KIT LOTUS

KIT LOTUS
Volume 6 Issue 6 December 2013
PROFIL24 Launches 1:24 scale slot car range
In this issue:
Editorial
The Ultimate Lotus 25
1:5 Scale Coventry Climax V8
15% Christmas discount on Lotus
models
Profil 24 Slot Cars
Jackie Oliver project update
LOG pic
News and articles about Lotus
models
1:5 Scale Coventry Climax Engine - Conceived at Race Retro
Kit Lotus Editorial
‘the world’s only magazine dedicated to scale model Lotus’
Welcome to the end of another successful year in the
life of Kit Lotus, although subscriptions remain static,
it has been another year ofprogress with the highest
visibility so far.
Committed to displaying at Lotus shows only, the
three road trips this year have all been amazing.
Starting with the Race Retro back in February which
had Classic Team Lotus as the headline act and our
attendance as an exhibitor for the first time, we had
four days of hard work but lots of fun and lots of
guests at our display. Race Retro was the catalyst for
Peter’s fabulous 1:5 scale scratch built Coventry
Climax V8 engine after a visit to our display by the
Grandson of Walter Hassan, designer of the Climax
engine .We can hardly wait to see it on display at the
next show. The show was so busy, we often had to
vacate the display booth and stand in the aisle
because of the volume of visitors wanting to get a
close look at our Lotus models.
April at the Club Lotus show was not as well attended
as usual but busy all the same with two more days of
Lotus
conversation with the many enthusiasts who
coming year, read on. But in the meantime, we
Lotus model enthusiasts won’t have it all our own
way in 2014. Something I suppose we have to be
magnanimous about and accept gracefully is the
rest of formula one history, 2014 in particular has
another F1 legend celebrating a fiftieth
anniversary, In 2014 it will be fifty years since
Bruce McLaren raced a car under his own name as
a manufacturer so watch out for the model
manufacturers cashing in and who could blame
them. But, there is always a silver lining, it gives us
another 12 months to prepare for the 50th
Anniversary of Jim Clark’s most succesful season in
1965. That is going to be a treat. Where will we
start? Formula One?, Saloons? Indy? Formula Two?
US reader Gary David supplied the panoramic
photograph from the August 2013 LOG (Lotus
Owners Gathering) at Watkins Glen in New York
State. The Lotus enthusiasts shared the circuit with
the Porsche Club but managed to get this shot of
upwards of 100 Lotus cars and many of their
owners gathered on the infield during this year’s
event.
Lotus Owners Gathering—LOG—2013 Watkins Glen, New York State
Photo : Gary David
came to see us. Third on the agenda was Malcolm
Ricketts summer barbeque, equally successful with a
compact group of enthusiasts crowding into his
restoration workshops complex.
It would be nice to take the display farther afield like
LOG shown above, you never know, that ambition
might happen one day.
So in to the last edition of Kit Lotus for 2013 and I
have to tell you about some small changes for the
Model Factory Hiro have a Lotus 80 listed on their
website as currently under development, in 1:20
scale, no news yet as to whether it will be full detail
or a kerbside. Their amazing 1:12 Lotus 79 is also
listed as in re– production with a couple of different
versions this time around. Perhaps a more
interesting piece of news is their announcement
that sales of 1:20 and 1:24 Ferrari Kits have
ceased with immediate effect, a hint of a licencing
difference perhaps?
Editorial continued.
Also in this issue is an article about another Lotus
25 and I make no apologies for this because this
one is very special and has won the builder several
accolades at various model shows. Evan Jones from
Canada is the creator and he has very kindly agreed
to allow his build article to be put on the Kit Lotus
website as a free download for us all to enjoy.
Please remember when downloading such an article
that the copyright belongs with the author and that
copying and distributing any of it would be unlawful
but above all disrespectful to the effort Evan has put
in to create it in the first instance.
