Tour de Corse. The photo is on the latter taken from the forum Forocoches

It is one of the decorations but I´m going to make a easier one, which is this:

Follows the model of an English pilot named John Price, who currently runs with him in the British Rally Championship, although the decor is of the 2005 season.
I chose this decoration for two reasons, it seems relatively simple in terms of painting, but mainly because there are plenty of artwork on its website, so I can see the car from all angles without escape or a detail, and that´s allways a thing who help in the reproduction of the model. I leave the link to the website:

http://www.johnpricerallying.co.uk/index.html

Apart from this last site, the number of photos you can find on the internet about this car is enormous that greatly facilitates the adaptation of the car. To reproduce the car delivery from the MG Metro slot model made by Scalextric UK, which as you know is this

As you can see, the car looks like the original as an egg to a chestnut .. well, not exactly, after much asking I suspect that the version reproduced in its time by the Scalextric UK people was this:

that was the prototype that Austin Rover built in 1983,led by Tony Pond, while the car I want to do is the developed version that participated in the World Rally Championship in Group B. In this way, and within what can be said that it was fairly well reproduced in general terms ... but in detail ... Well, I don´t want to pick on the original slot car because I really like the models Superslot made at the time
First thing I did was to adapt the chassis, so it used the Saxo Ninco, shortened to adjust the wheelbase, and fitted a cradle to attach the SCX RX81 engine to provide four wheel drive to the model as the original car:

The subjection to the body is made by three pins, one behind and two in front. The front axle support is made to the original drawing that I put some side carbon fiber bolsters reinforced with bicomponent glue and smoothed to fit the hub caps inside. The support of the guide is done by exploiting the original model that I glued in place, reinforced with a piece of carbon fiber. In the rear of the chassis I have pasted a silencer simulation made with evergreen rod and pipe.
The photo below shows the front attachment lugs and the piece of plastic for the back screw. Also be seen near the windshield a piece of plastic in "L" shape to hold the interior of the model to show later. My intention was made a interior able to dismantle like Scalextric Audi Quattro one, for example.

The most daunting work that had this model was, as you can imagine, molding forms the body, especially the hood bulges and rear wheel arches. After a few globs of putty and a bit of molding the result was this:

I opened the holes in the headlights and rear lights and vents for ventilation of the engine on the tailgate. The rear wing holders are made of two strips of evergreen attached with bicomponent glue. Also modified the skirt and front wheel arches, slightly higher in the original car. Maybe the changes are not well perceived in the following photos because they are not good quality.

In the previous photos, and with a hand primer and more sanding is seen slightly better detail. The front spoiler is almost finished, with central air intake open (but in the photos does not aprecciates well) and ducts to cool the brakes. Also hit the front wing media the same way that the rear wing
Here's another photo battery with a second coat of primer and more defined details. Little bit to add, just a lot of grit and patience ...

Continuing with the body went on with the headlights, the front made with a transparent CD case and the rear with a pilot picked up from a crashed car.

Finally, from the body olny missing to end to detail a few things and give their corresponding sandpaper hands. The car was practically in the paint booth.

Anyway, at this point and after looking closely at the car I realized that something was wrong, and after I saw it many times I was sure, the original car was wider than it was doing to scale, primarily in the rear. So I had to widen it. Extend it with two strips of evergreen of a millimeter to either side glued with cyanoacrylate:

I made a few holes to strengthen the evergreen strips with bicomponent glue. As I did not trust much of the hardness of the cyanoacrylate, although it has sanded caulk the sides of the car, I practiced some drills of 1.5 mm. on the sides and filled them with bicomponent glue to hold them by way of rivets, poured the glue and applying heat with a hair dryer to assure that the glue penetrated well into the holes. Thus I was sure that the plastic sheets were not going to detach from the sides. The result:

Also shorten the rear bumper that was a little long in comparison with the original car. Now the result of the work on the body convinced me, more in accordance with the original car. What a difference two millimeters wide!

Looking back and rewatching the car I saw another bug, the bumper was slightly higher than the model, so I supplemented it with two pieces of evergreen stuck under the bumper. The technique is the same as used above to wide the sides of the model, small holes and bicomponent glue to reinforce the area.

The outcome after these changes and following the appropriate hands of white paint, red paint and masking tape to leave the car as best as possible was this:

Among putty and sanding of the body and between hand and hand of painting I took the opportunity to improve the inside of the car, which was like the other slot car all the time, easy, rather easy. To give you an idea of what it was like here's a photo of the interior but from another Metro because I did not take photos to the original one:

As shown, the pilot emerges from the seat, not a separate piece of the carrier, except the helmet, the rest you can see ..... Anyway, I took those "precious" seats it had, and made him the back cuting out it from a piece of evergreen 1 mm. thin, previously drawn the back on a paper to see if the shape was appropiate:

To the original drivers tray I cut out the part that goes behind the seats to raise it a bit and make room for the mechanics of the car, this is because the original car had a chassis EXIN Renault 5 or Ford Fiesta type, and the new chassis fitted had the engine higher so hitting the drivers tray avoiding the proper fit. I changed the original anti-roll bars for a homemade ones with round evergreen profile. It´s apearance was much more real.

and dashboard was modeled with wood repairing putty (Nural 41), which weighs little and works very well.

The original car's dashboard had a very curious feature that shows a little in the previous photo, is that although a dashboard with the clocks on the left, the steering wheel is set to the right, where the glove compartment .. If you see a photo of the car of Tony Pond can be better appreciated. The result, after their respective coats of paint, and nearly everything in its place was:

The fire extinguisher is made of a evergreen tube with the ends covered with putty, and the spare wheel is cut to half with the tire stuck, lack of gold paint as the other tires. The drivers are two of the spare parts box with the trunk supplemented to let a little higher. And this is how the chassis was once painted the wheels:

The taillights were painted with red and silver indelible marker, and forwards with Humbrol silver enamel for inside. Attached to the body with adhesive. The result after all pieces mounted with two hands of "Bosque Verde" varnish is as follows:

When I have enough practice in those duties I will do the decals, but I know that I'd rather them take a long time to finish the car and leave it mounted.

DATASHEET

Chassis	Citroën Saxo Ninco, adapted
Wheelbase
Dimensions (L x W x H)
Weight
Motor	Scalextric RX81
Front tires	Scalextric narowed
Rear tires	Ninco 19 x 10 mm.

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