Lotus Exige model?

Does anyone make it? This is my dream car and i am really wanting to make one but i cant seem to find one online. :disappoin

Thanks in advance if anyone knows.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s32/mustangemd19/Lotus20Exige20S20200620120-201024x7.jpg

i'm afraid not...not in plastic model form.

i've seen this car in die-cast only...
maybe you wanna attempt a scratchbuild on this...:smokin:

We can only wish some day, somebody will make one of these...

i'm afraid not...not in plastic model form.

i've seen this car in die-cast only...
maybe you wanna attempt a scratchbuild on this...:smokin:

If I had the skill i would....... but i dont. :frown:
I guess ill just have to wait.

One more question.... Is there a reason why nobody has made it?

One more question.... Is there a reason why nobody has made it?

Ah, the eternal modeling question....

Probably because when the marketing analysis was conducted, it was determined that the licensing and production investment was not likely to be recovered in sales.

This is on my very short list of kits I'd really like to see made. But it's not going to happen. The chances of any manufacturer doing one in plastic is probably 5% or less, and seeing one in resin is less than 50%.

(Hey Gio- wouldn't a resin Exige/Elise be cool!? I'd happily machine the brake and damper masters....)

AutoArt makes a nice 1/18 scale version.
One problem with it (other than not being 1/24 scale) is that it appears to be glued together. I bought a silver one with the plan of re-painting it blue and adding some detail, but I can't figure out how to disassemble it without breaking pieces.

Welly made a fairly decent 1/24 Elise; it's not easy to find, never was...but it could be the start of a conversion. Sure would be nice to see the Elise/Exige, 340R, 2-Eleven done as plastic kits...not holding my breath, that's for sure.

I've got some bits that can go towards the Elise/Exige builds-bin.
I'm pretty certain that between the lot of us, we can put together quite an effort.

I believe there hasn't been any manufacturers that actually made a resin/plastic model kits for the Lotus Elise ever.

I looked at doing the Elise in resin at 1/8th but as a built model before I started the Spyder project, partly because the data would be easy to locate (in my garage)!:icon16:

I would have done the S1 though because it's THE only Elise. Came to the conclusion Elise owners are generally cheapskates (like myself) and would never pay the price I'd need to charge for such an item.:nono:

this is about as far as I got before house/apartment buying stole my attention.

http://xdc.xanga.com/56ac82e430432204873558/w159207205.jpg

I've got two versions of this; one with doors on and one off.
The reason being that without the doors, the body is very fragile along the sills and with the door on, you get extra resin around the sill even when/if you saw the doors off.

This is a long long way from being production ready and my casting is very hit and miss. The two little points that form the area around the lights are a particularly annoying bit.

The way it goes, I might end up casting the front clamshell as a seperate piece but again, I'm a long way off from even trying out different configurations.

Wow, I hadn't seen how far you'd gotten.

Sigh....

ok, so enlighten me please...

1) anyone knows what this car is based on...if it's not a straight off the board built?
2) in 1/24 scale, which car you think is best to be used to mod into this?
3) in 1/24, what's the dimension of the car, wheelbase, width, length...etc?
4) what engine is it using & wheel size?
5) any website that have good detailed pics on this car...suspension, engine, underchassis, interior, front boot...etc?

if ALL of this can be answered, we might just have a chance to see this in 1/24. those interested to see this in 1/24 scale, we pool our whatever spares parts into building one...yes, we can build our elise/exige in no time!

wanna try!?!? hehe....:evillol:

1) It's a Lotus Exige/Elise- consider it the modern incarnation of the Lotus 7
2) There is no kit in 1/24 that would make a good base- there's nothing else that small and funky. A BMW Z3 is probably too big.
3) Smallish
4) Depends on the model. Lately they're using supercharged Toyota twincam I4s. But it doesn't matter, cuz it would be just as cool as a curbside.
5) This one! (http://www.google.com/search?q=Lotus+exige&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a)

Yeah, Lotus Elise/Exige uses the Toyota 2ZZ-GE engines from the 1998-2005 Celica GT-S. So if you find a Celica kit with an engine, that's the correct engine to use.

For what it's worth, I'd be looking at building the chassis first and building the rest of the car of it, even in 1/24th scale.

Reason being, that the chassis would be very easy to make a master for resin by using sheet plastic - reckon someone could make one in a weekend! Not only that, the chassis is absolutely gorgeous;

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb224/cinqster-photo/lotus-elise-15.jpg

Imagine this being kitted from alluminium photo etch!:naughty:

ok, so enlighten me please...

2) in 1/24 scale, which car you think is best to be used to mod into this?


One would start with this Welly 1/24 2003 Elise 111S diecast/plastic model. There's a good bit of plastic in the body; front/rear fascia, rocker section, rollover hoop...

http://images108.fotki.com/v1298/photos/1/10258/6566175/IMG_4993-vi.jpg
http://images41.fotki.com/v1252/photos/1/10258/6566175/IMG_4994-vi.jpg
http://images36.fotki.com/v1296/photos/1/10258/6566175/IMG_4995-vi.jpg

A bit tricky design to get their opening doors, etc. Much re-engineering required for anyone to master for resin.