Peter Pedroza has once again excelled himself by
producing from scratch is 1:5 scale version of the
Coventry Climax V8. Peter describes the engine in
his article but there is no taking away from the fact
that success of the Climax during the formula one
glory years of the early to mid sixties had a Lotus
stamp all over it with Jim Clark driving to the
majority of Climax powered victories.
Readers will probably have noticed that all of
Volume 1 is missing from the website, this is due to
reaching the maximum capacity with the web host
Kit Lotus uses. I am not even going to suggest I
could design and maintain a website from scratch
which is why I use an off the peg service to provide
Kit Lotus to its readers, but I have a fix to ensure
readers get them back and are able to enjoy every
issue from the start within your £6 subscription.
Where else could you get 42 copies of a magazine
for such small change?
As the annual renewal approaches, I will be setting
up a parallel website - Kit Lotus Archives—which will
have a direct off the page link from the main site
and will be accessible only to subscribers and Kit
Lotus associates, protected by password. I expect
this to be running before the first issue of Volume 7
in February 2014. This will have all the older back
issues.
As is the usual case, subscription reminders are
sent out later than they should which means most
readers get more than the year
for their
subscription which, you will notice hasn’t changed
since the first day of Kit Lotus . The £6 subscription
won’t change and if you are reading this with a subscription reminder in your mail box , I hope you feel
it is
well worth the renewal and stay with Kit Lotus.
Also in this issue we have interesting pieces of Lotus
model news, articles and information starting with the
information from Jean-Phillipe and Alice at Profil24 that
they are producing a range of 1:24 scale slot racing
cars and what better way of launching their new venture with a brace of iconic Lotus models as the first slot
car subjects? More later.
A quick catch up on my high wing Lotus 49 project
leads me into trying to decide which models to build
next. The Jackie Oliver Lotus 49 is starting to move
ahead now that the engine is finished so it should be
just a case of finding enough time over the winter to
finish off the whole project, but now that I have found
the Lotus 33 restoration project I face the usual
dilemma, what to build next? A pleasant dilemma
nonetheless. This picture illustrates just part of the
problem. Whichever gets chosen next will be the right
decision for a while followed quickly by thoughts of why
didn’t I start that one instead. I’m sure you are all
familiar with the scenario. The other difficulty of course
is the new year resolutions due in just a few short
weeks. If I resolve once again to stop buying models for
a while whilst the build list gets shortened it will just
end in failure, the road to hell is paved with good
intention as they say.
So that’s about it for Volume 6, once again I have
enjoyed every bit and I am looking forward to bring you
Volume 7. Thanks to all of the contributors, either in
this issue or for all the past issues. You keep reading
and I’ll keep writing.
Best wishes for a merry Christmas and a very happy
new year
JT
1:5 Coventry Climax V 8
Coventry Climax was formed in 1903 and over its
seventy or so years history produced engines for just
about every type of vehicle you could think of. Fire
engines, tanks, fork lift trucks and even tractors for
Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition in 1914.
In the late 1940's, the British Government started to
reorganise the National Fire Service, part of which
was a requirement for a portable fire pump, capable
of pumping double the amount of water previously
specified but with half the weight. This became the
Climax FW, (Feather Weight), all-aluminium engine.
John Cooper and Colin Chapman amongst others
were quick to see that this could be the basis for a
really good racing engine, something that was lacking
in Britain at that time. They talked to Climax's' owner
Leonard Lee and, seeing the possibility of some good
publicity for his company, he gave the go ahead for a
pure racing engine, the FWA, to be designed by
former Jaguar engine designer Walter Hassan and
ex-BRM engine man Harry Mundy.
What then followed was a long succession of
Coventry Climax 4 cylinder engines including the
1020cc fire pump FW, the 1.2 litre FWE fitted to the
original Lotus Elite and on to the 2.5 litre FPF engine
which gave Climax their first World Championship in
1959 in the back of Jack Brabham's Cooper. For
1961 there was a change in the World Championship
regulations which specified a 1.5 litre Formula and
for this Coventry Climax produced the FWMV V8.
