Lotus 72D by gsdpic - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/12

[gsdpic]

Hello to all of you troublemakers, like me, who read and post non-ship build logs on MSW 

 

Inspired by @DocRob's recent Renault F1 car build, I decided to both build and log my Lotus 72D.  This is part of the same series of 1/12th scale F1 cars by Tamiya.  They have very recently re-released this model, including some photo-etch parts.  However, I am building the old, original version.  I got this kit off of ebay.  The box was in a bit rough shape, as shown below, but the kit contents appear to be in good shape.  The part sprues were all still in their plastic bags.  I might've preferred the new one, but this one was about 60% of the cost of the new one.

The Lotus 72 was used in Formula 1 by Team Lotus for several years, from 1970 - 1975, in several different versions.  The "D" version was used in 1972 and for the first few races of the 1973 season.   I believe that 1972 was also the year that the black and gold "John Player Special" livery was introduced.  Emerson Fittipaldi was the lead driver and won the 1972 championship and Team Lotus won the team championship.   Fittipaldi had victories in Spain, Belgium, Great Britain, Austria and Italy that year.  I'll be building it as shown on the box, which represents the car raced in Great Britain in 1972 (info from The Single-seat Lotus Formula 1 and Indy Cars, a definitive history by Doug Nye).

 

The seller indicated that the kit came from an estate, so the seller had no more information on how old the kit is.  The decal sheet had a 1991 copyright date, while several of the sprues had molded in copyright dates that were even older, so it could be as much as 32 years old.  Those decals were my main concern about this kit.  There were a few extras (e.g. the markings include the driver name so there were decals for both drivers but only one will be used.  The decals also provided three different numbers, 6, 8, and 32).  Before starting, I tried out some of these spare decals and they worked fine.  However, some of the decals near the edge of the sheet look like they might be in a bit rougher shape.  I have a bottle of Microscale's liquid decal film on the way in case I need it to help revive those decals (thanks to Ken @Canute for making me aware of that product).  The decals, particularly the thin gold lines, may be a challenge.

 

I will likely mostly build it out of the box, with a few enhancements, I hope.  For one, I likely will not use the included driver figure but the only seat belts supplied are molded into the driver figure.  I really like the MFH seatbelts that DocRob acquired but MFH products seem difficult to purchase in the US.  I might need to order them from Europe or Japan if I want them.  I may add or replace a few other connectors, fuel lines, spark plug lines, etc. as well.  That will mostly come in to play when I get to the engine, which is pretty far into the build if I follow the order of the instructions.

 

And yes, one of these days I'll get back to working on my Sopwith Camel, but for now it is on the shelf.  I've been on a bit of a plastic car model kick lately.  Below are two pictures of the most recent one, the Testor's (nee Heller) Ferrari 512S 1/25th scale.  This one was driven by Andretti at the 24 hours of Daytona in 1970.

 

That's enough of an introduction.  I've actually started on this kit so will add another post or two with the initial build steps.

 

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by gsdpic

[gsdpic]

The first step of the build has you construct some of the body parts such as the wing, front cowl, oil tank and cooler, and the air induction box.  This all went fairly well, though as was the case with DocRob's Renault, the fit and molding of the parts was not quite up to the current standards of Tamiya.  It also seemed to me that this plastic was a bit harder than they use today or perhaps it is just because it is older.    Anyway, I got those parts assembled along with fixing (or at least reducing) some of the flaws with the Tamiya putty as shown below.

 

It was then time to paint them and start on the decals.  For paint, I first used the alclad black primer/microfiller, particularly on the parts that had the putty patches and any other possible scratches from sanding.  That went on well.   For the finish coat, I am trying to use the Alclad gloss black base.  That is normally used as the base coat below their chrome or other shiny metals.  But I have a largish bottle of the stuff so figured I'd use it here too.  But it seems a little problematic, as it stays tacky for quite some time, then even after it seems to no longer be tacky, once you start handling the part it becomes tacky again, I guess just from the heat from your hands.  Or, if you try to polish or sand it, the heat generated from those operations make it tacky again as well, at least for the first 24-48 hours.

