1996 Lotus Esprit V8 (Converted Monogram Kit)

[Plastheniker]

Hi, in 1996 Lotus replaced the four-cylinder engines of both Esprit models (i. e. the normal S4S and the Sport 300) by their brand new 3.5 litre twin turbo V8 and called this new version simply Lotus V8, mostly omitting the name Esprit.

As with all my real cars I wanted to build an exact replica of my own V8 that I owned from 1996 to 2003 ( paint Norfolk yellow, interior charcoal with yellow piping, standard three-piece OZ-wheels).
It looked like this:






At that time Monogram offered a kit of the similar Sport 300 that I used as a basis. Unfortunately this kit was a very crude update of an early Esprit, probably the S3 or the Turbo Esprit of the early eighties. The photo on the box alone showed little resemblance with the real Sport 300.




Finally some effort was necessary. I remember the following:
· the unit front bumper/spoiler of the V8 was unique and had to be scratch-built
· the rear bumper of the V8 was the same as the one of the S4s, but different from the Sport 300 and had to be scratch-built together with the wing below and the two separate exhausts
· actually the rocker valances of Sport 300 and V8 were identical, but the kit parts looked odd and had to be scratch-built as well
· the kit still had the interior of the above-mentioned older Esprit (f. e. heavily roushed upholstery and boomerang style instrument pod) and had to be converted
· strangely the front deck lid of the kit had some kind of reversed scoop that no Esprit ever had

This was the result:

[indy1977tx]

Looks great. I always loved the Esprit and you did a great job customizing this one to look like your 1:1. Do you have a circle cutter? You might be able to add the black circles to the rims to fill the space in the middle more like yours.

Jordan

[Martini Man]

very nice, one of my favorite dream cars. how was ownership?

and the model looks great too. : )

Paul

[Kjenjak]

Cool result, comes quite close to your original car. Good work on all the mods.
Makes me wanna play Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge again!
I'd change the license plates though. There are some good programs available for download (for free) that create license plates.

[BVC500]

Awesome scratch building skills! It turned out great. I assume you made it curbside, or did you scratch build a V8?

[corvettekid_7684]

Excellent! Great job correcting the kit! I also like building my 1:1 cars in scale

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the response!

Originally Posted by indy1977tx

Looks great. I always loved the Esprit and you did a great job customizing this one to look like your 1:1. Do you have a circle cutter? You might be able to add the black circles to the rims to fill the space in the middle more like yours.

Jordan

When I built the model my attempts to replicate the black rings failed: Painting with a permanent marker (applied directly or on clear decal sheet) didn't look convincing and punching out rings from black decals made the decals crack. Today I would simply print the circles including the OZ logo on clear decal sheet.

Originally Posted by Martini Man

very nice, one of my favorite dream cars. how was ownership?

and the model looks great too. : )

Paul

The car was fun and rather easy to drive, still usable in daily traffic (visibility und luggage space acceptable), but its very poor quality and reliability was disappointing. My ownership ended when the undersized gearbox (from Renault's Alpine) exploded and Lotus was unable for an unforeseeable time to supply spare parts nor new transmissions.

Originally Posted by Kjenjak

Cool result, comes quite close to your original car. Good work on all the mods.
Makes me wanna play Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge again!
I'd change the license plates though. There are some good programs available for download (for free) that create license plates.

On my more recent builds I used very recommendable decal sheets from the German manufacturer TL. They come with separate plain plates, letters, digits and seals even for AU and TÜV. I prefer them because opposite to number plate generators I don't have to care about the right 1/24 size.

Originally Posted by BVC500

Awesome scratch building skills! It turned out great. I assume you made it curbside, or did you scratch build a V8?

Yes, you are right, it's a curbside model.

[chris24]

Not especially my taste but I must admit each of your build is a true lesson !

[Spad]

Beautiful build and as an employee of Norfolk's premier car manufacturer who has built that kit himself, I really appreciate the work you have put into the model. Stunning and very jealous of your previous ownership. So sorry to hear it ended so disappointingly for you.

ATB
Rick

[Niro750]

I have this kit in the stash, your build is excellent. I would love to own the real thing!

[denilsonvm]

Very Nice build!

[gtziaf]

Love this old Lotus. Awesome job!

[Orion37170]

Great work on bumpers and skirts

a pity, there are no modern Lotus kits available...

[model freak]

Great replica!!

[willimo]

Great work on subtle changes to make it look altogether unique, and perfect!