Following a year with Weber carburettors, Colin
Chapman persuaded Lucas to make their fuel
injection system available to him. This system had
been developed during 1962 on BRM's V8 and had
helped Graham Hill to his first World Championship
and, fitted to the Lotus 25 in 1963, allowed Lotus
to go on and dominate Formula 1. During the formula
years 1961-65 Climax V8's scored victories in 22
World Championship Grands Prix, with Jim Clark
winning 19 of them. The engine was the mainstay for
a lot of British F1
cars through the 1.5 litre Formula and was even
enlarged to 2 litres in 1966, the first year of the new
3 litre Formula.
The building of the model itself followed my usual
pattern of construction with a mixture of materials,
although there is a lot more metal on this one,
particularly around the front of the engine. Strangely
though it was more difficult to model than the DFV I
made last year, a bit more "fiddly". Probably goes to
show that Keith Duckworth designed a superb
engine which was really quite simple, at least for us
model makers.
One part in particular that I had more than a bit of
difficulty with was the Lucas fuel injection unit, the
one that Colin insisted upon having fitted to his
engines. On the model it is made from a tube, three
aluminium plates, a turned cylinder and a few
screws. Whilst to actually make the unit was simple
enough, it is buried deep within the "V" of the engine
and in trying to fit it onto the block was where I hit
trouble. On the actual DFV engine the drive was
taken from spur gears in the centre of the block,
directly underneath the unit. On the Climax these
gears didn't exist and so the drive was taken from
the upper pulley on the front engine plate. This
meant that the unit was a lot longer, hence the
tube, and although to the same 1:5 scale, this
engine is slightly smaller than the DFV. This in turn
meant that there was not enough clearance on the
model to drop it in place, the lower parts of the inlet
manifolds getting in the way. This took a bit of head
scratching to work out how to position it, a bit like
getting a ship in a bottle! Eventually the only way
possible was to fit the unit in two halves, the plates
and tube together as one and then the cylinder. By
using at the time what seemed like six hands,
twisting it at an odd angle, closing one eye and
holding my breath, I managed to squeeze the first
bit in place and bolt it down, but even doing it that
way entailed me having to temporarily remove one
V8 Climax continued……………..
part of the web between the manifolds. The cylindrical part was then piped up on the bench and then
slid in along the "V" before the distributor was fitted.
I have a photo of the actual engine in the Type 25
with this unit having been removed but yet it still has
all the fuel injections rails still in place so therefore
there must be enough room to get it in and out.
What all this really means is that my unit must be a
bit oversize although in my own defence this part is
usually very difficult to see on the actual engine, the
injection trumpets being very close together. Being a
very snug fit between the rear monocoque
extensions, the lower part of the engine is also
virtually impossible to see, non of which is very
helpful to us model makers - unless you happen to
know someone special. So for research I must
express my grateful thanks to Steve Allen at Classic
Team Lotus, although this entailed me making a bit
of a fool of myself!
transporter but R4 was still on the stand. I explained
to Steve about the model I was planning to build and
asked him if it would be possible to lift the engine
cover off so as to get some close up shots. "Yes", he
said starting to smile. "Not a problem, but it won't do
you much good". "Why's that?", I asked. "Because
there is no engine in it", he replied, doing his best not
to laugh! I had been looking at this car for four days
and never realised that the engine bay was full of
fresh air! The team had done a great cover up job
though, full mesh over the space where the intakes
are, even the distinctive twin megaphone tailpipes
were bolted on. However, as it turned out, all was not
lost. A couple of weeks later an email arrived from
Steve with a lot of photos of the engine including the
one mentioned above. He had gone to the trouble of
photographing what I wanted when the cars were
stripped down back at Potash Lane. The whole crew
at Classic Team Lotus are only about ten in total but a
nicer bunch of people you could ever wish to meet.
