Hello there.

Back in the 1970's and 80's, when I was a lot younger than I am now I always loved building 1/12th scale cars, the most common ones I could afford while at school were the Tamiya Formula 1 models. Always amazing kits, little paint needed as most of the bits were already the right colour, and the suspension and steering worked. The parts even fitted together properly!

Later on in the eighties I branched out to other 1/12 car models, Otaki, even Hasegawa had a few.

While going through some boxes after my move I happened across the box where all my old build 1/12 cars had gone, well all but a Porsche 934 (still looking for that one) and a couple of more modern Tamiya cars which have survived the various moves very well, namely the Ferrari 941 and Williams FW14.

Here are some pictures of the cars I found in the box of doom..


First up a 1/12 Otaki Lamborghini Countach LP400. Looks OK but the chassis has come away from the body and the unpainted white plastic body shell is looking a bit dull now. Amazing what I used to think was OK..


Next up a Hasegawa 1/12 Efini RX-7. This was the first kit I built with a diecast part, the intake plenum. As you can see a bit more work on this one, but that is bare plastic, not painted. Amazing how good the finish is on it. I haven't seen better nowadays.


This Ferrari has lost its front and rear spoilers, some exhaust pipes have come adrift, and the gearbox has broken away from the engine. The only thing holding it there is the suspension.


Next is a Renault RE20 Turbo. Again, has lost its spoilers but other than that has held together pretty well.






Now we get into the more highly 'disassembled' models.. This is Tamiya's Brabham BT44. Nearly every external bit has come adrift but at least it is all there. I haven't seen one of these for sale lately so Tamiya must be about to re-release it.. The decals etc have all had it but I do have a spare set somewhere I can use after I paint the body.


Not quite as bad but still a lot of work to put it all back together and paint it. Again I have spare decals. Tamiya's Tyrell P34.


Then there is a Wolf WR-1. The front wheels are only being held in place by the steering components. They have come adrift from the wishbones etc.


I have worked out where a few of these parts go already.


Then we have this poor, very disassembled Lotus 72. It is missing a few major items, like a front and a rear wheel, a front tyre, half the airbox. All that means that the Lotus is unlikely to be ever put back together, but I will keep it in case I find the missing parts.

The other problem I may have is that a few of the tiny nuts etc used to hold wheels on have also disappeared. Anyone who can give me a few tips about where I can buy replacement nuts and bolts it would be very much appreciated.

The only one I haven't got a replacement for at the moment if the Brabham. And now that I am old I can afford to get all the ones I used to gaze in wonder at in the hobby store.

That's it for now. Will try and keep some sort of progress blog as I get them back together.

Cheers
Warren

Most interesting findings... I am looking forward to restoration of these beauties. My local hardware store sells small pouches labelled "glasses repair kit" carrying 4 tiny screws each. Also, occasionally, I find sets of screws / nuts 6mm and smaller...

Thanks for that Gabriel.

I found that my regular Internet Hobby Shop here in Australia actually sell bags of 20 for about $10, half the price of the ones from Belgium on Ebay..

OK. After I applied some more glue to parts of the 240ZG that don't want to seem to mate very well, I left it to dry and extricated the Lamborghini from its hidey hole. One of the front wheels was very floppy, but I found that both of them have had all three ball joints on their front hubs broken at some time.

This explains the looseness of the wheels, but not how they got broken.

I think I am going to have to drill holes through the stubs in the hub and use screws to hold everything together.


You can see the remains of one of the ball-joints in the lower wishbone.


Luckily the body was never glued to the chassis as it was held in place with plastic tabs.

It was sired for lighting many moons ago and surprisingly, after fitting a couple of new A cell batteries they still work, bodgy cabling and all!

It shouldn't be too hard to mask the body up for a paint job. It is just the bare plastic the kit came in. Back then I didn't have the nicety of experience or an airbrush.

Cheers
Warren

Ha Warren,
That made me smile
The 70's and 80's was a great time for Tamiya F1 cars and that was what I built.Never thought about planes or tanks.
The Brabham BT-44 I think they re-released only a year or so ago. I think I'll get the Lotus 49, since that was my first F1 build.

You've done well to keep them, mine were binned many years ago when I moved overseas.

Did you ever build the AMT(?) trucks, Kenworths, freightliners etc?

Happy memories,

cheers
Michael

Hi Michael.

I built one AMT/Matchbox Frieghtliner but that was it. My main output was Aifix or Matchbox 1/72 aircraft as I couldn't afford the Tamiya 1/12 scale cars very often.

I have bought the kits new as well, except the BT-44 which I will get in the next few months if I can find it at the right price. The only other one I need is the Matra MS-11 and the green Lotus 49. I have the Gold Leaf version in the stash. I also have the Ferrari 941 and Williams-Renault built on the shelf. They have survived the moves rather well. I have built the Honda F-1 twice, once in the dark ages and once again recently.. but for some reason it hasn't turned up after the move yet.. may have to build it again dammit!!

Cheers
Warren

The green Lotus49 has been re-released with PE parts. I've got that and the Yardley MacLaren to make.

Thats quite a collection Warren. Looking forward to seeing these wonderful models restored to their well deserved glory.

I have a lot of my dad's builds, from the 50's and 60's. Most still look amazing, but some need a gentle restoration.

Hey Jesper

I have many of my early builds from the seventies and eighties but they can lay resting for the moment. I have over 700 new kits to build!

Cheers
Warren

One of my favorite builds from many moons ago was the BT44 that came out surprisingly well for a somewhat noob F1 builder.

Unfortunately it fell to it death during an earthquake in SoCal. And like Warren I couldn't really afford the Tamiya 1/12 F1 cars, but they are great kits.

But I can afford 'em now!!

True dat. But my wifey might have something to say!!

Just get a post box and sneak stuff in after picking it up. She need never know....