Deckerz Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 Ok this kit ain't exactly new but i thought id share. So i got this kit for £9 on sale at my LHS and i have to say it is a very nice and simple kit. The tyres are medium rubber, not hard but not the softest of tyres. There are 5 wheels and tyres, one would be a spare. It have a very nice metal front grill with it. Its got its ups and downs, great you get a detailed grill with the kit but it will need polishing and its a shame that when you look through you can see the plastic radiator but you could always get an aftermarket one. All the parts are simply moulded, the main parts are on two trees..... and all the little parts like headlamps lenses and chrome parts are on seperate small trees in a bag. Over all this is a great kit but it has some annoying features like looking through the grill and seeing that plastic radiator, the wheels are abit too thin, the front arches are moulded to the body, my kits engine doesn't fit too well. i give it 8/10. If you are going to build this like the caterham (acuratly) you will need to modify the rear suspension as its not the same, caterham uses independent, lotus uses live axle. Also change the arches and the engine, the lotus uses an old ford engine, the caterham uses either a ford or rover twin cam engine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 (edited) Deceptively simple kit. Requires a lot of patients, and careful brush painting to get it right. Take your time and you can have a winner. Edited May 29, 2010 by Pete J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deckerz Posted May 29, 2010 Author Share Posted May 29, 2010 Deceptively simple kit. Requires a lot of patients, and careful brush painting to get it right. Take your time and you can have a winner. Yeah i should be able to get it right, im going to build it caterham style which will require a new rear susp setup, engine and the wheel arches cut off but i can't decice what to cut with, brand new x-acto blade or brand new dremmel plastic cutting blade....dremmel is faster but knife is more acurate but if it slips its your fault :/ As i was saying i should get it right because i live 20 miles from a hillclimb event and there is always 2 dozen or more there. Iv already decided which wheels im going to use on it but i need to try and find the engine im going to use, oh im not using the engines they use in caterhams (ford 1.4 - 2.0 and rover 1.4 - 2.0) im aiming abit bigger then 4 cylinders, all will be revealed when i post in projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonoPed Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 Replicas and Miniatures of MD has a set of Minilites specifically for this kit... they are really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mopar mad aussie Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 I to have this kit in my stash, I highly recommend the book The Magnificent Seven 2nd Edition by Chris Rees as it shows every model of Seven from 1957 to 2007. Andy Willoughby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I second Pete J.’s comments. There is a lot more work than meets the eye to properly convert this Lotus kit into a Caterham version of a Super 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonoPed Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I second Pete J.’s comments. There is a lot more work than meets the eye to properly convert this Lotus kit into a Caterham version of a Super 7. How about re-posting that beautiful Seven in your avatar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 (edited) Mark's 7's are easily the best in the world, flat out awesome builds Dave No argument there. It is a stunning piece of craftsmanship. Very little of the original kit left. Everything has been rebuilt or machined. I've never seen anyone even attempt one at such a level, much less seven of them. Edited June 1, 2010 by Pete J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Gibbons Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I built this kit for a friend as a gift, as she had one in her vintage racing team stable. One problem I had was the fitting of the photoetched grille. Much of that was poor planning on my part, as I painted the main body BRG, but did a grille surround in yellow ala the Lotus team. Unfortunately, I didn't compensate for paint thickness with the addition of a gloss coat, and the grille ended up being a bit concave. Since I had a deadline to finish it, I couldn't correct it. I told my friend, "It's just that you caught a cone in the nose while autocrossing!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Thanks Guys, very kind of you to say. And as requested, here is the Caterham. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31766 I’ll see if I can dig up photos of the 1/24 Lotus I did using this kit to show how underrated this kit can be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Mark, I always love your 7 buildups, but I must ask... at this point, why do you even bother starting with the kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Thanks Guys, very kind of you to say. And as requested, here is the Caterham. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31766 I’ll see if I can dig up photos of the 1/24 Lotus I did using this kit to show how underrated this kit can be. Mark - As I recall we both finished the 1:24 scale Lotus's, Loti, aw heck super sevens at about the same time. Yours was full detail and mine was oob. It is a fine little kit. If you can find photos I think others may be an interesting comparison. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I gave up looking and shot some new photos: Testors Blue Angel Blue for the body and Dark Yellow for the nose. The wheels are items I machined, but used the stock rubber tires. They are correct for the vintage car the kit builds but do look anemic compared to today’s tires and what comes on Caterhams. The velocity stacks are also machined and the hood had to be modified for them to fit. Added some wiring, plumbing and throttle linkage, machined the mirror and piston gear shft knob, added seat belts. A very fun kit. While I was digging for photos of the above model, I found these of another build from the same kit: This one is was converted to left hand drive and the motor was replaced with a Rotary from an RX-7 (Tamiya kit). A few machined parts for the intake and exhaust and a new dash made with custom decals, simple seatbelts and minimal wiring. The wheels and tires are modified units from a Mini4WD toy with some added hardware. These kits are great starting points to build from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 (edited) Very nice Mark. I knew yours was quite a bit different from mine. I never thought to do a left hand conversion. I will have to do that on the next one. Love the detail. Pete Edited June 6, 2010 by Pete J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horsepower Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 change the engine, the lotus uses an old ford engine, the caterham uses either a ford or rover twin cam engine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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