1978 John Player Special Lotus 79 - Mario Andretti

[Calvin]

I know, I know I still need to finish the 1977 Coyote, but I need to get a step done on my new Tamiya Lotus 79 a week in advance to help out things.

Last Friday I was out n' about and I saw a Lotus Elise drive by I was thinking "What the heck?!? you dont see those kinds of cars around here?" its mostly beat to hell pickups with snowplows is what you see in my neck of the woods..... So I thought I would take a trip to the hobby store and take a fast peek.......sure enough there was one there!(Tamiya Lotus 79) - the owner just put it on the shelf. HA! ;D



So it was kinda weird how I saw my first street Lotus (around here?!?!) and got my first Lotus 79, all in the same day.....strange?

OK enough with that lets get to the most important thing and thats CHROME PAINT - Bad for chrome wheels but good for making aluminum look real. I used Testors Chrome.
To do this you need a hot day- 80 degrees. Then hold your piece at least 4 ft away and then spray one light coat and Thats all, no more! then the fun part....watching Testors paint dry for the next week! (Yippee Skippy!)

See you guys next week

Bye, take care

But seriously this Tamiya kit is Awesome! I cant wait to start on it fully

More later......







Also Im going to be using Indycals, which I totally recommend 120% of the way. Beware of the other decals out there....some are Gold!?! Which is totally wrong! its Biscuit color not gold.

[Calvin]

Since I got the Coyote done last week, I right away started on my beloved Lotus 79 (that was corny )
Last Saturday I painted the body which came out kinda flat? I think the reason why it came out flat is I used two coats of Flat Black as a base and laid a final coat of gloss and I think the flat base sucked the gloss right out of the top coat?.....It really doesn't matter as I'm going to give it a nice glossy clear coat.

I did some decaling yesterday and finished up the last parts this evening. It takes some time to lay these 1/20 scale f1 cars....it just makes me think how many hours Michael spends drawing these up....BTW Michael, roughly how many hours do you have in drawing up the JPS sheet? I just think of when I did up my own decals for that 1979 Pennzoil Lola and how long and agonizing that was.

As for the Chassis end of the build, Everything is going very fast and very easy! Very nice Tamiya Detail! Since I built that 1977 Coyote this Kit has been a walk in the park. LOL ;D Test fitting? Srew it! it'll fit, I trust Mr. T's models LOL

I think Tamiya did a great job on the Front end of the chassis.

Im also using Tamiya Thin Cement for the first time and I love it! The Guy at the Hobby store said it was junk! and I said I'll get it! I dont know what the heck he was doing with it?













BTW Im just holding the two haves of the cowling together with some clear tape...nothing more...

[Deleted]

Calvin,

You need to slow down lad!! Working on some resin kits make the plastic variety go much quicker, I agree with you there. Unless you are reinventing the wheel like I am with my current project. More on that later....

Best to you!

Russ

[Calvin]

The faster I go the better I like it....what can I say, I'm a racer!

[indycals]

Jul 27, 2010 0:03:12 GMT -5 Calvin said:

BTW Michael, roughly how many hours do you have in drawing up the JPS sheet? I just think of when I did up my own decals for that 1979 Pennzoil Lola and how long and agonizing that was.

I don't know. I did most of the artwork many years ago as a custom project for someone building a metal kit. When I got the Hasegawa and Tamiya kits' I just scanned in the decal sheets and used them as templates to resize my art. Even at that it still took a good number of hours. Drawing the art is just part of the battle - getting all the pieces to fit in the smallest possible 8" wide space is the other part.

The Martini sheet, on the other hand, that was a pain drawing those stripes.

I don't keep track of my time, but I've done a full sheet in as little as one afternoon, but that was an anomaly: my Tracy Subway sheet was started during the 08 Edmonton race and finished that evening - but 90% of that was doing the numbers and Subway logos. Others can take weeks. The biggest issue is just being able to set aside time to do artwork. When I'm working on Indycals I can either print or do artwork. When I'm busy printing I have very little time to do artwork. Then I have my day job, my workout routine (at least 1 hr a day), my family, etc.

I will say this - I've gotten a lot more efficient over the years.

[indycals]

I forgot to ask you - what race are you replicating?

[Calvin]

Jul 27, 2010 11:55:54 GMT -5 indycals said:

I forgot to ask you - what race are you replicating?

Oh yeah, its the French GP car. I really have no major reason why I picked that race...other than he ran away with it. Also I have more shots of the French gp. I couldn't do his Belgium GP car because it has a totally different decal placement. (which I dont really care for as much)

As for when I do my Peterson car it will be the Austrian gp car, and I'll use the Hasegawa for that car as his car for that race had the 4 radiator exits. (or whatever you call that one)

I like to build winning cars.

[Calvin]

Oh Michael, What kind of clear orange and clear yellow do you use on your "special home made" Fuel lines? I got some of that .5mm Bead Line and I want to make sure the paint I use will stick.

Thanks!

[indycals]

Tamiya acrylics.

[Calvin]

I was thinking thats what you used. I dont think anything other than acrylics would stick? I guess I will get those two colors tomorrow.

[Calvin]

More done.....
Im really having fun with this kit! ;D

[herk56]

Sigh - more money to spend! Nice job, both on the kit and making me want one (or two)!

Brian

[Calvin]

Here's the latest on the 79'


Unless I did something wrong, the old cooler is not going to fit under that radiator? (as seen in pic)






Cleared and waxed

Hopefully I will have this done by the end of the weekend.

[Calvin]

BTW the another cool feature of this kit is the metal transfer decals to make realistic looking mirrors.

[Calvin]

More done.
This kit has been an easy one to pull off - its so well made.
I should have it done by tomorrow...

[alwaysindy]

Calvin:
It is always good to see "The Machine" back in the saddle! Typical work for you; quick, well executed, and BEAUTIFUL I can't decide who is better; you or Michael on these 1/20th F1 cars...
Tim

[Calvin]

Sept 25, 2010 10:22:48 GMT -5 alwaysindy said:

I can't decide who is better; you or Michael on these 1/20th F1 cars...

Well of course, ME! ;D
Because:
I used His decals
I always use His paint Ideas
I never put in nice fuel lines
My builds are less clean
I rush on my stuff
and on...
and on...
and on...
and on...

[indy]

Nicely done, thanks for posting the WIP

Jordan

[indycals]

Looks great Calvin!

[Calvin]

The 1978 World Champion
Is done

Very nice kit.






























THE END

[Art Laski]

What a beautiful car. Nice build!!!

-Art

[sandysixtysfan]

Super nice build!

Sandy

[Deleted]

Finished my Martini Lotus 79. I think I will be gluing most of the body parts on the Black Beauty when I get around to building it. My Martini Mario figure gave me fits but looks ok with that white tube going into the bulkhead. Plan on adding Mario to the 1978 Lotus too.