1989 DJR Ford Sierra Bathurst winner

You can't be into building Aussie racing cars and not build a Sierra. I made this about ten years ago and it sort of came together like a dream. I was in a model shop and found a Sierra kit on the shelf so I snapped it up, then I went into another model shop later that week and found a long out of production Tamiya XR4ti kit I knew it had the RHD dash so I snapped that up too and not long after, I got the internet and managed to track down a RooDecal sheet for it. Easy as.


The interior has extra bars made from evergreen rod and some of the roll cage is from a Tamiya R32 Skyline.
I've added a race cam from an old Nascar kit, fire extinguisher from the spares box, scratch built a anti-roll bar adjuster and switch panel and the seatbelt hardware is from an old ESCI Ford Escort (before I had heard of photoetch). A couple of years ago I made my own RHD dash and installed it in place of the old Tamiya XR4ti part. It also has scratch built pedals and foot plate.



The underside isn't anything too far from out of the box, just some bent sprue for the brake ducts and exhaust and some drybrushed silver on the black parts. I got the wheels from the Vic Hobby Centre a few years ago and the Dunlop tyre decals are from Pattos.



Being a Dick Johnson fan this was a holy grail model for me and it is the pride of the fleet. I seem to update it every year as my skills improve so I consider it a work in progress. I plan to redo the brakes and suspension and the whole underside with more detail in the future.
Thanks SS

great build

Nice build man Great detail work too

Cool, one of my favorite cars

DJ's Sierra was one of the best looking Aussie cars I laid my eyes on. You've done it proud mate - any plans to build up the other team cars?

I assisted Roodecals in the production of these decal sheets many years ago (or so it seems). I built up a sample of each one for demo purposes but don't have the models in my posession (I think Bill Hamer has them stashed away somewhere).

I remember there was DJ & JB, Brock, Longhurst, Moffat, Bond, and Grice, however that's my memory which isn't always as reliable these days.

I'll see if I can find a photo of the Roodecal Sierra builds and post it here.

tezza43 wrote:DJ's Sierra was one of the best looking Aussie cars I laid my eyes on. You've done it proud mate - any plans to build up the other team cars?

I assisted Roodecals in the production of these decal sheets many years ago (or so it seems). I built up a sample of each one for demo purposes but don't have the models in my posession (I think Bill Hamer has them stashed away somewhere).

I remember there was DJ & JB, Brock, Longhurst, Moffat, Bond, and Grice, however that's my memory which isn't always as reliable these days.

I'll see if I can find a photo of the Roodecal Sierra builds and post it here.

Hi Tezza, I have 5 other Sierra's in the collection and I'll post them in another thread soon. I actually bought those decals off of Mr Hamer himself. I managed to get in contact with him through someone I found over the net and did the transaction via mail. As for your memory- well you almost got it. Replace Grice with Glenn Seton and that would be it. The RooDecal Sierras were- DJ and JB and Moffat 1989, Brock and Bond 89, Seton and Longhurst 89, Bond 88 with Brock BMW and DJ 87 with Hulme Mercedes. The 1987/8 sheets suffered from bad colour alignment and yellowing of the white parts, I did have them but found them almost unuseable.
Cheers SS

Thanks for filling in my memory gap Shawn. I'd forgotten about Glen Seton. I still have those decal sets and found them this afternoon, along with some Nissan Skyline decals and the JPS decals for Jim Richard's JPS BMW. I also found decals for Peter Manton's Mini, Jim McKeon's Porsche, Bob Jane's Camaro, and Allan Moffat's Coca Cola Mustang.

Anyway here's the photo as promised.

Fantastic work Tezza!!
I ruined a Sierra body trying to get the paint right for that Caltex car. There are only so many times you can strip paint and keep the body in useable condition. I now have two completed chassis/interiors without bodies. The other one is for the DJ 1987 car when I just couldn't get the paint right, I think I painted and stripped them both about 7 times each. I also have a Seton car that needs restoration plus 6 others in the stash. I love Sierra's but sometimes-

Great builds Tezza

Nice work both of you.
Although admitting to thinking Sierras are good looking is pushing it a bit far in my book

Really nice work guys - they look magic.

I built one of these a few years back too. I'll see if I can dig it up in the archives and bump it up so you can have a look.

Shunter built Moffat's ANZ version from my leftover decals recently too and I have the decals here to do a Peter Jackson version (how deliciously politically incorrect) if I ever get my hands on another kit. Those Roo decals are some of the best I have used - very opaque and sharp.

Cool looking build, these Tamiya Sierras have become the Holly Grail as they are no where to be seen. Great colour choice for the red, what did you go with? I have the R/H dash and the Model Cars Australia wheels to do this version if i ever get another kit.

Shunter wrote:Great colour choice for the red, what did you go with?

I used Tamiya TS-8 Italian red as it was my only choice at the time. I think it's just a bit too dark but it's passable though. The actual Shell red was brighter. If you know a good bright red by all means use that instead but you can get away with any red I reckon.
Cheers SS