Tamiya 1/12 Lotus 78 JPS MkIII ya de da

[Bobby Conkers]

Straight onto next project. Definitely going to be a slow and obsessive one.

Not many better looking machines of any kind in history to my mind. I have an aim to do all the Tamiya 1/12 F1 cars. Will be done in acrylic for detailing, but will use spray for bodywork finish - can't have brush marks on this beauty.

https://www.kingkit.co.uk/product/tamiya-cars-motorbikes-trucks-1-12-1222-team-lotus-jps-mkiii

Bought 2nd hand in the original tooling which is always a risk. Decals to be bought elsewhere, Tamiya's are too poor.

[Bobby Conkers]

Image of the model, and IRL.


One challenge might be the skirts. Will see what I do with them when I get to them. Going to be going for authenticity on this one, no artistic license if I can help it.

[Bobby Conkers]

Quick knock up of chassis so far, straightforward sand, glue and quick industrial paint spray (just used primer and dirty silver) - very little to go wrong yet.



Then we're onto moveable steering, suspension and pipework, the sort of stuff I have to be really careful with.

[Andy the Sheep]

Andrew, my experience with Tamiya 1/12 F1 cars goes back to the late 70s and is limited to the Ferrati 312 T.
What I can say is that Tamiya did a magnificent job with that kit. Even an unskilled teenager like me was able to correctly build all the moving parts and the engine pipings, so, don't worry for that; the troubles came with the outer car body, the "red" parts (they were moulded in" Ferrari red" plastic) as they are unforgiving: every little mistake with blades or glues would have required a lot of sanding and repainting at levels I hadn't at that time. Anyway, the 312T had been my favourite model in my collection for a decade.
I hope you will enjoy your build as I did more than 40 years ago.
Andrea.

[Bobby Conkers]

Andrew, my experience with Tamiya 1/12 F1 cars goes back to the late 70s and is limited to the Ferrati 312 T.
What I can say is that Tamiya did a magnificent job with that kit. Even an unskilled teenager like me was able to correctly build all the moving parts and the engine pipings, so, don't worry for that; the troubles came with the outer car body, the "red" parts (they were moulded in" Ferrari red" plastic) as they are unforgiving: every little mistake with blades or glues would have required a lot of sanding and repainting at levels I hadn't at that time. Anyway, the 312T had been my favourite model in my collection for a decade.
I hope you will enjoy your build as I did more than 40 years ago.
Andrea.

Wow, back in the day!

I too have built the 1/12 312T (about 13 years ago), and it is indeed glorious! My boyhood hero was Niki Lauda and I almost prayed before it.

Had exactly the same issues - you couldn't be 1mm out anywhere The cowlings never fit on my Ferrari and it's still in that state. Once this is done I am going to get all my F1 collection out and fix them all up with my new found knowledge.

So good to have an aficionado to know!

[Bobby Conkers]

Steering, battery, fuel collector, upper and lower suspension arms in place. Springs still springy so haven't messed up yet.

[outrunner]

Great job you are doing there, looks like a great kit.


Andy.

[Bobby Conkers]

Total bloody nightmare...kit incomplete, specifically the driver's seat! It has come away from the sprue - the dangers of buying 2nd hand.

Any advice on how to replace?

[Tim Marlow]

That’s looking great Bobby. Only advice on the seat is contact Tamiya and see if they can supply one....otherwise you are into scratching a replacement.

[Bobby Conkers]

Had a stroke of genius/reaply bad idea.

I can build around it for now, but as discussed above I have a seat in my 1/12 Ferrari above. There isn't going to be much difference between the two seats, so I can take a mould from the Ferrari one and work with that.

If Tamiya don't come through with a replacement by the time I've finished engine and gearbox my masterplan/fool's errand will come to bear.

Front bulkhead in place.

[Bobby Conkers]

Weird, that looks wonky in that photo. It isn't.

[Bortig the Viking]

Looking good, I tried this a few years back and cocked it right up, gave it to a friend of mine to see what he could do, then found out the carpet monster had eaten a piece, hadn't noticed, so it ended up as target practice, looked like a car crash once it had been shot a few times. Have fun with it.

[Bobby Conkers]

Looking good, I tried this a few years back and cocked it right up, gave it to a friend of mine to see what he could do, then found out the carpet monster had eaten a piece, hadn't noticed, so it ended up as target practice, looked like a car crash once it had been shot a few times. Have fun with it.

Well it is a Lotus. They used to look like a pile of scrap after running over a kerb. Colin Chapman would just saw bits off to make them lighter, so a missing part adds to the authenticity.

[colin m]

Drivers seats, I seem to recall them being molded to the individual driver. So, what ever you create, can be as unique as you like......well, within reason !

[Bobby Conkers]

Drivers seats, I seem to recall them being molded to the individual driver. So, what ever you create, can be as unique as you like......well, within reason !

It is true. Taking Niki Lauda's seat from a Ferrari when he weighed 10 stone wet through and trying to squeeze in renowned lettuce dodger Mario Andretti is an act of extreme optimism. Fortunately Tamiya did not go the whole hog so the two are reasonably generic.

Were the model's seats moulded to the buttocks of the driver, authenticity would be more tricky, unless Mr Andretti is feeling especially helpful.