 

Anyway, I have painted all four of the parts shown above as well as some additional body parts, and started applying the decals to those parts.  I think I have all the decals on the air box done and just 2 (out of about a dozen) decals on the rear wing.  Unfortunately you can see a little bit of "silvering" on the air box decal and the one on the other side has a couple very small wrinkles that I could not remove.  Once I have all the decals in place on the body, I'll apply some sort of clear gloss though I have not yet decided which clear gloss to use.

[DocRob]

Nice project Gary, I will write only very brief, as I am on vacations and don‘t like to type a lot on the smartphone. 

I never used Alclad‘s black base, but had similar experiences like you with AK‘s black base for Extreme Metals. The stuff NEVER completely cured and was tacky even after weeks. Tamiya LP 1 gloss black  is much bettet and sprays perfectly with about two thirds of leveling thinner added. A perfect combo. 

Shunko produces a decal sheet, if you want to upgrade from your ancient ones. 

 

Cheers Rob

[gsdpic]

7 hours ago, DocRob said:

Nice project Gary, I will write only very brief, as I am on vacations and don‘t like to type a lot on the smartphone. 

I never used Alclad‘s black base, but had similar experiences like you with AK‘s black base for Extreme Metals. The stuff NEVER completely cured and was tacky even after weeks. Tamiya LP 1 gloss black  is much bettet and sprays perfectly with about two thirds of leveling thinner added. A perfect combo. 

Shunko produces a decal sheet, if you want to upgrade from your ancient ones. 

 

Cheers Rob

Thanks, I noted your praise for the Tamiya Laquers in your build log.  They also are a bit hard to find, though I have seen at least one USA based web site that carries them.   But for now I pretty much have all the body panels sprayed with the Alclad base, so maybe next time.   And yes there will be a next time as I also have the Lotus 78 in my stash.

 

[yvesvidal]

Another great classic kit being described. Between the Renault F1 car and this one, we are very lucky.

 

Yves

Edited September 4, 2023 by yvesvidal

[CDW]

Excellent project and look forward to your build. 

[gsdpic]

Thanks everyone for the likes and comments.  

 

I've made more progress, switching between adding decals or building the next steps.   I think I have all the decals on the rear wing done now and a few decals on the front cowl with about 10 more to go.  I've assembled the main tub as well.  Annoyingly, the black paint on the main tub is still a tiny bit tacky (see discussion above) and does not look as good as the paint on the front cowl.  The paint on the rear wing is somewhere between the two but obviously I can't repaint it now.  But I might try adding another coat of black paint to the main tub and then let it sit without touching it for a week or two while I work on all the suspension and engine bits.  The front suspension is next in the instructions and I've started a bit on that as well.

 

Here are pictures of the tub, the rear wing, and the front cowl.  There are two radiators to be placed in the side pods of the main tub; I've left them out for now in case I do decide to repaint the tub, that'll be two less things to mask.   I believe that the radiators are one of the places where the new kit provides some photo etch parts.  Oops, I see now an unfortunate glue spot on the inside of the cockpit just ahead of the seat, guess I need to try to repaint that.

 

 

 

The rear wing....there is a bit of silvering on the gold stripe near the front edge but it is not as noticeable in real life.  None of this stuff has been clear coated so maybe that will help.

 

[gsdpic]

Just a quick update.

 

First, I have done all the decals on the front cowl now.  A couple were a bit dicey but overall it went ok.  The line around the very front broke in a couple pieces but I was able to slide the pieces together and (mostly) hide it.  I need to very carefully clean some of the water spots off of the cowl and then clear coat it.

 

I've also resprayed the body panels on the main tub.  It looks much better now and it seems to be less tacky even after just 12 hours.  This time I was far more diligent about shaking up the bottle of paint before using it, so I think that might have helped.

 

I've also done a bit more work on the front suspension bits but not enough to bother showing at this time.  Oh, I also stripped all the chrome off of the one small sprue of chrome parts, as a couple of them are on the front suspension.  Most of them I'll likely repaint with either chrome or polished aluminum paint from Alclad.

