Background:

I liked the idea of adding another French rallying hatchback to go with the Peugeot 205 and the Citroen DS3, but didn't care so much for the Tamiya supplied livery, so I picked another and settled on the No.20 car of Bruno Saby at Monte Carlo 1981, as this allowed me to use as many of the Tamiya decals as possible but have something more striking on the shelf.

Kit review:

Pros:

Very well moulded - little cleanup needed, few visible seam lines. Comes with driver and co-driver figures. Good shape and proportions. Decent plating on the wheels. Good clean thin transparent parts. One legacy of sharing sprues with the road version is that once complete you still have spare 1/24 human head.

Cons:

An ex-motorised kit and all that comes with that, along with one intended to have headlight bulbs so inaccruate/unrilaed headlight buckets. Also a kit adapted from the road car version so lacking in many of the rally specific parts aside from the drivers, partial roll cage and front lights. The seats are the road car versions for example. Well moulded but shows it's age in many other ways - if this were a modern Tamiya kit it'd have twice the parts and twice the detail. The USCP Renault 5 Turbo Rally detail-up set addresses many of these issues, if you're of a mind to go down the super-accurate route for this build. (I didn't).

Verdict:

Basic but builds nicely nonetheless.

Build notes:

Completed over 4 weeks in May/June 2026. Additions to the base kit: Additional decals I drew up and had printed. Bolts and wiring on front light mountings, one fire extinguisher under the co-drivers legs. New door mirrors to match this car of Bruno Saby. Painted in Tamiya Bright Red and Tamiya Camel Yellow.

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