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Airfix 1/32 Lotus Cortina (M8C)


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My build of the Airfix 1/32 Lotus Cortina (M8C)

 

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It was built for the ATF 14th Anniversary Group Build and you can read about this build here.

 

Dave

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Smart, and no rust! I had a go in a few GT's back in the day but the only Lotus was a Mk2. It went like stink!

I read that they modified this shell for their Scalextric type racing sets. Can that one be used as a static model I wonder.

And I too imagine building it may upset some people. Well, it's your money, enjoy!

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13 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Smart, and no rust! I had a go in a few GT's back in the day but the only Lotus was a Mk2. It went like stink!

I read that they modified this shell for their Scalextric type racing sets. Can that one be used as a static model I wonder.

And I too imagine building it may upset some people. Well, it's your money, enjoy!

I wasn't aware that they modified it for use as a slot car , though they DID modify the tooling in , if memory serves , the late 1970s to turn it into a custom car

 

Cortina.jpg

 

This , together with the Mk1 Capri & Mk3 Zodiac which they also modified , sold appallingly badly at the time but are now hugely sought after like so many of the 1/32 cars .  I remember a large pile of them in The Model Shop on Manchester's Deansgate - how I wish I'd bought some back then .  I'm also saddened that I used the floorpan & interior of an original issue Lotus Cortina to fit into a Scalextric Capri , which was screwed upside down on a baseboard , fitted with a brass plaque reading :

 

Crewe & South Cheshire Motor Club

Rollcage Testing Competition

1st Overall

Kevin Roberts

 

It was presented to Kev at the motor club dinner that year to commemorate the fact that he'd managed to roll his Capri tarmac stage rally car on the road before he ever did an event in it .  I also got one of the girls in the typing pool at work to type up on Rolls Royce Motors letterhead a letter offering him a job as a replacement for the crash test dummy because they needed something with a lower IQ than the dummy .  When I see what they go for nowadays I really wish I'd kept the Cortina intact .

 

Now back to the original topic - lovely job Dave . 

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Nice job. Built one back in the day.

I do have another one though - still with the original rusty staples as proof it has never been opened.

Got 2 Zodiacs as well - one boxed as the rally winner.

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Superb Cortina, looking forward to seeing your second one!

Used to own a couple of Mk1 GT's back in the day.

Shame Airfix don't rerelease some of there older car kits such as Dauphine, Cortina, Zodiac and Capri.

 

  Stay safe            Roger

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14 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

Superb Cortina, looking forward to seeing your second one!

Used to own a couple of Mk1 GT's back in the day.

Shame Airfix don't rerelease some of there older car kits such as Dauphine, Cortina, Zodiac and Capri.

 

  Stay safe            Roger

Sadly , the Cortina , Zodiac and Capri were butchered to make custom cars in the late 70s along with the FD Victor estate and cannot be reissued in their original state

I would be very interested to know which of the 1/32 car tools still exist . I'm sure many of us would like to see such as the Jaguar 420 , Maxi , Marina , Sunbeam Rapier again .

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Thanks for the comments, lads. 👍

 

I have the Airfix Dauphine, Cortina, Zodiac, Austin Maxi, MG 1100, Morris Marina, Mercedes 280 SL, Morris Mini Minor, Beach Buggy and 2 Sunbeam Rapier kits in my stash plus the MPC boxings of the Jaguar 420, Mercedes 280 SL and Ford Capri all waiting to be built. I also have a Victor Estate and a Bond Bug for restoration.

 

I had hoped that after three months of lockdown I might have built at least half a dozen of them but this Cortina is only the first! My next build will be the Ford Zodiac.

 

Dave

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20 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Smart, and no rust! I had a go in a few GT's back in the day but the only Lotus was a Mk2. It went like stink!

Classic motor!  I remember seeing one of these in a 'race the car you drove here in' at Castle Coombe in the mid 80s.

And it absolutely trounced the XR3Is, and Golf GTIs it was up against.  RWD, tail-happy and previous generation technology.   BUT huge entertainment!

 

Great build Dave,  keep churning them out.

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Lovely. I much prefer to see it as a built up as a model rather than a collection of sprues that have sat in a box for however many years. I know old kits can be worth a lot of money but it does seem a bit of a waste if they're never completed.  And this one has been done well.

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How wonderful to see one of these built and very well too.

IIRC it was 1969 when I was taken to a race meet at Crystal Palace and saw these dicing with a Camaro. Loved the Cortinas sliding around but that V8 got into my soul. Funny how memory plays tricks though I was convinced the stripe was dark blue until I had a chat with an owner at a classic car show. Funny old world sometimes.

 

Who would pay £100s for a kit and why staggers me. For something like this 3D printing is the way to go I reckon.

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10 hours ago, SleeperService said:

Who would pay £100s for a kit and why staggers me. For something like this 3D printing is the way to go I reckon.

 

Most of the shells of the old Airfix kits are now available as resin slot car bodies - 3D printed interiors and wheels etc would be a great idea, and save a lot of scratchbuilding!

 

Keith

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That's a superb build Dave when I was a kid the local park keepers son had the real thing in those colours,Lord when I think of all those Airfix cars

I built growing up and probably made a hash off and what they cost to buy now,thank's for posting.

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Thanks again everybody.

 

A lot of my modelling is all about nostalgia and it was in the Seventies that I joined the RN and stopped modelling until 2004. Since then I have started where I left off and most kits I buy are Airfix ones from the Sixties and Seventies. My father introduced me to modelling in the Sixties and I can recall a lot of builds were of the Airfix cars and we had a few of the full-size cars too! My father died last year and I was left some money which I have used in part to buy all of the Airfix 1/32 cars and I am intending to build them all.

 

Here is a bit of progress on my current "build and weep" kit - the Airfix Ford Zephyr Zodiac Mk.III which has just received a first coat of Alclad 2 Pale Gold:

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Dave

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I nearly bought a real one (Zodiac) back in the 70s. Local Customs officer had one of the very last, in a dark purple with black interior. Didn't know he was gonna sell it - until after he traded it in for a - new Marina!

I was lucky though, the first oil crisis struck, and I would have been hard pushed to keep it in fuel.

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On 6/11/2020 at 6:38 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Victor estate? Over three hundred!

Saw one of these on the bay just recently for £450!

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41 minutes ago, Alan R said:

Saw one of these on the bay just recently for £450!

 

There's been one listed on there for that price for years (literally) - over and over and over again....!!

 

Keith

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