This model was nearly unobtanium in the US. Found a Feebay seller that had a few. Should have bought another; they don't have any more. Models like this are more available in Europe and Asia. There was a Lotus-based 1/24 Opel Speedster version of this model from Welly also. Veyron probably has the only example of it in the US :naughty:

I've considered doing a 1-off Exige from this. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, or do a master for resin, and I don't have the time to do all that anyway. I'd rather just buy one where the work's already done. Plastic would be ideal, resin probably the only way to go...if someone else does the master work. This model is the best starting point, but needs work to make it up to plastic/resin standards. It's a fantastic little shelf model until that day.

For what it's worth, I'd be looking at building the chassis first and building the rest of the car of it, even in 1/24th scale.

what?
like this?

http://xfd.xanga.com/315c9afb38632204952168/w159274533.jpg

This was the first thing I did after getting a set of type approval drawings from lotus. I reckoned that with the basic tub in hand, I could figure out how much extra "reinforcing" resin mass I could add to the body to make it work.

The bits that are giving me the most trouble are the wishbones.

what?
like this?

http://xfd.xanga.com/315c9afb38632204952168/w159274533.jpg

This was the first thing I did after getting a set of type approval drawings from lotus. I reckoned that with the basic tub in hand, I could figure out how much extra "reinforcing" resin mass I could add to the body to make it work.

The bits that are giving me the most trouble are the wishbones.

Good grief man...get it into resin quick!
:screwy:

Fabby job. You've even got the proportions of the front box x-member right. Many an hour I've spent with my hands down in there trying to replace steering rack gaitors!

Don't forget to add those badly cad coated (rusty) front wishbones!:smokin:

Let me know if you want measurements for them - they'd be easy to make. The hub uprights would be tricky to do as they are extrusions, again!?

Let me know if you want measurements for them - they'd be easy to make.

Dimensions and pics make all things possible....:naughty:

So, what's it gonna be??

start a group build for lotus exige / elise!? hehe...

good thing the exige can be customed to a number of different engines configurations for customers, that will solve the engines used if one should be build...

i was thinking of a toyota MRS for base to start with...any better options?
also, any idea where to get a 16 front, 17 rear combi rims!?!?

we're getting closer...

Another base that comes to mind is the 246 Dino.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b206/mojo_stevo/142381074246DinoFerrari.jpg

Its just about the same size as the Elise/Exige, and has that low curvy profile.

I really do think that if all of us put our head together we can bust out a batch of these bad boys for all of us to enjoy.

I really do think that if all of us put our head together we can bust out a batch of these bad boys for all of us to enjoy.


101% agreed!

we've seen many personal builts in AF all this while, what i would definitely like to see is a big group of 'extremists' coming together & go in for a kill, like this exige!:screwy:

i really want this to happen...i can't make this come true alone.:rolleyes:

gee, that's original...never crossed my mind a dino may fit in the bill! i'll seriously give this a thought bro...since i've tons of dino spares lying around!

For what it's worth, I'd be looking at building the chassis first and building the rest of the car of it, even in 1/24th scale.

Reason being, that the chassis would be very easy to make a master for resin by using sheet plastic - reckon someone could make one in a weekend! Not only that, the chassis is absolutely gorgeous;

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb224/cinqster-photo/lotus-elise-15.jpg

Imagine this being kitted from alluminium photo etch!:naughty:

My God: this is perfect to be replicated by PE origami!!!!

when I started this, my intention was to build as close to 100% version of the Elise; hence the making of the base tub. If you look at the holes in the front cross, that is how the real car is and is where the wishbones and steering rod are located.
The holes on the rear/top part is where the roll over bar fits.

While I did look at other cars with a similar wheelbase; it occured to me that modding an existing kit would in all likelyhood give me more headaches in the long run and give me exactly what I want.

For the wheels, the closest match for the ones I wanted are the onews found on the Fujimi Civic Type R (that look very much like the super light ones they have) but I think they only come as 17 inchers.


Gio, I'm not sure if a 100% PE tub would be strong enough.
There are some parts like at the rear where in the rear car is a single folded sheet of aluminium but most of the tub is made from box section extrusions. Perhaps a combination of solid parts and PE parts is the way to go, despite the temptations.
Of course, a pure PE tub would sure as hell look good.
I can copy down my templates for you have a play with if you want.
The way it looks though, because of the casting process, I might have to fill in some parts of the tub to eliminate some undercuts.

I have been thinking of doing this topic for a while essentially because I have a S2 Exige in my garage and the referencing and measuring would be very easy. I was wanting to build a 1/8 scale. If you did do a group build with the S2 in mind you could have a group building the chasis and then split of into sub groups of elise/exige. Its the same chasis underneath those body panels.....

