Merit Lotus

[Bainford]

Quick question; Is the Merit Lotus XI a 1/24 scale kit?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yes...but some of those Merit kits aren't extremely accurately scaled.

EDIT: but they DO look right displayed with other 1/24 scale models.

Edited July 10, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

AND... I see Model Roundup lists it as "1/43". WRONG.

The Lotus XI is just a tiny car.

EDIT: Scalemates gets it right:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/merit-lotus-xi--937112

EDIT 2:   https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235115433-merit-kits-124-lotus-11/

EDIT 3:   https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235080187-lotus-xi-merit-124/

EDIT 4:   

 

Edited July 10, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Bainford]

Cheers Bill. Very helpful. I expect the scale could potentially be off, but an online seller lists it as 1/32 scale. I thought it was closer to 1/24, and needed to verify. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

37 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Cheers Bill. Very helpful. I expect the scale could potentially be off, but an online seller lists it as 1/32 scale. I thought it was closer to 1/24, and needed to verify. 

I have one I'd normally be happy to measure to verify the scale, but it's about 2000 miles away, being in the first group I moved to the place out West.

I DO recall looking it over carefully when it came in, and it looks good for 1/24.

As I said, the XI is a tiny car. Its overall length is only 134", or a little over 5 1/2" in 1/24.

Wheelbase is 85", or about 3.5" in 1/24.

Width is a hair under 60", or just under 2.5" in 1/24.

Tiny, and easy to see why somebody who doesn't know the cars or who's math-challenged might think it was a smaller scale.

Of course, one of the reasons the early Loti were so fast with small engines was because of their diminutive size and low weight.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

HOKAY...I do have a Merit Vanwall VW-2 F1 builtup from the same series that came in fairly recently.

The real car's wheelbase is 89.3"

That would be 3.72" in 1/24.

I measured the model at 3.688".

I'm happy to call a .032" discrepancy, less than 1mm, "close enough".   

EDIT: Interesting trivia aside is that Frank Costin, responsible for the Lotus XI's aerodynamics, was also the body designer of the English Vanwall F1 cars. Also interesting is that Vandervell switched from Cooper as chassis builder to Colin Chapman (Lotus) later on.

Edited July 10, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[RancheroSteve]

29 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

 

As I said, the XI is a tiny car. Its overall length is only 134", or a little over 5 1/2" in 1/24.

I just measured the Merit Lotus IX I have here and it is in fact just over 5 1/2" long, so according to Bill's figures that makes it 1/24 scale.

[Bainford]

Many thanks fellows. That sounds plenty close for the girls I go with. I really appreciate the objective evidence. 

[Gramps46]

Yes it is 1/24.  I built mine but converted it to wide cockpit a long time ago.

[Matt Bacon]

Those Merit kits are pretty simplified, but with most of them in hand, they capture the shapes and proportions of the originals pretty well, and are consistently enough 1/24 scale to look good together and with other 1/24 period race cars like the Heller and Hasegawa kits. I just received the Model Racing Replica News Cd with all the issues in PDF (with full permission from the publisher) from Curt Raitz, and it’s telling how many have articles on detailing, correcting and improving these Merit kits as the only game in town even in the ‘90s…

best,

M.

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 minutes ago, Matt Bacon said:

 I just received the Model Racing Replica News Cd with all the issues in PDF (with full permission from the publisher) from Curt Raitz, and it’s telling how many have articles on detailing, correcting and improving these Merit kits as the only game in town even in the ‘90s…

Thanks for the reminder. I NEED to get that...  

[Matt Bacon]

10 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Thanks for the reminder. I NEED to get that...  

it’s great value for lots of quality material even WITH transatlantic postage; it’s a no-brainer for folks of our persuasion in the US (if you don’t have a stack of paper originals in the den or man-cave…)

best,

M.

[Gramps46]

FWIW, here is a comparison of the Lotus 11 and its 1/24 and 1/25 scales and its English cousins.  The AC ACE (Cobra conversion) and the Lotus Elite are 1/25 and the rest are 1/24.

 

[Bainford]

22 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Yes it is 1/24.  I built mine but converted it to wide cockpit a long time ago.

That is a beautiful Lotus, Gary, and I really like the conversion to the wide cockpit. Very nice indeed. I considered doing a wide cockpit version myself.

That's a lovely and inspiring collection of sports cars in your last post, too. Who makes the Elite? Is that Profil 24?

[Gramps46]

1 hour ago, Bainford said:

That is a beautiful Lotus, Gary, and I really like the conversion to the wide cockpit. Very nice indeed. I considered doing a wide cockpit version myself.

That's a lovely and inspiring collection of sports cars in your last post, too. Who makes the Elite? Is that Profil 24?

Thanks Trevor,

The Elite is a Scuderia Scale vacuum formed styrene kit. I was very fortunate to get these kits back in the olden days.

 

[Bainford]

Ah, proper old-school model building. Love it. Thanks for the info, Gary.