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1 hour ago, Slartibartfast said:

Looking like a race engine!  If I weren't a poor college student, I would have put a pair of dual-throat Hitachis on my Datsun Roadster. They had those sexy intake bells, too.

 

Slartibartfast, 

   thanks my friend for stopping by and checking out the Lotus to date. It's much appreciated. 

  I remember when I was in college a million  years ago, I had a 1275cc MG Midget for a while when my MGB was strictly for the track till I sold it ( I'm still kicking myself for that). Anyway, I ended up buying a custom race exhaust header and then I  removed the SU twin Carbs and installed a single side draft Weber. Instant power, and the sound coupled with the Abrarth exhaust was truly music to my ears. 

Joel

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2 hours ago, CaptainObvious said:

That engine turned out real nice Joel.
The intakes certainly look the part.

 

Capt Obvious, 

  Thanks so much for stopping by and appreciating my most modest of efforts on the Ford Cosworth.  It's always greatly appreciated.

Joel

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well done! Really like those old F-1 cars. The use aluminium and other metal parts (like your beautiful front suspension proves!) truly makes these old race cars much more down to earth and clearly made by a human with greasy hands.

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As I said, the Zero paint was a failure, so I ordered several bottles of paint from Gravity of Spain as I said in a previous post. I had stripped all the paint and primer off the various panels, and reprimed with Mr. Hobby Primer Sealer thinned 1:1 with Mr. Hobby's Mr. Color leveling thinner. Which I Air Brushed at 20 psi in light coats. Gave it a hour or so to dry, and once again lightly wet sanded it with Tamiya's 3,000 sponge. Next paint session I air brushed on the Gravity Gloss Black that is also pre-thinned at my now standard 20 psi in light coats. Looked way better. I gave that a few days to cure off, then wet sanded it once again with Tamiya's 3,000 sponge. And now it was decal time. The paint was so smooth that I decided to decal without a Glosscoat! An all time 1st for me.

 

Ebbro had Cartgraph print there decals but there was no JPS cirgarette logos provided. I had an old Alps sheet from Indy Cals, and tested the logos. Looked good, but the next day the clear film had bubbles, so I stripped off the decal and tossed the old sheet. I then went to order a new set from Indy Cals, but Mike (IndyCal Ower) no longer is able to print Gold  colored decals. So now what do I do? I checked ebay and I found a small decal/parts company in Hong Kong that silk screens decals. And for some reason that had just the JPS sponsor decals for the type 72E. So I ordered a sheet for $11.50 with shipping. Took 3 weeks, but they got here. In the mean time I started on those Gold stripes. I cut the cowl strips into 4 sections on each side, so that a total of 11 decal pcs needed to match up. Came out pretty good.

 

dtnMbE.jpg

 

Then I did the side pods and cut the stripes in workable sections, as well as the nose clip, intake box, and the rear wing. All the body panels dried perfectly much to my amazement.

Up next was the big #1s in with their Gold backing, also by Cartgraph. By this time the decals still haven't arrived, so i worked on the rear suspension and drive train. Finally, the decals arrived. they looked great, but a little thicker then what I had expected. More in tune with what you would expect with Asian decals. They went down perfectly, and look great.

I gave them a day to dry, then I air brushed on 3 coats of Mr. Color Clear gloss, waited 2 days, and rubbed that out with Tamiya 3,000 sponge. Now the decals look almost like they were painted on. No flash, and no silvering, which was in the back of my head through the entire process. Now comes the fun part. I also ordered from Gravity their polishing set and wax. The final results were simply amazing.
 

eEkbNq.jpg

 

nWarLf.jpg

 

Joel

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Joel_W
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18 minutes ago, Ben Brown said:

Wow Joel, that looks great! 

 

Where are you finding the Mr Color clear gloss? All of my usual sources are sold out.

 

Ben

Ben,

  I bought 6 bottles from Sprue Brothers when they  have it in stock. 

 Joel

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Hi Joel,

 

Awesome job! So glad you pushed through the paint and decal problems. Your efforts certainly paid off.

 

17 hours ago, Joel_W said:

I checked ebay and I found a small decal/parts company in Hong Kong that silk screens decals. And for some reason that had just the JPS sponsor decals for the type 72E.

 

Do you mind sharing the contact?

 

10 hours ago, Joel_W said:

  Janman,

   I'm trying to help build up the car forums, but so far it hasn't had much of a response.

Joel

 

Seeing how there isn't much activity to begin with, I am also of the opinion that consolidating most of the automotive subforums would help.

That said, I'll try to play my part and post something here after completing my current project. It'll most probably be a stalled Subaru rally car.

 

-co

 

 

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5 hours ago, CaptainObvious said:

Hi Joel,

 

Awesome job! So glad you pushed through the paint and decal problems. Your efforts certainly paid off.

 

 

Do you mind sharing the contact?

 

 

Seeing how there isn't much activity to begin with, I am also of the opinion that consolidating most of the automotive subforums would help.

That said, I'll try to play my part and post something here after completing my current project. It'll most probably be a stalled Subaru rally car.

