Lotus 72C Ford - GP Great Britain 1970 - WIP

Everything starts with the central monocoque (with the model as well as with the real car). 

The monocoque has 2 main parts of course: the cockpit and the body cover. 

On top of the monocoque comes the cowling, which is mainly cast in transparant plastic. So I masked the windscreen with some BMF and Maskol. 

Dryfit of the monocoque + cowling. I also added the radiator covers left and right of the monocoque. 

The nose part has been assembled and sanded. The front wings will be spraypainted separately, although they will be sprayed in the same color as the nose. But I don't want to give the impression of a nose + wings being 1 part. 

This is how the nose will look with the front wings attached. 

Here you see the rear wing assembled, as well as the air box. 

Overview of all the Lotus parts so far. Now I will start applying the white primer. 

After the white primer coat, I applied Zero Paints white 'for Team Lotus/Gold Leaf cars'. It comes in a set with the red and gold paint which I applied also after careful masking. 

Here is the result of the 3-colored nose with the front wings dryfitted. Of course the decals are not fixed yet. 

Same exercise for the central hub, except for the gold painted striping which will be formed by a decal here. 

And the radiator covers have been spraypainted in exactly the same manner. 

All the painted parts together and dryfitted to give an impression of the completed bodyparts. 

I also did some work on the tires and rims. I downtoned the heavy chromes wheels with some Aclad 2 "Klear Kote Flat". I also added the valves on the front tires; I still have to find the correct position of the valves on the rear tires. 

The cowling has been spraypainted as well; the white arrow points to the masking tape which protects the transparant part of the windscreen. 

Overview of the work done so far. 

The body has been decalled - the cigarette sponsors are aftermarket. 

Overview of the bodyparts. They still need to be clearcoated. 

Watch out when you build the Silverstone version: the n° 5 decal is positioned wrong on the instructions. It should be turned towards the left hand side from the driver's view. 

Here a reference pictures of the Lotus at Silverstone: note the position of the nr 5 number! 

The interior was sprayed with Gunze Sangyo SM-07 chrome. The seat was painted in different shades of black to enhance the depth effect. 

The plastic kit gear lever was replaced by an aftermarket metal one, and the dashboard has been thoroughly revised. 

At the front I removed all the molded switches, and I drilled holes instead. 

Next I fixed aftermarket metal switches in the holes. The kit instrument decals were used, but I sealed them with a drop of epoxy glue. 

At the rear, I removed all the instruments because they were too small and did not offer the possibility to make the necessary cable connections. So I replaced them by aftermarket parts, the instruments as well as the connections. 

At the rear of the cockpit, behind the driver’s seat, the radiators were fitted and provided with a wash for some more depth. 

Another picture of the central hub. 

Next I fixed the radiator covers. 

View from the rear of the central hub. 

Next I checked if the top cowling would still fit. 

Looks ok, although I'm not very enthousiastic about the one-piece cowling+windscreen. It limits the possibilities. 

And no matter how good your paintjob is, you will always see that the parts are only painted, and not seperate. 

This is because it's impossibel to paint the join line between cowling and windscreen. 

Dryfit with the nose and central hub. 

And another dryfit with the painted parts so far. 

I added the wiring to the dashboard rear, as well as the safety belts in the cockpit. The shoulder belts have been prepared as well. I also replaced the small bolts of the fuel cap by metal wire. 

Here you see the wiring at the back of the dash board clearly. 

Another shot of the wiring and the switches at the dashboard front. 

Something missing in the kit is the support in the nose of the car, where a fire extuingisher should be fixed. I decided to add this construction for more realism. I used metal wire to assemble the supports. 

Dryfit of the nose parts to the cockpit. Now I can start to spraypaint the parts. 

Another dryfit shot. 

Complete overview of where I am at this point. 

The nose parts were painted in their basic colors. 

It's a shame that the suspension was painted flat black during the British GP, but that's what it was! 

Shot of the shock absorbers, kinda special metallic blue color there. 

Clear shot of the scratched fire extinguisher in the scratched supports. 

The suspension parts were drybrushed to make the details come out better. 

This is how the nose part looks like as a whole. 

Shot from the left side of the nose. 

And something you won't see very often: the bottom of the Lotus... 

Next I fixed the steering wheel and some other parts. 

I also fixed the shoulder belts. 

The parts behind the cockpit have been stripped off all the chrome, and resprayed with Gunze SM-07. I also connected most of the wiring. 

Overview shot of the complete hub without engine. 

Other shot from the central hub. 

Shot from a 'normal' viewer's angle. 

This is how I plan to show the finished model at modelling contests... Now all I have to do is build the engine... 

Now we start building the engine. First job: spraying all the engine parts. 

Then we start to assemble the engine block. 

First I planned on replacing the intakes by aluminium turned parts, but the original kit parts looked so good once painted with Alclad, I decided to use them. 

I also added the spark plug wiring and the fuel lines. 

The Ebbro engine is not a Tamiya copy by the way; it's a completely newly designed engine. 

Except for the wiring, no parts on this picture were replaced by aftermarket stuff. 

And a last picture showing the engine bottom. 

Next I fixed the rear suspension and the first scratchbuilt parts: the springs holding the exhaust and the rear wing supports which I replaced by metal wire. 

The spring at the right hand side is a little too big, this will be fixed later on. 

The exhaust were partly spraypainted with Alclad. 

Here you can clearly see that the left spring is looking ok; the right spring is too long. 

Next I attached the engine to the body. 

Slowly the model starts to look as a Lotus 72C... 

Picture from the car's rear. 

And another one to complete the rear views. 

Next I fixed the oil reservoir and the radiator, as well as the torsion bar and of course the wheels. 

The tires haven't been sanded yet, they still look a bit too glossy. 

The torsion bar was replaced by metal wire to get a more realistic diameter. 

Last picture in this phase. 

Next i could fix the large rear wing. 

I also fixed the scratchbuilt wing supports to the wing. 

I also installed the battery and I added some wiring. In those days F1-cars dragged the battery along during the GP. 

Another picture from the left rear side. 

And an overview picture. 

The car is almost ready, so I took some show pictures from a lower angle. 

This angle is closer to what you would see from 'a man's height'. 

As you can see, I still have to adjust the exhaust spring. 

The large rear wheels really look cool from here. 

Last picture before completion of the Lotus.