Rich Chernosky Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 An interesting collaboration between Tamiya and Ebbro ...the Lotus 33 in 1/20 scale. This is the car that took Jimmy Clark to the 1965 World Championship. Kit was very good quality but was a little bit fussy at the end. Color is Tamiya TS-9 British Racing Green. Built mostly stock with some wiring and plumbing added. See picture captions for additional comments on this build. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. Engine detail without the covers on. Lots of fussy intricate details here. I sprayed most of the chrome semi-gloss clear. Kit chrome was too shiny for my taste. Turned exhaust pipes in carb inlets came in the kit. A very nice touch. Interior was sparse but what was there was well detailed. 1965 F-1 cars were that way...note the absence of seat belts. Common in those days. Finished model. Body fit could have been better but the overall look came out OK Another rear end shot. Pipes do not exit straight out the back. Might have been my fault when assembling the exhaust. It was easy to get wrong. I have see formula cars with exhasut pipes this way so maybe its OK. Two trouble areas for me were the fit of the engine cover and the windscreen. I originally tried to glue the screen in place but it looked horrible. Much cleaning and touch=up later I decided to pin it in place. There are 8 tiny pins much like on the real car. Aaaahh..much better. Interesting comparison between the Lotus 33 and the car that preceded it...the Lotus 25. The two cars have much in common but the 33 was much modified to accept a different engine (Coventry Climax FWMV) and the wider tires. The 33 was much faster and Jimmy Clark proved it by winning 6 times out of 10 races. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Waymouth Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Great stuff Rich, the engine and interior detailing is excellent. A good looking pair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Nice looking Lotus. Really well done. Were the color schemes the same on the 29 as on the 33? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramps46 Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 OUTSTANDING it says Jimmy Clark all over it which is a real honor Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nacho Z Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Fantastic model, Rich! I always enjoy seeing your work. These cigar cars are among some of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Both beauties! Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majel Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Great looking model, very clean build! I've wanted to build an F-1 for a while, love the looks of them, just haven't had the guts to pull the trigger and purchase one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Rivard Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 It's a real beauty Rich, actually both of them are. I love the way you have played with different metal shades to represent the different alloys used. When talk of the best drivers come up it usually goes to Schumacher or Hamilton but they raced in 20 race seasons wheeling dominating, reliable and much safer cars. We tend to forget the greats like Clark racing when reliability was marginal and an accident likely resulted in death. In my book his 25 wins are worth 100 in today's F1. Thank you for honoring him with these beautiful builds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluebomber Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Nice work, Rich. I've read that marrying the Tamiya and Ebbro parts led to some fit problems but it looks like you were able to solve them. Great Job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belugawrx Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Looks good Rich, I've always loved that little go-cart👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Wow ! Very nice,in fact they both look great ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) Excellent build Rich - the 33 as well as the 25 - the world championship winning cars of my all-time favorite racing driver! (I have both in my stash and hope the results will be at least half as good as yours) Edited March 7, 2023 by 1959scudetto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave B Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 How good is that Rich. Love these kits, just don't want another scale to build. Dave B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyK Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 On 3/6/2023 at 8:29 PM, Paul Waymouth said: Great stuff Rich, the engine and interior detailing is excellent. A good looking pair Thank you Paul On 3/6/2023 at 8:52 PM, Jim B said: Nice looking Lotus. Really well done. Were the color schemes the same on the 29 as on the 33? Jim...don't really know since I didn't really research the color. I just used the recommended paints off the instructions. I do know that race car people have a tendency to use what paint they have on hand so colors can change from season to season and even in between. On 3/6/2023 at 8:59 PM, Gramps46 said: OUTSTANDING it says Jimmy Clark all over it which is a real honor Rich. As good a compliment as it gets...thank you Gary. On 3/6/2023 at 9:41 PM, Nacho Z said: Fantastic model, Rich! I always enjoy seeing your work. These cigar cars are among some of my favorites. Thank you John...I got a bunch of em too in both 1/20 ands 1/24 On 3/6/2023 at 9:45 PM, Dave Van said: Very well done. Thanks Dave...can't wait to see yours. On 3/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, bbowser said: Both beauties! Nice work. Thank you Bruce. On 3/7/2023 at 1:01 AM, majel said: Great looking model, very clean build! I've wanted to build an F-1 for a while, love the looks of them, just haven't had the guts to pull the trigger and purchase one. Thank youi JIm...go for the 60's. Simplier kits. Pick a scale 1/20 is the most common and easiest to build, 1/24 are a little bit more fragile but less expensive. F-1 kits build a little different from the common domestic kits. It will be a good challenge but I think you will enjoy it. On 3/7/2023 at 8:06 AM, Pierre Rivard said: It's a real beauty Rich, actually both of them are. I love the way you have played with different metal shades to represent the different alloys used. When talk of the best drivers come up it usually goes to Schumacher or Hamilton but they raced in 20 race seasons wheeling dominating, reliable