Tamiya 1:20 Lotus JPS Mk.III

[dr_gn]

Bit of a blast from the past: Back in about 1980 when I was 9 years old, I built this Tamiya JPS Mk.III (Lotus 78) for my Dad as an Easter present. I think it was the first Tamiya kit I ever built, and the most complicated, but I remember I loved building it:





The radiators and their ducts within the inverted wing side pods were inspired by the de Havilland Mosquito - all faithfully reproduced.

I think the same year, for Christmas, I got the the Tamiya Pit Crew set, so obviously painted them in JPS Lotus colours. I made this diorama, with everything stuck to some plywood:











I dug it out of the loft at my Mum’s house yesterday, washed about 2mm of dust off it, and repaired the damaged bits as best I could. I think the only thing missing is one of the bodywork stands.

After 40 years, the kits themselves still compare well with state of the art, the pit crew details are fascinating (even though the building and painting leave something to be desired). Seems a shame to put it back in the loft.

[LunarOne]

Very nice. I'm sure if you were doing it again, you'd omit Jimmy Savile and his clipboard!

[dr_gn]

LunarOne said:

Very nice. I'm sure if you were doing it again, you'd omit Jimmy Savile and his clipboard!

I’d not noticed that...

[Spottedlaurel]

At least a thousand times better than anything I'd have been building at that age! Looks great, and good for it to have survived and be worth putting on display again.

I built the 1:20 Wolf F1 when I was 15, brush-painted with Humbrol enamel and avoiding large decals. I recently found the majority of it and did a quick reassembly job:


1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I do at least spray my builds nowadays,but I still don't like adding transfers........

[dr_gn]

Spottedlaurel said:

At least a thousand times better than anything I'd have been building at that age! Looks great, and good for it to have survived and be worth putting on display again.

I built the 1:20 Wolf F1 when I was 15, brush-painted with Humbrol enamel and avoiding large decals. I recently found the majority of it and did a quick reassembly job:


1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I do at least spray my builds nowadays,but I still don't like adding transfers........

Looks pretty solid job to me - shame its not black and gold though... Back then it was just about sticking stuff together and painting it - and in a lot of ways it was more enjoyable, although there was always an element of "I wish I'd taken more time over....", whereas now it's "that took way too long.." One thing still true though - you can't beat Tamiya for overall price/quality.

[Ash_]

dr_gn said:

Spottedlaurel said:

At least a thousand times better than anything I'd have been building at that age! Looks great, and good for it to have survived and be worth putting on display again.

I built the 1:20 Wolf F1 when I was 15, brush-painted with Humbrol enamel and avoiding large decals. I recently found the majority of it and did a quick reassembly job:


1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I do at least spray my builds nowadays,but I still don't like adding transfers........

Looks pretty solid job to me - shame its not black and gold though... Back then it was just about sticking stuff together and painting it - and in a lot of ways it was more enjoyable, although there was always an element of "I wish I'd taken more time over....", whereas now it's "that took way too long.." One thing still true though - you can't beat Tamiya for overall price/quality.

I think that just shows the difference between someone who "makes" models and someone who "MAKES" models if that makes sense. I loved making model aircraft as a kid (up to about 14-15 years old), but was never even remotely in "MAKE" category as evidenced by your JPS Lotus above at such a young age. I don't have the dexterity, patience or time to do the kind of work done by you Doc, Eric, robmcodnald, HenryK and others in this sub-forum. Which is why I don't contribute, but I love seeing what you all do, it's amazing.

[dr_gn]

Ash_ said:

dr_gn said:

Spottedlaurel said:

At least a thousand times better than anything I'd have been building at that age! Looks great, and good for it to have survived and be worth putting on display again.

I built the 1:20 Wolf F1 when I was 15, brush-painted with Humbrol enamel and avoiding large decals. I recently found the majority of it and did a quick reassembly job:


1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I do at least spray my builds nowadays,but I still don't like adding transfers........

Looks pretty solid job to me - shame its not black and gold though... Back then it was just about sticking stuff together and painting it - and in a lot of ways it was more enjoyable, although there was always an element of "I wish I'd taken more time over....", whereas now it's "that took way too long.." One thing still true though - you can't beat Tamiya for overall price/quality.

I think that just shows the difference between someone who "makes" models and someone who "MAKES" models if that makes sense. I loved making model aircraft as a kid (up to about 14-15 years old), but was never even remotely in "MAKE" category as evidenced by your JPS Lotus above at such a young age. I don't have the dexterity, patience or time to do the kind of work done by you Doc, Eric, robmcodnald, HenryK and others in this sub-forum. Which is why I don't contribute, but I love seeing what you all do, it's amazing.

To be fair I'd built many, many model aircraft kits by then, from a very early age - all to a pretty poor standard - all but a few fragments now long gone. My parents had a Chemist's shop, and always had a few plastic kits on sale too - so I had an almost infinite supply back then. I think building kits was something that just clicked as soon as I tried to build one, and from that moment, ever since I've always liked them. No idea why.

I remember I put 100% effort into that Lotus, because it was for my Dad, and because it was pretty expensive. It's not brilliant - the photos look much better than reality, but the quality of the kit is obvious when you look at the mouldings and how it fits together; that's the main reason it looks OK. I think it took about a day - two at the most to complete, compared with about 6 months for the last Tamiya racing car I built...