MFH 1:20 Gold Leaf Lotus 72 C.

[allnie]

MFH Gold Leaf Lotus 72 C. I have always dreamed about this kit. The car Jochen Rindt drove in the 1970 season. He’s last victory was the German GP at Hockenheim and this is the subject I am trying to replicate.
The original kit (Lotus 72 D) was official released by Studio 27 some time ago in the JPS livery. But it was done by MFH and this time the Gold Leaf kit is actually released by MFH. Of course most of the parts are taken directly from the original kit, but several parts are converted in a perfect way according to the 1970 season design. MFH have as always done a superb job. Only obvious mistake is the rear suspension, which is very different from “C” to “D”.

Anyhow I can live with that problem. It is not very obvious because the big rear wing dominates the back of the car. The kit goes together without major problems. I choose to paint the gold with Finisher instead of using the decals. This gives a much better finish, but also a lot of problems getting the paint job done in the right way. I used the gold decals as templates for the Tamiya masking tape.
Worst problem was the glass part. I was not impressed with the glass part included in the kit. The fit was not good. But the main problem is much more the nature of the Lotus 72. The complete part was done in clear lexan (or something like that) and then the red area was simply painted. Therefore you can NOT see any “mould line”. Almost impossible to replicate, but I took some very thin clear plast and cut and pasted and retried MANY times before it worked. 10-15 times I think. Trick is the clear plast is glued to the inside of the white metal. It is difficult to glue those 2 materials together, so I used some special glue for this purpose and it worked. Then the glass was tinted with Tamiya clear yellow and sealed with Gloss Gunze spray and this made the job.
The velocity stacks (trumpets) were replaced with the very expensive, but very nice bosica trumpets from Icaro. Icaro was also very kind to send me a copy of the 1:43 Tameo instructions, where there are many superb technical photos of the car from that season. A very big help.
So here it is – the Gold Leaf Lotus 72 C – winner German GP 1970.

[ddtham]

Looks like those MFHs are worth every penny

[jaykay640]

Very Nice Alan!
So someone is actually building these Hiros and not just buying and storing them away :-)
I feel for your problem with the glass part. I have the same ahead of me at some point...on the little Tameo :-)

[Marcelo Teles]

Wow, very very good Allan, so as your Ferrari and Williams now showed. Thanks for post the pics.
Cheers.
MT

[dmacb]

Excellent detailing

[robrex]

Another stunner Allan! I'm enjoying your recent group of finished models!

[bikouros]

I'm not a big fan of older f1 cars (they look a bit gangley to me) but you did a sensational job on this kit. Well done.

[sjelic]

Boy that look good, very very good.

[gionc]

Fantastic

[mrawl]

Looks really good. Was there a WIP?

[Decs0105]

Originally Posted by robrex

Another stunner Allan! I'm enjoying your recent group of finished models!

[Emilio Lizardo]

Great Build! Very interesting comment on the windscreen as that was one of the reasons Rindt did not survive the crash at Monza.

He did not like the lower crotch straps and did use these. Upon the impact at the Parabolica, he 'submarined' under the four remaining straps, had a leg crushed and had his throat slit on the windsreen assembly. This was mentioned in JYS's book "Faster!"

[xim-crow]

this is a gorgious kit ! The result you got is amazing !
I recently ordered this kit and I am looking for reference photographies.
Do you have anything ?

[dmacb]

A great lookin build.

[rollover]

Great job. I love the F1 cars of the 60's and 70's. The intake trumpets really make the engine.