Jump to content

Lotus 101 1/20 Hobby Base Custom - Finished!


Malc2

Recommended Posts

Huzzzar, page 2, thought the whole build would end up on one page!

 

5 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

And that looks to have gone really well - you should definitely be highly motivated by that paintjob - lovely stuff!!

 

Despite the troubles with the decals those wheels look great too!

 

Keith

Thanks, always a relief when no re-painting is required!

 

21 hours ago, Stickframe said:

Hi Malc, 

 

This is all really nice to watch come together - the gear box linkage is particularly nice, and clever!  really looks the part.  Almost too bad you're already into the paint on the body - not much more scratch work to see until your next build!

 

Cheers

Nick

Thanks,  Still some scratching to come!

 

34 minutes ago, Kitkent said:

Looking very good! The body paint job is really good.  Have had the same trouble with those yellow decals too. Chris.

Thanks, it was quite the surprise as I did the fronts first which went reasonably well.

 

Malc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

G'day all, next update on the rear wing assembly (mainly).

 

Missing from the kit are the front wing end plate side skirts (snappy title), previously I had cut a rectangle from the lower edge of the end plates to house them before painting the top coat.

I chamfered two opposite edges of a bit of 30thou card, cut off the resulting triangle and glued these to each edge of a piece of 10thou card. I had to scrap the first pair as I made them too short – D’oh. Never be afraid to start over!
IMG-6124.jpg

Rear wing assembly, the stack of balsa oddments is a jig which all the elements slot in to, this holds them in place while the end plates are glued on. The masking tape is to prevent the expoxy getting on the paint.

IMG-6088.jpg

One of the reasons for using the small 191 element, is that being plastic it could be sprung in to place after the glue had set the main 3 elements in place, otherwise the jig became too complicated. Paint is scraped off the joint faces, as previous experience has shown that glue on top of paint is not good at holding big parts together, especially when you drop ‘em………

 

Before the paint, the joining pins of the elements were filed flush with the outside of the end plates, after gluing, the ends of the pins were touched in with primer as they were now recessed by the thickness of the paint layers, the outside face of the end plates were then given another coat of yellow.

 

And the first decals applied.

 

However……  the decal guide provided did not cover the rear view. While browsing my ref photos after a hard day at the bench, I happened to notice that the rear facing Camel should be smaller to make room for an Epson logo each side of it. All of which were on the decal sheet, but no mention of where they should go……

MicroSol to the rescue.

 

More pictures showing the jig in action and the oversize Camel.

Assembled

IMG-6112.jpg
IMG-6113.jpg

Next to each other
IMG-6114.jpg
IMG-6110.jpg

Front view
IMG-6111.jpg

The kit white metal rain light was replaced with an off cut of perspex sanded to shape and painted with Humbrol clear red and backed with a small piece of plastic card painted black – quite pleased with how it turned out.
IMG-6098.jpg

The red above was just a test, the file marks were sanded out and the perspex polished before the red below was applied.

IMG-6101.jpg

Next on to major assembly and more on wheels

 

ATB

Malc.

Edited by Malc2
spelloing
  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That jig is brilliant! 

 

Nice work on the wing - I've only ever built one modern F1 kit - some variety of Ferrari as a 'commission' build. Trying to get the rear wing elements to all sit and stick square nearly drove me insane, so I'd rather watch people like yourselves make far better jobs of them! :)

 

Keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Keith,

 

Yes, the jig kind of grew organically from a single piece and the frustration of getting epoxy all over the end plates of the previous rear wing I tried to assemble (EJ10).

I hope this can help others too!

'Modern F1 kit - some variety of Ferrari' 🤣 F1 cars of the late 80's and 90's are my favourite... I would probably not build a modern F1 car - but never say never!

 

M.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love the jig idea a lot! It must have taken quite a bit of working out,but a it's very good idea.all I have used is putting the bits on graph paper,but it's no help with the actual gluing! P.S. Lego may be your friend here also?!   Chris.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So having run out of bits to make and paint its time for a bit of major assembly.

The interior was given a coat of Humbrol SG black and the edges cleaned up with a cotton bud as previously mentioned, the cockpit seat assembly plus front and rear floors were epoxied to the body and the remaining decals were applied - always another super pleasing moment.

 

However, being lulled in to another false sense of euphoria, I was again glad of the spare decals as I had to replace the M of left side Camel logo, as no amount of microsol would persuade the whole decal to conform over the engine cover bulge. With this lesson learnt, the M was separated for the other side and with some microsol went on with no more dramas.

