Wanted: 1/43 Formula Models 2008 Scott Dixon kit

[danny]

Product code is "FM35". This one is a bit of a unicorn. Any leads, please let me know!

Danny

[danny]

Still looking for one of these, and although I never see this exact kit, I do see others by Formula pop up from time to time. Right now, there's a 2005 Dan Wheldon Indy winner on ebay that has me doing some imaging searches, as I THINK there were no significant outer physical differences between the 2005 and 2008 cars. Can anyone confirm this?

The only thing giving me pause is this tidbit from Wikipedia: "From 2007 to 2011 all IndyCar teams used the Dallara IR-05 chassis..."

To my eye, Wheldon's 05 car and Dixon's 08 look pretty much identical, so if I can paint the 05 car red and get a set of Dixon decals I'll be pretty pleased, but not if there are differences I'm overlooking.

Thanks for any input.

[indy]

The IRL chassis from 2003 to 2011 were the same base cars with only some differences over the years. Fun fact, Dan Wheldon won the 2011 500 in a Dallara manufactured in 2003.

So any 2003-2011 Dallara you want to build can be done from any 03-11 car.

There are many here than can can help with the year to year differences.

Jordan

[indy]

Aug 22, 2021 11:53:20 GMT -5 danny said:

The only thing giving me pause is this tidbit from Wikipedia: "From 2007 to 2011 all IndyCar teams used the Dallara IR-05 chassis..."

To my eye, that is a clumsy statement.

The IRL Chassis rules specified only three constructors in each chassis cycle before the DW12 era. Dallara, G-Force (later Panoz G-Force), and MK Racing (Michael Kranefuss) were chosen for the 2003 cars. The first two were the only two chassis manufacturers to survive through the first two IRL chassis generations as the third supplier each time had little to no success (one win for Riley and Scott chassis that was soon abandoned IIRC).

MK Racing never made a car that hit the track, best I can recall. There were some body pieces on eBay about a decade back. Shame since the IRL picked them over Penske Cars and others that would have put something on track. At that point, the IRL was on three year chassis schedule. They ran the same base cars 97-99 then their second generation was 2000-2002 but never came out with new rules for 2006 to continue the three-year pattern.

Back to the 2007-2011 Wiki sentence. Dallaras were solely used by full-time teams for 2007-2011 but in the 2007 Indy 500 there were three Panoz run in that race. Panoz won the first two Indy 500s of this third generation but did not keep up with Dallara as the years went by. It is thought that they eventually concentrated on the awesome but short-lived ChampCar DP01.

Buy any 2005-2011 Indy 500 winner to make any 2003-2011 Dallara. The Dallaras did change bits and bobs over the years but those are relatively minor.

Jordan

[danny]

Jordan, all of your info was EXTREMELY helpful and I sincerely thank you - I went ahead and got that 05 and will be able to turn it into what I want.

Also, you cast some interesting light on a particular era of the sport that I have a lot less familiarity with! Thank you again!

[indy]

Straight from the box, the 2005 kit should make a passable 2008 winner. Feel free to build it however makes you happy. Here are the differences I picked up on:
- front wing endplate
- rear wing endplate
- camera pod
- mirrors
- rims
- radiator exits
- radiator intake blockers (maybe?)

Looks like the kickups in front of the rear tires are the same plus both had the 2004 and later centerline wicker so most of the big parts are the same between the two. Might be some others members here that know some more of the differences between the two.

Jordan

[danny]

Jordan,

Very, very helpful. I'm sure I would have missed at least a couple of those so it helps to have another set of eyes apply some scrutiny.

And yes, there is a radiator blocker on the '05 model's right side - was that done for ovals only (speedway aero)?

My primary goal for this project, and I reserve the right to change my mind if it proves too absurd or complicated, is to do a road course version of Dixon's '08 car. I'm used to seeing the road course setups in-person every year (Long Beach), and I just like the look of those kits better for this era. And I need to add a Dixon car to my collection.

It's just an idea at this point - I haven't thoroughly examined if available parts in 1/43 are accurate enough to allow it to happen, nor have I fully explored the extent of the mods that would need to be made. We'll see after I start doing more research. There are a couple builders on Shapeways who have road course cars of this era. But the fallback is the '08 winner.