Lotus Type 79 (1:20) 1978, F1, Mario Andretti

[Flying Badger]

The Lotus 25 is nearly done (waiting for the clear coat to harden) so it is time to start a new model....

 

Next up then is the Lotus Type 79 that took Mario Andretti to the Drivers Championship title in 1978.

As with my planned rules for this group build I'll be building it to depict the car at the race where Andretti clinched the championship. In this case that is the fateful Italian Grand Prix at Monza where sadly his team mate, Ronnie Peterson driving the Lotus 78 spare car, was killed after a crash at the start.

 

This was the first kit I sourced for this series (the Lotus 25 jumped the queue as it was a nice easy build to get started). 

I'll be using:

• Tamiya 20060 1:20 Lotus Type 79 
• Tamiya 12635 1:20 PE detail-up set
• Indycals 1:20 Lotus 79, 1978 Mario Andretti Decal set (Tamiya kit decals are missing the tobacco advertising for JPS)
• Modeler Site PDF build guide  (thought I'd give them a go)

 

First step was, as with many Tamiya F1 kits, to get rid of the horrible chrome finish on one of the sprues:

 

Much better: 

 

Although in this kit's case I did keep the chrome coating for two parts - the "glass" for the rear view side mirrors as they are in a frame the sprue gate scars should be OK.

 

 

[Flying Badger]

Started on the main structures.

 

The kit has the aerofoil shaped base to the side pods linked by a big rectangular bar that fits in a gap in the floor... it;s ugly and not representative of the real thing so I cut the pods off and used the piece to fill the hole in the floor (along with some plasticard and filler). The kit also provides the options of the early vertical oil radiators in the left pod as well as the angled radiators they used in the later season. I'm building this as Andretti's car at the Italian Grand Prix so it the mount slot for the earlier vertical rads also got filled.

 

 

Then did some work on the side pods - more cutting etc.

 

The top covers of the pods has the outlet for the radiators but in the real thing those are drop in / removable with a very obvious gap around them. The kit portrays them as glued to the main pod cover which isn't right (and makes getting the plumbing for the rads right later on much harder to do.

So I only taped the rear edge of the rad outlets out and glued the front (the join isn't in the right place for the panel line anyway) I'll cut the front edge later to make them removable.

 

Dry fitting it all together and it starts to look much better underneath (albeit with more sanding of filler to do):

 

At which point you just have to put the top covers on to see how it's looking:

 

Not too bad - looks like a Lotus 79 I guess.

 

[Orso]

I wjsh that you didn't do this 

This is my favourite F1 car and I have built two. Now when I read this thread I get an urge to restart on the three kits that has gone to sleep.

I will follow this thread with interest. I get a little confused when I look at the pictures on indycals site. Looking at the #5 and 6 cars the Good Year decal in the nose is placed under the race number while the #55 car has it placed above the numbers which is correct for a late season car. As the world champion decal is present on the rear wing, has the Good Year mark been corrected on the #5 and 6 sheets? 

[Flying Badger]

Some more work on the side pods this week....

The radiator exhaust vents on both sides (as this is a late 1978 version) should be removable to allow plumbing for the radiators so it was out with the razor saw...

 

The panel lines around these are very faint on the Tamiya kit but after a lot of careful sawing we have two pods with separate vents:

 

A bit scruffy in this photo but the glue lines soon cleaned up and some filler sorted any minor scars etc (sadly no photo of that yet).

The vent's click in and out nice and firmly so should be removable but not easily lost later on.

 

I also started building up the Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine. Not as much detail as my own 3D modelled version and it will need some filler in places, but passable.

 

 

Other than that I have been making up the PE parts and I've removed everything needed off the sprues, cleaned up the sprue gates and then sorted them out by main paint colour ready for painting to commence.

I think I will forego the Tamiya rattle can gloss black (TS-14) as I will be undercoating everything metallic in Alclad gloss black anyway which is a lacquer based paint like the Tamiya spray cans. That should give a perfectly shiny black finish for the body and be indistinguishable from the Tamiya spray can paint (at least I hope so).

 

FB

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Really nice project. Need to follow.

[Malc2]

Some nice delicate work there removing those vents.

Looking forward to the next post!

