Gramps46 Posted November 29, 2021 Posted November 29, 2021 John Greenwood was a very talented driver, designer, fabricator, and promoter. For the 1976 Le Mans race he took a wrecked Corvette convertible and turned it into the Spirit of Le Mans. The French spectators absolutely loved the bellowing monster. The kit was a USAirfix 1/24 scale release. Sadly I used a clear coat on it which has yellowed with time so I am using archived photos (archive= when digits were fingers). I was also hampered by the lack of good color reference photos so the rear winglets I added are too tall and the bottom swoosh should be blue.
TonyK Posted November 29, 2021 Posted November 29, 2021 Good job on this. As I recall US Airfix models aren't that great but this one sure turned out nice.
skymnky721 Posted November 30, 2021 Posted November 30, 2021 Awsome car ,,one of my fav race series along with AMLS,,SCCA stuff
Gramps46 Posted November 30, 2021 Author Posted November 30, 2021 (edited) Thanks to all for your comments. I checked and I used a USAirfix reboxing of an EAIDAI/GRIP kit. But do not know where the decals came from back then. I also noted that Profil24 now makes a resin kit and Le Mans Decals has offered the decals. Edited November 30, 2021 by Gramps46
randyc Posted November 30, 2021 Posted November 30, 2021 Love that one. I have the Monogram 1/32 slot car of this and the Spirit of Riverside I think it is. Love that era of racing. No computers except between the ears. Just trial and error.
afx Posted November 30, 2021 Posted November 30, 2021 (edited) Decals for the '76 LeMans car came in the Eidaigrip kit. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/greenwood-spirit-lemans-24-super-469954988 Fred Cady did the '76 Spirit of Sebring decals. Scale Design did a nice resin kit of this car. Edited November 30, 2021 by afx
Gramps46 Posted November 30, 2021 Author Posted November 30, 2021 1 hour ago, afx said: Decals for the '76 LeMans car came in the Eidaigrip kit. Agree with you JC but am wondering how I got them without having the EIDAI kit. This would have been back in the '80s and Norm Verber and Motoi had contracts in Japan so one of them may have fixed me up.
Snake45 Posted November 30, 2021 Posted November 30, 2021 Very cool old survivor, thanks for sharing it!
1959scudetto Posted November 30, 2021 Posted November 30, 2021 This has to be the ultimate front engine V8 monster, Gary ! The grumble and roar of the engine was surely ground-shaking. Nice build of a seldom seen kit. Us race car modelers have always the problem of good reference material - this is hard to come by even today - most pics on the internet are color photos of the restored cars which often differ from back then (old photos are in most cases black and white only).
Rich Chernosky Posted December 1, 2021 Posted December 1, 2021 Gary...thank you so much for posting this. I have this kit (the original Eidai Grip) that I got at a show a year or so ago. It is nice to know decals are available in case my ancient ones fail. The photography rocks too. I also discovered in my box a 1/64 minature of this car done by Hot Wheels (not in the same livery...of course) Don't know how that got in there. Might try and repaint it but decals will be a problem.
Gramps46 Posted December 1, 2021 Author Posted December 1, 2021 Rich, Lucky find. Somewhere along the line I got the impression the Eidai Grip was motorized. Is that true? eBay photo
afx Posted December 1, 2021 Posted December 1, 2021 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Gramps46 said: Rich, Lucky find. Somewhere along the line I got the impression the Eidai Grip was motorized. Is that true? eBay photo Yes, follow this link: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/greenwood-spirit-lemans-24-super-469954988 Edited December 1, 2021 by afx
Rich Chernosky Posted December 1, 2021 Posted December 1, 2021 49 minutes ago, afx said: Yes, follow this link: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/greenwood-spirit-lemans-24-super-469954988 JC...yah...its motorized. A very simple kit with few parts. Body looks pretty good though. Mine is in minty condition, even the decals and the box. Its gonna get built though. No shelf queens in this collection.
The Junkman Posted December 2, 2021 Posted December 2, 2021 (edited) On 11/29/2021 at 8:17 AM, Gramps46 said: John Greenwood was a very talented driver, designer, fabricator, and promoter. For the 1976 Le Mans race he took a wrecked Corvette convertible and turned it into the Spirit of Le Mans. The French spectators absolutely loved the bellowing monster. The kit was a USAirfix 1/24 scale release. Sadly I used a clear coat on it which has yellowed with time so I am using archived photos (archive= when digits were fingers). I was also hampered by the lack of good color reference photos so the rear winglets I added are too tall and the bottom swoosh should be blue. Can I help a brother out? Also, did those wheels come in the kit? Trying to source something that passes for Stirling mags is very hard. I've only seen one set that came with a Studio 27 or MFH kit and I didn't have $150-200 for one of them. Edited December 2, 2021 by The Junkman
Gramps46 Posted December 2, 2021 Author Posted December 2, 2021 Steve, Great picture, thank you. Yes the wheels and tires come in the either the USAFIX or Eidai/Grip kits. The USAIRFIX is much cheaper, $45 on the Bay, but one needs to buy decals for it. This is the box top from my build.
Dave Van Posted December 2, 2021 Posted December 2, 2021 I do decals for the '75 Greenwood car. They fit the Grip, Airfix etc body.
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