MFH - 1:12 Lotus 97T (the second)

[miko3572]

Hi everyone

Here is my new project the MFH Lotus 97T in 1:12 scale. (Belgian GP)

As i have written in the other Lotus 97T (1:12 MFH) thread a possible group build does not make sense for me because my building speed is not that high. (Although i will put a couple of updates now online it just shows the process of the last 9 days. And it is still the engine!!)

I like to modify some of the parts that are provided in the kit and make new turned parts and etch parts where possible. And that is not because the kit parts are bad. Actually they are very nice but i like to have the parts that have different colors/Materials in seperate pieces because it is easier for me to paint them. And on the other hand i just like to etch and turn parts.
This will probably be a long way to finish my kit but hope to do it in this year.


So lets start:
I have started according the instruction with the engine and first want to modify and replace the pulleys that drive the belts on the back and front of the engine. In the kit all of them are made of white metal and each one is in one piece. According my reference pics in the real car they appear to be made out of a mix of gold/brass colored material on the ones with grooves and blank polished ones in the middle part. Because the base of the kit part is very nice i like to keep and just "improve" the grooved kit parts (later brass colored) and "redo" the pulleys without grooves (silver / natural polished metal) in the middle. The pulleys that drives the alternator/distributor on the visible side of the engine (towards the gearbox) are also redone on the lathe.(and painted alclad polished brass later.
Additionally I drilled all the holes and enlarged the inner diameter of the kit parts that i keep and just modified acc. my reference pics.

The modified kit parts are "flattened/smoothed" on the front side with a mill. The distortion wont be visible once polished (see later pics.) Also during the mill process i thinned the grooved frame a little bit to have more realism. The grooved surface has a slight offset in the center from the casting process. I leave it because once the belt is on you wont see it anymore. And i dont know what will later be seen anyway of them once the engine is mounted to the monocoque.

[eyckles]

Wow. Another one!!! This is a real treat. Excellent start Michael. Keep the updates coming please.

Best regards,
Lesley

[miko3572]

Before i finished the pulleys i continued with the alternator ?/distributor.

I did not like that the ventilator of the alternator (is this the right word?) in the kit is made out of white metal. It is too thick so i made a new one with a etch part.
I also deepened the distributor housing by 1.3mm to allow me to insert a scratch build coil. (that is not in the kit)
Also want to put some distributor shoes on it. So i made them from shrink tube. (1,2mm / 0,6mm)

After heat is applied

Distributor shoe cut to the correct length

[miko3572]

Continued with the pulleys
In the first pic you can see the deepened alternator /distributor housing to insert the coil

All pulleys (modified kit parts) are now painted polished brass (alclad) and got the alu turned mounting disc to it (with the red protection mark) All self turned pulleys remain alu and got a black colored (probably rubber) alu turned disc as a center piece (like in my reference pics) All pulleys got washer and new bolts. Probably most of the pulleys will not be visible anymore once the engine is mounted to the monocoque . The edge of the brass painted parts need to be repainted (due to the handling the paint already rubbed of) But this is only done when they are glued to the engine frame and dont need to get touched anymore.

Best Regard,
Michael

[miko3572]

Next are the valve covers.
The kit part is very nice made with crisp detail. But i wanted to replace the bolts on it. (Not sure if this was a good idea)
Although i know the bolts on the real car are dark almost black colored i will keep the bolts lighter to have a nice contrast.

Best regards,
Michael

[jaykay]

Mmmh, i like that!
Just like you i think there's actually quite a bit of room for improvement on that kit, just like on the 1:20 version.
You made a great start!

[miko3572]

Continuing with the engine case and valve cover

I was looking for a nice cast metal look and did not want to paint the engine-case parts to show the raw metal look.
To achieve it i sandblasted the required parts and i am very happy with the result.

Step 4 in the valve cover process is to give them a mist coast of semi gloss clear. (Not done yet in the following pic.)

Best regards,
Michael

[miko3572]

Now back to the distributor.

The coil is made out of 0,15mm copper wire twisted around an etch part.

Distributor-case and the front etch cover is also sandblasted.

Best regards,
Michael

[miko3572]

Here is how i made the connections (blue anodized) for the engine system (not sure what their purpose is) mounted on the distributor/ alternator.
The kit supplied ones are again nice but had the wrong size (too small) and are in one piece. And this way it is easier to paint the different colors.

The base is made out of 0,8mm solder line.
The brass colored end part is a turned part (alu) on the lathe (then painted /washed in a mixture of "alclad" polished brass & clear yellow )
and the braided line is from "Pro Tech" (0.045 inch). The "anodized" blue is "Clear blue" from tamiya out of the Spray can.

Overall shot of the completed hose. The upper connection on both sides is not connected yet. Right side just touches the later connecting point (Need more washers and have to turn some additional nuts in the right size on the lathe and mill.)

Best regards,
Michael

[miko3572]

Next update is on the "air box" / Injection system. The kit part again is with great detail but in one piece so i turned the adapters for the hoses from aluminum. I labeled them upper and lower bar, not sure how they called in real life. in a later step the turned parts from upper and lower connector will be connected with a black hose. (12 in total)
Also the electrical connections (mounted on the lower bar) on this system is not provided in the kit at all, so i made is from scratch.
The front ring on the electrical connector is an etched part to fix it better to the turned mounting base.
The wire is made of 0,3mm solder line and fixed in a cut plastic stripe (out of a 1,00 x 1,00mm Evergreen stripe) with a 0,3mm drilled hole. This is then covered in plasti Dip to simulate the insulation.

Obviously its not meant to read "ignition" system in the picture. Should be labeled injection system

Best regards,
Michael