stripping a 6r4

something i thought i'd never need to know is stripping a 6r4!!! lol

how simple is it to remove all the decals leaving it plain blue/white?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220971142140?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

nail varnish remover but not the plaggy bits they would need repainting

You can get away without repainting the door pods, it's all a question of paint thickness, and luck.

cheers guys for the advice.

there not the dearest of base models so if i do balls up its not the end of the world.

I'll give it a go in a few minutes, I have a few spare shells.

So...

The shell is blue, so removing stuff from the blue part is easy.

I used DLE 90 for the white parts. It went OK, but be careful because there isn't much paint on it, certainly not at the wheel arches.

You'll have to paint it anyway, because the air scoops on the Biggerstaff (I suppose that's what you're intending?) 6R4 are blue and it has a scoop on the roof.

Juha wrote:I'll give it a go in a few minutes, I have a few spare shells.

cool!!! thanks juha!

yeah biggerstaff as if you had to ask! lol

cheers for the tips,much appreciated.

mcm motorsport wrote:yeah biggerstaff as if you had to ask! lol

cheers for the tips,much appreciated.

Paul, how are you going to do the bonnet? The shape is an extreme version of the 'standard' one, judging by the photo.

Wonder why Mr Biggerstaff went to that extent with such a strange, bulging bonnet! Not very pretty, but would make a good addition to the 6R4 collection. MInd you, any 6R4 would! Cheers, Steve

Well, there's a story behind the odd bonnet Steve, and I'm positive you will be quite surprised by the answer!

If I have the correct car, it isn't actually a genuine 6R4! It is however a lightweight spaceframe built by Denis Biggerstaff, which has then been clothed in 6R4 panels that are actually a couple of inches lower than standard! It was originally designed for hillclimbing, as Denis had done pretty much all the development he could so the next option was to lower the skin in this radical manner.

As the suspension struts were the standard length, so were the turrets that they were mounted in. As such, the easiest way to get the lowered bonnet to fit over the turrets was to raise the bonnet at the back - exactly as shown in the photo!

So to be slightly pedantic, the bonnet is pretty accurate, but it's just the rest of the shell that will need lowering if you really wanted to create an accurate scale model Steve!

Hope that answers your questions!

Which modifications would be needed to recreate this one accurately? Does it sit closer to the ground than a 6R4?

Hi David,

Thanks everso for the info, all very interesting! I had been wondering if this was the same car Denis used in rallycross (yes, here I go again!) as I can remember seeing him campaigning one at Brands Hatch in the late 80s/ early 90s. Do you know, David?

When I saw Juha's photos with the registration plate shown, that lined up with my memory of the plate he had on the rallycross car - same plate. Not necessarily the same car, though of course!

To answer Juha's question, I would expect to accurately model the biggerstaff car would take a lot of time and effort with the diamond cutting disc: The front is changed as per David's info, and the rear of the car is lower than normal - look at the reduced gap between the top of the rear wheelarch and the bottom of the rear side window. The tailgate hangs lower too - the tail lights look closer to the ground and rear wheel than normal in the second shot, although the overall ground clearance seems similar to standard. I guess the wheelarches are standard(ish) but the rest of the car is squashd down, particularly at the rear.

Note also the Rover grille badge and there is no front splitter below the front bumper - as per most of the rallycross cars as well. Single front wiper is unusual too! Might give it a go myself, once I've got through my backlog of decals and self-builds!!

I thought the rear wheelarch looked strange, but I was unsure if it was the car or my eyesight.

Is the red version lowered as well? And should the ones MCM has in his collection be lowered too or is this the only one?

Juha,

I'm pretty sure that the Biggerstaff car is very unusual in not being a genuine 6R4, so I wouldn't expect any other models would need the sort of the chopping and changing needed for the Biggerstaff car, though I stand to be corrected.

Cheers, Steve

No problems Steve - happy to help.

My files have Denis down as using three genuine 6R4s over the years - including the 3rd prototype A658 NJO - and this one spacframe hybrid. I actually saw the spaceframe one during it's build when I went over to see all of the Irish 6R4 owners in the mid 1990s, and I can guarantee that his very first rallycross car was indeed A658 NJO - he just happens to have used that number on various cars over the years that's what is confusing!

I'm pretty sure the actual steelwork of the above car is what has been lowered a couple of inches, ie roof, A, B & C posts, window & door apertures, scuttle, etc. The rear arches look like fairly standard 6R4 arches to me - just a couple of inches higher on the body, so the gap to the lower edge of the rear side windows is less - as has been pointed out. Although the shape of the wheel aperture on the rear arches does look like it's been trimmed slightly - it looks a tad ragged!

Likewise, the door pods and sills appear to be mounted higher as well. The front wings are the only items that cannot really be raised as much due to where they mount on the scuttle and the leading edge of the bonnet - although at the trailing edge of the front wing in Juha's first photo of the three, they do appear slightly higher. Also, if you look at the same photo (Juha's first of three) you can see where a blanking strip has been bolted / rivetted to the side of the bonnet to fill the gap to the top of the front wings after the bonnet has been raised up.

Personally I wouldn't go to all the trouble of messing around with a casting and spend hours hacking it about - nobody but the real enthusiast would ever bl**dy notice anyway.

when last speaking with Denis at Lurgan Park he said the first car he bought he took everything out of it and stored it away and he hopes to restore it some day
when asked how many shells there where he said oh about 3 or 4 lol

heres 1 of the shells in storage....

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the photo. I guess you could call that 'storage'. If Denis wants somewhere more appropriate to store a 6R4, I'd happily accommodate one in my garage, attached to my house!!

Thanks for clearing up the history there, David. Makes sense what you say. I recall a broadcast from Brands Hatch where Denis is lined up on the starting grid and the camera shows a close up of the rear of his 6R4 and the number plate, which then heads off towards Paddock Hill like a scalded cat!

David, looks like I will be heading up to the rallycross meeting at Mallory Park on the 22nd. Are you still looking to go as well? If so, let's meet up. Anyone else interested??????

Cheers, Steve