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The original Lotus type 77 design brief was to produce
a truly adjustable car that could be adapted for any circuit
relatively easily. A fine idea, if the team had a remarkable
development driver, which it did not at the time. At the
beginning of 1976 Lotus had Ronnie Peterson (still my
all time favourite driver) a truly remarkable talent,
but a hopeless development driver. Peterson soon left
to re-join March, and as it turned out doing himself no
harm in the process. Lotus however soon learned that the
type 77 was going to take some sorting.
After numerous driver changes, the driver line-up finally settled on Gunnar Nielson
and the best American driver there has ever been, Mario Andretti. As the year
progressed, the troublesome type 77 was developed into a car that showed only
a passing resemblance to the original but was more importantly a winner. It also
started to show hints of what was to come over the coming two seasons.
Compared to most Lotus F1 cars, the type 77 could never exactly be described
as pretty or successful on the track. It could however still be classed as one
of those ideas from the fertile imagination of the great man (Colin Chapman)
that did not quite work as originally planned.
To date, the Tameo type 77 is the fourth kit that I have purchased, the first
kit was by John Day (enough said). The second kit was an FDS probably bought
10 years ago; I suppose a passable kit for its day, if not entirely accurate.
The third kit was by Wave of Japan, again sometime ago. So how does the Tameo
version (TMK340) compare to all the others? Well without doubt this is the best
and is unlikely to ever be improved upon.
The Tameo type 77 is supposed to represent the definitive version as it appeared
for the season finale in Japan. A truly dreadful wet race, notably for being
the only race win for the type 77 (Andretti) but also the F1 crown for James
Hunt.
I say supposed to represent the 76 Japan winner, what the kit actually represents
is the car as it recently raced in the Thoroughbred GP championship. However,
more on that in due course.
In typical Tameo fashion, these days we have finely-cast white metal main components,
fifty parts in all. There are four frets of photo etching for suspension, brake
discs, rear wing support and most of the monocoque. There are fourteen tiny pins
for locating and fixing various suspension components. Four rods for rear radius
arms, two fine tubes for the piping to the front oil radiator and finally three
small diameter rods to form the front track rods and gear selector. Altogether
two hundred and thirty parts. Quite a significant count bearing in mind this
is not classed as a 'super kit'.
Rather excellent wet weather tyres with minimal flash and very delicate tread
pattern are also supplied along with two sets of decals for those (like me) who
are continually making a mess of them.
Assembly is straightforward enough, instructions starting with transmission assembly
just for a change. However, two parts are very fragile and need careful handling.
These are parts 20 and 21; the exhaust supports. They are very easy to bend whilst
assembling and on the completed model.
It was not until I progressed
to the second page of assembly that I realised that I had my first problem. Parts
34 & 35 connect from the brake disc callipers
to the rear uprights. When assembled they should be at 90 degrees to both
the calliper and the upright. Mine were way out. I decided it would be a good
idea
to dry-assemble
parts 117 & 118 from step 28. These were also way out of line. To rectify
the situation, the brake callipers were removed. The location tags were reduced
in size on ALL callipers and all locations on the transmission until the alignment
was satisfactory.
Everything else up to step 18 is very straightforward. Step 18, is the final
assembly of the front suspension, extremely fiddly! No way could I get parts
97 & 98 to connect. This is the link from the top arm to the bottom anti
roll bar. There is a conflict with the front uprights. As it happens the connecting
rods (97/98) look somewhat out of scale. I have replaced the supplied parts with
small diameter rods.
Well, if we as modellers think that the front suspension assembly is awkward
and intricate, spare a thought for the poor Lotus mechanics. I'd be willing to
bet there were numerous sore knuckles and choice words. Come to think of it,
so was changing a fan belt on a (original) Mini!
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And so we eventually
get to the assembly of the moncoque. This is just fabulous!
