nearsightedjohn Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 About mid-way thru a build of Ebbro’s Lotus 49B 1/20 F1 build.....egads!!!! Assembling front and rear suspension assemblies are like performing brain surgery on a live cat without any anesthesia! Now I know why I see so few of these Ebbro Lotus 49 kits completed. I have previous experience with the Ebbro Lotus 72 and a Tyrrell 003 kits which were challenging but no where near as tough a build. I’ve never done so much test fitting, paint scraping, walking away and coming back later as I have with this one. Some kits you have to build twice, first one to learn all the problems and make lots of mistakes, second one to hopefully come out better.... Hope to post future progress unless I take a hammer this.... John 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Wow, that looks so intricate. I like Formula 1 cars of this era but I'm not sure I'd ever be up for building one. However, I look forward to your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 It does look a bit scary but it also looks like you're handling it well. Carry on please. I'm all eyes. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearsightedjohn Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 A little more progress on this beast.... Not surprisingly, the two tall rear wing columns rising above the rear uprights With their small secondary bracesare incredibly vulnerable and subject to bending/ fracture during normal handling of the build. I wondered if these long struts should have been integrally molded into the rear uprights but then making them additional individual pieces would have only added to the spindly factor. I’m hoping I will be able to re-align these wing columns as well as the posts on the rear wheels to compensate for the various misalignments of this rear suspension assembly. Nothing worse than crooked wobbly wheels! Building this kit is like assembling a house of cards in a drafty room! Hoping Incan continue to keep the hammer in the drawer on this one! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 Looks as though you're making a good job of getting it put together, despite it looking (and sounding) like a nightmare to build. Keep up the good work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 2 hours ago, Spiny said: Looks as though you're making a good job of getting it put together, despite it looking (and sounding) like a nightmare to build. Keep up the good work. It's not that bad really, most of the stuff does actually go together quite well and is just fiddly because it's quite fine detail. Adding a bunch of wires and stuff to the engine bay didn't help either but it is disappointing that the windscreen washer bottle, power steering pump and reservoir were just omitted completely. However, if the front bumper doesn't go on right (and there is no way it could fit the way it was designed) could mess up the car's "face" which is a real concern after I've put in all this work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearsightedjohn Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 I completed connection of the fuel lines into each injector and installed the oil reservoir and cooler at the rear. I was able to partially insert all four wheel/ tire assemblies onto the chassis assembly and it looks promising in terms of alignment. Even after scraping the plating off of the axle bosses on each wheel, the fit into the disk brake/ spindles are really tight and would likely result in a fracture or two if I tried to install and remove these wheels multiple times. The front radiator/ supports and the nose top and bottom are a crazy tight fit, not looking forward to installing the radiator plumbing from rear to front which will be tomorrow. I’m glad I’m leaving the decals to later in the build, with all the handling required to debug nearly all the parts fit I’m sure they would have been damaged. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearsightedjohn Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share Posted August 12, 2020 Ok, about 95% with this high winged monster, just need to add a few pieces of additional plumbing to the back. This is one hard model! Wonderful subject matter and beautiful detailed molded parts but the engineering/ parts fit/ assembly was/is quite disappointing. It’s as if Ebbro never debugged and fine tuned these molds. I have the original green/ yellow Ebbro Lotus 49 in the stash but I may need a few years to forget the workbench trauma I suffered thru on this build before I attempt another Ebbro Lotus 49. I’ll post more pics in the RFI section. Thanks for your comments/ encouragement. John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pouln Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Really nice model, you created here. 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harveyb258 Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 +1 Great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plastic Worrier Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 This looks like a great job, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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