MFH Lotus 56 WIP

[sandysixtysfan]

Looks like it was a great show. Your Ferrari looks darn good to me and the truck, trailer and car... wow! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Sandy

[Gary Davis]

Paul...it was just a pure pleasure meeting you and your "DRIVER" (as your friend called himself...LOL). I really enjoyed sharing the past(military) and seeing your very cool 1/43 Ferrari,which I thought was outstanding. This was the first show that I only bought 2 kits! One was the Tamiya 1/20 lola that you helped me find...Thank you. Harold(my friend) didn't buy any. Now that's a first...I'm here to tell ya.. LOL GREAT time my friend...Looking forward to next year...

[pje]

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge in this thread that 50 years ago today Mike Spence was killed at Indy, one month to the day after Jim Clark died in Germany.

Paul Erlendson

[pje]

Seems appropriate that I sit down before bed tonight and watch the 1968 Indy 500 ABC coverage via YouTube. Funny, but I’ve never seen it. I’ve got various videos in my collection but have never seen the ABC Wide World of Sports coverage.
Have a safe weekend all and enjoy the race.

Paul Erlendson

[pje]

As I said above, I watched the ABC coverage for the first time. I found it very interesting that towards the end of the race, announcer Jim McKay said this:
“Gee, this is going to be a tremendous finish in the classic duel that they’ll be reading about in motor racing circles 50 years from now.”
Well, it is 50 years later and I do believe that “motor racing circles” applies to those of us on this forum.
And as we all know, in the last few laps both of the two remaining Lotus 56’s retired, and the race was won by Bobby Unser driving an Eagle. And in second place was another Eagle driven by Dan Gurney. Both cars created and manufactured by All American Racers, a company Gurney started in 1965. But, in 1962 all of that was not yet in his mind’s eye. Getting Colin Chapman and Team Lotus to Indy was.
So, how better than to help finish the end of an era then by also starting at the beginning.
I think that we all know the story of how Dan Gurney convinced Colin Chapman to come to Indy (with the help of a paid round trip ticket) and then helped create the deal that brought Ford and Lotus together in an effort to win the Indianapolis 500.
One of the events that sealed the deal between Ford and Lotus was a two day test run at Indy in October, 1962 between the U.S and Mexican Grand Prix. They brought the Lotus 25 that Trevor Taylor had driven at Watkins Glen to the speedway directly from the Glen, and had the car ready for a two day test on the following Wednesday and Thursday.




This will be the Lotus 25 that Jim Clark drove in that test. Chassis R2. I’ll be using a very rare Joker trans kit plus a few extra bits to back date the Tamiya kit (that represents the car in 1963 form) to 1962 form.



Paul Erlendson

[indy]

Looks good, Paul. Is this 25 the priority or the 56? Are you using Indycals Lotus parts for the 25?

Jordan

[pje]

No priority Jordan. They are both on my bench and when I get a little tired of one I’ll work on the other. Michael’s tires are needed to better replicate a 1963 and 1964 season Lotus 25. He discovered that the tires included in the kit are more accurate for a 1962 version, so that’s what I’ll be using.
The body work in the kit is for a mid-season 1963 and beyond, hence my use of the Joker resin parts. Also, the engine used Weber carburetors instead of fuel injection., so there will be work to do in that area as well.

Paul Erlendson

[Deleted]

Hey Paul, I'm not familiar with the Joker transkit and I'm wondering how much different it is from the kit parts. I see the NACA scoops are gone. Is there more to it?

[pje]

The Joker trans-kit makes it possible to build the car as raced in both the 1962 season and the early 1963 season. It includes the body work, windscreens and engine mods needed to back date the Tamiya kit. I feel very lucky to stumble upon this on EBay a number of years ago.



Paul Erlendson

[Deleted]

That's an impressive looking T/K. Thanks for the pic.

[pje]

Since I posted the photo of my mocked up Lotus 25 Indy test, I’ve spent some time examining the engine cover as best I can with my few available photos. I had hoped to use the Tamiya kit cover as it fits the chassis better and already has the beginning of the side openings. As can be seen in these photos, the shape of the Joker resin engine cover is quite different (and much more accurate for the 1962 car) compared to the later 1963 Tamiya version. So, besides working the resin to fit the chassis, I’m also going to have to create template for the side openings.





