mrmike Posted November 29, 2019 Posted November 29, 2019 I had seen this open, but sealed inside kit sitting in the pile of kits for my Club's raffle and I looked at it, inside and out. Nice kit! I have taken to appreciate Tamiya's kits, even more so over the last couple of years. Easy to build with positive mountings and accurate moldings. Raffle time came and I didn't win anything, but my friend Paul had won a drawing and he selected this kit and he gave it to me. Thank you Paul! He knows about my appreciation of British sports cars and saloons and I didn't even ask for this kit. Since Google Images is my friend, I looked at the many images of Lotus (or is that Loti) Europas and one color stood out...a green that is very simular to the color I choose. Model Master Citrus Green Metallic. I really like how Tamiya packages their kits with everything being bagged and nothing loose in the box. I have yet to see a kit that is not molded correctly by Tamiya. More Lotus to come... Quote
Phildaupho Posted November 29, 2019 Posted November 29, 2019 Its going to look fantastic painted green. Quote
Bucky Posted November 29, 2019 Posted November 29, 2019 Great little kit! Goes together well. My only trouble were the tiny door mirrors. I did mine in this green: I used Model Master Sublime Green. Quote
mrmike Posted November 29, 2019 Author Posted November 29, 2019 Sorry Dan. No story with this one. Maybe after I finish the McNally Charger Super Bee story, I can do another build with a story attached to it for you. Quote
Pete J. Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 That is really pretty but the JPS special in black is in my opinion the best looking. Perhaps I will get around to building mine. Quote
Kit Basher Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 That's a great kit of a cool car. I like the color you chose. I hope you have better luck with the metal transfers for the scripts than I did. Mine stuck to the transfer paper much better than they did to the model. Quote
Brizio Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 Nice little car, I remember seen few of them in a historical car meeting. Quote
Tom Geiger Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 I will be watching. I always loved the shape of the Europa, probably due to my early association with the Matchbox car. I did work with a guy who was into British sports cars and upon showing me a photo of his garage with two lifts in it, I spied a Europa up on top. He was impressed that I could identify the cars in his photo, but said he no longer had the Lotus. He wasn't a fan. He said there was always something going wrong with it, it was difficult to see out of and always hot inside as the air flow was poor. But at least it's pretty! Quote
espo Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 I look forward to watching your build. You never know, McNally may even have a distant cousin in the business in England. Quote
MrObsessive Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 I'll be watching this one as well! One of my favorite '60's British sports cars and I have this kit also but never touched it. I also have the huge 1/12 scale (Doyusha?) kit buried somewhere in the stash. That one is a real beast and heaven knows if or when I'd ever get to building it. Didn't John Steed drive one of these in the TV show "The Avengers"? I could have swore I seen it in a few episodes back when that show was on when I was a kid. ? Quote
mrmike Posted November 30, 2019 Author Posted November 30, 2019 (edited) Thanks guys! 5 hours ago, MrObsessive said: Didn't John Steed drive one of these in the TV show "The Avengers"? I could have swore I seen it in a few episodes back when that show was on when I was a kid. ? John Steed drove an assortment of Blower Bentleys and Rolls Royces. Tara King drove the Lotus Europa. Emma Peal drove a Lotus Elan. 5 hours ago, espo said: I look forward to watching your build. You never know, McNally may even have a distant cousin in the business in England. McNally worked overseas in the UK once for his attorney-friend Charlotte "Charlie" Rothmann. The car involved was the Jaguar Mk II. Edited November 30, 2019 by mrmike Quote
MrObsessive Posted November 30, 2019 Posted November 30, 2019 (edited) Yeah, I remember John Steed driving the Bentleys and such, but I distinctly remember a scene where he was driving one of those, and had to do a daredevil move to avoid something. I could be wrong, but I could swear it was an Avengers episode. The red one you show might have been the one with he was driving with Tara King. And oh yeah.............there was certainly no missing Emma Peel driving one of those Lotus Elans! Linda Thorson was not a bad actress at all, but she was no Emma Peel! ❤️❤️ Edited November 30, 2019 by MrObsessive Quote
mrmike Posted December 1, 2019 Author Posted December 1, 2019 (edited) So very true! Linda Thorson was a decent actress, but she wasn't Diana Rigg! I have changed my mind on the paint color. I will use Tamiya TS-52 Candy Lime Green instead of Model Master Citrus Green Metallic. The parts are heading for a bath tomorrow morning. More Lotus to come... Edited December 1, 2019 by mrmike Quote
Bucky Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 That's a sharp color! Looking forward to it!! Quote
mrmike Posted December 1, 2019 Author Posted December 1, 2019 Thanks Keith! The parts are drying as we speak. Maybe primer later today followed by paint late today or tomorrow. Quote
crossfire 2004 Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 The Avenger along with many other classics series such as The Saint were filmed around the village where I was raised. I was fortunate as a young lad to sit in both the Bentley and the blue Elan during a break in filming but most memorable was Diana Rigg in the black leather catsuit, a vision I will carry to the grave. Wonderful times. Quote
MrObsessive Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 1 hour ago, crossfire 2004 said: The Avenger along with many other classics series such as The Saint were filmed around the village where I was raised. I was fortunate as a young lad to sit in both the Bentley and the blue Elan during a break in filming but most memorable was Diana Rigg in the black leather catsuit, a vision I will carry to the grave. Wonderful times. You lucky DOG you! Quote
Gramps46 Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 Lotus submitted a proposal for a Europa like design to Ford for a Ford GT40 but Eric Broadly at Lola won out. Quote
mrmike Posted December 1, 2019 Author Posted December 1, 2019 Ahhh, yes! Mrs. Peel and her infamous catsuits! Such memories... Quote
Dave Van Posted December 1, 2019 Posted December 1, 2019 On 11/30/2019 at 12:14 AM, Pete J. said: That is really pretty but the JPS special in black is in my opinion the best looking. Perhaps I will get around to building mine. My brother in law owned a JPS version many years ago. It was fun to drive as the power to weight ratio is good.........BUT....like many a Brit auto the electricals were not great. The power windows would fail shortly after each time we fix them.....and that black car with ZERO insulation got HOT fast! I'm 6'2" and I had to sit on the ground...put my legs up into the car and push myself in!!! But a fun car. Need to build my kit too!!! Quote
mrmike Posted December 3, 2019 Author Posted December 3, 2019 Lotus Europas were not very roomy to begin with. Must be the price you pay for having light weight and fast acceleration from a small motor! Quote
mrmike Posted December 6, 2019 Author Posted December 6, 2019 I started on the engine this afternoon. I glued the engine halves together and started some detail painting. I'll leave the transmission unpainted since I'll be handling the engine. I drilled the cylinder heads for plug wires and what I think is the distributor on the side of the engine. More Lotus to come... Quote
Sam I Am Posted December 7, 2019 Posted December 7, 2019 Always loved the looks of these. I have a 1/12 in the stash that I plan on building in the JPS colors. Quote
mrmike Posted December 9, 2019 Author Posted December 9, 2019 More work done on the Lotus Twin Cam engine today. I got the plug wires on and the exhaust installed, several other pieces installed and painted the transmission. I also got the front half of the Y shaped backbone chassis done. More Lotus to come... Quote
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