This kit was originally released back in 1968. Just a year after this car debuted at Zandvoort. It was built for my Dad as a Christmas present. Well, I just finished it in time. How close to my deadline did I get? Well she was done at 6:30am Dec 25, 2014. That was a loooooong night.

My Dad has been a fan of Jim Clark since the 60's and his favorite car is still the 1967 version of the Lotus 49. He's wanted this kit ever since.
I can't blame him. What a combination. Colin Chapman, Keith Duckworth, Jim Clark. And of course, Graham Hill in the other Lotus.

This model is not contest quality. Trust me. It has more flaws and blemishes than you can shake a stick at. I was very careful what to photograph and what NOT to photograph. But, it looks like a '49 so I'm reasonably happy. And my Dad was thrilled so that made all the effort worth it.

This kit is an original 1968 release. It has a motor. Working steering and suspension. Decals cover both the British Racing Green livery along with the Gold Leaf Tobacco markings. The decals were in poor shape due to the passing decades. They were replaced with modern ones. Though I wasn't happy with the shade of yellow on the "Team Lotus" decals. Far too pale in my opinion. But I didn't have much choice so on they went.

The clear windscreen was severely damaged on arrival. I tried to cover it up by sculpting a pair of driving gloves. But I wasn't happy with those so I simply elected not to install it. As I said. Not contest quality. Thankfully all the other parts had survived intact.

All in all, this is almost entirely stock. I wanted to add the mesh covers found on the inlet trumpets. But the ones I bought were sized to fit after market items, not the Tamiya trumpets. They were too big, so no mesh covers.

The car was painted, start to finish twice. I messed up nearing the finish on the first attempt. After each coat of paint, the car was sanded smooth. The yellow stripe was painted on. The original kit decals were used to make a template for masking. It's not perfect, but came out well enough... on the second try.

The paint was polished, then given a couple coats of modelling wax.

Too much talk. It's picture time.





























Next to a 1/20 Ferrari F-2001.












Thanks for looking.

matt

You've certainly done a great job covering those blemishes, cause it looks beautiful.
Thanks for sharing

She looks good in the photos Matt.

I'm building the latest release of this car at the moment. The only problems I've found is trying to strip the chrome off the parts of the exhaust that have to be painted white - my usual chemical won't shift the Tamiya plating!

Looks great from where I sit Matt, very nice job!

What a beauty Matt, Dad must be tickled pink I'm planning to get the new release and hope I can do half as good as yours!

Thank you for the kind words everyone

On my build I simply sanded the chrome off. A little time consuming but hey, it worked. I wasn't worried about getting all of the old chrome off as those parts required a primer coat anyway.

matt

Hi Matthew,

You should'nt be complaining. It's a nice clean build, especially the paint job.

BTW, I strip the chrome off my Heller Ligier by dunking the parts in Coco Cola overnight.It dissolve all chrome & those in crevices can be brushed off with a tooth brush. If stubborn, dunk them in fresh Coke again for another night.
Cheers
Lee

Great looking Lotus. Very will done. I like the green & yellow.

Jim