Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 261: Rosso Roof Retrofitting Revisited

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 261: Rosso Roof Retrofitting Revisited

As I've previously stated in this series, the '86 Rosso body sets (specifically, the notchback variants with their wraparound rear windows) are ideal candidates for roof transplant surgery, since their wedge-shaped profiles lend themselves well to this procedure. However, I haven't yet mentioned some of the possibilities I've just tried - until now, that is. This time, I'll be looking at two more options that suit the Rosso quite well - particularly in certain sizes. The caveat of having to resize the 3D roof fixtures accordingly to match the morphing settings still applies, however, so keep that in mind.

The first experiment shown here involves placing a 3D roof fixture from the SHD Euro 80s Sports set (specifically, the one marked FER_512_TES) on the mid-engined notchback variant with a 2.45m wheelbase. The result is as follows:

Above, from top: Placing this variant of the SHD's 80s Euro Sports 3D fixture roof set on this test build (shown here finished in a patriotic red-and-white-on-blue livery) built on a 2.45m wheelbase wasn't a truly perfect fit - I couldn't get the base of the B-pillar to align with the trailing edge of the doors - but it still worked well enough for my needs, due to the resulting car having an Esprit-like side profile.

In addition to this, I tried another variant of the same fixture (specifically, the FER_GTO) on a longer and wider (2.66m wheelbase) variant of the same body set, with the same body style, resulting in a more flowing side profile, as follows:

Above, from top: This alternate option on the '86 Rosso is less effective on the shorter, smaller variants by comparison, but works better on the longer, larger ones,

This leads me to conclude that proportions are the key factor in deciding on which 3D roof fixture works best for a specific body set. What might be a good fit for one particular body set may be less effective on another one (or even a differently sized variant of the same set), so you'll need to weigh up the pros and cons of each 3D fixture roof variant before deciding which one to install, if you indeed go ahead with the procedure.