 

-co

 

 

Capt. Obvious,

   So glad that you stopped by both to say "hi", and to checkout the progress on my Lotus Type 72E. 

 

  There's literally a ton of AM decals from several very small companies from Hong Kong these days. the one that I found that actually had what I was looking for was from a Google search. The company is Decalpool. their email address is: Decalpool@gmail.com. and they do reply within a few days to your inquiries via email.

 

 I've also been spending a lot of time on HLJ site, and when I do specific searchers like for Ebbro F1 kits, pages of AM parts and decals come up after their kits. Same for Tamiya, etc.  

 

Shipping time is the only draw back, which ran from 20 days to a full month, but my orders always arrived, and no damage to any of them.

 

Agreed with your idea of further consolidation of the auto forums to get more interest. I'm betting that there are other members that build an occasional car from time to time.

 

Looking forward to your Subaru rally car Thread/Post. should be great as your build standards are exceptional.

 

Joel 

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17 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

I really like the JPs color scheme and you did it proud.  That gloss is loverly!

Slartibartfast,

  So glad that you  liked my efforts. The really good news is that I finished the Lotus this afternoon, and will be shooting the update pictures tomorrow. 

Joel

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Because of this build I had to dig up my "Formula 1 in camera 1970-79" book and read through it once more. A lot photos of this particular Lotus too. But what strikes me again here is how much the cars and the whole Formula circus changed in those ten years! It's remarkable to notice it again. And yet the late seventies and even the early eighties were completely different from today's completely sterile racing world.

 

The book and this build (+ the Chris Amon Ferrari build here earlier) have really inspired me getting into Formula models. I've had this urge before but now I've really decided to get my first kit. It's a shame that there isn't any injection mold kits of the Williams cars of our first world champion, Keke Rosberg (1982) drove. Mid 70's to mid 80's is arguably my favourite time period.

 

During the last days I've also read about many older drivers that haven't been that familiar to me - like Amos. Those were some interesting times! 

Edited by janman
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8 hours ago, janman said:

Because of this build I had to dig up my "Formula 1 in camera 1970-79" book and read through it once more. A lot photos of this particular Lotus too. But what strikes me again here is how much the cars and the whole Formula circus changed in those ten years! It's remarkable to notice it again. And yet the late seventies and even the early eighties were completely different from today's completely sterile racing world.

 

The book and this build (+ the Chris Amon Ferrari build here earlier) have really inspired me getting into Formula models. I've had this urge before but now I've really decided to get my first kit. It's a shame that there isn't any injection mold kits of the Williams cars of our first world champion, Keke Rosberg (1982) drove. Mid 70's to mid 80's is arguably my favourite time period.

 

During the last days I've also read about many older drivers that haven't been that familiar to me - like Amos. Those were some interesting times! 

 

Janman,

   Glad to read that you're going to be building some Formula 1 cars.  I gotta admit that I much prefer the cars of the late 60s through the 80s verses today's aerodynamic winged wonders. Honestly, they look dreadful. But such is progress. As for Kiki's FW08 Williams, you could use the Tamiya FW07 as they're pretty similar.  

  I do a lot of You tube searches on racing, and I'm just amazed at what is there.

 

Joel

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 Well, the Lotus Type 72E finally crossed the finish line. Less days to completion then previous builds, but the hours are most likely about the same. Being retired and still not even looking for a part time job, does give me a lot of free time once I finish my daily "Honey To Do List" choirs. 

 

  It was time to "bolt" the engine/gearbox/suspension to the chassis tub. Ebbro has a screw and tongue to really keep it locked into place. Then the body panels were fitted and the slightest amount of Extra Thin was used to keep it where it belongs. Then the cowling, and it was a real bear to get into position.  Time to step back and admire my progress.

 

  Now comes one of the dreaded parts of the build, the Tamiya 6 way harness that's generic by era, so you need to have some photographs, and then do a Rube Goldberg install. Took two days, but I got it done.

 

  The kit comes with Chromed wheels, fronts one piece, but the massive rears are two pieces. What's more they're flat black, then Gold front surfaces, and polished Aluminum rims. I stripped the chrome of with Ammonia which works faster then Bleach. Then airbrushed the flat black. The gold was a real bear to do as I opted for Enamel paint slightly thinned so it would flow and hopefully not leave brush marks, and it didn't. The polished steel rims are done with a artist's very fine felt tip marker. I was hoping for just ok, but I'm a step or two above it, but there's certainly room for improvement. 

  Then to my horror as I pressed the wheels on, one of the pins in the rear wheel broke   I tried to glue it but it just kept on breaking off. Then I used 5 min epoxy, and it didn't hold the pin in place. I then went with my last resort of a clay type two part epoxy. Set the wheel in place and braced everything aligned the best I could. Then left it a lone for a good two. Hours. SUCCESS  !!

 

  I had previously painted the two Talbot Mirrors, and now they were installed. 

 

 And with the Talbot's installed, the Type 72E of Emmo is in the books.  Here's some pictures of the finished Lotus.

 

Joel

 

E6L1XT.jpg

 

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ejkTx8.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Joel_W
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