 

Here's the fully decal'ed front cowl.  That stripe around the top edge of the cowl was made up of 5 individual decals that you butt up against each other to form the complete line.  I started with the one in the front then worked my way up each side.

[CDW]

You've done remarkably well to manage those old decals. Looks real nice. My luck with old decals has been rather poor lately. It just depends on what kind of temperature and humidity the old decals have been exposed to over a long time of storage. I've got another set of old ones I'm keeping my fingers crossed, will work. I can't replace them so if they don't work, I am rather out of luck. I think you might be in the same position with your John Player Lotus decals. It would probably be very difficult to source a decent replacement set.

[Egilman]

7 hours ago, CDW said:

John Player Lotus decals. It would probably be very difficult to source a decent replacement set.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125606597953?chn=ps&var=426640223723&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=21562-222008-2056-1&mkcid=2&itemid=426640223723_125606597953&targetid=296739514498&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9057154&poi=9142551&campaignid=19868683663&mkgroupid=145907810526&rlsatarget=pla-296739514498&abcId=&merchantid=433595783&gclid=CjwKCAjw6eWnBhAKEiwADpnw9kSyE9Xl9o6XSa9a4TWyVcS6LNWimD1GtDK8xv5mHeUSifD6jMQGdBoCiaUQAvD_BwE

 

Made to order...

 

And these...

https://www.tbdecalsmodels.com/product-page/1-12-f1-lotus-72d-1972-1973-tamiya-decals-tbd109

Edited September 7, 2023 by Egilman

[gsdpic]

On 9/7/2023 at 11:23 AM, CDW said:

You've done remarkably well to manage those old decals. Looks real nice. My luck with old decals has been rather poor lately. It just depends on what kind of temperature and humidity the old decals have been exposed to over a long time of storage. I've got another set of old ones I'm keeping my fingers crossed, will work. I can't replace them so if they don't work, I am rather out of luck. I think you might be in the same position with your John Player Lotus decals. It would probably be very difficult to source a decent replacement set.

Thanks.  This is only about the second time dealing with such old decals.   I still have some of the longest and most complex ones to do so I am not out of the  woods yet.  And on a few that I have done, I could see that about as much of the color stayed on the backing paper as on the decal film.  In the past I've made a few decals using the inkjet printer compatible decal paper but I am sure my inkjet could not recreate the metallic gold decals on this kit.

 

On 9/7/2023 at 6:30 PM, Egilman said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125606597953?chn=ps&var=426640223723&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=21562-222008-2056-1&mkcid=2&itemid=426640223723_125606597953&targetid=296739514498&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9057154&poi=9142551&campaignid=19868683663&mkgroupid=145907810526&rlsatarget=pla-296739514498&abcId=&merchantid=433595783&gclid=CjwKCAjw6eWnBhAKEiwADpnw9kSyE9Xl9o6XSa9a4TWyVcS6LNWimD1GtDK8xv5mHeUSifD6jMQGdBoCiaUQAvD_BwE

 

Made to order...

 

And these...

https://www.tbdecalsmodels.com/product-page/1-12-f1-lotus-72d-1972-1973-tamiya-decals-tbd109

Thanks for the links!   I've bookmarked them just in case...I hope not for this kit but possibly in the future.

 

And thanks to all the others for the likes.

 

I've continued with the kit.  The next part is mostly construction of the front suspension.  And yes, that was quite a beast to complete.   I've got it about 80% done but the rest should be much easier.  They design it so that the suspension moves like the real thing....deflects up and down, the front wheels turn left and right, and they rotate as well.  When they rotate, drive shafts also cause the inboard mounted brake disks to rotate.   So, many of those parts just snap together to allow movement but when gluing the two main frames together, you need to hold about 8 other pieces in place, so it was not easy.  And with all that, one of the wheels does not turn as freely as I would like but it'll do.