and much safer cars. We tend to forget the greats like Clark racing when reliability was marginal and an accident likely resulted in death. In my book his 25 wins are worth 100 in today's F1. Thank you for honoring him with these beautiful builds. Thank you Pierre. I go out of my way to aquire different metallic finishes. Testors buffing metallics and Alclad are still my favorites. I got to see Jim Clark race 4 times at Watkins Glen. He was spectacular. There were none faster or more skilled. On 3/7/2023 at 9:31 AM, Gluebomber said: Nice work, Rich. I've read that marrying the Tamiya and Ebbro parts led to some fit problems but it looks like you were able to solve them. Great Job! Thanks Larry. If I had that kit to do over there are quite a few changes in technique I would make. On 3/7/2023 at 3:43 PM, Belugawrx said: Looks good Rich, I've always loved that little go-cart👍 Thanks Bruce, they were a lot of fun to watch race. On 3/7/2023 at 4:49 PM, cobraman said: Wow ! Very nice,in fact they both look great ! Thank you Ray. On 3/7/2023 at 5:14 PM, 1959scudetto said: Excellent build Rich - the 33 as well as the 25 - the world championship winning cars of my all-time favorite racing driver! (I have both in my stash and hope the results will be at least half as good as yours) Helmut...thank you. I think both youir kits will come out as good...you are an excellent modeler. On 3/7/2023 at 10:50 PM, Dave B said: How good is that Rich. Love these kits, just don't want another scale to build. Dave B Thank you Dave. Unfortunatley 1/20 is the preferred scale for F-1. You get better detail and less flimsy construction. I do both and even 1/12. On 3/8/2023 at 7:55 AM, TonyK said: Nice! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 7 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said: Thanks for the post Rich - well done and great to see the 33 with the 25 - shows ebbro got their Tires Right - Tamiya missed on the 25 tires - not the correct profile for Dunlops …. in terms of the color scheme - the 33’s carried their paint and finish forward from the 25s - once the 25s got their yellow stripe - the british GP in 64 I think? - they kept them - and the scheme remained unchanged for the introduction of the 49s - until the tobacco companies Came calling … Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted March 10, 2023 Author Share Posted March 10, 2023 16 hours ago, absmiami said: Andy...thanks for chiming in. Always appreciate the extra information you provide, which is spot on every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papajohn97 Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 (edited) Very nice job Rich on one of Ebbro’s more difficult 1/20 F1 kits. I built this one in Fall ‘21 (posted on that British modeling site) and encountered the exact same issues that you ran into 1) poor fit of body cowling and engine cover (I replaced the molded-in pins with brass rods, kinda helped), 2) difficulties getting a clean bond joint between windscreen and cowling due to adhesive wicking between close fitting areas between both parts on the sides of the windscreens 3) funky exhaust extension angles because I pre-bonded the exhaust headers to the block per instructions (don’t!!!). I love this car so much I bought a second kit to do a do-over some day. I suspect a lot of the issues are due to Ebbro using a number of parts from the old tool Tamiya Lotus 25 with Ebbro new tooled Lotus 33 parts. The machined aluminum velocity stacks and exhaust extensions are my favorite parts of this kit, I wish Ebbro would market these parts separately for use on other classic 1/20 F1 models. I agree with Pierre regarding Jim Clark’s driving talents. Jimmy was one of my two childhood racing heros. Clark once said that the only driver he was afraid of (getting passed by) was Dan Gurney, my other childhood hero. Thanks for posting your beautiful golden age of F1 model builds! Edited March 10, 2023 by papajohn97 Fixed incomplete sentence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 17 hours ago, papajohn97 said: Very nice job Rich on one of Ebbro’s more difficult 1/20 F1 kits. I built this one in Fall ‘21 (posted on that British modeling site) and encountered the exact same issues that you ran into 1) poor fit of body cowling and engine cover (I replaced the molded-in pins with brass rods, kinda helped), 2) difficulties getting a clean bond joint between windscreen and cowling due to adhesive wicking between close fitting areas between both parts on the sides of the windscreens 3) funky exhaust extension angles because I pre-bonded the exhaust headers to the block per instructions (don’t!!!). I love this car so much I bought a second kit to do a do-over some day. I suspect a lot of the issues are due to Ebbro using a number of parts from the old tool Tamiya Lotus 25 with Ebbro new tooled Lotus 33 parts. The machined aluminum velocity stacks and exhaust extensions are my favorite parts of this kit, I wish Ebbro would market these parts separately for use on other classic 1/20 F1 models. I agree with Pierre regarding Jim Clark’s driving talents. Jimmy was one of my two childhood racing heros. Clark once said that the only driver he was afraid of (getting passed by) was Dan Gurney, my other childhood hero. Thanks for posting your beautiful golden age of F1 model builds! John...thank you for the wonderful post and kind words. I think we could commiserate all day on the shortcomings of this kit. You and I suffered the same problems and then some. If I did this kit over there are many areas that would see improvement. My LHS has another and believe me I am tempted. Its not really a bad kit, as a matter of fact its very nice. Certainly not un-buildable. But problem areas,if taken care of, would have made this a more satisfying build. I was very fortunate to be able to see Clark race four times at Watkins Glen. ( 63,64,65,66). He was spectacular. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Scully Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Two really great looking builds , you do nice work . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 Two very lovely Lotus! Nice work here, Rich, especially given the issues encountered. You nailed it, though. Both look 'right'. Love them both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brudda Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Beautiful, hitting them out of the park!!!WOW!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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