Paul Erlendson

[pje]

So back in April when we went up to the Spring Show in Seattle, one of our stops was the Acura dealer. While we were on the road I called, talked to a salesman and confirmed that they did have a new NSX on display. They were remodeling the dealership, but when we arrived, he was very nice to have the car set up in the garage and shared some of his valuable time showing us the car. I had previously had a limited look at a black one here in Boise, but this silver version really showed off the lines of the car.



Since my good buddy Tom who I went on the trip with had the Tamiya kit and had already decided he was doing his kit in red, I decided to do mine in silver. Well, I just got my kit and detail parts and CF decals (you all know I can’t keep things simple) from HLJ, it was time to research the car more. So, I went on the NSX site and built one!

nsx.acura.com/sharedsummary/NC1B0JEW?state=TTpOQzFCMEpFVyRFQzpHLTU0NE0kSEM6dW5kZWZpbmVkJElDOlNBJE86JEY6MTcxO1M7QywxNjc7VztCLDE3MztCO0IsMTc1O0c7QywxODA7RDtDLDE2MTtFO0IsMTY0O0E7QiwxNjU7TjtDLDE1NztUO0QsMTc4O1I7RSRFQ0M6R1UkRUNYOlo%3D



Notice the color. When I saw this color, Nord Grey Metallic, what stood out was the decidedly green tint and that intrigued me. What to do but trek down to our local dealership and see if they had a color chip. They did. In 3”x5” tiles. We took the Nord Grey Metallic tile out in the sunlight and I was just blown away with what the sunlight did to the paint. The chip indeed had a grey base. But, instead of being like most metallic paints that have silver chips, this had green! I have fallen in love with the car and the color.
So wish me luck. I’ve bought my Powerball ticket. The total on the build was $184,200.00. Then there are all the taxes, etc., so I would imagine the car delivered would be over $200,000.00.
Now, if I don’t get lucky tonight and win, I do still have the Tamiya kit and I’ve found that both Gravity and Zero paints make Nord Grey Metallic.
And no, this does not jump in front of the two cars on this thread. Just thought I would throw this in here and say that I hope everyone who reads this had a happy and safe Independence Day.
And, I hope to be able to report on some actual building soon!

Paul Erlendson

[pje]

I won Powerball!! Now I can order........well, crap. I only won $4.00 and that won't even buy me a bottle of Gravity Nord Grey Metallic. So, next best thing to do is reinvest it into two tickets for this coming Saturday night.

Paul Erlendson

[Gary Davis]

LOL...Well Paul...at least you won! Good LUCK on the re-investment.... I like that color also..

[Deleted]

I never by two tickets because then I'd know that I bought a loser.

[Gary Davis]

Jul 7, 2018 10:12:52 GMT -5 darylh said:

I never by two tickets because then I'd know that I bought a loser.

LOL...I hear you on that Darylh....

[pje]

Got the Powerball so I won 4 bucks. Reinvest that for Wednesday drawing with two numbers, doubling my chance of winning. Which means I think I'm down to 1 : 150,000,000.
Meanwhile, I'll watch a couple of races and work in my model room.

Paul Erlendson

[pje]

Since I’m not doing well in winning Powerball, it’s time to get back to work. Although I will say that I got an email this evening and my order of Gravity Colors Nord Grey Metallic paint has been shipped.
I felt that I need to see some visible progress, so I decided to complete a subassembly. That will be the wheels and tires. Shown here are the pieces for the Lotus 56 wheels/tires.




And here the wobbly web Lotus 25 wheels/tires. In fact, I’ve got a bit of production line going as I might as well do the mods for my 1963 Lotus 25 version too.



Paul Erlendson

[pje]

Here is what I’m doing. Sorry I couldn’t get better lighting on my desk. On the left is a wheel with all holes drilled. The lug nut holes were drilled in three stages so I could get them as close to the center of the molded in nuts as possible. On the right shows the nuts and valve stem in place. I still have a little cleanup around the lug nuts holes, and since I was not able to drill each hole at the exact same depth, I’m going to have to figure out a way of seating the six lug nuts so they are all level with each other.



