1/24 Peugeot 206
Model, Text and Photos by Donald Wilkinson

When Timo Salonen was offered a drive, in 206WRC for the 2002 Neste Rally of Finland, I knew I would want to make the model. When the car turned up yellow, it was definite. This model is made from Tamiya's Evo1 kit with the decal sheet and a set of resin wheels from Renaissance. The project was made more or less out of the box with a few modifications.

The first step was to raise the suspension for the gravel specification. This was done by installing spacers between the floor/wheelwells of the car, and all the suspension components. I increased the height by about 1.5mm, and I think this looks about right. It could probably go a little higher but I was afraid of overdoing it. Since then Tamiya has brought out their gravel spec winner version with an increased height of 3mm! The protector shields under the car had their openings enlarged to accommodate the changes.

Mudflaps were made from sheet styrene and seatbelts were made from thin styrene strips. And that was it. I had some difficulty with the decals bubbling, but this was fixed and clear coated. Some of the decals were a bit off in size, notably the large Shell logo on the bonnet making it difficult to fit between the edge and the opening.

The aerials are incorrect, but I couldn't find any good reference photos at the time although, probably, I could have made a decent guess as it was a Grifone car. There were plenty of tense moments building this, as usual! But I was able experiment a little, for some future 206s I have in mind, so it was well worthwhile.