WIP: Tamiya 1/20 Lotus 99T (Senna & Detroit)

[billypee]

Good luck with the painting. How d'ya plan to do the heat protection? Paint it and MBF, mask it and leave it as is, or something else?

Bill

[SeanyG]

Originally Posted by billypee

Good luck with the painting. How d'ya plan to do the heat protection? Paint it and MBF, mask it and leave it as is, or something else?

Bill

Bill, I will be masking and airbrushing the etch plates, not too much just to show a little heat discoloration.

further progress on the build...

got paint on the two sides panels, front wing and rear wing...







put the front end's remaining suspension items together, covered the chassis bottom with Crazy modeler's bronze coloured C/F decal and finally attached the monocoque to the bottom. No dramas here, everything fitted together very easily.
The Crazy Modeler decal is superb, it seems to have almost a raised texture to it and dries a very nice semi-gloss too.
On the front wing I added extra 'skirts' from the TVM set, I left these unpainted and the gave them a little black wash to pick out the rivets. I did a little further digging and the little silver items at each end of the suspension are indeed sensors for the active suspension system, there are two more needed for the rears.





The radiators are only dry fitted, I am still working on the exhaust alterations and it is proving to be a little challenging!

[davesans]

Sean excellent work the rear wing is stunning really like the pe parts you applied to the face of them. Did you use the photo etch end plates on both the front an rear?

[mic329]

Sean, your 99T is very detail so far.
I can't wait to see more on your engine part

[klutz_100]

[sportracer02]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

super job !!!

[deltableh]

Gorgeous.

[billypee]

Great update Sean... love the body colour.

[SeanyG]

Originally Posted by davesans

Sean excellent work the rear wing is stunning really like the pe parts you applied to the face of them. Did you use the photo etch end plates on both the front an rear?

Thanks Dave,

yes, the end plates are from the S27 Monaco/Detroit set. The front wing end plates alone have 3 elements to them per side, plus a little bending. All worked out ok in the end. I also added some skirts from the TVM kit to the bottom of the front wing too. The rear wing's centre sections were a mix of plastic and white metal from the TVM set again, they fit together like a dream & I hardly needed any filling etc, very impressive Paul (TVM)!

[SeanyG]

more progress...

first up here are the front brake ducts, I used yet another C/F weave here to try and get a close enough match tot he originals. No dramas applying them thanks to a generous helping of Microsol.



Moving onto the shell, there are a couple of alterations need doing in order to make this replicate the Detroit version, first off the holes for the rear cooling ducts need moving. The TVM kit gives you two really neat templates which sit in the old holes and allow you to draw the two new ones using a pen, great idea there. The old ones are then blanked off using the white metal pieces supplied in the S27 kit.



I also added the sides...



and drilled a hole in the hose section for the antenna...



By far the most difficult alteration is to the rear bottom sections around the back of the shell. On the Detroit (Senna only car) these were removed. The S27 Detroit set again includes white metal pieces which not only act as the new sections but also as a cutting template to remove the old part.



Here it is removed and with the new section in place...



and finally the difference between the two versions...



I'm now in the middle of filling and sanding and then we can get some paint on the shell.

Moving onto the front radiators. The TVM set includes white metal rads which I think are excellent as just require a little clean up and a little washing in order to achieve the desired metal finish found on the 1/1 versions.
Also included in the TVM kit is a p/e grill for the front of the sides of the shell and also some very nice mesh to attach to these grills.
To difference in quality between the TVM grills and those on the Acustion set is laughable, but dont get me started on that subject again
For the hoses I have used an Meri kits detail set I had lying around which includes various shaped rad hoses - perfect for use here, just need a little bending and then they are good to go.



the completed radiator...



and front grill section, will add just a black wash to the mesh just to tone it down a little before I add this to the car...



finally all in place...



and finally (long update sorry! )

I managed to come up with a solution for the new floor plan exhaust alterations. A little unorthodox however I have madeup the hole exhaust assemply and attached this to the new white metal floor section. I did this because if I had added them later I would have been left with an unsightly join along the exhaust pipes which would have looked awful. At the point where each maniford joins the engine black I sanded back the insert just enogh to be able to slide the engine block into place and not spoil anything. If there is a slight gap then the Cam covers will hide any unsightly gaps anyway so I should be ok.



anyway sorry this is a bit long and thanks again for followng.

[stevenoble]

All looking marvelous so far.The yellow paint and the carbon fibre look so right together.I would say this is your best build to date,I really like what you are doing with this kit a lot.Keep up the good work.

[billypee]

Looks superb. Everything about this thread, from the clarity of your descriptions, to the photographs is A+. I feel like I am building it with you

Bill

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by billypee

Everything about this thread, from the clarity of your descriptions, to the photographs is A+

[gionc]

I agree with guys.

You Sean'd improoved dramaticaly your skills from the 917K: those was quite a great model, but here everiting is perfect. Congrats.

[jaykay640]

Yep! I have to agree with the others. You're improving with every build. It's really fun to follow...and no... updates like these are never too long :-)