 

I had one near catastrophe.  The uprights/hubs have two ball-and-socket joints, one on top and one on bottom.  On one of the hubs, I broke off one of the balls.  Without that ball, the hub would not attach to the suspension.  Fortunately I had some sewing pins with small, round plastic heads.  I was able to sand down the round head of one of those pins to make it the same size as the broken ball, drill a hole into the hub and cut off most of the pin and then CA the pin into the hub.  That worked surprisingly well.

 

For now, just one picture.  Once I complete this a bit more, I'll post a few more pictures.  I've used a variety of paints on this....tamiya gun metal, metallic gray, and black, alclad black and semi-matte aluminum, and model masters steel.

 

 

[CDW]

I recently acquired the 1:12 Tamiya Wolf WR1 formula one model and there are issues with the gold decals. Haven’t found  a replacement sheet. Thinking about masking and painting the metallic gold myself when the time comes rather than depending on the decal. Even when I bought replacement/aftermarket gold decal sheets in the past, the gold has not been opaque, causing the need for a proper base color underneath. Fred Cady decals come to mind. Printers have a hard time with opaque metallics it seems.

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

I recently acquired the 1:12 Tamiya Wolf WR1 formula one model and there are issues with the gold decals. Haven’t found  a replacement sheet.

Now you have...

 

https://www.indycals.net/decals/f1/77wolfwr1.html

https://www.bestbalsakits.com/tamiya/tamiya-detail.asp?kitnumber=4145

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234972506380

 

Indycals does most of the tamiya kits in any scale...

Bestbalsa is also a good source....

 

Hope it helps...

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Egilman

[gsdpic]

Thanks again CDW and egilman.

 

I also thought about possibly painting the gold stuff if the decals were not usable.  Or microscale suggests painting on decal film to create decals, saying it may be easier to paint on a flat surface than directly on the model.   Though for something like stripes it may be tough to map the curved decal to the flat decal sheet if you do not have existing decals to work from.   I did scan in the decal sheet before I cut it up in case I needed to refer to it in the future.

 

I've used Indycals in the past when I messed up the decals on a Fujimi Ford GT 40 model and was pleased with what I got.  The lotus 72D is one that they do not have decals for....perhaps he also cannot print metallic gold.

 

[CDW]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

Now you have...

 

https://www.indycals.net/decals/f1/77wolfwr1.html

https://www.bestbalsakits.com/tamiya/tamiya-detail.asp?kitnumber=4145

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234972506380

 

Indycals does most of the tamiya kits in any scale...

Bestbalsa is also a good source....

 

Hope it helps...

 

Thanks EG. Those are good resources to bookmark. Interesting what indyals says about the gold markings on the WR1

[gsdpic]

Thanks as always for the comments and likes!

 

I have the front suspension structure 99% done now, shown below.  The fire extinguisher is toward the front of the car, the back bulkhead/frame fits against the main tub of the car.  The one part that I have not done is the hose from the fire extinguisher to the front bulkhead.  The kit supplies some black rubber/vinyl tube for that purpose.  I hope to obtain some of the metal, braided lines and use that in place of the vinyl hose.   Note also the bare wires on the front, representing the hydraulic lines for the brakes and clutch.  The three cylinders in front are the master cylinders.  I added those wires, they were not part of the kit.  I also added the black control wire from the bulkhead to the fire extinguisher.  The front cowl snaps on, so in theory, most of this stuff can be made visible by removing the cowl.

 

It cannot be seen in these photos, but I also added rods from the pedals to the opposite side of the master cylinders.  They can be seen if you look straight down through that square opening in the top.  I presume that is how this worked....the pedals acted as levers pushing rods into the cylinders to provide the pressure needed to brake or release the clutch.

 

I am also tempted to add a rectangular decal or two to the fire extinguisher, as it looks a bit bare as is.

 

With this, I am through step 26 out of 45 in the instructions.  The next step begins assembly of the engine.   I might also go back and resume putting decals on the main tub.  The gloss black paint there has been curing for a week or two and is no longer tacky at all.

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

This  looks  Real.

 

OC.

[gsdpic]

Thanks to OC for the comment, and to everyone else for looking in and hitting the like button.