I decided that this model would be my next project
during the Kit Lotus exhibition at Race Retro earlier
this year. There were two 25's on show at Stoneleigh
back in February. As you entered the building R5
greeted you in the foyer, you then went down a short
ramp into the main hall to be met with R4 on the
Classic Team Lotus stand. These were the first two
cars we saw each morning as we came into the show
and the last we saw as we left each evening.
Fabulous!
I'm also grateful to Simon Parsons who took some
photos for me when he was lucky enough to go to the
Goodwood Festival Of Speed although how he took
them I will never know. He must have been hanging
upside down over the back of the 25 with someone
holding on to his feet!
On the Sunday evening, as the last of the visitors left
and all the exhibitors started to dismantle their
stands, I left John and Simon to start breaking down
the Kit Lotus display, (sorry lads), and took the
opportunity to take my camera along to the 25's. R5
was already being loaded into CTL's magnificent
Profil 24— Lotus slot cars
Some of my very favourite Lotus models are a brace
of Profil 24 resin kits. The 195xx Le Mans Lotus XI
which won the index of performance and the 750
class with Cliff Alison at the wheel and the 1959 Le
Mans Lotus Elite driven by Jim Clark. They are
excellent models I thoroughly enjoyed building and
both from the stable of Jean-Phillipe & Alice down
there in Le Mans close to the famous track at Profil
24.
Naturally, given the proximity to the circuit, Le Mans
subjects are the corner stones of their product range
and it was indeed an honour for Kit Lotus to receive
range. Alice commented “On many occasions we’ve
had slot car fans come to us and ask whether we
would convert our stationary models into slot racing
cars. This is why we are now launching a new range
of cars: 1:24 slot cars specially designed with the
technical help of slot racing specialists “
Ideal Slot Car Subject—Class winning Lotus XI
The Lotus X1 and the Lotus Elite are the first two
models in the range and they include a special resin
body suitable for slot cars, driver, rims and other
small parts. The usual high quality Profil 24 decals
come with the kit as do photo etched parts,
thermoformed clear and inside parts, ‘Codolo’ lights
and of course clear assembly instructions.
The chassis is an optional stainless steel unit,
designed to accommodate the Slot-in engine cradle
with front adaptable wheel base part. Mechanical
this latest information announcing that they have
branched out in to slot car models by popular
demand.
It is 14 years since Jean-Phillipe and Alice set up
their cottage industry on rue Julien Bailey producing
model cars quickly building a reputation for quality
models. Know how mixed with French passion forms
the basis of their precise, true to life high quality
craftsmanship.
It is a tribute to the marque that Profil 24 chose the
Lotus models to launch their new range which
showcases the attention to detail together with the
parts and tyres are not included as these are often
chosen by the slot car racers themselves.
Both cars come in several options:
- Ref P24S01 Lotus Elite with chassis – Euro 127
- Ref P24S02 Lotus Elite without chassis – Euro 97
- Ref P24S03 Lotus XI n°55 Le Mans 1957 (lightalloy wheels) with chassis – Euro 127
- Ref P24S04 Lotus XI n°55 Le Mans 1957 (lightalloy wheels) without chassis – Euro 97
Cont’d………...
Profil 24—Lotus slot cars continued …………..
Some special tools are essential to help build highly
detailed models these days especially if you
suddenly feel you should have been born with three
hands or twelve fingers. This neat little clamp was
shown to Kit Lotus by Peter Pedroza. It has a
, - Ref P24S05 Lotus XI n°41/42/62 Le Mans 1957
(Spoke rims) with chassis – Euro 127
- Ref P24S06 Lotus XI n°41/42/62 Le Mans 1957
(Spoke rims) without chassis – Euro 97
The Elite is widely regarded as one of the prettyist
looking GT cars of all time, even a s a slot car this is
beautiful model. Profil 24 have this just right.
