Lotus Esprit S1 - Cannonball Run group build

[Pete75]

13 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

I think its looking REALLY good!!!.....i usually always anticipate issues, so i like to get two kits for each build.

Thanks Dann. This makes me feel much better!!?

[Pete75]

Not too far away now. The rescue kit arrived from Italy: not cheap in these odd times, but there is a group build deadline to be met, so needs must. Anyway, she's finally on her feet:

More than any kit I've attempted (this is only #6) I'm concerned about the stance of the S1. This is because most other builds I've seen (certainly some of the Nichimo ones) don't look quite right. I don't know if it's because the wheels on these things are smaller many motorcycle wheels ?, but I've put some effort into getting the relative front/rear height looking ok. We'll see!

Rather than persist with the brake fluid bath on the old body I started again afresh. This time I used the correct white primer & it looks MUCH nicer.

After the colour & clear coats, plus the  usual sanding & polishing, it's on to the black detailing. There is a lot of masking to be done - so much so I have run out of tape before I could finish!

The kit calls for chrome surrounds for front & rear glass, plus side repeaters. These were certainly present on many of the roadgoing production models but not the movie prototypes which look much nicer without, IMO. Plus it's less work, which sounds good right now!!?

Edited November 7, 2020 by Pete75

[Quiet Eric]

Looking great! My personal favorite Bond car.

[Bainford]

2 hours ago, Pete75 said:

More than any kit I've attempted (this is only #6) I'm concerned about the stance of the S1. This is because most other builds I've seen (certainly some of the Nichimo ones) don't look quite right. I don't know if it's because the wheels on these things are smaller many motorcycle wheels ?, but I've put some effort into getting the relative front/rear height looking ok. We'll see!

Looking good. I like an S1 in white.

It may be tough getting a good stance on this kit. The kit's Wolfrace wheels, nicely done as they are, are a bit too large in diameter. And the tires, with the correct profile, are correspondingly too large around. Gives the car a tippy-toe look while still stuffing the wheel wells. I resorted to fitting a low profile, wider tire set (from the Fujimi Pantera) to the kit wheels to make things look right. The result looks cool, but doesn't quite look stock.

[Nazz]

 Your Lotus is coming along fine Peter! Those seats came out great. She is going to be a beauty.

 

Jerry

[Pete75]

On 11/7/2020 at 3:28 AM, Quiet Eric said:

Looking great! My personal favorite Bond car.

 

On 11/7/2020 at 2:52 PM, Nazz said:

 Your Lotus is coming along fine Peter! Those seats came out great. She is going to be a beauty.

 

Jerry

Thank you guys, appreciate it ?

[Pete75]

On 11/7/2020 at 5:21 AM, Bainford said:

Looking good. I like an S1 in white.

It may be tough getting a good stance on this kit. The kit's Wolfrace wheels, nicely done as they are, are a bit too large in diameter. And the tires, with the correct profile, are correspondingly too large around. Gives the car a tippy-toe look while still stuffing the wheel wells. I resorted to fitting a low profile, wider tire set (from the Fujimi Pantera) to the kit wheels to make things look right. The result looks cool, but doesn't quite look stock.

Thanks Trevor, that's a really useful insight. It hadn't occurred to me the tire profile my be the issue, but now I look at it I can see your point. The wheels are certainly (hilariously) narrow by today's standards: I'm building a contemporary Lamborghini at present, and the side by side comparison of the rims is unreal, to the point where I feel something is wrong somewhere!! ?

[Pete75]

Eleven months, one pandemic and two kits later, build #6 is a wrap with a fortnight to spare before the CBR group build deadline. This was my first experience of a non-Tamiya kit and it’s been interesting to see how Fujimi measures up. Tamiya kits definitely seem to include greater interior & mechanical detail but this had a solid simplicity about it and went together really nicely. The only criticism I have (apart from a missing sprue) is that the window masks were porous: NEVER again!

The stance turned out better than I was expecting. I basically set the suspension as low as possible without resorting to any major surgery: I only really had to notch out the exhaust to make room for the rear assembly to go upward. The rest of the remaining work was finishing the shell, with a lot of touching up and polishing. I was grateful to have a second set of license plate decals as they were slightly too big for the plates and quickly turned fragile. Cheers for looking ?