Akihiro Kamimura builds the Meri kit

It is so famous the master-model of this kit is madeby Vincenzo.Bosica. I love! Vincenzo and his works,however there would be some modification points tobuild the early Lotus 49 in the Dutch GP,1967.Additionally, this "Ford DFV" seems too much for thebody.

I pre-assembled the main chassis, engine andgearbox to see the relationship and adjust the gapsbetween them. Part of the center diffuser ismissing... what should I do to make it?

However that may be, I began to build it. The bodyparts were separated as we can build any types of49 or 49B, so it was the first step that I unified themwith a solder.

Surprisingly, I could soldered them without even adrop of flux. It was very easy to melt... I guess thematerial of this white metal includs a lot of plumbum.Anyway, I removed the excess metal with a rotarytool.

I added some volumm to the side body with a solder,and also did the same work to the upper nose.

I made a good shape, a good line on the body. Ialways use a rough file like this!

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I felt the anterior length of the cockpit was too short,so I extended it with a solder. Be careful! Don't get aburn on your left fingers.

After shaving the excess metal, I added the frontsuspension covers with epoxy filler.

I used two or three knifes, about ten files and arotary tool to emphasize the details of the body. It'sso difficult to keep a desktop as clean. But, I do mybest!

The picky details were added on the body. But toavoid too much decorations, I put the rivet hole onthese particular erea.

The side air vents are very fine p-e parts, so Isoldered them carefully to the upper cowl. It is betterI guess, the output of my soldering iron is 25 watts,and the shape of the tip is rather blunt.

I remade the fuel cap with the combination of a brasstube and an aluminum rod. All right, it's time tospray the first primer.

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After the first primer coat, we can easy to find somegaps and scars. So I applied thinned-out Tamiya'sgray filler with a brush and sanded them flatly after awhile.

I adjusted the ride height and inserted the 0.75-mmplastic sheet between the under tray and the ground.The upper and lower monocoque were already joinedby solder.

The second primer has been sprayed on the body. "Itseems to be perfect doesn't it?"I thought at thismorment.

I like to build this kit as the debut version at DutchGP, 1967. So I had to work out the surroundingshield of the cockpit.

I beated a thin brass sheet with a hammer and a dullchisel bent it along the cockpit opening.

I joined the back end of the brass each other andgave it some ajustment to fit the opening of thecockpit. Against an expectation, you know this workdidn't need much difficulty.

I got an email advising for Meri's Lotus49 from afriend. He said " If you wanna build early version of49, should check the line of access hatch!"Soon Iunderstood what he say, and removed the primer.Then I corrected the fault of the engraved lines.

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I re-engraved the acess hatch as a circule. Is it allset to spray a primer coat?

After the primering, I found another delicatedistinctions on the suspension covers. The earlyLotus49 had a bit smaller covers than the late one.

I corrected the suspension covers and added therecessed lines of the fuel tank, in passing.

Breathing a sigh of relief for about the body, Istarted to build the front suspension. I integratedright and left upper arms and put the brass rods asaxles into the front uprights.

I made the bulkhead with a thin nickel silver sheetand put it from the backside of the body. I alsoshoved some structures in front of the bulkhead.

Then I attached right and left uprights to the upperarm with small rivets.

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The outer wheels were turned off from aluminum bya friend. I used inners from an original kit but theyneeded some adjustments to fit into the outer one.And you know, the tire set came from Quartzo'sLotus 49 : a die-cast model car.

I set wheels and tires but it seems a bit wider as theimage of the real car. I'm going to chop and adjustthe center part of the upper arm, little by little.

After the position of the uprights had been fixed, Ibegan to make lower arms along them. They almostconsists of brass material : the double upped brasssheet and 0.6-mm brass rods. Especially for thejoints of arms, what a perfect fit that I found them ata shop of the rail-road modeling (I don't know howthey should be used originally).

I guess... I've done the perfect job on the frontsuspention. Don't you think so?

I stated to build the rear end. There was astrangeness for this big one and I had the luck touse Tameo's DFV from the junk box. The ZF gearbox, almost seems okay but I'll add some pick detailslater.

I made a base-plate from the thick brass plate andattached the gearbox that removed from the originalengine block, on it with small screw. Tameo's DFVwere also set in front of the gearbox.

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And then I inserted the base-plate in the rearbulkhead.

The base floor of the body was removed in the earlystage. I also remade new floor with a thick brassplate and cut to fit the base-plate of the rear end.Finally they were joined with a solder like this.

According to the references, the rear bulkheadseems no painted, was bright like a metal. I decidedto cover that area with a metal sheet and I cut it outfrom a 0.1-mm nickel silver, using a jigsaw.

The bulkhead cover was attached to the body with asmall screw.Making the roll-bar, I'm no match for itand there were many errors, at this time!

I set the alignment of the rear tread. The body wasfixed on the transparent-acrylic base that is binding across-section paper. So I could easy to decide itsalignment.

Original rear uplights were unified with the driveshafts. I cut them all to pieces with razor-saw andwent through the nickel silver rod each other.

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The lower suspension arms consist of brass tubesand rods, as usual. I also made use of some smallhex head bolts that are provided by Sakatu. Iguess...every Japanese modeler should be obliged toour easy circumstances.

I made the pivot brackets of the lower suspensionarms. They were floating at the both sides ofgearbox and surported by the sub-frames from theengine. It seemed a difficut work, however Isupposed it was never impossible.

It took about three and a half hours to compleate theall parts...

The shock absorbers could be replaced from Tameoparts. So all I need to do was to make the narrow-pitched spring ; they were made with a thin brass rodthat heated with a lamp..

I soldered the small brakets on the sub-frames andattached the absorbers to them. Any other arms ofthe rear suspension were made with brass tubes, as Idid before in Lotus 72E or Ferrari 312B.

