1965 Lotus 33 R 11 Belgium

[kitman]

Here are some photos from the very beginning; the body of the car is my own casting from a re-sized and re-shaped Monogram slot car body. The body was cast with a flat interior but this will be removed and will be built with a full driver and interior.

The chassis is from scratch using square and round brass tubes with the motor soldered in place.

Here are photos of the chassis build:













Body test fit:







More to come.

John

[kitman]

I managed to get the front uprights with lower "A" arms and rear suspension fabricated tonight.

Here is the car so far:













Any and all comments are more than welcomed.

Thanks

John

[Andrew Rowland]

Well Sir, obviously it is deeply unfashionable to make comments in this forum (scratch builders are just too snob you know), so let me say well done, great build!

Now what are you planning at the rear there? When you cut out for the crown will he motor take all the stress or will there be other parts not yet soldered to carry tranverse loads?

Is this a tried and trusted formula or a one off?

Keep it coming.

[Mark Huber]

Now now Andi,

I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't consider myself a snob. I'm not skilled enough for starters! I also believe that a couple hundred posts suggest that I'm willing to comment on other folks' work.

I have two of these kits from Kitman. The Lotus is a sleek body, as is John's Ferrari.

However, John, may I suggest that you produce your Lotus as well as your Ferrari 158 bodies in a neutral resin? Colored resin results in a some unpleasant surprises after the paint has been applied.

Cheers,

[nuvolari]

Ah, something related to Belgium, I'm all eyes

You have to understand Andi, this is Christmas time, and everybody is rushing to polish their Christmas balls, this is not snobbery ;D
I even didn't have time to do any modeling this week

If you take a look at the members list, the average amount on comments is not to bad, keep also in mind that this is still a young forum.
And I rather see an honest comment, instead of an "Oh, nice" one.

I agree with you, that if you've posted something, not hearing any comment, is also not fun, than the builder starts to doubt if the effort to do the work and post everything is worthwhile.
Perhaps a few more of us should say "keep it coming pal, we want to see what you're cooking, we're interested." Even if this is not the Era that is in your field of expertize.

Anyway, as ever I always love when somebody shows his build in stages, something everyone should do in my view.

I'm curious, John, do you have any photos of the real thing back in 1965.
I always love to compare the real thing with model.

The only comment I can give until now is, is their a special reason why you soldered the motor strait onto the chassis?
I would just be to scared to damaged the motor, and on the other hand should you ever need to change it, you need to take the whole chassis apart.

Keep up the good work, love what you're doing.

cheers,
Danny

[David Lawson]

This is Jim Clark at Spa that year.



As was often the case it rained and despite his intense dislike of the track Clark dominated the Belgium Grand Prix winning it four years in a row during the 1960s.

In 1965 Clark left the rest of the field miles behind in the dangerous conditions, Jackie Stewart did his best to keep up and worried for his young rivals safety Clark eased off a little to take the pressure off Stewart. Once again this shows how great Clark was as a driver to have this capacity to think about this while racing through the tree lined roads in pouring rain and it also demonstrates his compassion for his fellow racers.

David

[kitman]

Wow, thanks for the great posts!

Andrew, appreciate your comments, I'm sure your were kidding about scratch builders!

This chassis is a first attempt, the rear will only have two narrow "rings" left from the round brass tube soldered to the square tube which is soldered to the motor. Once built I'll see how well it works around the track. It is quite a minimalist approach, I'm sure Mr Chapman would approve.

Mark, thanks for your very kind comments regarding the Lotus and Ferrari bodies I have cast. If you are having difficulty with the coloured resin and would like replacement bodies in plain white resin, please feel free to e-mail me at [e-mail] and I would be pleased to replace them.

Danny, thank you for your very kind words! Your builds are works of art.
The motor is soldered to the frame to make the build easier and ensure that the motor is correctly alligned. If the motor needs replacement, I designed the frame so that the rear portion can be removed from the frame and the motor area is composed of four brass tubes should it need to be rebuilt if I mess it up.

David, thank you very much for posting the photo of the car!

I really appreciate it as I know you have not only affection and admiration for Jim Clark but a great knowledge and understanding of his career as well. Thank you.

I managed to get some work done on the car last night.

I added the tie rod and detailed the front suspension, trimmed the rear axel area and (roughly) removed the flat driver from the body to ensure that the motor was not intruding into the cockpit as the car will have a full interior.

Here are some photos of the car so far:





















Thanks

John

[Aurora]

I'd certainly like to see more of this.