It's the first time up to this model that I have used photo-etching
to build a moncoque. I am well aware that Tameo and Marsh
have been using this method for quite some time. I do have
other kits that I have shied away from building mainly
due to the lack of my own confidence and skill level. With
the correct tools, folding the parts could not be easier,
investment in a Hold & Fold
2" 'Bug' should be considered mandatory. This really is an excellent piece
of kit, and not so expensive. There are distributors in the UK and Europe, so
sourcing will not be an issue. For our North American colleagues, if you do not
have one, shame on you, as it was originally of US origin!
Somehow, with the monocoque assembled I cannot bring myself to paint it. The
truth being that all monocoques, with the exception of some Ferrari's, were all
made in one way or another, of aluminium. That being the case, Alclad Aluminium
(ALC001) should be used. The finished article looks so good; I can't help but
leave it as it is.
At this stage, most elements are completed, including painting standard black
on all body parts, so it's time to start the decaling process. The decals, in
typical Tameo fashion, are from Cartograph. They are quite wonderful; beautifully
printed and executed.
All of the pin striping should be applied first, this will aid location and serve
as a datum for all the other decals. I started with the stripes on the front
wings. In my usual habit, I soak the decals so that they only just move on the
backing sheet. Whilst the decal is soaking I always apply a little MicroSet (MSSET)
to aid manipulation. The decals are so delicate, imagine my horror when it started
to deform from the straight lines. No way on earth could I get the decal straight
again. The only solution was to remove, discard and start again from the 'spares'
sheet. This time I allowed the decal to become more 'wet' and NOT use any MicroSet
at all. I adjusted the decal using essentially a very fine brush and the remnants
of the water from the backing sheet. Once achieved to some satisfaction and relief,
I removed surplus water with an absorbent lint free cloth. I then applied a very
small measure of MicoSol (MSSOL) just to help the decals to adhere to the painted
surface.
The model was then put aside for some time and lacquered much later on. The finished
result is just stunning. (Well I think so anyway.)
Now we come to the inaccuracies of this kit. As I have previously mentioned,
it is supposed to represent the Japanese GP winner of 1976. To accurately model
this car, the following modifications are required.
The front of the cockpit has a wind deflector. I tried using thin metal sheet
but could not get an acceptable flat shape so I resorted to 0.5mm plastic card,
which I glued in place with two-pack epoxy (ZAP037), then trimmed to shape when
hardened. I guessed at the exact shape, as I did not have a plan view. I based
the profile on that of types' 78 and 79.
The rear anti-roll bar was cockpit adjustable and the control is included on
the left side of the cockpit whereas nothing else is. I added a short length
of bright wire from the control adjuster to the rear bulkhead. Externally, a
reddish cable can be seen on the photos at the rear of the instruction sheet.
This should connect from the inner rear bulkhead to the right hand side of the
rear anti-roll bar. The design on the type 77 was pretty much carried over to
the type 78, so I would suggest looking at the type 78 to see what I mean.
SRC seat belts (SRC001A) were used, as those supplied are more in tune with modern
day application.
Finally and most importantly, the type 77 had brush skirts added from the front
of the side pods which followed through to the outer rear of the pods. If you
look very closely at the photographs, they can just be seen. At the time of writing
I have not added the skirts, but I have identified a solution. Braun toothbrush
bristles look about right, so when mine is due for replacement; it will be recycled,
adapted accordingly and painted black.
These are just a few modifications that can be made, there are so many others
but they are essentially just cosmetic improvements i.e. spark-plug leads, breather
pipes and airbox fasteners.
So there we have it, a rather excellent kit. Not entirely suitable for a beginner
without some assistance and good eyesight! The carpet monster did not on this
occasion win the battle for the hunt of the suspension pins. This was due more
to luck than judgement.
Thank you Mr Tameo. So, how about a definitive series of type 49's and 72's?
Just think, five years worth of 72 variants alone, two of those World Champions,
there must be some mileage in that!
Now where did I put that Tameo TMK338 Type 81?
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