Lotus super seven

[cazxr2]

This is my next project. I've always liked caterham sevens. My mates dad had one years ago. I've always wished I could build a 1:1 kit car myself but I haven't the money the space or the knowledge to build. So this is the next best thing. Here's just a few pics the wheels on aren't staying there (although there cool there WAY too wide) only there while the others are getting sprayed.

loads of stuff to do for such a small car. Loads of instructions.

Edited September 3, 2010 by cazxr2

[MonoPed]

I've got this kit sorta in progress... meaning it's stalled, because I am in a build slump. Pay close attention fitting all the panels (nose, hood, cowl) together. I a little time spent here will pay off big in the end.

[Romell R]

Gonna be a fun ride!

[cazxr2]

Cheers good luck with urs. I've had this kit for a while so just thought I'd give it a bash.

[cazxr2]

Gonna be a fun ride!

lol replied at the exact same time. Cheers rom. Ps loving both ur projects at the mo. don't know how u manage to do 2 at a time.

[Jim Gibbons]

Neat kit; I built one for a friend a couple of years ago. Be a bit cautious at the paint thickness where the photoetched grille is inserted. I painted mine BRG with some yellow nose trim, plus clear, and when I installed the grille, it had a slight concavity and was too tight a fit. I should have masked the inside rim of the nose before the clear. Other than that, I had no issues other than some tricky mold parting line locations and the above mentioned juggling of the panels to get a good fit.

[cazxr2]

Cheers people for the advice. I will take my time with this build and not just rush into it. Was doing a bit of iterweb searching for some pics to help me with colour choice and came across this

and I LOVE the colour orange so that was a YES so here's it with a couple coats on it

still got to tidy up the paint sand a few bits up. I also came across a smallish bucket seat in my parts box. Pic here

(don't worry the dash won't be staying White) I just want a few opinions about the bucket seat. Going for the single seated as apose to the 2???

Thanks craig

Edited September 3, 2010 by cazxr2

[cazxr2]

Ooops double post. My bad. Anyway while I'm here I also painted engine block and the wheels( the ones above) going to detail them with a bit of black. Not going for the 5 spokes as the pic for the web just stick with the standard wheels. Just now anyway. May change my mind later.

Edited September 3, 2010 by cazxr2

[Jim Gibbons]

Okay, please don't take my comments in the wrong way, or my being hypercritical. I'm just giving some advice for your future builds and how this will come out. The orange looks good, by the way. First point I'm making a suggestion on is the mold parting lines on the kit. They're that "zig-zag" line you see from the trailing edge of the front fender around the exhaust pipe mounting pin. On the left side, they'll not be too noticeable, as the exhaust mounts there. On the right side, they will be seen. A little time spent filing and sanding them off (and at other locations) will improve the appearance.

The Caterham (at least the newer versions) are designed for wheels and tires much wider than this kit and the original Lotus 7 design allow. I'm the wrong person to give scratchbuilding advice, but the fenders should be widened to accommodate the newer wheel/tire combo.

That being said, this is just some building advice. As far as one or two seats, if you're building a street version, go for two; competition, one. Again, these are just suggestions. Enjoy your kit, and I'm looking forward to your progress on it. As the late Rick Nelson sang in his song "Garden Party," "...you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself!" Have great fun building! By the way, I have a friend in Newmilns, Scotland I owe a call to. It's one of my dreams to make it there someday.

[jbwelda]

unless youve got a caterham appropriate motor i would suggest sticking to a type 2 lotus seven for this. the kit comes with the ohv motor appropriate for earlier cars but you can upgrade to a twin cam resin motor from reps and min of maryland i think or a bdr motor from an old escort race car kit from esci. the twin cam mentioned actually came from the gunze lotus elan w/motor kit. very nice motor and fits in real well. the stock cosworth that comes with the kit is nice too. you should note that most of these cars came as a kit and many put in a ford (cortina i think?) four here in the states anyway but there were many motors possible. many of these cars were converted to race use so hopping this one up would be appropriate. the caterham actually has many significant differences from a lotus seven even though they might not be real apparent at first glance, as mentioned the fenders are much wider and just about everything was different in the later cars.

i had a 1958 series one with polished aluminum body until i sold it a few years ago. never should have done that but thats life. very rudimentary but very fun car.

edit: here are a couple of pics of the twin cam motor i was talking about, in a thames truck i converted to a lotus parts delivery van. well turns out this was a white metal version available from southeast finecast at one point but the resin one from R&MofM is just as nice and probably easier to build.

but all that aside your lotus looks great so far! this is an excellent kit with few fit problems from my experience...ive built a couple of them. im always surprised how tamiya offered a kit like this with as much detail as it has for so reasonable a price.

Edited September 3, 2010 by jbwelda

[cazxr2]

hey jim any advice is good advice in my book. I should have said I like the caterham and it's the closest kit to that. It will basicly be a lotus seven. My bad!!

It will be stock bar the colour and the posability of the single seat. Thanks for the post. And if u make it to Scotland give me a shout. Craig

Edited September 3, 2010 by cazxr2

[cazxr2]

Cheers William. This will be pretty much stock bar the seat. As for the engine I think it will just be the cosworth unit. Thanks for the info tho. Maybe after a few more kits I will try to replicate a caterham properly.

[sjordan2]

This is looking terrific. Orange makes sense since it's based on a 1:1 car.

I see that the kit box shows dish-type hubcaps, which makes me wish someone would do a true "Prisoner" car.

[rab_95]

looking good craig

[cazxr2]

well seeing as im stuck with what to build next(because i finished the ford lightning)

lol anything to post a pic

anyway i got the lotus back of the shelf and made a few changes the paint is now ford sunburst red with the wheels from the ford lightning (unsure if they will stay) also painted alo of the engine parts and i tryed somthing new that i havent "dared" to do before but as they say if u dont try ul never know. I put embossing powder on the single bucket seat that will stay please if u like the look of the seat please let me know or if u feel its not that good i also would like to know anyway heres the pics

[cazxr2]

This is for(reece) finished the engine and it's in looks not bad. Also can't go with the black wheels too big. So sticking with the standard wheels painted chrome.

Got a lot of tidying up to do.

Edited October 19, 2010 by cazxr2

[Art Laski]

This looks like a fun build! I was wondering, do you happen to have any close up pictures of the engine block from both sides, by chance?

Thanks,

Art

[cazxr2]

This looks like a fun build! I was wondering, do you happen to have any close up pictures of the engine block from both sides, by chance?

Thanks,

Art

Al get some pics for u later in the week. cheers for looking.