 

I've completed the decals on the body parts.   It went quite well....sure there are a few wrinkles and a few places the decals tore and a little bit of silvering here and there but overall I am pleased with the way it went.   I was surprised that the long skinny stripe decals did not pose too much issue, though a couple of them did break apart.  But I was able to just nudge the two edges together.  The larger decals seemed a little more problematic, as there were more likely to be spots where the decal film did not want to release from the backing paper.  In a few cases I had to grab the decal with tweezers and delicately pull it off of the backing paper.

 

Below are a couple of pictures.  Excuse the masking tape, I am leaving that in place until after I do the clear coat, which I have not started yet.  Also, the upper cowl is just sitting on the main tub now.  Unfortunately it is slightly warped.  I think the kit intends you to not glue that in place so that it can be removed for better viewing of the cockpit but I may need to glue it down to have it sit nice on the tub.  That's probable not a big loss as there is not a lot to view in the cockpit.

 

I also started assembling the engine and gearbox.  I placed the front cowl, the body, the engine/gearbox and rear wing all next to each other on my table and was a bit surprised just how big this model is going to be.  I guess I should have thought about that before I started hoarding 1/12th or 1/16th scale car models bought off of ebay.    This is one of 9 that I have.  Oops.

[yvesvidal]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:44 AM, gsdpic said:

  I guess I should have thought about that before I started hoarding 1/12th or 1/16th scale car models bought off of ebay.    This is one of 9 that I have.  Oops.

 

I can't wait to see the rest of the collection.

 

Yves

[gsdpic]

On 9/17/2023 at 11:01 AM, yvesvidal said:

 

I can't wait to see the rest of the collection.

 

Yves

I hope you are patient

 

And and thanks to the others for the likes.

 

I've now pretty much completed the engine.  The gear box, along with rear suspension and rear brakes, is next. 

 

I painted the engine block with metallic gray (XF-56) then used black panel line accent and some dry brushed flat aluminum (XF-16) to provide some variation.  I have to say in the pictures, the variation shows up more than it does in real life.

 

I also think the spark plug wires/tubes are a bit out of scale but will leave them for now.  Funny thing is that in my stash I have both the Lotus 49 and the Lotus 78, which were also powered by the Ford/Cosworth DFV engine so I'll have two more chance to build pretty much the exact same engine, whenever I get around to doing those other two.

[Old Collingwood]

Nearly brought a  Lotus  many many years  ago  -  but was  put off by the  service  costs and  insurance,  loved the  name they   got  Lots  Of  Trouble  Usually  Serious.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, gsdpic said:

I also think the spark plug wires/tubes are a bit out of scale but will leave them for now.  Funny thing is that in my stash I have both the Lotus 49 and the Lotus 78, which were also powered by the Ford/Cosworth DFV engine so I'll have two more chance to build pretty much the exact same engine, whenever I get around to doing those other two.

Good looking engine...

 

Cosworth's dominated racing and HIPO ICE's for almost three decades, they were winning in all forms of 4 wheel racing... They broke the 70 year dominance of the Peugeot-Miller-Offenhauser line of 4VDOHC engines and their line was broken by the Honda's of today... The upper end of the Cosworth line could produce almost 800hp on 175ci at 10k revs.... (at under 300lbs as well)

 

The racing engines of today all owe their pure performance to the original Peugeot L76, (for 7.6 liter) which first ran in 1911 and was dominating racing until the development of the L30, 183ci (two years later) The first 4VDOHC engine which blew away the  7 & 11 liter racing engines of the day.... 3 liters producing more raw power that three times the cubic displacement at half the weight... That 1913 design has been copied too many times to count and the principles of it's fuel induction system have been applied to and tweaked into everything that used internal compression to generate power... 

 

To me it's always been a wonder that the simple principles of the 1911 L76 and the 1913 L30, are still alive and well today....

[gsdpic]

Thanks for the history lesson, egilman, and thanks to others for the likes.

 

I received the braided metal line that I ordered and used it for the front fire extinguisher.  The diameter is not quite as large as I expected and it is a bit floppier than I expected, so not sure if it will be appropriate for the oil lines.  I'll figure that out much later in the build.

