1/32 Andretti Lola Indy Car Snap Kit- Completed!

[Art Laski]

I recently got started on a goofy little project a couple of weeks ago. I picked up this snap kit at the Citrus Nationals for 2 bucks last month (thanks, Russ!). I had always wondered about these kits, but had never seen one in person. I was surprised when I opened it how detailed it was. So I thought it would be fun to see what I could do with it. I don't plan to go overboard, as there is a lot of stuff that could be "fixed", but I thought I would just add enough details to make it look good and go beyond its snap heritage a little.

I decided to do Mario's '91 Indy ride. There aren't a whole lot of pics, but I've been able to cobble together enough references to get it pretty close. Indycals' '93 Newman Haas graphics are pretty close to '91, so I'll only need to make a few little decals to get it to '91 Indy graphics.



Here's Michael's team ride:


Mario on the front row that year:







Here are some of the components of the kit:



The steering wheel was a little thick, so I replaced the ring:







I cut off the front suspension and pinned it so I can remove all of the seams on the tub:



There was a gap between the fuel cell and the tub so I blocked it off with some styrene. The real car has no gap, so this was the best I could do here:



More to come. Thanks for looking!

-Art

[11rowsof3]

I am a slot car guy and bought this kit and was going to try to make a conversion... that was in about 1998.

Maybe some day. It's really a nice kit and you're right - you can substitute many of the stickers with IndyCals 1/32 sheets.

Can't wait to see the results!

[SWT500]

GREAT project!!! Looks like the kit is a good base to begin with.

[Art Laski]

Thanks for the comments, guys. It is actually a really good kit to start with. It's surprising, but the shape is really well done.

[Art Laski]

Just a small update on this one. I decided to cut out the molded in drive shafts and replace them with aluminum tubing. I'll paint the tubing to match the color of the real ones, but the challenge is how to fit it in there.

It seems like the only way was to drill out the axle pins molded to the car so I can slide the tubing in. I also drilled out the boot on the gearbox a little for the tube to connect to.

[Art Laski]

I also didn't like the way the center of the wheels looked with the axle pins the way they were. It lacked realism to accommodate the snap fit, but since I am going to glue the wheels on anyway, I made some simple wheel nuts using aluminum tubing and hex rod. Not pretty by themselves, but they'll look good painted with the wheels on.

[gavkiwi]

Awesome build you have going on here, I love 80s and early 90s Lola's!
Really enjoying your W.I.P.
Keep the pics coming please!

[shunter]

Great start Art, love the wheel nuts.

[Art Laski]

Thanks, guys!

I got a little more done this weekend. Actually, I spent a lot of time on it, but there's not a whole lot to show. I thought I would have had paint on it by now, but it's close!

Got the cockpit done. I added some carbon fiber decal to the side and the back of the tub and the bottom of the engine bay.







I also got some carbon fiber decal on the chassis pan and did a quick mock up.



...and made a decal for the Chevy heads. It's so small, I can't believe it's legible.

[Art Laski]

The tires are pretty good for a snap kit, but they were a little concave, so I stuck them on my slot car tire truing machine to shape them up. This thing works great because it has a variable speed controller. I probably could have gone a little father, but I knew if I messed this up, recovery would be a pain.

The trued front tire is on the left, the stock one on the right.



Here's the rear.



Here's the machine.



Then I threw a little acrylic paint on them.



Thanks for looking!

[gavkiwi]

Lookin' good, I didn't know they made carbon fiber decals in 1/32nd scale.

[Art Laski]

Jul 16, 2012 16:23:37 GMT -5 gavkiwi said:

Lookin' good, I didn't know they made carbon fiber decals in 1/32nd scale.

They don't. I used some leftover 1/24 scale twill I had. It doesn't look too out of scale.

[gavkiwi]

It doesn't look out of scale at all, keep the pics coming, love this build soo far!

