Lotus 56B Turbine

[Scale-Master]

 

Yes, I need another project on my workbench.

SMTS kit from the 80's.  Nicely cast white metal.  The body needed a little clean-up from worn molds, but overall it is quite nice. 

[absmiami]

Yes you do…

[absmiami]

Scale - do you have the 12th scale STP Turbine ??

[Bugatti Fan]

Quite a departure going from your usual very highly detailed 1/12th scale models right down to 1/43rd scale Mark.

This will be an interesting build to follow. I have an SMTS Jaguar E Type in 1/24th scale to build that looks a nice kit. They have a good reputation with their white metal kits. Still going strong and have a website with a nice range of 1/43rd scale kits on offer.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Bugatti Fan

[Scale-Master]

16 hours ago, absmiami said:

Scale - do you have the 12th scale STP Turbine ??

No I don't.  I have the 1/16 scale kit, but it's missing a couple pieces.

And since I built this one I'm good.

[Scale-Master]

12 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Quite a departure going from your usual very highly detailed 1/12th scale models right down to 1/43rd scale Mark.

This will be an interesting build to follow. I have an SMTS Jaguar E Type in 1/24th scale to build that looks a nice kit. They have a good reputation with their white metal kits. Still going strong and have a website with a nice range of 1/43rd scale kits on offer.

I usually build a couple/few 1/43rds annually.  Mostly out of the box. 

I like SMTS kits, the decals are the weak point, but that's a non issue for me.  The Turbine car above is SMTS with my decals.

[drodg]

I try to build one or two 1/43rds a year here of late as I am not sure I will have the eyesight to build them 10 years from now.  Looking forward to this build.  

[Rich Chernosky]

18 hours ago, absmiami said:

Scale - do you have the 12th scale STP Turbine ??

Andy...I have the 1/12 Otaki kit.  What do you want to know.   Also have the 1/20 and a 1/24 resin.  None of them built.

[absmiami]

scale - the Silent Sam builds that you posted appear to be the MPC 20th scale - 

nicely done ...

[Scale-Master]

21 hours ago, absmiami said:

scale - the Silent Sam builds that you posted appear to be the MPC 20th scale - 

nicely done ...

Thank you!  (It's only about 3 1/2 inches long...)

Edited August 15, 2023 by Scale-Master

[absmiami]

I get to be wrong at least once a day …

[Pierre Rivard]

The wife says I'm wrong many times a day...but I think she's wrong about that.  ?

[Scale-Master]

The decals are (like many kits from this era) yellowed.  Making replacements is not a problem, but if the artwork isn't bad, even if it is a bit dated, I like to try to build these kits using what comes in the box.

These have been taped to the inside of a window in my shop that gets direct sunlight for most of each day to sun-bleach them for two weeks. 

Both the clear and the white benefited from this.

I'll put them back on the window until they are needed just to get maximum results, but this is possibly as bleached as they will get.

[Big John]

interesting idea with the sun bleaching.  Keep an eye on your reds they tend to bleach out faster than the other colors.

[Scale-Master]

I've been doing this trick for over 50 years.  Never had a problem with colors fading.

[Big John]

Cool!  Does it have any affect on the fragility (it's Italian you know) of the older decal sheets? +-?

[Scale-Master]

On 8/27/2023 at 9:33 PM, Big John said:

Cool!  Does it have any affect on the fragility (it's Italian you know) of the older decal sheets? +-?

Usually the fragility is already "baked in" before putting them in the sun.  I have not had problems with sun-bleaching making otherwise usable decals crack.  But since so many decals that have yellowed are older and already prone to cracking I can see why some people believe it is an issue.

[Scale-Master]

All eight tire decals went on just fine, so clearly there are no ill effects of sun-bleaching there.

[Scale-Master]

The gauge decals went on fine too…

[Scale-Master]

The suspension on these kits is actually engineered pretty well, but due to the nature of the white metal some parts had to be bent into shape.  This one took a good amount of fiddling to get the wheelbase equal on both sides with no binding between the body chassis and suspension. 

[Scale-Master]

The body is painted and ready for decals…  Tamiya lacquers.

[Scale-Master]

The decals were very workable, after applying the ones for the tires and dash I had no worries about them cracking or being overly fragile due to the sun-bleaching.  They responded well to solvent and that was needed to get the Gold Leaf logos to conform to the bulge of the fuel tanks and the gold around the nose.

I mixed a gold for the front wings to go with the decal from Tamiya Titanium Gold and Clear Yellow.

[Scale-Master]

Once the clear has cured I'll do some detail painting and start final assembly. 

Minor setback when I shot the clear last week; a gnat landed in a prominent area and flopped around before I could pluck it out and it stained the clear.  So once the clear dried I had to spot paint/blend some red in to hide the stain and re-clear that area and blend it as well.