JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before? Now with POLL!!!

About making you own...

WHAT's YOUR FAVORITE LIGIER JS11 LOOK?

-The good old Tamiya look, naked DFV, flat sidepods, Bugatti style fuel cell cover, chrome rims, bulky nose...
11
20%
-The early 1980 style, Pironi Zolder win. Flatter nose, slanted sidepods, discrete flip ups, still Bugatti cover, covered DFV, Black 13 inch whees.
19
34%
-The badass looking late 1980 car. Smoothened low fuel cell cover, huge rear wheel flip ups, chrome 15 inch front rims...
26
46%
 
Total votes: 56

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JamesB
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JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before? Now with POLL!!!

Post by JamesB »

BREAKING NEWS!!!! I ADDED A POLL!! :D 8)

The three looks referred above are those as follow...
1979 Tamiya/Heller style
Image

Early 1980 car covered engine JS11/15
Image

Late 1980 JS11/15 badass big wheels
Image

Triggered by the comments of a fellow f1m member (thanks Bill!!) I was bugged enough to attempt something so apparently no brainer that... I have never seen anyone do it.
What about covering Heller´s JS11 engine and make it a (big, big AHHHEMMMMMM!!! :roll: :roll: :wink: ) 1980 JS11/15?

Well here we go
Image
First I placed the top of cover, after fixing the body parts. Let´s say Heller´s locating pins are a bit... divagating :roll:

Image
And now adding the slanted walls that cover the camcovers. It´s beginning to look the part, hey?

Image
Now I fill some places with resin to make it stronger, also the bulge at the rear so when I sand it to make it lower I won´t find just thin air...

Image
Resin is faster to cure than putty, and stronger, so I used it up and down

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And then I grind off the inner side of the blanketed air intakes.

Image
I then grinded the rear part to make it lower

Image
Some two compond putty where it´s needed..

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Well it looks I did a similar thing at 1/20 long ago...

Image
And that´s how it looks with primer...

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And... parked within the body... Hey!! 8) 8) 8)

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I´d need your input. This part, as it is, is ideal to replace the original one and only that, so the car will look "1980-ish" as my friend Ed Hunt would say.
Obviously, the car still needs
-Retouching of nose area
-Heavy rear suspension revision
-different sidepods upper surface. 1979 are horizontal, 1980 are slanted not much, but quite visible
-diferent sidepod side panels, to accomodate rear part higher profile as mentioned above
-Different wheels though those made by me will do 8) :mrgreen:
-different sidepod underbody, longer and covering exhausts
-New exhausts
Buuut... since sooo many people mentions "As its not a great kit, I´ll give nuts about accuracy and will make it look as close as I can to a 1980 car¨I say well, if you want this part ad at least have the engine covered, even if its not accurate...

Next step in evolution would be a REAL 1980 engine cover. You would have to cut the sidepod upper surfaces and make it match the cover, it would not be a "unbolt-bolt" opperation... and then you would be tempted to go further and never finishing it...

Basically it´s a simila case to her contemporary peer, the FW07-07B. Theorethically virtually identical, but if you start changing all needed, you end up with too few parts of the original car. Suggestions?? interest on this one?
Thanks for your input, in advance :D

POL!!!!!
I added a poll.
Last edited by JamesB on Fri Apr 28, 2023 11:14 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by tubegenius »

Amazing that you built this up literally on a moments notice. I'm the "Bill" that James is referring to. This conversation started with me buying an incomplete Heller kit that had no tyres at all. Recalling James' offering of replacement tires for the 1/12 Protar Ferrari and 1/12 Heller Ligier, we had discussions about both. For the Ligier, I didn't want to just build a larger version of the Tamiya kit, as it quite frankly would be an insult to the Tamiya kit. So I wanted to build the Heller with as many differences as possible to distinguish it from the Tamiya. At the bare minimum, 1980 style slanted Gitanes lettering and livery, and different wheels. which were black. We arrived at the 1980 Belgian GP winner of Didier Pironi. It still had the 1979 cockpit cowling and the sidepod plates were not as extreme as later races, where they reached up nearly to the top of the rear wing. And the rear wing is apparently the same as 1979,(or close enough for me), So other than the lack of engine cover, the Heller kit is close enough for me. An engine cover would the icing on the cake! Even if it didn't have the ovals cut for the trumpet mesh, I'd be willing to just glue the mesh covers onto the engine cover, like the FW-07. It would be fine with me, as this infamous kit really should be regarded as curbside - at least by me. Most of you have higher standards and more skill than I, but I will have a fun time with this, even if it isn't 100% accurate. Any engine cover would be most welcome!
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by Icon_Modeler »