LHS lessons learned

IMG-6104.jpg

RHS all good
IMG-6102.jpg

Front suspension and front wing glued in place – I had to remake the push rods a coupla times……….. The first set were too wide and pushed the lower wishbone out of place, I can’t remember why the other set did not fit…… too short probably. The steering arms are 1mm carbon rod for added lightness in the spirit of ACBC. The graph paper is to ensure the front wing is square to the centre line.
IMG-6106.jpg

Waiting for the glue to dry (time to start another kit? 😄)

IMG-6108.jpg

Front wing upper elements, - my worry about removing the front upper wing location tab was not realised as the curve of the nose was enough to support the inner ends. The son of the rear wing jig, which wraps under the front main plane, was used to aid their location and proved invaluable turning a tricky job in to a breeze, the forward piece is to align the front edge of the two upper elements. Again tape used to prevent glue accidentally getting on my nice and shiny paint.

IMG-6116.jpg

Waiting for more glue to dry (I did start another kit)
IMG-6117.jpg

For the eagle eyed who noticed the wonky ACBC logo above, (which I only noticed the next day), I corrected the alignment by using a spare decal. However……
IMG-6120.jpg

I just noticed it is upside down – sigh. Reaches for the microsol….. I need some reading glasses.

 

Malc.

Edited by Malc2
grammar
  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks like the image host - imgbb - is playing up as none of the other pics in this thread are working either.

If the problem persists I will try another image host.

 

M.

 

Edit - looks like imgbb is back in the room, can anyone confirm the pics are back?

Edited by Malc2
back in the room
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great work! the paint and decals look outstanding, something that "has" to work for the whole model to come together for cars I think.

 

I am using your thread as inspiration as I tackle a Protar Ferrari F1 88.  😧

 

Regards, Roger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well thanks Gents, glad you are all enjoying it, it spurs me on to keep on posting progress.

 

@silver911 - I hope you can see them now?

@spiney - Thanks mate

@PZRGREN - Protar Ferrari F1 88 - interesting, not a model you see made very often! Do you have a thread on it anywhere?

@keefr22 @Kitkent @Flintstone - Thanks, glad you can see the pics! It always surprises me how artificial light changes the colour of the yellow.

 

One more update to come and then in the RFI and on with the next!

 

Malc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So final post for this.

Time to think about how to display the finished model, I cut a piece (mahogany?) from a huge chunk I rescued from the skip at work. You can see the cut away the bottom edge of the front wing for the front wing end plate side skirts to be henceforth to be known as fwepss…..
IMG-6129.jpg

Here are the finished wheels which were a whole mini project in themselves - 7 decals for each wheel! Plus wheel weights, tyre valves and set numbers which were done with a white gel pen. The resin tyres are a press fit on the rims and are unidirectional, so I made doubly sure the tread direction was correct before pressing them together.

IMG-6130.jpg

I brushed Humbrol satin varnish over the sidewalls to reduce the shine of the decal carrier film, which was moderately successful.

 

The final details added, windscreen (nervously cut from its vacform backing and attached with RC Modellers glue), electrical isolation pull cable, rain light, coolant overflow tube, gear change lever, mirrors, fwepss’s and floor profile for gear change bulge. I used Molotow Liquid chrome for the mirror faces, to use mirror glass (actually plastic) would have required routing out the face deeper which was too risky after paint. Another lesson for next time!

 

The last job was to attach the rear wing assembly, with such a small glue area I used 24hr epoxy which seems to have held so far, I squared up the faces of a suitable block of wood and used it to support the rear edge of the end plates at 90deg to the road surface while the glue dried.

 

An easy win was the radio aerial on the nose which came and went all season, but it was not fitted to Saturo’s car during this race.

IMG-6133.jpg
IMG-6132.jpg

Before I attached the front floor, I drilled a hole in it and glued a nut on top so the model can be screwed to the base for display.

 

I routed the edges of the base to a more pleasing profile and the wood now just needs a coat of button polish which gives a nice semi gloss finish. I am not sure whether to paint the top as the track surface with start line to represent the grid or leave it in plain varnish?

IMG-6134.jpg

So there we go - my first resin car and I am happy with the result.

Just for fun, these were the parts left over to be consigned to the spares box.
IMG-6186.jpg

Clockwise from bottom left, rear wing element, rear wing supports, radiators, incorrect scratched front push rods, rear spring/pushrod assy, aluminium wire – not sure what this was for as its over scale for steering rods and not long enough for 4 suspension push rods, rear wing support that plugged in to the top of the gearbox, exhaust outlets, rear of dash removed in two slices, rain light, two identical white metal rod things which did not match anything on the car, exhaust pipes and in the centre the seat.

A few useful decals left over

IMG-6202.jpg

And in summary? A great kit I would recommend to anyone with a bit of modelling experience, the mono colour scheme makes painting super simple. Next time I may try a clearcoat to disguise the decal carrier film, but this one was going so well I did not want to risk it.

So what to do next – March 881 or Tyrrell 018? Or finish something I already started……… I have a few to choose from!

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Malc2 changed the title to Lotus 101 1/20 Hobby Base Custom - Finished!

Cheers Chris,

I forgot to say, the rebate round the edge of the base is also intended to seat a glass box if I wanted to put it out on display.

Need to pop down the local glass shop when we are allowed out again and get me some glass cut!

 

M.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...