FINISHED - Lotus Elan 26R - Gunze

Had to take a break from all the Porsche's and I had the need to see something get finished, so I started on the Elan a few weeks back, and have spent about 4-5 evenings on it.

The kit is Gunze Sangyo Lotus Elan 26R. This is not the higtech kit, but a simpler version without all the PE parts and the detailed PE frame.

I decided to go for a "cafe-racer" look inspired from an Elan I saw on a classic car race meet about 15 years ago, where the driver drove it home after the race was finished :-) So its a classic street car that you take out for a race a few times a year (hence posting in this section).

Note! Deacals where still drying (micro-sol) when I took the pics, so they are a little crumpy in some pics.
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/progress4/22.jpg

The kit is nice and builds up without any big suprices. It does come with seatbelt and PE seatbelt details, and some PE badges. I'll save the seatbelt for another car and skipped the badges for now.
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/progress3/26.jpg

Its primed with gray Tamiya primer and painted 2 dry and 2 wet layers of Tamiya TS English Green, then wetsanded and polished (no clearcoat).

The seats, dorpanel center console and window trimming is in real rubber and looks good without any paint, but the window trim is not easy to glue in place.
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/progress3/33.jpg

The wheels and tires are the stock wheels from a Fujimi Fiat barchetta kit, wich fits perfect ang gives the car a wider apperance (the original wheels are very narrow).
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/progress4/2.jpg

The carpet is made from "sports tape" and brushpainted flat brown, not as messy as flocking and you can cut out pices that overlap, just like in real cars.
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/progress4/6.jpg

The kit box
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/1.jpg

The kit also got a lot of extra racing details, but I skipped a lot of them beacuse I did'nt want the look of a racecar but a street car that can be raced.

All the parts
http://www.taffelhome.com/images/modelcars/elan26r/3.jpg

This is the third car I've finished since I started this hobby, so I'm open for comments, critique and hints :-)

thats a pretty sweet little model for a 3rd attempt. keep up the good work. sure looks nice.

Sweet:sunglasse

I have the same kit and keep eyeing it in my stack; I had a lot of fun building the Frogeye Sprite from the same series and it's one of my favorite models.

Sweet:sunglasse

I have the same kit and keep eyeing it in my stack; I had a lot of fun building the Frogeye Sprite from the same series and it's one of my favorite models.

Did you build the white Frogeye with the green "cobra stripes"? That was very cool, looked like a "baby cobra" at first sight. Btw: if you built it where did you get the Minilite wheels from?

Very nice build!:sunglasse

looks hot

Did you build the white Frogeye with the green "cobra stripes"? That was very cool, looked like a "baby cobra" at first sight. Btw: if you built it where did you get the Minilite wheels from?

Yep, that's mine. The wheels were a vintage set by Fujimi in a blister pack; I bought them back in the late 80's at a shop in southern CA. Wish I had more.

http://images7.fotki.com/v126/photos/1/10258/17860/Dscn6286-vi.jpg
I replaced the ginorumous kit tow hooks for photoetch:
http://images7.fotki.com/v126/photos/1/10258/17860/Dscn6297-vi.jpg

very cool, I've always wanted to do a kit of this car...

That's a lovely build you have done there! :bigthumb:
Great work (and quick, too ;) )
I'm afraid I will have to get myself one of these kits as it's very firmly in the ballpark of the kind of stuff I want to build :biggrin:

Those wheels look like they were made for this car!

Superb build, finish and overall look.

Excellent build, don't think I could do much better than that on my 3rd build. Love the kit and the car.

Very nice & lovely detailing - I need a lot more practice before I can paint bodies that well! I have the standard version of this on a shelf along with Gunze's Triumph TR3A and Jag E Type. Haven't built the Frogeye yet as I want to convert it into a later Sprite, like my full-size one!

Those wheels look like they were made for this car!


Actually they don't. One of things from which you could recognise a 26R are the knock-off wheels with the central nut. If you look at the box-art, you'll it is there...

DAMN!!!! hot model man! love the detailing and chrome!

Those wheels look like they were made for this car!

Superb build, finish and overall look.
:iagree: Nothing to add! :dunno:

Very groovy......LOL

I hope someone digs up my models after 7 months! :D

It was nice to look at this great build again, though :thumbsup:

I hope someone digs up my models after 7 months! :D


I was actually looking for a thread on Tamiya's Lotus 47, when I stumbled on this. I got the High Tec version and the S3 version in the to do pile, so I had a look and noticed the wrong wheels.....

Edit.....Damn computers!