SMTS 1/43rd white metal kit.
First round of clean-up of the main body parts. It’s a pretty clean casting but the nose was a little crusty. The side pods look like they fit well, but will need a fillet where they meet the main body.
Back in the day I would have probably soldered the side pods onto the body, but I went with CA this time. First coat of primer shows what needs attention; not as much as I expected but still more to do…
The wings have the end plates cast onto them and they are pretty thin, all things considered, but optional PE end plates are included in the kit for better detail.
I filed off the end plates on these and used the PE items, definitely worth the effort.
I built up the front suspension but did not attach it to the chassis. The upper arms need to go inside the body and the chrome plated white metal is extremely fragile. One of the arms was already broken off so I’ll fix that during final assembly.
The decals were worse than I expected; typically the kits from SMTS during this era are a bit thick and yellowed and not all that detailed, but they are useable. Unfortunately these were stuck to the PE sheet and some of the images were damaged by that.
When I went to use the tire decals I discovered even the strongest decal solvent I have (and I have several to work with) would not soften them enough to conform to the sidewalls. Just as well, they were a dingy yellow-white and they didn’t have the gold pinstripe.
I drew and printed an entire new set of decals with more accurate and cleaner artwork. The first ones I applied were for the tires
The wheels are nicely rendered and cast. The tires aren’t too bad either.
The rear suspension was built up on the chassis as the parts are intertwined with it. The chrome parts weren’t as bent as on the front end, and none were broken so it went together pretty well.
The interior was added after the suspension.
I made decals for the gauges too. Like they can be seen once the car is done…
The exhaust and turbo set-up is cast as one piece. I drilled out the exhaust pipe.
After a few rounds of fine tuning the body seams it’s time to start using white primer.
Great stuff Mark. I’ve never done a 1/43 kit. There’s so much out there in that scale. How do you find working in that tiny scale?
Thanks John! At one time there were more automotive subjects available in 1/43rd than any other scale. For all I know that may still be true.
They are very enjoyable to build. It’s not really any different than any other scale. In fact I have a 1/6th scale bike on the bench with this 1/43rd. Part is parts for the most part.
I also like 1/87th scale…
I might dive into 1/43 for the subjects but HO scale… I don’t think so lol
The shoulder winglets in my kit were both for the left side.
Since the kit provides PE wing tips and supports for “extra detailing” I used them to convert one to a right side and then made the left to match.
The body was painted TS-36 Fluorescent Red with an undercoat of LP-8 yellow.
I’ll be watching this build. Looking forward to seeing it completed. The Lola was awesome. Interesting bit of trivia-1969 was Mario’s only Indy win.
The history of this car at Indy in '69 is very interesting. Very few photos of the actual race car exist, and even the promotional pre-race photos don’t include Mario due to the burns he suffered from the Lotus he was going to race. His twin brother Aldo filled in for the photos.
The main body decals I made have been applied.
Looks sharp Mark. Great color and man it must be so nice to have decal production at your fingertips!
Thanks!
It is nice, but it was almost week’s worth of research and drawing time.
Not what I was expecting when I started it hoping for a quick simple project. At least it is still fun.
A bit of clear… And some of the black detail painting.
Time for final assembly.
A little fiddley to put together in the end, but it wasn’t as difficult as I expected. It’s done.