For more information, or to purchase any of the models, visit the Profil 24 website
The Profil24 website has all of the current range , all
of them stunning replicas which makes it a pleasure
to report, the popular scales are covered, 1:43, 1:24
number of interchangeable pegs and holes which
means even the oddest shape can be gripped and
the wooden handle makes it ideal to hold when
painting delicate detail or maybe applying decals
successfully. The wooden handle also comes off
allowing the clamp to be fitted into a vice. I had to
have one, Wonderland Model in Edinburgh obliged
and reasonable value at £7.99.
Not a Lotus but significant all the same, Peter also
provided this picture of a DKW he picked up on
ebay and converted to one of Jim Clark’s first racing
cars. Owned by Ian Scott Watson and used for Jim’s
race debut at Crimond in Aberdeenshire in 1956.
Because all the pictures of the DKW are in black an
white, Peter decided to take the risk and restore his
model in Black , “ I bet it turns out to be blue” says
Peter.
Compare the (Lotus) market
I managed to get my grubby little hands on a couple
of long awaited 1:43 Oxford Diecast Lotus Elan Plus
2s the other day and it prompted me to do a little
fishing into comparison.
So often we get different manufacturers producing
similar cars, when this happens the problem is which
one do we buy?
The Elan Plus 2 doesn’t come along very often but it
is one of the prettiest Lotus cars and makes a nice
model subject, the SMTS white metal version being
one of my all time favourites. The Oxford version has
been on that manufacturers coming soon list for
some time, just as most diecasts are from other
makers. My theory behind that is an early prompt to
fend off potential competitors at the time when lots
of cash is disappearing into the tooling, some
months or years before any models can hit the
shops. Anyhow, more often than not, modern technology ensures our wait hasn’t been in vain and the
finished articles these days are just superb. Value for
money on the Oxford version is top of the league and
they have produced a neat little model for just over
one third the cost of an equivalent Spark model.
So how does it compare to the SMTS version (not
currently available)? On the face of it there is very
little difference, just a subtle change on the SMTS
version is the small bulge on the bonnet suggesting
this is the big vale Plus 2S130 and the Oxford version with flatter bonnet the Plus 2 S. The SMTS version has the Lotus alloy wheels and items such as
brightwork –mirrors/door handles are more delicate
on the SMTS reflecting a truer scale. The fact it is
hard to get your hands on a SMTS version should
make the selection an easy choice, if however like
me you get the buzz and satisfaction from building
the car, SMTS in kit form has to be the one. Only a
cigarette paper would be the difference between the
overall shape and form of the two models.
Comparing diecast against white metal is one thing
but comparing diecast against diecast, especially
when the two subjects are just a few years apart,
reflects on the progress technology is making even
in the model world. No longer the realm of small
boys who play on the carpet with their new model
car, todays market is aimed at the collector and in
years to come the world will be full of ‘mint and
boxed’ examples. Most of which will be very highly
detailed.
My next comparison is the recent release by True
Scale Miniatures of the Lotus 56 Indy version and
the recently defunct Carousel version of the same
model.
Grand Prix Models currently have stock of this super model from Truescale at £152 and is brimming
with detail as we have come to expect with this premium brand manufacturer. Just a few short months
ago, the Carousel brand joined the list of those no
longer in business. Also renowned for their excellent detail, Carousel produced mainly US subjects
and fortunately for us Lotus fans that included the
famous cars of Clark and Gurney from 1965 plus
an abundance of variants from teams who modified
contd………...
Comparing continued and not a Meerkat in site.
Lotus 38s and 34s and christened them as some sort
of special dependant on the sponsor. These cars
found themselves subjects of Carousel together with
the turbine cars of 1968. The Truescale 56 is the
Graham Hill version (previous page) whilst the
Carousel model in my collection is the Pole winner of
Art Pollard. I bought the model during a visit to the
Indy 500 in 2007 and I have always been impressed
with the detail. It is marked as ‘made in China 2006’
and cost $160 USD with 7% sales tax. At the time, the
cost on this side of the pond was around the same in
£GBP so not much has changed in that comparison.
