absmiami Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 Did I mention how important it is to have a clean well ordered workbench ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 7, 2020 Author Share Posted July 7, 2020 There’s a Lotus there somewhere.. once the workbench reaches critical mass - new projects just seem to appear ... So here’s another Joker kit ... and another riddle ... Name the First Grand Prix car credited with having an engine as a stressed member of the chassis .... You’re first guess will probably be wrong. - unless you grab your Doug Nye and/or Karl ludvigson books ... Go for it ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorsovdoon Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 Organised chaos. That's how it's supposed to look, how would you find anything if it was all neat and tidy? xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 7, 2020 Author Share Posted July 7, 2020 rule 43: once you are certain that you've lost that part - you've looked everywhere ... - you are certain that is lost ... - and you've made a replacement ... - you will then find that part ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardik Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 (edited) Regarding the bench; as long as you have enough space to set down your coffee cup, you're good to go. As for the first Lotus to use the engine as a stressed member, I believe it was the type 25, but I have no idea whether someone else might have beaten them to it. Maybe B.R.M.? Edited July 7, 2020 by Shardik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share Posted July 8, 2020 You are half right ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 Ok Ok. So I’m the only forum member obsessed with arcane GP chassis development. That’s fine... the Lotus 43 BRM was the first GP car to race with a chassis using the engine as a fully stressed design member - for which we can thank Chapman and Len Terry . LT was tasked with creating the full monocoque - bathtub chassis for the Indy Lotus type 38. This design was sort of “kit bashed” the following year for the Lotus 43 - which took Chapman and Lotus into the 3 liter Formula 1 era . This is a screen grab fr Wikipedia ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 Here’s the racing record of the 43... another wiki screen grab... you will note a rather unique race history - probably Chapman’s least favorite GP car. The words most frequently heard in the Lotus paddock in late ‘66: sorry Colin - I broke your car - again. Only Clark managed to finish one race. Watkins Glen. Of course, he won... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 For more info and some great pix: ultimatecarpage .com carmrades- blog.com flickr - Search for touluru ‘s page. He is BRM obsessed. And has posted some wonderful shots of the 43 taken in GB vintage events following the Classic team Lotus restoration a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 Now. How to do the car in 24th scale ... The Joker ‘67 Lotus 49 resin kit is the starting point. The 49 followed the design of the 43 with a few tweaks. The joker kit is - like It’s relation - the Lotus 33 kit - pretty good but not without flaws ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 Flaw one the Cosworth engine casting is a knock-off of the Heller kit engine. Assembled to make casting a little more practical ... well the Heller engine is a mess. I’ll spare the details - because we don’t need it for this build anyway ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 9, 2020 Author Share Posted July 9, 2020 Flaw II the body casting is a little too narrow . And the driving compartment is way to narrow ... the 49 was about 28 inches wide . The driving compartment was between 12-13 inches wide. The 43 body was about an inch wider than the 49. Because the BRM engine package was wider than the Cosworth that came along in ‘67. so the body casting width scales out to 26 inches. Which is too narrow for both the 43 and the 49. But that’s why the modeling Gods created Evergreen styrene ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Facinating build you have here Andy. I am a big fan of the Lotus era and am learning a lot here. So thanks for doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 A sharpie is used to prep the patient for surgery the body casting is sawed apart and the a strip of evergreen is super glued to one side The will recover the missing body width and it won’t change the shape of the monocoque in any way that can’t be corrected . The details casted into the center line of the casting will be created again once the width of the casting is corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 Now I can saw apart the casting of the driving compartment to add the needed width. Again with a strip of evergreen ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 The scale drawings that I’m using are available on the ‘net with a brief search. They are not Team Lotus drawings - but they are pretty good. The Taylor Lotus bible specs the Lotus 43 width at 30 inches. The width added to the body Casting places it to within a scale inch in width. I’ll take that... And the shape of the driving compartment in the Joker 33 casting is correct for the 43 ... The base of the chassis monocoque has cut-outs for the fuel and oil lines. This area will need some more work ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted August 31, 2020 Author Share Posted August 31, 2020 Lotus 30 anyone ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted August 31, 2020 Author Share Posted August 31, 2020 Hiding under the body shell - which of course began life as a 24th scale slot Body - is the famous wishbone chassis - made from plans provided by a Lotus 30 owner - years ago. Evergreen strip and sheet the project got stuck and has languished in a box for years - but now that Mad Mike has created the perfect engine for this project I’ve decided to shake off the cobwebs.... The other thing that woke this thing up are the great articles on Peter Windsor’s site on Clark’s amazing 1965 season. And the online Chapman Museum articles - they have begun to explore the Lotus 30 and the family of Lotus Ford engines - highly recommended.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted September 1, 2020 Author Share Posted September 1, 2020 Not a wishbone chassis its a backbone chassis ... So the Mad Mike Indy Ford fits rather nicely into the frame. Although I had to remove the engine oil filter - Team Lotus may have used a more compact filter - not sure now gotta figure out the motor mounts - but I do have good pictures of the chassis mount structures ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pico Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Mad Mike does some good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy D Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 It is hard to keep up with you....but great fun trying !!!! Randy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 On 7/7/2020 at 11:39 AM, absmiami said: rule 43: once you are certain that you've lost that part - you've looked everywhere ... - you are certain that is lost ... - and you've made a replacement ... - you will then find that part ! So true... and once you've cleaned up you will want that part that you knew exactly where it was and is now in some nebulous place where you though was exactly the perfect place to put it but wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Was that going to be a Lotus with the BRM H-16? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 (edited) This is an old photo of my SMTS 1/43 BRM H-16. Basically box stock but for aluminum tube intakes and wire snakes. I would expect that, because of the engine layout this would be a good candidate for the engine stress member concept. Edited February 11, 2021 by Big John Spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 The SMTS kits were really good. I’ve got the Gurney Eagle kit. The MFH 20th scale Lotus 43 is being completed in a very good build thread on the Brit modeler site - I’ve been studying it for some corrections on my 24th scale build - it’s dormant while I finish my Merit Cooper ...and yes, BRM designed the engine to be “load bearing”. They just never quite figured out how to make it reliable ... understatement ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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