Because I don’t have enough Lotus kits. ...

[Big John]

The MFH stuff is over the top in detail and pretty much out of my price range.  For all the extra parts and cylinders it wasn't that much more competitive than their V8.  I think they only  won one of two races before retiring the engine. Still it is a Wicked piece of kit, as it were.  Here are a couple of my research pics the last one I believe was from a Road & Track article and my fave.

 

[absmiami]

The H16!

thanks so much for sucking me back down into one of my favorite rabbit holes

heavy, unreliable, weird unusable torque curve, not as much HP as promised

- a great big - magnificent - mess

but what a great modeling subject!

the definitive book on the car has yet to be completed

- it is sitting quietly on Doug Nye's desk - or somewhere in his laptop ...  the mysterious - ever elusive - BRM Vol IV  !!

Ive got photos of the Donington car - including detailed engine shots - from over thirty years ago !

- Ill post them when I start to build the engine 

neither the Lotus 43 - or the BRM H16 - have ever been properly kitted in 24th scale

the pix that you have posted come from the great R & T mag issue listed below

- along with some other vintage mag articles on the H16 

- just in case someone is foolish enough to join me ...   

warning - the moment that I / any of us / finish a Lotus 43 or BRM H16  build in 24th scale - 

some wise guy will 3D print/produce a magnificent kit...   

just a thought ... 

 

BRM H-16:

       Autosport    ______ 1966   w/cutaway - don’t have
        Motor (Uk)   May 14,1966   don't have 
        Sports Car Graphic Aug 1966 eng feature w/color d/have
        Thorbred & Classic Cars Feb 1986  Overhead shot of car
        Motor Sport   Sept 1994
        Road & Track  Aug 1966     Must-have - great cover shot 
        Autocar   Aug 20,1977 Full pg eng color cutaway by Berris 
 

[Big John]

Like I really need another 3>4 year CAD project!  Maybe we can get Mad Mike to work one up? The MFH BRM build on the britishmodeler site had lost all it's image links however there is still a WIP of the Lotus H-16. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235084613-lotus-43-brm-jim-clark-1966-us-gp-watkins-glen-mfh-120/

Really clean work on the body and a stunning engine build.  And after all it is all about that beast of an engine.

 

[Big John]

Here is a pirated copy of the cutaway view.  It wasn't great resolution to begin with but I got it cleaned up pretty well.  You would never have been able to read the text anyway.

[Big John]

only a few gears?

[absmiami]

there is a rule on this forum [I just made it up]  ..,.

if you post it, you eat it ...

so now you've got to draw an H16 with all of the internals - and send it to Mad to scale and print ...

just kidding - mostly ...

 

[absmiami]

and just for the record - the cutaway was done by Berris for Autocar

i'm sure he was well compensated - or not ...

[absmiami]

You can leave out the valves stems  ....  64 of them ??  ready to break at a moment's notice ...

 

[absmiami]

Like I really need another 3>4 year CAD project!  Maybe we can get Mad Mike to work one up? The MFH BRM build on the britishmodeler site had lost all it's image links however there is still a WIP of the Lotus H-16. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235084613-lotus-43-brm-jim-clark-1966-us-gp-watkins-glen-mfh-120/

 

yes - Pascal is a really good builder - but where do you surf in France ??  ??? 

[Big John]

The Valves Springs and Guides aren't the problem I already have those from an old Offy that I was working on until someone else did one in 1/8th.  Of course they didn't have the full ports and valves.  MFH only had the crank rods and pistons.  Actually  it was just after this project that I gave up on doing the internals since no one ever sees them anyway.

[Big John]

I wasn't sure I could get the cam timing right anyway.

[Big John]

3 hours ago, absmiami said:

Like I really need another 3>4 year CAD project!  Maybe we can get Mad Mike to work one up? The MFH BRM build on the britishmodeler site had lost all it's image links however there is still a WIP of the Lotus H-16. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235084613-lotus-43-brm-jim-clark-1966-us-gp-watkins-glen-mfh-120/

 

yes - Pascal is a really good builder - but where do you surf in France ??  ??? 

Le Cap Ferret.

[absmiami]

I somehow missed your Offy drawings -  rather nice!  This is my petition to resurrect these drawings for a 24th and 25th scale engine - oh - and a Novi - because you could twin the cyl heads on a crankcase and away you go...

[absmiami]

There is a momentary clearing on the workbench - which is an excuse to return to the Lotus 43.   

[absmiami]

Those of you who have wandered thru this thread will recall that I am converting a Lotus 49 Japanese resin kit from long, long ago.   One of the changes is to reshape the leading edge of the cockpit cowling - the 43 has a rounded leading edge or lip. Whereas the 49 had a more squared profile....

[absmiami]

The hatches in the monocoque used for the fuel bladders sit up higher on the Lotus 43 ...

[absmiami]

When I widened the body last summer I never got around to the nose - widened this morning with a couple of pieces of renshape - it’s about 2 scale inches wider with the renshape  inserts - pretty close to the scale drawings ...  the castings are fairly thin - so that there will be room for a radiator - which is nice ...  the surgery was performed with razor saws, PermaGrit flat files, diamond burs, and sanding drums and sticks - and a Little putty...

[absmiami]

[absmiami]

That’s funny. If you tap the drawings of the  BRM engine  posted by big John - on your
i phone - they are nearly the exact size of the engine in 24th scale ...

[Big John]

I believe the line elevations are from MFH site.  The company seems to be pretty fanatic about detail.  Did you scratch build the H?

Edited February 21, 2021 by Big John

[absmiami]

Not yet

[Bainford]

Not sure how I missed this one. Nice work this curious Lotus. I have a 43 project in my project book as well, waiting its turn. It is my understanding that Lotus modified a 38 to create the 43, so my plan was to start with the old IMC Lotus 38, though it is hard to say how much of the IMC kit would get used. Especially since I want to build in 1/24 and the IMC kit is 1/25. Diligent measuring required. I have one in the stash waiting patiently, but I'll be watching your progress to see what I can pick up. What I really want to do is just scratchbuild the awesome H-16, the car merely being something to put it in. I think I may have to build two engines, so I can display one on a stand next to the model.

[absmiami]

Warning. The IMC Lotus is under scale. Closer to 1/26 ...  the Heller Lotus 49 would be a better starting point   -  I’m modifying - 

 an old Japanese resin kit of the ‘67 Lotus 49 - that “borrowed” some Heller kit parts -

recasting them in white metal - repeating all of Heller’s many errors ...

the engine - won’t be making mine til I finish some other stuff -  get LOTS of Evergreen plastic. All shapes and sizes - and some razor saws and a mitre box and your favorite liquid glue - and away you go - and please

post you progress - on your own thread - or even on this one - no objection whatsoever from me ...

[absmiami]

Bangin’. away on the front. suspension and oil tank bulkheads - first a shot - borrowed - of the 43 during its restoration ... these bulkheads were similar to the 49 ‘s - but there are some differences ...

[absmiami]

The resin kit bulkhead is replaced by the one in black - cut and sanded from evergreen sheet.  Can’t quite locate all of the accessories to spec because of the scale  -  even after thinning the nose shell to about .040 or so ...