Paul Erlendson

[schnauzer]

Jul 14, 2018 0:47:45 GMT -5 pje said:

Here is what I’m doing. Sorry I couldn’t get better lighting on my desk. On the left is a wheel with all holes drilled. The lug nut holes were drilled in three stages so I could get them as close to the center of the molded in nuts as possible. On the right shows the nuts and valve stem in place. I still have a little cleanup around the lug nuts holes, and since I was not able to drill each hole at the exact same depth, I’m going to have to figure out a way of seating the six lug nuts so they are all level with each other.



Paul Erlendson

Here did you buy these nuts?

Att,

[pje]

As shown in the photo the nuts are from Scale Hardware. The original owner retired last year and fortunately for us the product line was taken over by Model Motorcars, Ltd.

www.modelmotorcars.com/

Just scroll down the page until you find the Scale Hardware area. I haven’t yet ordered from them yet, but plan to do that shortly and hopefully the same fine service is in place with the new owner.

Paul Erlendson

[beardogracing]

Model Motor Cars service is great!

[pje]

I’ve resumed work on this project. I’ve got two coats of Tamiya white primer on the wheels, but I might need more before I spray them with yellow. It’s been awhile since I’ve used white primer, but it doesn’t look to cover the grey plastic very well.



I’m also getting ready to apply the decals to the tires. I’ve never used MFH decals on tires so I’ve been looking for feedback on Facebook and F1M. Nobody responded with direct knowledge, so I’m still looking for advice. I am fortunate that I have an extra tire but no extra tires decals, but I guess I could see how just any extra decal on the sheet lays down on the sidewall. I would imagine that I should gloss coat the sidewall (Future?) before I lay down the ring and Firestone logo. Then start with the most gentle decal solutions like Microscale.



Paul Erlendson

[pje]

As some of you know I was up in Portland and Seattle last month for the IPMS Seattle Spring show. And what to do up there but to visit hobby shops. I came away with supplies to help with a couple of STP cars.



Over the course of this thread I’ve shared a few mileposts. Today is another of those days as 50 years ago this day I left Vietnam for home. We took off from Danang about 2 AM Friday morning, May 9, 1969. We were flying in a stretch Airlift International DC-9 which in those days was a pretty large plane, especially with no first class divider. We took off to the south and immediately turned hard left because the pilot did not want to go over the river south of the base as Charlie had been pretty active. The hard left turn took us over Danang proper and out over China Beach where there was then an audible sigh of relief in the plane as we got our “feet wet”.
We first flew to Okinawa where we stayed a number of hours for the flight crew to rest. From there we continued NE along the south coast of Japan. It was a beautiful day and since I was sitting on the left side of the plane we could see a snow capped Mount Fuji in the distance. We next landed in Anchorage and headed for a quick trip to the bar while the plane was refueled. Then off on our last leg of our trip. South along the west coast of Canada and the United States to Norton AFB in San Bernardino, California. As I recall, just a couple of weeks later, the crew of Apollo 10 would stop there on the way home to Houston.
We arrived at Norton about 8 AM on Friday, May 9. I haven’t a clue as to the number of real hours it took to get home, but time wise, it took us about 4 hours to fly across the Pacific. If we had taken the direct route through Hawaii, we would have arrived before we left!
I’ve got a couple of other models on my desk, but I hope to get back to the Lotus 56 very soon. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I was going to paint the individual pieces of the turbine engine itself. I’ve got that figured out and that will be my next step.

[mjjracer]

Over the course of this thread I’ve shared a few mileposts. Today is another of those days as 50 years ago this day I left Vietnam for home. We took off from Danang about 2 AM Friday morning, May 9, 1969. We were flying in a stretch Airlift International DC-9 which in those days was a pretty large plane, especially with no first class divider. We took off to the south and immediately turned hard left because the pilot did not want to go over the river south of the base as Charlie had been pretty active. The hard left turn took us over Danang proper and out over China Beach where there was then an audible sigh of relief in the plane as we got our “feet wet”.
We first flew to Okinawa where we stayed a number of hours for the flight crew to rest. From there we continued NE along the south coast of Japan. It was a beautiful day and since I was sitting on the left side of the plane we could see a snow capped Mount Fuji in the distance. We next landed in Anchorage and headed for a quick trip to the bar while the plane was refueled. Then off on our last leg of our trip. South along the west coast of Canada and the United States to Norton AFB in San Bernardino, California. As I recall, just a couple of weeks later, the crew of Apollo 10 would stop there on the way home to Houston.
We arrived at Norton about 8 AM on Friday, May 9. I haven’t a clue as to the number of real hours it took to get home, but time wise, it took us about 4 hours to fly across the Pacific. If we had taken the direct route through Hawaii, we would have arrived before we left!
I’ve got a couple of other models on my desk, but I hope to get back to the Lotus 56 very soon. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I was going to paint the individual pieces of the turbine engine itself. I’ve got that figured out and that will be my next step.
[/quote]

