Post by drums01 on Apr 27, 2022 18:12:31 GMT -5
Another 1/18 scale die cast that I saved from a parts bin. The seller was going to destroy the rest of it and us it for parts. I convinced him to sell it to me to restore. The car started as a Replicarz 1971 Lotus 56B. The Lotus 56B is an evolution of the Lotus 56 Indy 500 racing car designed by Maurice Philippe and campaigned by Team Lotus under the hands of Graham Hill, Joe Leonard, and Art Pollard in 1968. The 56 proved to be unsuccessful and unreliable leading to the governing body of American motorsport, and USAC to deem turbine cars and four wheel drive illegal.
Undeterred by USAC's decision to ban the 56's technology, Chapman developed the car as a potential F1 machine after the failure of the Lotus 63, but while the car was promising, it was too heavy and too overcomplicated for F1. The car was designated as the 56B and Emerson Fittipaldi tried it in the 1971 Race of Champions and International Trophy non-Championship meetings. At Brands Hatch, during wet practice, the 56 was far and away the fastest car on the track, but the race was held in dry weather and the car was lost in midfield. At the Silverstone-based International Trophy, the car only lasted three laps of the first heat before suspension failure forced Fittipaldi's retirement. Dave Walker ran the car in the Dutch Grand Prix, and had progressed from 22nd to 10th in five laps of the very wet track, before sliding off the road and into retirement. Fittipaldi used the car again in that year's 1971 Italian Grand Prix and managed to bring the fragile design home 8th. By then Chapman decided to cut his losses and abandoned the 56, the four wheel drive concept and the gas turbine engine to concentrate on the Lotus 72.
The car when I received it had the rear spoiler removed from the body, both mirror missing, and underneath of the front nose was off the car, the upper body did not fit to the main chassis, the paint was rough showing a lot of film (gunk), the left shoulder harness was off the car, several side pod and upper decals were torn or nicked, and it had numerous detail issues.
- polished the body with Nufinish polish and scratch remover
- created both mirrors from plastic stock, punch sets, and spares
- cleaned joints and reaffixed the lower nose tray to the front of the body
- corrected the alignment and flash on the engine cover to sit correctly
- painted the tears and missing sections of the white decals
- repainted many small detail items
- corrected the gauges wiring to allow room for legs and feet
- attached and laid down the drivers harness to the seat
Once again, I did not build it from a kit, but instead restored it back close to the way it should look when new.
Undeterred by USAC's decision to ban the 56's technology, Chapman developed the car as a potential F1 machine after the failure of the Lotus 63, but while the car was promising, it was too heavy and too overcomplicated for F1. The car was designated as the 56B and Emerson Fittipaldi tried it in the 1971 Race of Champions and International Trophy non-Championship meetings. At Brands Hatch, during wet practice, the 56 was far and away the fastest car on the track, but the race was held in dry weather and the car was lost in midfield. At the Silverstone-based International Trophy, the car only lasted three laps of the first heat before suspension failure forced Fittipaldi's retirement. Dave Walker ran the car in the Dutch Grand Prix, and had progressed from 22nd to 10th in five laps of the very wet track, before sliding off the road and into retirement. Fittipaldi used the car again in that year's 1971 Italian Grand Prix and managed to bring the fragile design home 8th. By then Chapman decided to cut his losses and abandoned the 56, the four wheel drive concept and the gas turbine engine to concentrate on the Lotus 72.
The car when I received it had the rear spoiler removed from the body, both mirror missing, and underneath of the front nose was off the car, the upper body did not fit to the main chassis, the paint was rough showing a lot of film (gunk), the left shoulder harness was off the car, several side pod and upper decals were torn or nicked, and it had numerous detail issues.
- polished the body with Nufinish polish and scratch remover
- created both mirrors from plastic stock, punch sets, and spares
- cleaned joints and reaffixed the lower nose tray to the front of the body
- corrected the alignment and flash on the engine cover to sit correctly
- painted the tears and missing sections of the white decals
- repainted many small detail items
- corrected the gauges wiring to allow room for legs and feet
- attached and laid down the drivers harness to the seat
Once again, I did not build it from a kit, but instead restored it back close to the way it should look when new.
