1:24 Toyota Celica ST185 - Rally Sweden 1993 Decals Set (for Tamiya Kits)

Studio27 1:24 decal sheet, Toyota Celica ST185, Rally Sweden 1993 (for Tamiya)

This product is a sheet of water-slide decals from Studio27 in 1:24 scale, not a kit. No plastic parts, no body: you get the markings and a drawing of their placement. You need a separately bought Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 kit from the company Tamiya to go with them. Watch out for the generation: the ST185 is not the same as the ST165. The ST185 is the successor and it did not take over the outer body panels from the ST165: it has rounder, more aerodynamic shapes and different dimensions of the areas. Decals intended for the ST165 (those are sold for Aoshima kits) therefore will not fit the ST185 and the other way round. Anyone who confuses these two generations buys a sheet that cannot be applied to the model.

The real subject

The Celica GT-Four ST185 carried through what its predecessor had started: a turbocharged engine and all-wheel drive in the hands of a Japanese brand that broke the European dominance in the World Rally Championship. The Swedish rally is meanwhile the only purely winter event of the series. It is not run on gravel but on snow and ice, with studded tires, and the course runs through narrow corridors milled into the snow, where the banks pushed up along the sides serve as a barrier to lean on in a corner and shoot out of it. The 1993 running belongs in Swedish history: it was won by the Celica ST185. As everywhere in rallying, it was run on closed public roads and the driver aimed into invisible corners according to the pace notes read to him by the co-driver.

Tips for applying the decals and for painting

Remember three steps in the right order, otherwise you will spoil the work. First: decals belong on gloss clear coat. On a matte finish air is caught under the film and the edge of the marking turns silver, which is the most common mistake modelers make. Second: the ST185 has a markedly rounder body than its predecessor, so on the fenders, the bumper and the rounded sides you cannot do without decal softener. Third: only once they are dry comes the covering clear coat, and only then weathering. And weathering is really to be asked for here, as unlike circuit cars a rally special is not meant to be clean. Sweden, though, calls for different weathering than gravel: not dust, but slush, ice in the wheel arches, salt and wet smears along the sides.

Who the sheet is for

• Modelers who own the Celica ST185 kit from Tamiya and want a particular car from a particular rally.
• Collectors of the Group A era and of Japanese rally legends.
• Those for whom the liveries from the box are not enough, as the car ran every event with different markings and a different number.
• Modelers who want to try out winter weathering (snow, ice, salt).

The package contains decals only. The kit, paints, clear coat, glue and softener are not included.