I can't even comprehend how you must have felt on that flight home. I'm a bit younger and was saved by the draft lottery. Thank you for your service and I apologize on behalf of those Americans who treated returning vets so cruelly.

Through the 70's and 80's I attended many races at Riverside and passed Norton AFB on the way from San Diego. The line up of aircraft was truly awesome. I remember watching B-52s circling overhead while sitting in the grandstands at the track. I saw Air Force One there one weekend when Reagan was in L.A.

Thanks for sharing and let us know the magic needed to get the desired results from the flo-red.
MJ

[pje]

Sorry, I have no update on this build but rest assured it is still very close to my heart. I do have a link to an article I found today on Facebook and I want to include it as part of this thread. Old Racing Cars recently updated their information on the 1969 Granatelli cars. We’ve talked a lot about these cars on this site and there is certainly more information in this link, but I’m most interested in what the current thinking is about the history of the 4 Lotus 56 cars. Enjoy the read.

www.oldracingcars.com/stp/69/?fbclid=IwAR3997Rp199mrVEV72mwpK3IkKdahB7zhx5dduPWCxSOcxw36iMfBtm5AuI


Paul Erlendson

[indycals]

Cool link. I don't know how I missed the post above about the decals - I would NEVER decal the nose markings on those cars. For something like that paint is simple and will give better results. As far as the tire decals - Firestone lettering was not metallic gold - it was a non-mettalic gold approximation. And yes, Mr. Color dayglo red is the way to go!

[expatriate]

May 9, 2019 21:10:57 GMT -5 pje said:

As some of you know I was up in Portland and Seattle last month for the IPMS Seattle Spring show. And what to do up there but to visit hobby shops. I came away with supplies to help with a couple of STP cars.



“I’ve got a couple of other models on my desk, but I hope to get back to the Lotus 56 very soon. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I was going to paint the individual pieces of the turbine engine itself. I’ve got that figured out and that will be my next step.”

Waiting with baited breath to see which colors you use on which parts. I have a couple of MPC 1/25 Lotus 56 builds in my future and I can’t wait to see what you do with this engine.

[pje]

No, sorry to disappoint (me included), but I have made no progress on my Lotus 56 build. I have however found what I think is a very illuminating article about the turbine cars of 1968. One of my racing heroes throughout much of my life has been Craig Breedlove. With his passing, I’ve found a number of articles online about him. I think this one fits right in with my thread.

www.hemmings.com/stories/craig-breedlove-turbines-at-indy/

Hope you enjoy it.
Paul Erlendson

[diego204]

Hello Paul.

I am following with interest your thread about the assembly of the Lotus 56 turbine. Great job, I hope you can complete it soon…

This is also a car that I’m interested in reproducing, but in the version used in the Rex Mays 300 raced in Riverside at the end of 1968, because in that race it was driven - even if only for a couple of laps - by Mario Andretti and because that was the last participation of a turbine car in the USAC Championship.

I would like to make it (in scale 1/43) from an SMTS kit that I have already purchased and - although I do not know when I will mount it - I have already designed the decals...

Speaking about articles: looking for documentation I found a document a bit particular (a kind of “expertise” on the authenticity of one of the chassis that a collector has purchased) but that seems very interesting, both for the story and for the pics included.

You probably already know it but I would like to report the link, for anyone who might be interested.

nebula.wsimg.com/ff2cec49658288debf05fad6d7e73abb?AccessKeyId=2596BA30FDB640BB1546&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

Ciao!

Diego