Jim Clark Lotus Elan

I have completed one half of my Jim Clark project – the Lotus Elan that he would/might have driven to the Aintree British Grand Prix in 1962.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/elan001.jpg

Based on the Gunze Sangyo Elan S3 kit, it is not a 100% accurate replica but has been painted in an appropriate color scheme. Clark’s number plates have been added together with a radio antenna.

The kit is very nice and overall fit is perfect but the original decals were terrible and have been replaced by masking and painting the appropriate places. Also, the kit’s vinyl window surrounds are a nice idea but are too thick to be in scale and are quite fussy to fix in place (non-fogging CA recommended here). The roof and windscreens are molded in one piece in clear styrene but simple masking is all that is needed (the kit allows you to make either a fixed head coupe or open top version).

The less then perfect paint finish is attributable to the Vallejo primer I used for the first (and last) time. It makes a crap base for car modeling – too rough, textured and hard to smooth out.

Not my best build but I still like it!


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/COMPLETED/ELAN_COMP_01.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/COMPLETED/ELAN_COMP_02.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/COMPLETED/ELAN_COMP_03.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/COMPLETED/ELAN_COMP_04.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/COMPLETED/ELAN_COMP_05.jpg


Now on to finish the Lotus 25 he drove later that day on the track!

Well, the pictures show none of your problems with the primer. :nono:

The build looks well done - nothing to complain about. Nice little racer.

I´d say not to worry - overall you can be happy with your work. I guess you know that...


Robert

Lovely subject and build!

Very nice and clean one ! but I don't see panel lines :) superb car !

Nice little model! I never realized this car has no mirrors until seeing this thread!

Well, the pictures show none of your problems with the primer. :nono:


Robert

What a little beauty. Very clean and well done, as usual.

Looks great and that aluminium looks spot on.
Is it un-glossed TS-17?

Thanks guys :)
Maybe it doesn't show fully in the photos but the paint finish really is not 100% in places. As much as I am a big fan of most Vallejo paints and products, I honestly advise thinking twice about using their spray primers for car bodies - I have had the same bad impressions on two 1/24 builds now.

Looks great and that aluminium looks spot on.
Is it un-glossed TS-17?
Thanks. Thanks also for your input and guidance sometime ago when I asked for help on choosing the colour :thumbsup:

Yes, it is TS Gloss Aluminum which was then lightly smoothed with 6000 micromesh (it did not disturb the metallic finish BTW).

My original plan was to leave it "as is" but ultimately I doused (literally) the whole roof and window part once in Future/Klear. My prime reason for doing this was to spruce up the clear parts but I also felt that the Gloss Aluminum woudl benefit from the treatment. IMO the final result justified that.

The bumpers are plain TS-Gloss Aluminum.

Very nice and clean one ! but I don't see panel lines
Thanks. Sorry but I don't really see what you mean. IMO overall the panel lines are quite visible - they were scribed out. The hood panel lines, however, are quite light. This is because the hood is a separate part and fits quite tightly. I could have perhaps made this a bit better.

Future over the TS-17 eh?
Might have to try that.
I've got a Gunze Elan that is screaming out for a Tamiya Lotus engine to be fitted but I've never had any good experience with TS-13 over the 17 to have any confidence in it to make a real start on that.

Verry cool. Beautiful work as always, on a fantastic subject. I don't think I've ever seen this kit built up, it's good to see that it can be done. :p

I seem to remember sending you a master for hubcovers that would probably work perfectly on those wheels....

Covered with Future?? I'm going to cover my eyes and ears and pretend I didn't see that. Lalalalalalalalalala!....

Very cool subject and terrific execution!
Nicely done Steve.

Thanks Andy. Thanks Alex :thumbsup:

Covered with Future?? I'm going to cover my eyes and ears and pretend I didn't see that. Lalalalalalalalalala!....
:rofl:
Don't worry, it was only the roof and windows :evillol:
Seriously though, I agree with you 90% about the miracle uses of Future (or lack thereof) but I have found that it really is cool to have around and can be very useful at times.

