monsjmse Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Underway at last! This has been staring down at me from the shelf for several months now and I've opened the box several times for a peek but resisted starting it. The Lotus Type 79, powered by a 3 litre Ford Cosworth DFV V8, was introduced at the Belgian GP part-way through the 1978 season and was the dominant car that year. The car employed ground effect aerodynamics with a shaped underside to greatly enhance downforce, improving on a concept introduced on the Type 78. Mario Andretti, who had won the opening round in Argentina in a Type 78, drove the Type 79 to victory in its first outing and went on to win a further 4 races to take the title. His team-mate Ronnie Peterson ended the season as a posthumous runner-up, having tragically died following a crash at the start of the Italian GP. I'll be building the 1:20 Tamiya kit, which I'm hoping will fall together as nicely as the other Tamiya F1 models I built back in the day. I also have the Tamiya PE set and a set of decals from Decalpool that includes the John Player Special logos not included in the Tamiya kit. and for the record, here are all the parts... Looking forward to a great Group Build and seeing everyone's models come together! Mark. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Can't beat a Lotus, and the 79 is a real beauty. Crack on! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Glad your building this. I’m sure I have one safely tucked away in the stash. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Finally, we see this classic Lotus F1 car about to take shape. This era of GP racing holds a special place for me and I recall watching these much loved Black JPS cars doing their stuff around the world circuits. Looks like a super kit which will be further enhanced by the PE and AM decals. I'm so glad to have this build on here and its a great tribute to the year of 1978. Great stuff Mark. Cheers and warm welcome.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 An f1 icon a real beauty,the gold pinstripe decals caused me some concerns when i built this many moons past 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugle07 Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 This looks cracking, I'll follow along if you don't mind . And 1978 was a brilliant year (although I'm slightly bias on that). Geoff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsjmse Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 Thank you all. Just hope I do this great car justice. I'll look out for those pinstripe decals - they do look as though they could be quite challenging. No real progress yet of note - just cutting a few parts out and doing a bit of cleaning. Haven't decided where to start with the sticking, but may follow Hockeyboy's example and go straight for the Ford power plant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsjmse Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 Bit of an update from some 'work' over the weekend. I have indeed decided to start with the motor. It is the ubiquitous Ford DFV and I was amused to find that the mold for the A parts where the majority of engine parts reside is a year older than machine the model depicts. It is a fairly nasty, soft, silver-grey plastic with plenty of lines and flash to clean. Not all of these parts are needed thankfully and they are supplemented with some newer looking black plastic from the other frames which are from 2010 molds. Some clean-up and sanding time later... and ready to start sticking. These parts don't go together quite as well as we have now come to expect from Tamiya, but I ended up with something resembling an engine block. These are now in paint - a combination of MRP and Alclad as I'm still experimenting with metallics. It looks better upside down at the moment. I'm going to use some dark panel liner to give it more depth. More soon! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 That’s looking great and one thing that I can assure you is that we all tend to ‘experiment with metallics’. I’ve taken to AK Interactive Metals lately and was quite pleased with a recent Mustang build I managed to finish. That combination of sprue dates is quite strange and something I never thought Tamiya would actually do. Anyway, it’s all looking fab so far. Cheers.. Dave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 Probably the best looking F1 car ever and the only one I have been tempted to build. Hewy's right about the pinstripes. If I was building it now I'd be tempted to paint it gold, then mask the pinstripes before painting the overall black. I do this with aircraft models to paint the walkway lines. The engine looks good so i hope the rest is of an equal standard. Interesting about the sprue dates. Thanks for sharing Colin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 (edited) Nice work. All my sprues are stamped 1977. My engine, when assembled looked slight off, twisted a bit almost, which when the gearbox was fitted made the rear axles slightly out. Hope you have better luck. Edited August 18, 2019 by Hockeyboy76 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted August 18, 2019 Share Posted August 18, 2019 (edited) On 8/15/2019 at 6:53 AM, monsjmse said: It is the ubiquitous Ford DFV and I was amused to find that the mold for the A parts where the majority of engine parts reside is a year older than machine the model depicts. It is a fairly nasty, soft, silver-grey plastic with plenty of lines and flash to clean. Not all of these parts are needed thankfully and they are supplemented with some newer looking black plastic from the other frames which are from 2010 molds. Some clean-up and sanding time later... and ready to start sticking. These parts don't go together quite as well as we have now come to expect from Tamiya, but I ended up with something resembling an engine block. I would guess that this Sprue is from the Lotus 78 kit which was released in 1977 as the 78 used development Cosworths that year (possibly one reason why Andretti had so many engine failures that year) and the 79 continued their use. Also given that it had been ages since Tamiya produced a DFV powered subject they obviously reached back and dragged this out rather than reinvent the wheel. The funny thing was back in 1978/79 everyone was expecting Tamiya to bring out a kit of the 79 and after the Tyrrell 009 appeared as a virtual copy of the 79 there was a rumour that Ken Tyrrell (for whatever unexplained reason - possibly because he had a relationship with Tamiya after they produced the P34 kits in 1:12 and 1:20) had been entrusted with the plans of the 79 to give to Tamiya but they never made it to them! The other interesting thing about the 79 was the difference in the sidepods between the car in the late 1977 roll out photos and the 1978 Race debut : There are a couple of build comparisons out there too between the Tamiya and Hasegawa kits. One day I must track them down and have a good read of them