Given my point regarding the tooling from now defunct companies, someone must own it, so someone
has the tooling for the Lotus 38s and given their
popularity, this may become a future model we need
to compare with what is available now. Similarly, my
analogy that the new arrival will affect the price of
the previously obsolete version, those of you holding
an ‘investment stock’ of 38s may wish to consider
unloading before the market changes. But,
remember this is pure speculation on my part and I
only know that I should maybe have bought more
models from the Indy Hall of fame shop when I had
the opportunity. I did search for the Clark 38 but
these had sold out, they did however have plenty of
Gurney 38s on the shelf but I passed the opportunity
up. Hey ho, at least I got the Last 56 and I am
hanging on to it.
Modulo is an unfamiliar name to car modellers,
more well known to motorcycle enthusiasts for
their transkits and so this subject puts them in new
The overall detail of the two looks very similar with the
exception that the Carousel nose cone doesn’t come
off (above). However, I am tempted to guess that
when Carousel ceased trading, the tooling never left
China and that in part at least, both models may
originate from the same moulds.
Model Factory Hiro joined the Lotus 56 market with
their highly detailed kit version, even releasing a
separate model of the Pratt & Whitney Turbine such is
the detail they put in to their models. Collectors would
need to put at least another £100 on top of the
Truescale version to get hold of the kit, then you have
to build it. We have already had confirmation from
manufacturers that duplication in the market has a
definite affect on the prices even though the models
may be in a different medium—diecast or white
metal/resin kit. The affect of the TSM Lotus 56 arrival
will surely have an effect on the Carousel market
which has seen prices of over $400USD on internet
sales of this once obsolete model, even more for the
Clark and Gurney Lotus 38s.
territory which is fine by us as they produce a 1:24
scale kit of the second generation Lotus Elise . The
bulk of the kit is in resin with sparse instruction so
have some reference pictures ready before you
tackle it. It has wheels and tyres cast as one piece
which is a little off putting especially as around
£170 makes this not a cheap item. Nicely cast
wheel centres with aluminium rims and moulded
rubber tyres would have been a great addition to a
reasonable model.
Ultimate Lotus 25
The internet has a lot to answer for. Kit Lotus for one,
born only because we can. A magazine like this
would be virtually impossible without Mr web
wotsizface. But, way before Kit Lotus the web gave
us ebay, a medium I have used since 2003 and have
gone on record many times to exthol its virtues and
the life changing experiences it has allowed me to
exploit. There is always something new and exciting.
Recently I saw a 1:12 Bandai Lotus 33 on ebay from
a vendor over the pond in Canada. I have often been
on the lookout for one such model but always accepted an unbuilt version would be as rare as hens teeth
with a price tag to match. This one was a restoration
project but the main bits appeared to be all there.
The auction was due to finish in the middle of the
night over here in the UK and so before winding up
the clock and drinking my late evening cocoa I put a
speculative bid on the item fully expecting to lose.
Imagine my surprise and delight next morning to find
I had won the auction.
A straightforward transaction, off went the payment
and a few days later the parcel duly arrived. Confirming the arrival I passed a comment to the vendor that
if he came across any more Lotus stuff please would
he let me know.
Not only has Evan shared these gems with us but he
has very kindly offered his build notes as a download
on the Kit Lotus website.
Starting with a Tamiya 1:20 kit, Evan purchased a
Thunder Valley transkit comprising of white metal
components replacing items such as the pedals,
wheels, steering wheel, rollbar, brakes, valve covers,
mirrors,intake manifold, exhaust pipes and oil pan
This is where the ebay connection kicks in. the vendor sent a casual note back showing me images of
his award winning Tamiya Lotus 25. the vendor
turned out to be award winning Evan Jones mega
modeller. Straight away I asked Evan for permission
to use his images in Kit Lotus which he very kindly
granted.
and a brass mesh screen to cover the inlet trumpets.
Evan set out to super build the 25. Attention to detail
is the key with brake lines, both metal and rubber
were added to the calipers which were also separated
from the mounts. A set of RB motion aluminium machined shock absorbers front and back added to the
realism.