 

M.

[Redstaff]

Nice  

I'll follow along with this as I have one buried away somewhere

[Flying Badger]

How fast the summer has passed with my two little ones and work pressures soaking up my time (the former being joyous, the latter less so!)

 

Got a small amount more done this week mainly on the engine which I have begun getting all the cables, lines and piping added:

 

Got the HT cables from the distributor to the valve cover holes done and then started on the fuel lines (Hiroboy clear tube 0.8mm OD 0.4mm ID).

One side below is done and the other side the fuel lines are glued to the fuel injection distributor and threaded under the throttle bodies/slides ready to be cut down to length and attached to the injectors (fiddly bugger of a job especially as CA glue doesn't work well on this tubing). 

 

Here's the engine with the fuel lines and HT leads all in place:

 

Couldn't resist dry fitting it to the monocoque to see how is looks with the inlet trumpets dry fitted:

Obviously there are still a lot of pipes and lines etc. to add to the rear bulkhead and the fuel tank sender pump etc. I also have the water and oil pumps to attach to the main block / sump.

It's also missing the electronics box that sits on top of the distributor with it's yellow wire which I'll add next.

 

In the background of that last image you can see I've also been working on the front suspension:

Need to add brake lines and all the cables behind the dash

 

More soon.

FB

 

 

 

 

 

[Flying Badger]

Hit a bit of an issue with the engine.... or at least the HT leads.

 

My previous depiction of them used cable that was a bit over scale....

 

It looked OK but when I placed the engine cover bodywork on top it wouldn't fit as the HT leads were binding on the inside 😭

 

Nothing for it but to remove the HT leads which somewhat destroyed the distributor. A bit of scratch building, repainting the timing covers (as the old HT leads took the paint with them when I removed them) and some thinner wire and I'm getting back to where I was....

 

 

Still need to add the ancillary parts to the engine: (oil and water pumps etc. and to paint the engine mount plates and timing cover bolts in chrome.

But first I need to offer it up and check that has solved the issue. 🤞

 

[Flying Badger]

I've also been working on the gearbox, brakes and rear suspension sub assembly

 

 

Mounted to the engine:

 

 

Test fit of the new engine wiring under the bodywork covers. Seems to be a good fit so far.

 

[klubman01]

That looks far nicer with the thinner HT cables.  Nice work thus far.

Trevor

[Vesa Jussila]

Cabels look better this way. First ones were more like water line.

[Flying Badger]

Bit of a hiatus on this one until now...

 

Decided to spend a bit of my time off today sorting the seat belts.

 

They're fiddly little buggers but I think I got them into shape:

 

Once my eyes stopped aching from squinting at the tiny bits of photoetch I got them into the car:

 

Looking pretty good I reckon.

 

More later 

 

FB

[Malc2]

Looking very sharp. The replacement HT leads look 100% better.

 

Malc.

[Spiny]

Excellent work getting the buckles straight too, that's what always gets me when I try seat belts

 

[Flying Badger]

Been looking at the kit supplied tyres for a bit.....

They're OK in shape but the moulding seam line and shiny contact surface is nothing like a real tyre:

 

Seen lots of youtube vids of people sanding their tyres using a rotary tool (e.g. dremel)

So I designed and 3D printed myself an arbour to hold the tyres whilst being spun and sanded:

 

Didn't print perfect (I need to tweak the supports) but was good enough for a test try. One end is threaded using a 3.5mm tap so it self tightens onto the screw.

However, even slight imbalance and the dremmel soon wobbles way out of true until it bends the bolt. 

 

However, putting it in my drill driver works at a much lower speed and you get more control on the sanding anyway at only a cost of it being a bit slower.

A front and a rear for the Lotus 79:

 

Here's a side by side comparison:

 

If anyone is interested I may be convinced to sell a copy of the arbour once I perfect the print supports (I made one at 18mm rim diameter for these tyres as well as one that is a 1:20 version of 13inch rims (for the McLaren M23 1970s wet tyres I've modelled and will be printing myself in 3D rubber resin soon) Other rim diameters are easy to produce in Fusion 360 along the same design lines.

 

FB

[klubman01]

Such ingenuity!  Great idea, and the tyres look much better for it.

Trevor