I seem to remember sending you a master for hubcovers that would probably work perfectly on those wheels....
Absolutley! I even had it out to try but the Gunze wheels and the S7 wheels are very different in size and the hub-cap didn't fit. I actually asked Micha to buy me this kit in Germany a couple of years ago for the S7 group build - at the time I thought it might be a donor for wheels onto the "Prisoner" car but .... it turned out that size does matter after all! LOL

Hi Steve,

did I miss one of your projects meanwhile? I really thought you´d take a longer break from modelling :biggrin: .

Model looks great, I agree with you concerning the panel lines, I also try to deepen them before painting.

Just one thing: the wipers look a little bit huge/heavy for this little car.

Thanks Micha :)
Only three completed models so far this year so it's pretty slow :D LOL

Just one thing: the wipers look a little bit huge/heavy for this little car.
I fully agree with you. That's why I even took the smallest p/e wiper I had and put it together...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/elan_35.jpg


But even that was too big :rofl:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/elan_36.jpg


I suppose what I should have done is graft the kit blade to the p/e arm or something similar but....I was too lazy :D:D:D

I suppose what I should have done is graft the kit blade to the p/e arm or something similar but....I was too lazy :D:D:D

... right your are, we cannot push to the limit each time, it is still a hobby ;-)

Interesting shade with the aluminum, it really helps it stand out. The Elan is one of the more popular cars in my Historic racing league--this looks great!

Nice model :sunglasse

Looks good! :)
A pity that the kit windshield wipers aren't better than that.

Very nice and neat, Steve. Interesting color choice too.
This kit has horrible headlights panel lines: looks like you done a great scribing job there. Bravo!
And great to see you building yet!

Thanks again, gents :thumbsup:

Bob, I think you should like this kit/car.
IIRC the MX-5 development team borrowed inspiration quite heavily from the Elan :lol:

Hiya Gio :) I'm still plugging away ;)
You are right, the headlight panel lines are very soft and needed quite a lot of scribing. It was a pretty nervous experience to not slip with the blade!
Can't figure out yet if/how to put this and the Lotus 25 together into one display...not least because they are in different scales! LOL

Very nice model of a great car! I think sometimes we should all cut ourselves a bit of slack you've done a great job with an ok kit and achieved results any of us would be proud of.

Cheers, Lee.

Beautiful idea and beautiful execution.

Vallejo first primer was great, as good as Tamiya's one, and 3 times cheaper. But they changed the formula in order to be near to the Citadel white primer... and then it began to be the worst primer I've even work with.

I've talked about it with the technical manager from Vallejo, and he even sent me 3 bottles free of charge, in orden to test the new formula that was supossed to improve the 'Citadel' tendence formula... but the results were as bad as with the previous one... a big pity...

It looks like a really fun kit to build and also to drive in real life...just want to hop in and cruise. It's a shame about the windscreen wipers but everything else looks good. Do you have any photos of the underside you could show us? I see you've done a little bit of weathering on the exhaust and it looks like the perfect amount for a nice weekend driver.

Hello Stevenski,

great to see you back here. Really thought we had lost you for good (=bad).
Great little bugger that is. The paint is really not worthy of any complaints.
The wipers also struck me as odd, but hey: that thing is tiiiny...

I'll try to fit leftover Lotus 7 ones to mine.

Bardzo ladny kolor, wyglonda jak piersze zdiencze! :thumbsup:

Great subject and execution. I particularly like the radio antenna. Wonder what Jim Clark would have listened to? Beatles? Shadows?

Thanks again guys :thumbsup:

Victor, please give my regards to the Vallejo technical Director. You can also give him my address if he wants to send me some free paint too ;) :)

@ iharos - I can imagine that he might have been listening to Angus McHaggis and his Highlander Bagpipe ensemble on his 8-track stereo LOL

@ KevHw - I only have these WIP photos of the underside. Not very interesting though LOL

The drive train was freehand airbrushed with various metallizers and no masking and given a quick wash. The exhaust was painted with MM gunmetal (I think) and stained with some Alclad.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/elan_21.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/LOTUS%20ELAN_997%20NUR/elan_20.jpg

great work.
ciao