[indy]

That truer looks like a cool tool - too bad that they start out at $200 'cause it would be great to have on the ol' bench. That Chevy logo looks great for the size - is that inkjet or ALPS?

Great job on the interior - I'm doing some interior painting at the moment so I admire that great work in a smaller scale!

Jordan

[trevor83]

I'm pretty sure there is a 1/32nd scale transporter trailer kit out there. I always wanted to do this kit and the trailer. Wanted to make a lift gate for the trailer and display the car on it.

[methanol]

that would look pretty awesome
hurry up and finish that

[Art Laski]

Jul 16, 2012 16:54:53 GMT -5 indy said:

That truer looks like a cool tool - too bad that they start out at $200 'cause it would be great to have on the ol' bench. That Chevy logo looks great for the size - is that inkjet or ALPS?

Great job on the interior - I'm doing some interior painting at the moment so I admire that great work in a smaller scale!

Jordan

Thanks, Jordan. My little brother was really into slot car racing with our dad when he was a little kid, so my dad got him all the cool tools. Later a track opened up near my house and they moved on to karting, so I inherited all his stuff. It's come in handy!

The decal is actually printed on a color laserjet on clear paper. I painted a strip on the head silver before I laid down the decal, then cleaned up any errant silver on the edges with semigloss black.

[Art Laski]

Jul 16, 2012 20:57:11 GMT -5 trevor83 said:

I'm pretty sure there is a 1/32nd scale transporter trailer kit out there. I always wanted to do this kit and the trailer. Wanted to make a lift gate for the trailer and display the car on it.

Trevor, I agree with meth, that would be way cool.

Have you run into Jon out on the road at all?

[trevor83]

Jul 17, 2012 1:24:41 GMT -5 Art Laski said:

Jul 16, 2012 20:57:11 GMT -5 trevor83 said:

I'm pretty sure there is a 1/32nd scale transporter trailer kit out there. I always wanted to do this kit and the trailer. Wanted to make a lift gate for the trailer and display the car on it.

Trevor, I agree with meth, that would be way cool.

Have you run into Jon out on the road at all?

I saw him at Milwaukee. Hope they have a good finish with Josef soon. I'm impressed with what they've been doing this year.

[Deleted]

Nice work Art!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Russ

[stonecold44]

This car looks great. The cockpit detail is true-to-life. The wheels look like Tinker toys with the 6 holes but that's a good thing.
Keep it up!

[Art Laski]

Jul 17, 2012 6:59:23 GMT -5 trevor83 said:

Jul 17, 2012 1:24:41 GMT -5 Art Laski said:

Trevor, I agree with meth, that would be way cool.

Have you run into Jon out on the road at all?

I saw him at Milwaukee. Hope they have a good finish with Josef soon. I'm impressed with what they've been doing this year.

Me too. They've been fast, now need to bring one home for a good finish.

[Art Laski]

Here's a shot of the cockpit and a quarter to give it some perspective.



Masked off the tub for primer and paint. Thanks to Bob Downie for publishing articles extolling the benefits of using Silly Putty for masking. Not sure how I would have done this without it.

[Art Laski]

Got the white base coat on.



Finished tires.



Thanks for looking!

[gavkiwi]

Whoa, those wheels look awesome. Body is coming along nicely. I look forward to seeing more pix. Looking great soo far!!!

[indy]

Are the tire logos stenciled? They really look great!

Jordan

[Art Laski]

Thanks, guys.

Jordan, the tire logos are Indycals (always great), weathered with some Michael's craft acrylics and sprayed with dullcoat.

[11rowsof3]

This is fantastic, love these WIP threads so much and especially when the subject is an 80's or 90's Indy/CART machine. Looking perfect!

[herk56]

This is fantastic work, Art! You'll have no trouble with 1/64 scale slotcars, they are only half as big! I wish I had kept a couple of these, dumb me sold them.

Brian

[Art Laski]

Thanks, guys.