Kit originally released by ESCI in 1979, Revell buying the tooling after ESCI went under, producing the same kit again, then Revell sold the tooling to Italeri.

It's not a bad looking model but needs plenty of graft to get everything to fit & look right.

Gone that bit better on the engine details... Adding plug/coil reads - carb' throttle cables - extra oil pipes - bigger radiator - tanks. Altered the co-pilots seat, carved away the wings & top, then added red seat belt material which is not in the kit but the anchor fixing are! supposed to use decal seat belts but these get thrown away every time - co-pilots foot rest added - Engine sump guard is removable so the underside can be shown or not, that way all the lower engine detail is not lost.

Major error by Revell, they'd printed both reg' plates in white, the rear should be yellow, so carefully painted over the white with yellow gloss, not perfect but I'm ok with it.

Update! Blue is on and winning over this thing 🤣

Unsure why a few of the pics come through as a link, only does it on this forum! 

Really coming on !

Never had a MKII, let alone a rally car, but note that top mounts on front struts have four bolts?

7 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

but note that top mounts on front struts have four bolts?

I think that must have been a modification for that particular car (or the model is wrong). The Escort Mk2 only had three mounting bolts and that included the Harrier and RS versions.

Eg. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253062029851

16 hours ago, Paulkp said:

Never had a MKII, let alone a rally car, but note that top mounts on front struts have four bolts?

''Action Man Eagle Eyes Paul'' 

You know Paul this Escort kit is full of faults from the kit manufacturer but 'never' did I take any notice there are four bolts instead on three, If the engine bay hadn't been fully finished I'd have altered them, just wished someone with eagle eyes had picked this up when I showed a pic with no engine fitted.

Grrrr 

16 hours ago, unofix said:

I think that must have been a modification for that particular car (or the model is wrong). 

Unreal about the four bolts on the car, having owned a RS2000 in the past I should have spotted that the four bolt representation is wrong, I've built at least 6 of these models and never took any notice there there should be three, looking on the net every model built hasn't rectified this error, so I'm not alone......Thank god!

Went looking all over the place to see where ESCI got this four bolt idea from, Thinking the German Touring Escort could be a four bolt set up, even the Zakspeed is three bolts.......

I never spotted that either despite having had Mk 1 Cortina, Mk 1 Escort and Mk 3 Capri in the past!

And needing the inner wings plating on the first two of those!

 

12 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I never spotted that either despite having had Mk 1 Cortina, Mk 1 Escort and Mk 3 Capri in the past!
And needing the inner wings plating on the first two of those!

We put brand new genuine RS2000 inner & outer wings on my old Escort in 1992, also fitted brand new Bilstein suspension afterwards, never took any notice of the three bolts, was a long time ago now though.

Winning over the model now..

Well it's now done 💞 I did make nylon mudflaps for the car but the tiny small scale brackets just kept breaking off the nylon, so gave up and left the rear mudflaps off 🫢 She's turned into a right bobby dazzler 💥

 

Looks good 👍

What's happened to the two rear number plate lights ?

Only fitted to the post '80 models......

Lovely model Ian, I still think that shape was the best Escort, with a Harrier in White, a super look.

1 hour ago, Paulkp said:

 I still think that shape was the best Escort,

Yes I would agree with you. 😀

I had 4 (one was actually my mothers), from the first model a 1975 "N" reg through to the last model a 1980 "W" reg.

Oddly enough the 1975 model only had one number plate light in the centre, and it was chrome finished. The others all had two but were just a matt black plastic.

On 11/1/2025 at 12:17 PM, unofix said:

What's happened to the two rear number plate lights ?

Every build of these Escorts I make I always have good intentions to replicate the round domed bumper mounting bolts which are on the corners and two on the length but I never do, same with the reg' plate lights but after all the work done to the bumpers my enthusiasm runs out, they are moulded incorrectly, so have to spend a few hours reshaping the rear, then reshaping the front quarter bumpers are a nightmare to put right.

20 hours ago, unofix said:

Oddly enough the 1975 model only had one number plate light in the centre, and it was chrome finished. The others all had two but were just a matt black plastic.

I've seen the bumpers on show cars, some with one light, some with two lights, often wondered why that is 

22 hours ago, Paulkp said:

Only fitted to the post '80 models......

Lovely model Ian, I still think that shape was the best Escort, with a Harrier in White, a super look.

There's a company that makes an aftermarket kit which turns the rally car kit into a Harrier, the original kit has to be purchased and used as a donor kit to make the Harrier, I have looked into this but the front spoiler and quarter bumper are 3D printed whilst it looks good from six feet away, on closer inspection of the parts makes me think twice about buying the Harrier kit, the shell is a cast resin part, just how much effort would it take sanding & fillering the body until super smooth is questionable, also the donor kit bonnet is a crap fit to the 3D printed body, I'm yet to see a fully built Harrier model with close pictures....There isn't any!

Check out the link and enlarge the model car in it's primed state, you'll see how rough it is, does make me shudder when they use a photo of a real Harrier and not a completed model.....

https://www.hiroboy.com/124_Escort_MKII_Harrier_Conversion_Transkit_for_Italleri_Mk2_Ford_Escort--product--17964.html

That after market kit just does not look up to your standards, Ian.

Classic Car show at NEC this coming weekend (if I had access to a working car I might have gone!) but elder brother is having a family celebration, so a three line whip!  Might have beem a real Harrier there, and a few other classics over which I could drool !

Oddly one car is immobile as I cannot currently get a "flat" post battery, and in that after market kit, it looks like a round turret type, but that is probably just poor production !

@Ian Lanc came across this video and thought you, and others, might find it mildly interesting.

 

 

On 11/16/2025 at 5:54 AM, Turvey said:

@Ian Lanc came across this video and thought you, and others, might find it mildly interesting.

That turned out great, looked upon one Jap bloke/engineer who opened up all the doors/bonnet/boot on 1/43rd Hotwheels/Matchbox's and went crazy adding the most tiniest detail I'd ever seen, engine scratch made with a fully kitted out interior .......Mind boggling what some people can make.