I could even be tempted to start this before my JPS 1/8 Lotus 72D I have on my bench...

I believe there hasn't been any manufacturers that actually made a resin/plastic model kits for the Lotus Elise ever.

There was a resin kit of the original Elise in the 90's by K-Model or one of the many garage kit makers of that era. Someone on AF has one, maybe it's Kunta.

because I have a S2 Exige in my garage and the referencing and measuring would be very easy.


Ah, then you've come to the right place my friend!

for the good of all those interested to make a exige /elise here, your kind contribution on some detailed pics will be much appreciated!
i only have 1 doubt that i can't confirm about the body shape, after searching the web for references. i'll thank you sincerely if you can take a pic of your car from the top view. i need to know the width for the front & rear wheel curves, thankx!:rolleyes:

of course, if you can provide the front & back boot details & openings + underchassis shots will be most appreciated too!:p

now this exige build group chatting is slowly becoming into a reality show...hehe!:smooch:

p/s i've shortlisted the toyota MRS & MR2, Honda Beat & even Dino as base kits for this mod...any comments?

what about a miata or focus as a base?

It seems that theres a few lines you could get from a Porsche...

what about a miata or focus as a base?

It seems that theres a few lines you could get from a Porsche...

oh, the options on which kit as base are very wide open, in fact any car kit might work. but i think the eventual base car is likely to be a mid engine kit.

the reason why i chose the MRS / MR2 is because the wheelbase needs only minimum alteration & due to the same layout (mid engine/ rear drive), i reckon there might be more useful parts that can be use directly from the kit too.

it still depends on whoever here got that 'feel' first... to locate the closest match base kit, so more brainy modelors are required!

gotta bring this back alive.

im planning on making a resin copy of a 1/18th from autoart. would people be interested in one?

gotta bring this back alive.

im planning on making a resin copy of a 1/18th from autoart. would people be interested in one?

Personally I avoid 1/18th scale like the plague; it's not generally a "builders" scale but a collectors scale. I want a 1/24 scale Exige.

If you're going to put in all the effort needed for a scratchbuild, it's got to be 1/8!

Wow, forgot all about this. Yeah we gotta get back into gear with this. I'm down to help out with a 1/24, I just wish I knew where to start.

So. I think we should work with 2 scales.
Those of you who want a bigger scale agree on a size. Those of you who want 1/24 scale should start on resourcing. Is there anybody in here who has experience with this sort of stuff (scratch building) who wants to start delegating assignments?

I am getting kind of good with casting, and I have a ton of white 1:1 resin. I'll see if I can find a 1/24 diecast Elise, and see what I can clone.

Afraid I can't use my Elise for reference any more...stacked it backwards into a wall at 40 mph. :(

Afraid I can't use my Elise for reference any more...stacked it backwards into a wall at 40 mph. :(

What's most important is that you are OK.
However why were you doing 40mph going backwards?

What's most important is that you are OK.
However why were you doing 40mph going backwards?

Cheers Jano, you're absolutely right.

I was very lucky as I caught some ice on a bend and the backend just drifted out on me - couldn't do anything about it. They can be quite a handful in slippy conditions. I tried to steer and steer into the swing of the back of the car but I was just a passanger by then. Spun across the road, clipped a wall on the other side. This pushed the car further round and I hit the entrance to someone's garden - backwards and square on. I was told it was almost impossible to bend the rear chassis of an Elise, but I managed it!

I considered myself very lucky at the time but have started to take it totally for granted, as I've just come out of hospital after suffering from meningitis for 3 months!

Passed out and was in a coma for over two weeks. Surgeons had to drill my skull to remove the infection!. One the day I came around, I got up and walked off to get myself a coffee. The medical staff could not believe what they saw as they reckon I'd would be in bed for weeks!

I have someone up there somewhere looking after me!:lol2:

^^^ Glad you are okay man, that must have been frightening as all hell. Backwards in fine and dandy when it's your intention... not the latter.

Cheers Jano, you're absolutely right.

I was very lucky as I caught some ice on a bend and the backend just drifted out on me - couldn't do anything about it. They can be quite a handful in slippy conditions. I tried to steer and steer into the swing of the back of the car but I was just a passanger by then. Spun across the road, clipped a wall on the other side. This pushed the car further round and I hit the entrance to someone's garden - backwards and square on. I was told it was almost impossible to bend the rear chassis of an Elise, but I managed it!

I considered myself very lucky at the time but have started to take it totally for granted, as I've just come out of hospital after suffering from meningitis for 3 months!

Passed out and was in a coma for over two weeks. Surgeons had to drill my skull to remove the infection!. One the day I came around, I got up and walked off to get myself a coffee. The medical staff could not believe what they saw as they reckon I'd would be in bed for weeks!

I have someone up there somewhere looking after me!:lol2:


Wow! That is quite a story, it's great that your doing okay!