Jim Clark Tribute Lotus 49 1/12

[Est.1976]

Hello!
A short while ago I completed an F1 car that I've always wanted and was missing from my collection.
The offer and the challenge from a friend pushed me to the great undertaking of "grappling" with a milestone car in Formula One racing history, a car that was one of the implementations of the genius and the revolutionary thought process of Sir Colin Chapman.
That had to do mostly with the Brit's idea to make the engine a structural part of the suspension and to rid of the large weight the then-current architecture imposed, that is the creation of a "cradle" as an extension of the chassis to "accommodate" the engine, with the rear suspension anchored to said cradle. Here Colin screwed the engine to the rear end of the main chassis, behind the driver, anchored the rear suspension on the engine block and finally screwed the gearbox -ZF of course, which was at the time among the best constructors of transmission systems- to the end of the engine. Others had tried, but stayed at "tried".
Another thing that characterises the 49 is that with her made its debut a legendary engine, the Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) which was the result of Colin's persuasive ability to Ford. An engine with 155 victories (in 262 entries) in all its versions with all its evolutions.
Last, my main point which is Jim Clark, one of the great ones who "went" unjustly in the apogee of his racing performance, luckily not in a 49, and whom I place next to Gilles, Cevert, Peterson and (last, and let's hope it stays this way) Ayrton.
The one great puzzle I was faced with was... Two:
1) The kit which I had in my hands was the 49B, from which the 49 needed to be hewn from.
From this one to this one
That meant that various ventilation... canyons and various ports for wing bases irrelevant to the 49 had to be sealed.
And 2) The Japanese had thought and designed the kit to have an engine and... batteries. So there was a problem with the holes for the wires, but mostly with the ON/OFF switch and the battery loading location.
The car built is the Brit's 49 which won the South African GP on January 1st 1968. It was his last victory and his last race in F1. He was killed on April 7th in an F2 race in the Hockenheimring.
No aftermarket parts were used and no airbrush was utilised.
That was all, and I hope you all enjoy it.
Thank you for your time and attention.

[Capri-Schorsch]

Hi,

you´ve build a real classic car.
It looks very clean,in my mind too clean.
The frontradiator has the same color like the gearbox.That looks not real.There are so many steps that you can make with the color,but on your cars there is only one grey look.
In my eyes it looks a little bit like a toy.

Your build is very clean,thats cool,but i like more used cars.
Your pics are also very good.

Never mind my words,its a buityful car with a great driver.

Kind Regards
Christian

[endac]

It looks fantastic, you can almost hear the engine purring

[Est.1976]

Originally Posted by Capri-Schorsch

Hi,

you´ve build a real classic car.
It looks very clean,in my mind too clean.
The frontradiator has the same color like the gearbox.That looks not real.There are so many steps that you can make with the color,but on your cars there is only one grey look.
In my eyes it looks a little bit like a toy.

Your build is very clean,thats cool,but i like more used cars.
Your pics are also very good.

Never mind my words,its a buityful car with a great driver.

Kind Regards
Christian

Thank you for the constructive criticism. I'm not sure I understand exactly what do you mean by "too clean". The principal reference was this picture. I should note that the gearbox was painted with Tamiya TS-17 (Gloss Aluminum) while for the radiator I used Humbrol 56 (Matt Aluminum). The exact hue of the radiator is depicted in the last photograph.

Originally Posted by endac

It looks fantastic, you can almost hear the engine purring

Thank you very much for your kind words.

Best regards to all,
Stavros

[dmacb]

Lookin good.

[gtziaf]

My friend, as you say many times, its a nice job.
Absolotulely fantastic...
Welcome to AF too.

[Est.1976]

Originally Posted by dmacb

Lookin good.

Thank you

[Est.1976]

Originally Posted by gtziaf

My friend, as you say many times, its a nice job.
Absolotulely fantastic...
Welcome to AF too.

Thanks a lot...my friend.

[barnello]

fantastic job!

do you still have the original decal sheet of the 49B?? I'm really looking for one, since the kit I bought didn't have it! please PM me if you are interested

[Mech@niC]

Originally Posted by Est.1976

.....The principal reference was this picture....Stavros

Thats exactly what Capri-Schorsch is trying to tell you.
If you look at the rims for example, there are more like chrome (polished aluminium). And for the radiator maybe you can use the drybrush technique with al lighter zilver color or something.
The engineblock and gearbox housing you can upgrade with some darker brown and grey washes.
But, hey not everybody build the same way.

For the rest it is a perfect build Lotus you showed us.
You did a good job!

Sorry for my bad English.

Regards
Maurits

[Est.1976]

Thank you both for your kind words and criticism.

barnello, the decal sheet was already ruined, and I had to buy a new one aftermarket. I didn't list it initally, since it wasn't an actual upgrade

[atlas000]

Very nice work!

[Est.1976]

Originally Posted by atlas000

Very nice work!

Thank you very much!

[Joel_W]

Super job on one tough kit.

Jim Clark was my 2nd all time favorite driver right behind Dan Gurney.

[Est.1976]

Originally Posted by Joel_W

Super job on one tough kit.

Jim Clark was my 2nd all time favorite driver right behind Dan Gurney.

Thank you Joel.