 

I've also almost completed the gearbox and rear suspension.  It was not quite as tricky as the front, but close.  The remaining thing to do is to add the shock absorbers (aka dampers) which is done when attaching the gear box to the engine, as the shock absorber mounts on a brace between the two pieces.  I hope to still do a bit more detailing on the gear box, with some brake lines to the calipers and also some wiring harness to connect to the battery and I think that is the starter just ahead of the battery.

 

Next up is exhaust, then connecting the gearbox and engine to each other and then to the body.  But, I still have not done any clear coat on the body panels.  I am waiting for a delivery that is expected on Friday that includes some Tamiya X-22.  I have more experience with that since I got my air brush than any other clear, so figured it was the best/safest choice for this model. 

 

[CDW]

Exceptional work. Love that gear box and suspension assembly.

[gsdpic]

Thanks for the comment CDW and thanks to all the others for the likes and the wows.   Not sure my work lives up to a "wow" but I'll take it.

 

So I said the exhaust was next but I skipped ahead a little bit and worked on painting the wheels.   The wheels presented a couple of conundrums.

 

But first, back when I built the Ferrari shown above, I wondered about the goldish tone of wheels on race cars from around 1970 and google told me all about "DOW 7".  For those unfamiliar, the wheels were made of magnesium to reduce weight, but it is fairly reactive to the environment, so the magnesium was coated with some chemical mix to prevent corrosion.  "DOW 7" is the current name for one such mix; not sure if that is what it was called back in 1970.  It is a sort of non-metallic goldish tan color, sometimes with a little tinge of green, though looking at net pictures of magnesium wheels shows a wide variety of color.

 

As for the conundrums (conundra?), the various pictures and youtube videos of this car (not to mention models of this car) show a variety of wheels and a variety of schemes for coloration of the wheels, usually with a silver rim along with some parts in a goldish color, and some times black as well.   So the first issue was just how to paint the wheels.   For the front, as shown, I've gone with a black inner section, gold wheel, with some silver trim around the edge.  The rears are a different style and very deep so I did not do the black inner section on them.

 

The second conundrum is regarding the gold color.  Was the gold wheel on the 72D a magnesium wheel coated with DOW 7?  Or was the wheel painted gold to match the livery of the car, with the gold stripes?   As much as I might have wanted the latter, I assumed the former.

 

So I started out painting the wheels with the dreaded alclad gloss black, thinking I might be painting some polished aluminum over it, though that did not occur.  I then did a light mist coat of flat "German Grey" Tamiya paint just to knock down the gloss and blackness of the inner part a bit.  Then I masked the inner wheel section and painted the wheel with Alclad's "pale gold".    That was the first time I used it, and I have to say it went on beautifully.  At that point I was tempted to pretend the wheels were painted gold to match the livery and let it go.  But no, I continued with my original plan to attempt to make the wheels more "DOW 7"ish, and put on a mist coat of Tamiya Flat Earth with a couple of drops of green in it.  Finally, I went around the rim of the wheel using the molotow chrome paint marker.  Below is what it looks like now.  I'll likely go over the rim with another pass or two of the molotow paint marker and then maybe shoot the whole thing with a semi-gloss clear coat.  But, even as is, I am quite pleased with how this came out.

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading this overly long explanation for painting a wheel

 

[Old Collingwood]

3 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Thanks for the comment CDW and thanks to all the others for the likes and the wows.   Not sure my work lives up to a "wow" but I'll take it.

 

So I said the exhaust was next but I skipped ahead a little bit and worked on painting the wheels.   The wheels presented a couple of conundrums.

 

But first, back when I built the Ferrari shown above, I wondered about the goldish tone of wheels on race cars from around 1970 and google told me all about "DOW 7".  For those unfamiliar, the wheels were made of magnesium to reduce weight, but it is fairly reactive to the environment, so the magnesium was coated with some chemical mix to prevent corrosion.  "DOW 7" is the current name for one such mix; not sure if that is what it was called back in 1970.  It is a sort of non-metallic goldish tan color, sometimes with a little tinge of green, though looking at net pictures of magnesium wheels shows a wide variety of color.

