Tamiya 1/24 Peugeot 206 WRC

by Tony Paton

Introduction

After a 12 year absence from the days of the totally dominating 205 turbo 16 during the 1984-86 season, Peugeot went to work on their comeback. The 206 marks Peugeot's return to the chase for the World Rally Championship title. It follows the new wave (fashion?) in rally car design in that it is, like the recent Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus, very compact and a hatch back. The 206 WRC debut race was the Tour de Corse rally in May 1999. It held 1st place temporarily until mechanical failures forced it out. Mechanical problems plagued the team in its "development" year but this didn't stop Car 15 gaining a second placing in the San Remo rally. With three cars competing in the 2000 season, Peugeot scored it's first win in the 206 WRC in the 2000 Swedish rally driven by Markus Grönholm.

Tamiya's example is the debut car from the Tour de Corse rally. There are two versions that you available to build. Either number 14 driven by François Delecour or 15 by Gilles Panizzi. It is a really stunning scheme with the car all white with two Peugeot lions on the hood and rear quarter. This scheme, in my opinion, is prettier than the scheme worn by the 2000 cars where they have no lions and are gloss aluminum in color.

What's in the box

There are five sprues that all come in their own plastic bag. Two are molded in white that contains parts for the roll cage, chassis, wheels, suspension and transmission. One is molded in black that has the door inserts, seats dash and many other parts for the interior. The clear sprue has the usual headlights and windows plus clear underguards. You can paint these, or leave them clear, to show off the detail of the suspension and transmission. There is a small chrome plated fret that has the headlights, exhaust end and the Peugeot emblem.

My greatest excitement was that the decals finally come in their own plastic bag! I hope Tamiya will continue this trend as usually they are left to float free in the box. Many times I have found them stuck to the bottom of the box. There are two sheets. One deals with the two blue lions that are in many sections and I can see trouble ahead when decal time arrives. The other has the sponsors and carbon decals for the seats. There are also very small decals for the tires.

The bag comes with the usual rubber tires. There are five this time as the spare is reproduced in the rear cabin of the car. There is also netting for the grills and polycaps for the wheels. Masks are also included for painting the windows.

Conclusion

All in all this is what you would expect from a Tamiya kit. Everything is there and nothing is missing or manufactured badly. The only problems I can see at this early stage will be the decal complexity and the painting of the black around the Peugeot emblem.

This will make a great edition to the other new breeds of rally cars I have in my collection by Tamiya, the Focus (previewed earlier and a build report this issue) and the Corolla.