Ace-Garageguy

This always strikes me as odd. There are folks who try to tell us it's all a matter of sophisticated "logistics", as though mere mortals are too stupid to grasp the esoteric brilliance of sending a package 500 miles out of the way and back. Nah. It's just stupidity on the part of the shipper.

The set in the AMT Meyers Manx measure 17.3 mm across, and could be shaved to just barely fit the Seven.

There are some in the Revell Anglia / Thames, and I think the same ones in the Henry J...which I just measured at 19 mm across, though they could be shaved to 17.5 or so and still look good.

Kinda steep... https://www.ebay.com/itm/403073290290?hash=item5dd90a5032:g:RG8AAOSw~ZVgFg~p

I know for a fact there are some straight ones of that style in the Revell SWC Olds-powered Willys kit. I'm pretty sure I've seen the angled ones in some kit with the early Chrysler hemi too. Somebody here must know.

A while back, I bought a beautiful 1/24 Danbury bullet-nose Stude. We had one this color when I was a kid, and I saw a lot of the USA looking out that panoramic back window. I got a deal, as the little car has no papers or original box, and some very minor damage. I'd intended to pull some molds from it to do a gasser, among other things, but the model is just too nice to risk buggering it. So I rolled the dice on a Johnny Lightning version to use as a plug/donor. No opening doors or deck, minimal details, but the proportions look good in photos. We'll see. EDIT: It'll be the basis for my Peking to Paris entry too.

I found the dimensions for the Lotus Seven chassis, and I dug through my warehouse for some fiberglass bucket seats. The Lotus drawing is posted below, and the narrowest set of buckets I found measures 17" across...but they could be shaved down to 15" and reupholstered. This is consistent with the scale dimensions of the buckets posted by Cool Hand. SO...if you have about 15 millimeters between the frame and the side of the trans tunnel on the Tamiya Seven (NOTE: it's 16" on the drawing below), you're golden (I'd measure it, but my Seven kits are already in Az.).

They did:

166 MM available here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/185179515863?hash=item2b1d8f2bd7:g:fFEAAOSwVe1hi~cF

Another frequent irk is rebleaters who don't know the difference between "censor" and "censure", but incessantly spew their mindless idiocy anyway. Pretty likely that folks who don't know words don't know their meanings either...but that never stops them from loudly voicing their ignorant opinions at every opportunity.

Like these?

The kit includes a not-good cammer...or maybe a mashup of cammer and Boss; I can't tell for sure exactly what it's supposed to be. Better cammers discussed here, along with some sources for decent FE engines: EDIT: Ford FE engine thread here:

More views of the HRM model:

Historic Racing Miniatures. Be prepared to pay a lot, if you can even find one. It's a beautiful kit, and worth every penny. https://www.modelbuilderswh.com/products/cheetah-race-car https://www.scalemates.com/kits/historic-racing-miniatures-hrm103-cheetah--1112077 Or...you can use a slot-car body and scratchbash the rest.

HOWEVER...this car is represented as a real S2 1962 Seven, essentially the same car as depicted in the Tamiya kit. It shows what looks like a molded seat. So from this photo, it appears a narrow enough molded bucket can be squeezed in... EDIT: Here's a link to lots of photos of this car, including interior shots: http://classiccarsexport.com/lotus/179995-authentic-1962-lotus-super-seven-series-2-rhd-race-car-sb1587.html

A GT40. Not looking too likely at this point... I was in line for a Safir JWA-licensed "continuation" MkV back in the late '80s, but the crash of Eastern Airlines wiped out the funds. I've driven the CAV and Superformance versions, and they're both great fun and look the part. Maybe later...

1:1 seats. And of course, correctly-scaled model seats will fit (or not) the same in a correctly-scaled Seven model.

Anyone with even a semblance of a brain can't help being increasingly grumpy with the state of most things these days...among which is the decline of semblance-of-brains in the general population.

In a real Lotus 7, you sit on a 2" thick cushion that's directly on the floor. The seat back is basically a padded plank. The side of the frame and the driveshaft tunnel are the seat-side bolsters. And yes, I have actual experience here, as I owned and drove one for many years. The cars (real ones) are built to fit a driver who's not much over 5'10" and 165 pounds. There's simply no room in a real 7 (built to the original dimensions, like the Tamiya kit represents) for anything like a bucket seat from something else, or any normal "racing" seat. I've occasionally seen molded seat backs, but that's about it. Look at photos of real Sevens prepped for racing. MOST will have some variation of the cushion-on-the-floor-and-a-padded-plank seat. Sometimes, you will see one with a manufactured seat, but this car is built considerably wider, taller, and longer than the Tamiya Seven. EDIT: Again from my own personal experience, the interior of a Porsche 550 Spyder is cavernous compared to a Seven, and the fiberglass buckets represented in Cool Hand's post will fit a 550...they're in my current car...but still mounted almost directly on the floor. No way in hell will they fit in a Seven as represented by the Tamiya kit without being all hacked up.

Far as I recall, their motto was "no aircraft shall be deemed eligible for return-to-service until the relevant paperwork weighs as much as said aircraft".

Always a treat watching you build a race car.

Man...those are gorgeous, both the dragster and the GT40. I've found the 1-part Tamiya putty to work exactly as you describe, and still use something catalyzed for heavy fills.

While working on something largely unrelated, I had a flash of insight as to how to solve a thorny electronic interface problem on the DeLorean-from-hell project. Not only will this little gizmo get that job out of my hair finally, but it'll have potential applications for lotsa stuff down the road...from cars to model-train controllers. I'm unusually happy.

If you want a good engine, throw the silly mess that's in the kit out. Same goes for the rear axle. Work slowly and carefully on the multi-piece hood and opening features. For all the whining and complaining, this kit WILL make a great looking model with a little applied intelligence.

Yup, I used to get that at least a couple times a year. Sometimes all it took to trigger it was picking up a light bag of groceries...and then immediately I could barely make it up 5 steps. Crazy part is that I could usually still lift and carry bare V8 engine blocks and assembled US car gearboxes with no problem whatsoever (still can). I've found that conscientious core-muscle exercise and hamstring and quad stretches pretty much keep the back problems in check. Staying hydrated helps too. Your body is a machine. Maintain it and use it or lose it.