 

As for the conundrums (conundra?), the various pictures and youtube videos of this car (not to mention models of this car) show a variety of wheels and a variety of schemes for coloration of the wheels, usually with a silver rim along with some parts in a goldish color, and some times black as well.   So the first issue was just how to paint the wheels.   For the front, as shown, I've gone with a black inner section, gold wheel, with some silver trim around the edge.  The rears are a different style and very deep so I did not do the black inner section on them.

 

The second conundrum is regarding the gold color.  Was the gold wheel on the 72D a magnesium wheel coated with DOW 7?  Or was the wheel painted gold to match the livery of the car, with the gold stripes?   As much as I might have wanted the latter, I assumed the former.

 

So I started out painting the wheels with the dreaded alclad gloss black, thinking I might be painting some polished aluminum over it, though that did not occur.  I then did a light mist coat of flat "German Grey" Tamiya paint just to knock down the gloss and blackness of the inner part a bit.  Then I masked the inner wheel section and painted the wheel with Alclad's "pale gold".    That was the first time I used it, and I have to say it went on beautifully.  At that point I was tempted to pretend the wheels were painted gold to match the livery and let it go.  But no, I continued with my original plan to attempt to make the wheels more "DOW 7"ish, and put on a mist coat of Tamiya Flat Earth with a couple of drops of green in it.  Finally, I went around the rim of the wheel using the molotow chrome paint marker.  Below is what it looks like now.  I'll likely go over the rim with another pass or two of the molotow paint marker and then maybe shoot the whole thing with a semi-gloss clear coat.  But, even as is, I am quite pleased with how this came out.

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading this overly long explanation for painting a wheel

 

Typical   Lotus  wheel  colours.

 

OC.

[gsdpic]

As always, thanks for the comments, the likes/wows, and for just looking in and taking a peek at what I am doing.

 

I've now finished the whole engine and gear box and joined them together.   Above and beyond what is in the kit, I added some "wiring harness" and the rear brake lines over the gear box.   If you look closely, you might also see a few of the photo etched "hose clamps" that I bought.  I like them, but they are a real pain.  Of course they come flat, so have to be wrapped around the "hose", but they are a bit springy so they resist being glued down, even with CA.  And of course I glued some of them to a flat black painted surface and the CA just lifted the paint.  Others were glued to the rubber hose provided in the kit but the CA also did not seem to work well there either.

 

The exhaust was a bit of an issue too.  It was tough to get the four individual pipes joined together correctly and glued into the cylinder head.  Then when I put the gear box and engine together, the end of the exhaust pointed right at one of the suspension members so I had to squeeze it in some to get the exhaust through the suspension, which loosened the other end of the exhaust where it was glued to the cylinder head.

 

Oh, I tried something on the exhaust as well.  The pipe is painted with Alclad Chrome, then I put a bit of clear yellow and clear blue on it to represent the heat discoloration. 

 

When I attach this unit to the tub, there will be a couple more connections and hoses added, as well as some hoses from the engine to the oil tank and cooler which also serves as the support for the rear wing.  I also have some work to do on the dashboard, but otherwise there are not too many remaining parts.   I still need to work on clear coat on all the body pieces.

[yvesvidal]

Fantastic work. It looks so real.

 

Yves

[Canute]

Those exhaust pipes look great.

[gsdpic]

Thanks guys for the comments, and to others for the likes. 

 

One other quick note today...I like the seat belts from Model Factory Hiro (like docrob used on the Renault) and could not find a US supplier.  So, I ordered some of them and a few other things that seem difficult to source in the US from Spot Model in Spain.  I ordered them on September 15th and they arrived by US mail today.  So that was not too bad at all.

 

I've also started doing the clear coat of the main body parts.  Have a few more coats to do, not sure how many.  Today I did one light mist coat mainly over the decals, then one heavier coat.  I'll likely do at least a couple more tomorrow and see what I think from there.