Monogram Lotus Esprit Turbo 1:24

[drunken monkey]

And yet another one that I had left to gather dust in a box.

Original sort of WIP here.

As said in the WIP, this was bought cheap painted in another colour that I had sanded as best I could to repaint. I didn't get off to a good start with the primer and paint and it went a bit downhill from there but I still soldiered on even though it isn't as I would like for it to have come out.


This is one of my all time favourite cars, especially during this period of it's life.
The Peter Stevens refresh of the original straight edged wedge is next to perfect and I can easily forgive the poor fit/trim of the real car.

[drunken monkey]

...and while I was at it, I thought it'd be nice to take some photos of the two cousins next to each other...

[BVC500]

Yet another nice work! Nice, clean job. I like this car too, and I started this model a long time ago but stalled after I got frustrated about how to fix the ride height, especially in front. Just one thing: I would have smoked the glass roof panel.

[gionc]

IMO the Esprit is absolutly superb, congratulation P.

I'm not a fan of "design" panel lines but in this case they do an amazing job together with the neat paintjob and the color choice, BRAVO!

[Lownslow]

Originally Posted by BVC500

Yet another nice work! Nice, clean job. I like this car too, and I started this model a long time ago but stalled after I got frustrated about how to fix the ride height, especially in front. Just one thing: I would have smoked the glass roof panel.

ride height is a easy fix. i have this one on the line i love how yours turned out

[DasWiesel]

They are both very nice work! I´d have never thought the Lotus was repainted.
I really hope the Esprit kits will be reissued some day.
What about putting the LT5 engine in the Lotus? Haven´t seen a Lotus V8 model, yet.

[endac]

Looks gorgeous, great work

[MidMazar]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

This is one of my all time favourite cars, especially during this period of it's life.

When i was younger i actually prefered the esprit over ferraris. Beautiful work, and looks flawless in yellow. That and red are my fav colors for it. One thing looks weird though is the ride height in the front. A tad to high, but i know these kits require alot of mods to make right.

I have one in my stash to build hopefully sometime soon, can you tell us any quick tips what to look out for?

Thanks for sharing.!

[dmacb]

Lookin good.

[MidMazar]

On a another note, sad to say no aftermarket company makes lotus logos or decals!!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Looks great!

I'm jealous...I've had this kit forever and ever, and the Sport 300 as well...and I never seem to have the time to get 'em done.

[drogo]

another well built model...less the manufacturers' ride height miscalculation.

ever tried to built one before but just never succeed, the fittings was a kinda of 'either you get it or you don't'...

a new thoroughbreed...

[drunken monkey]

Originally Posted by MidMazar

I have one in my stash to build hopefully sometime soon, can you tell us any quick tips what to look out for?

There are the two most infamous problems with this kit
i) too high a ride height.
ii) there's no tolerance engineered into the sill fitment - none at all so when you try to fit it after painting, there is zero space for it.

both aren't that difficult to fix.
For the chassis, I plan to just remove about 1mm from its height to get it to sit higher in the body.
As for the sills, it just takes a lttle sanding to give it some room.

A couple of other things to watch out for.
The front/lower nose piece doesn't locate properly and you'd need to make better pins.
There is a little gap inbetween the bodywork and the rear light lens that needs a little styrene filling piece.
Test fit wing mirrors properly because the angle of the mirror part makes it sit droopily.
There is no seperate wiper.

On an accuracy note, the real car has out board disc brakes all round but the kit has the older in board discs at the rear.

[alex156]

One of my all time favorite cars and a superb model as well.
Atb,Alexp.

[voyageur]

The Esprit. Actually the first sportscar I got to drive (V8 BiTurbo) when I was 18 and had my drivers' license for just 3 months. Do I love those? You bet! Nice work on a not so nice kit. As you said, details are really nice, but overall fitment and assembly is a challenge. I have a couple of those in my stash - thinking my skills should improve more until I build them. Great choice of color, too. I like this model, even with the flaws...