Looks great!! I'd take one please :) :)
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by AJP01 »

James - when you get done with this one how about my Osella FA1D request? My Paletti tribute car is still waiting in the projects list......
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by JamesB »

Thanks Bill, I knew you´d like it 8) Maybe Ill offer the part as it is now, and later try to develope something that goes a bit further, as I said its hard because doing it better implies cutting original parts and it´s no longer a simple replacement opperation as with this one.
Icon_Modeler wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:36 pm Looks great!! I'd take one please :) :)
Thanks Derek! :D as our fellow suggests, if we stay just curbside with this one, my part would be better than having nothing :lol:
AJP01 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 8:58 pm James - when you get done with this one how about my Osella FA1D request? My Paletti tribute car is still waiting in the projects list......
Ah, Alan... I have a pic from, hmm a few years ago. There lays the Osella together with others, unfortunately, life has turned its tricky twists since then and few of that have reached the goal, but who knows. I could come back stronger 8) believe me I have as much interest on this one as you :D
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by tubegenius »

Fabulous James! Pardon my ignorance, would you be making some kind of mold to produce this part, using your "prototype", or would you be hand crafting them? If you are going to make them by hand, I would imagine you would need the customer to supply the Heller part for a base. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, as I'm just an "assembler" who does not make parts.
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by JamesB »

Haha there’s no stupid question :lol:
Yeah, mold and resin part it’ll be.
It took two afternoons, to be honest :D
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by Jeff »

nice work James!
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by JamesB »

Thanks Jeff! :D
Well guys, this somhow might mutate to a WIP/research topic.
Well, I went on with the side panels. A parts that can easily be redone with PS sheet. It looks 0.6 mm would be the best, but I'll have to be happy with 1mm which is what I've got.
Let's concentrate on the early season specs. It did not feature that distinctive inverted frigian hat shape, but a smoother rounded peak. A bit like a smoothened FW07 shape.
Let pics speak

Image

Image

Again I'll say that a pic is as worth as the consistency of its measures. Let's note that Laffite's one is really GREAT! You dont get that effect that wheelbase is much different between right and left (what we call perspective) because it was taken from sooo far away. I checked visible measures like "from rear brake scoops to front edge of wheels" and it's perfect.
What does it mean, just getting much too anal with measures? No :D it means that the scale factor we can obtain with known measures such as wheelbase or rim diameter, can also be used for the side panels even if they are not in the same vertical plane, in terms of depth in the pic.

OK, despite all that, I somehow used the Pironi pic, much worse as it has a considerable zoom effect. Simply I did not have the Laffite one yet! :lol:

OK, anyway I came up with this...
Image
Regardless where you "park" the Heller part, it's short...
Image

Image


But you get the general view, right? apart from the different shape of the rear crest, we lack heigth in the middle.
We can always chop the part like this...
Image
Anyway I most probably do a full part. Bear in mind the front bit of the part, in the kit, is made with the sidepod front. You need to change that as the underside is straight on the 80 car, rounded, skirt-less in the 79 Heller version.

Well, since I don't know if Heller's version of wheelbase is the same, I'll wait to have the car almost built, since the side panel is not an structural part. :D More soon!
PS: credit where it's owed, signed pic by great Bernard Cahier (unsigned probably too), used here for scientifical purposes 8)
Last edited by JamesB on Fri Apr 28, 2023 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: JS11/15 at 1/12 How come no one did before?

Post by tubegenius »

James, you are a runaway train these days 8) At this rate, you are going to drive up the cost of the Heller kit, by making it more desirable :roll: I predict you won't be stopping here. Any plans for improving the attachment of the front suspension lower arms? That is the Achilles heel of this kit. (Well, one of them anyway). Keep up the good work :wink:
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