Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

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vrba
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Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by vrba »

It's finally done! It took actually a year or even more.
Main body, chassis and decals SRC, engine, gearbox and rear brakes This Way Up, many smaller items (cam covers, front wishbones, seatbelts, front brakes, radiator material, etc.) Tameo, rear view mirrors and some PE details by Small Great Details (really excellent), some more PE, hoses and fittings aftermarket, most of the rest including the rear wing, oil tank, coolers and ducts, rear suspension and part of the front suspension, most of the cockpit, windscreen, and most of the other details scratchbuilt.

Being originally an old kit, almost every part was modified, detailed or simply created new.
Despite my best efforts in designing the parts in CAD, the manual crafting of so many items resulted in lot of fiddling work to get everything to fit together, sometimes requiring very late interventions. The engine is 1 mm too low in height so I had to balance it out against the bodywork and airbox, for example. Also, the fitting of exhaust pipes and rear suspension around it was very fiddly.
The windscreen was built from a flat plastic sheet and it's the least satisfying part of the kit.
Therefore it took an immense amount of time and effort to make the kit look good. But it's also extremely satisfying! It's the only Spanish GP model I know about with the correct conical oil tank!
Now I need something totally straightforward to build, something that requires no modifications to kit parts - e.g. some new Tameo kit.

Sorry for the disastrous photos but you'll hopefully get an idea.
On some photos it's pictured beside the 1970 72C by Tameo.
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Jeff
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by Jeff »

Very nice, the engine detailing is very visible, so was worth all the effort :)
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marlborored
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by marlborored »

Great looking build!!
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MarcoSaupe
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by MarcoSaupe »

Great work in that small scale!
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gp-models
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by gp-models »

Unfortunately the pics are a bit small in size, but it`s looking nice so far!
Still know the ugly base you used, not an easy task to bring it to a good level but you did it. Good job!
Take a stand!

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vrba
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by vrba »

Yes, the photos are bad (I’ll hopefully provide some better ones).
I was thinking about building the MFH version but while wonderfully detailed, it has quite some errors as well, so I opted to save money and spend more time :-)
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wixy500
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by wixy500 »

Wow, much respect for what you have done there!

How long did this build take? Also, I imagine all the extra detail parts/sets cost more than the original kit?
Mark Wicks
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^ my model site/blog ^

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vrba
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by vrba »

@wixy500
It took more than a year, I started it a few years ago but made long breaks. But I'm a very slow builder anyway, even in the best days I never built more than 4 models in a year.
Yes, the extra costs were higher than the kit but many parts were scratchbuilt, for example the whole rear wing, the whole rear suspension, oil tank, etc.
For the front suspension I used Tameo wishbones, the rest I scratchbuilt.
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Belugawrx
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by Belugawrx »

What a great looking car, well built too !!
Your build has me staring wantingly at my own 1/12 Tamiya....
Thanks for the inspiration Harry, Prosit !
Bruce Coy
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CK
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Re: Lotus 72D Spanish GP 1972

Post by CK »

Hi Harry,

It is a very nice Lotus 72D.

From the photos, I guess it is a 1/43 model, right?
C K
Canada
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