to see the pros and cons of each kit. Will definitely be watching this build with interest. Edited August 19, 2019 by Rob S 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsjmse Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 On 14/08/2019 at 22:20, Rabbit Leader said: That’s looking great and one thing that I can assure you is that we all tend to ‘experiment with metallics’. I’ve taken to AK Interactive Metals lately and was quite pleased with a recent Mustang build I managed to finish. That combination of sprue dates is quite strange and something I never thought Tamiya would actually do. Anyway, it’s all looking fab so far. Cheers.. Dave You're so right Dave. I think I will always be experimenting with some kind of paint and especially metallics. I had gone off Alclads and had them stored away, but using them again for some of the engine parts I think I'm back on them . I am surprised that Tamiya still use that 'A' sprue for the Ford DFV as it sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of part quality in the kit. Like H's DFV on the Tyrrell, I'm not convinced it is totally straight, which may cause a problem later on... It's together now anyway and just about finished. There is a decal I need to add and I may put some fuel lines on later. Moving on now and back to beginning (in terms of the instructions) with the front end and the monocoque. There are some irritating ejection pin marks in areas that will be semi-visible once the bulkheads are in place. Mr Surfacer 500 is my weapon of choice for these, but the sanding is a pain in the butt in these tight areas. After much cursing I managed to get something I was happy with. One of the photo etch pieces is just a disc to cover that great hole in the centre just behind where the pedals will go. A coat of primer later and thankfully they are not visible. The other pin marks will be covered by other parts. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Nice update and although that engine is not quite modern tooling, it does look to scrub up well enough in my opinion. Nice work on the sink marks as well. Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 The laborious work on ejection pin marks looks to have paid off,the old dfv looks pretty decent too, nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugle07 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Good work all round, the engine especially, just hope it doesn't cause issue's later. Geoff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Great work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsjmse Posted September 6, 2019 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 Time for a bit of an update. Some of the main front piece towards the nose will be visible on the completed car, so this needs to be black. The rest will end up either in the cockpit, or covered with the side pods and whatnot. There are also a couple of photo-etch parts that sit just above the lower front arms. I presume these also need to be black, but it doesn't say in the instructions. I -maybe- foolishly bought some 'Lotus Black' Zero paint for this build. I've been meaning to try out Zero Paints for a while and got a couple of other colours at the same time to make it worthwhile with the shipping cost. I'm sure my standard MRP black would have done here, but what the hell. This is colour-matched Lotus Black . So the Lotus Black went over the primer and then some masking was called for to spray the silver areas. One intensely irritating thing is that after spraying on the black layer, the sink marks, which had disappeared under the primer, re-appeared. Not to their former pronounced extent, but certainly visible. Everything had plenty of drying time between layers, but I can only put this down to something in the Zero paint causing some shrinkage of the Mr Surfacer, even after it had dried. I could not be bothered to fix them again. I'm now painting up and sticking in all the parts that go inside. Hopefully I'll be able to get this finished over the weekend so I can move onto the monocoque and cockpit. Have a great modelling weekend! Mark. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 Ohh nice tease for the paint , if i may, laquer for the gloss , mr hobby levelling thinners as thick a mix as your biggest airbrush needle can put though , blast it on ,😋shine it will 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 I’m sure you’re not the only modeller who’s been drawn in to buying ‘Lotus Black’. Now I know not blacks are the same, but surely that’s no different to any other gloss blank paint! Anyway, no one can say you haven’t strived for accuracy, so well done. She’s still coming along very nicely. Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 Lotus Black - I'm not knocking it, but I can't help but think that ACB Chapman would be chuckling, and exploring the marketing possibilities... 😀 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monsjmse Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 Well Mr. Chapman certainly liked a good marketing opportunity, so I'm sure he would have approved . On 06/09/2019 at 21:40, Hewy said: Ohh nice tease for the paint , if i may, laquer for the gloss , mr hobby levelling thinners as thick a mix as your biggest airbrush needle can put though , blast it on ,😋shine it will Clear coats and I don't really get on very well. I am used to spraying paint quite small and so I don't think I slap it on thick enough. Haven't decided yet what I'm going to put over the fabled Lotus Black, so I'm open to suggestions. Never used clear lacquer. Do you recommend any particular type or brand? No stunning breakthrough progress to report, but I've been chipping away at some of the detail parts. There is some nice PE for the pedals which I finished with a bit of light dust pigment - shame they won't be seen. The front brake assemblies call for some hairy stick action to add the metallic bits. I'm currently trying P3 Formula for brush painted metallics. Quite pleased with it, though no doubt I will try something else soon. More bits being painted. Brake ducts on. And what I presume is an extinguisher, for which I had to mix some 'titanium gold' using Alclad Pale Gold and Aluminium. Looks good enough. There is more PE on the brake discs which adds a bit of detail. Dry fitting of the bulkhead, which doesn't look too fetching at the moment in it its grey primer - it will be silver eventually. I'm getting ahead of myself - there's the front suspension, steering arm and front wishbones to go in first. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 She’s coming along nicely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Looking very neat indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted September 20, 2019 Share Posted September 20, 2019 Very nice. I always loved the colour scheme. Like so many it fell foul of the ban on tobacco advertising though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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