All of the dashboard instruments were given bare
metal foil rims and metal clamps before being wired
and plumbed.
Ultimate 1:20 Lotus
Additional coolant pipes and fittings were added
and the belt and pulley replaced, the toothed belt
being milled.
His impressive list of awards reads:
1st place large scale
Mega City Madness 2007, Toronto ON September
2007
1st place large scale
Ajax XXVII, Ajax, ON October 2007
2nd place open wheel competition automobiles
Buffcon 25 , Buffalo NY April 2008
2nd place large scale automobiles
Torcan 2008, Toronto ON May 2008
1st place open wheel competition automobiles
Heritagecon 3, Hamilton ON February 2009
Most suspension rod ends were replaced with RB
motion items, the links were replaced with stainless
steel tube and bolts made with Scale Hardware
stainless steel 0.5mm and 1mm hexagon nuts.
Linkages for the white metal brake pedals and master cylinders were scratch built. A modified fuel filler
attachment with machined aluminium was included.
More RB Motion parts in the shape of rubber spark
plug boots were used and clear fishing line was
used for the fuel lines to the injectors. Polished
Thunder Valley exhaust pipes and scratch built
Evan’s build article on the website describes most of
his techniques and also some of the problems he
faced and overcame when building the 25.
Neat touches such as using Scale Hardware 0.05mm
rivets to fix the windscreen in place show the detail
that went into this build and not some considerable
cash resource judging by the number of specialist
manufacturers Evan turned to obtain the bits that
turned the ordinary box build from Tamiya into an
award winning model.
mounting brackets were added.
Finishing off the 25, Evan used Tamiya TS-32 Haze
Grey for the interior and Tamiya TS-9 British Racing
Green for the body colour both straight from the
can.
Bits and pieces
A supporter of Kit Lotus since the
outset is Win Van Vlasselaer
proprietor of Bestbalsakits in
Belgium where not only can you get
most of the detailing and transkits
on the market today, bit Wim has
developed lots of parts and
transkits of his own. I made a
promise to feature his Lola T70
Aston Martin if we get to putting a
guest page in Kit Lotus.
Diecast producer Quartzo have said that they have
withdrawn their Gold Leaf Team Lotus 72C—1970
French Grand Prix from their catalogue. The reason
for the withdrawal is they can’t accurately produce
the tooling which points to them hoping the tooling
from the 72D would have sufficed. From a maker
who passes off a Lotus 49 with a paint job as a
Lotus 49B is a bit rich.
Not only is Wim a supporter of Kit
lotus he is offering a very generous
15% discount on all Lotus kits and
Lotus parts between 10th
December and 10th January .
The range of manufacturers which
the discount applies to Studio 27,
Tabu, Acustion, Fartifice, Ebbro,
Ejan, F1 Specialties, Gf Models, Joe
Honda, Icon am, Museum
Collection. All Bestbalskit in house
products also carry the discount
Have a look at his website and
support his generosity.
Www.bestbalskits.com
Merry Christmas
My Jackie Oliver high wing Lotus 49 project is coming
along nicely with the DFV unit now complete. I bought an
Ejan distributor set to replace the Lucas ignition parts supplied with the original 49 that was located on the plate above
the gearbox. Oliver’s car had the later ignition pack set inside
the Vee of the engine and this kit by Ejan replaced that. It
also contained the injection tubes , throttle slides and very
nice machine aluminium injector trumpets. A well detailed
conversion but with one small snag in that the plug leads
and injection tube from the original kit doesn’t fit and the
fuel tube supplied in the Ejan conversion is actually the
same stuff used on a 1:20 kit not on this 1:12 model.
It took a while but I drilled out the ends of the distributor
connectors and the fuel injector tubes, then used small
diameter wire to form a reducer on the end of the ignition
leads and the injector tubes. The inlet trumpets were treated
to a set of MFH inlet trumpet mesh covers. Looks nice.
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