When I want a small bracket in my model, I oftendivert a photo-etched parts from AFV modelingin1/35 scale. However, there's a few case to make iton my own...

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I made the support brackets of the stabilizer along toits diameter size. I also made two guide arms withnickel silver strips and thin rods.

All the rear suspension parts has been settled now.Even if I do say it myself... but it's a fine job!

From here, I started building peripherals of theengine. The shift rod was added on the right side ofthe gearbox and it reached at the end of rearbulkhead, throughing under the exhaust pipes.

I made the radiator lines with a 0.8-mm brass rod.As it has any curves, so I divided it into two piecesand attached them with the brackets that were madewith brass tubes.

The exhaust pipes were remade with a1.0-mm solderline that's easy to form by hand.

It has became a bit warped... may need someadjustments with a filler.

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I've built some Ford DFVs in 1/43rd scale beforenow, and for this time I'm going to add a bit newdetail based on my experience. This is the centerpart of air funnels and throttle plates. I drilled theholes that would be inserted air funnels, step bystep.

I had got these air funnels at Retromobil show andtheir lower part were already extended with thecombinations of brass tubes. The throttle plates thatwere made by photo-etched were modefied tothrough the brass tubes. You can see a littleclearance under the plate, in above picture.

I drilled 0.5-mm hole on the side face of the brasstube, to insert another brass tube as the root of fuelinjector. This kind of work has much difficulty so Ineeded another method in addition to using this drill,a verry thin needle file and a rotary tool.

Then I got sucess to solder the injector roots. I hadfound verry small hex head unions in a rail-roadmodel shop in Tokyo few months ago and I put thembetween roots and nozzles of the injector.

I scratched the ignition devices that were mountedon the top of the gearbox, availed of an existing p-epart and a brass tube.

OK, it's almost lovely result on the gearbox.

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All major parts have been pre-assembled now ; stillthere are some concerning points that I have tocorrect... however, I believe in my bones that it willbe a good model!

Considering the long view of my modeling, I orderedto make a "real" DFV engine to my friend who isexperimental modeling engieer. We had somediscussions and then a detailed drawing come out.

There's a reduction machine in his work shop. Healso used freely a milling machine and a drillingmachine to make this small master piece. I neverthink it could be finished without his considerableexperience and talent.

He sent me the master and I added some details ofbolts and nuts on it. I asked another modeling guy tocopy by a white metal.

I guess it must be very difficult way to coppy such aminimal one but he has achieved it. Anyway I've gotthe superior pieces and it's my destiny to build agood model enough to match them...

I began to paint the body. After the white painting, Icovered the number circle broadly.I painted thecenter stripe with yellow.

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To depict a thin green line around the white circle, Imasked the yellow areas and air-brushed with green.

After the green line were dried, I retained the maskon the circle and then peeled another. And thenmasked on the yellow area accurately. I finallypainted full body with green. It's always a wonderfulltime for me to see the crisp divided line of paints.

I found some mistake about the decal when I startedto apply it ; different font and different size. A friendof mine print me a new decal with his PC andanother guy gave me a piece of decal includingTenariv kit. It brings home to me that I'm favoredwith good friends...thank you very much!

I painted a clear coat on the body several times.When the clear coat has been dried, I polished itssurface and then painted the clear again.

Oh! I've almost forgot to build a cockpit. The steringwheel was made with a brass rod which was rolled upand was bonded to a center spoke with solder.

If necessary, some grey filler was added on the jointsof spoke and rim. After it has hardened I sanded thejoints carefully.

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And then I painted it white, primary. The masking gelis very usefull item and I frequently use it in such acase.

Semi-gross red has been coated over the white andthe emblem of Lotus has been applied on the center,too.

The instrument panel was came from a kit. I shavedthe molds on surface and drilled five holes for eachmeter. The meters were made with brass rods andtubes.

I applied the decals of meter on each. Now I find thestering axis should be drilled more to the leftbecause the real car has very hard offset, but it istoo late...

Anyway, there was no importance around the driverssheet so I let well alone without black painting. Iglued the instrument panel on it and checked if itcould be settled into the body.

I joined the body and the underbody with screws. Ialso use the epoxy glue secondarily but there's somepossibility of yellowing. So you must be carefull whenyou put the epoxy on the leucocratic color...

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I fixed the engine brock and the gearbox on theunderbody. The exhaust pipes were painted withmatt white and just be settled in its position.

I made the end pipes with a brass tube (1.2mm inoutside, and 1.0mm inside). And I added the detailsof exhaust pipe stays. These were consist of 0.3mmnickel silver rods and micro springs.

I set the engine heads temporarily. You may find anygaps between the plug holes and the air funnels... butthere's no longer time to bother myself such a bitthing.

I remade the water pipe and the reserve tank withbrass materials. Below the pipe you can see twomicro springs that were twisted from very thin andsoft wire. I'm going to use them as the throttlewires...

I painted the engine heads and others. The waterpipe, reserve tank and all wiring should be set beforethe assembling of the rear suspension.

As concerns the rear suspension, I couldn't affordenough time to take photos of assembling becausethat was so complicate work. The front suspensionwas not so hard, however I have some difficulty withsetting the inside structures to the front nose.

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Yeahhh! She has got four small wheels and looks likea car. It's a long way to come here but I still havecertain number of processes.

The plug cord is 0.25mm soft wire that is sold assolder in the railroad model shop. It is so flexible thatI can make them having a nice expression as a realone.

I painted the plug cord and attached them in suchposition. The fuel injector pipes were also paintedyellow and settled in.

The end pipes of exhaust have changed gold to silverby a nickel plating. I fixed them with the help of someplastic brock.

When I browsed the reference book of Lotus 49yesterday, I found something pipes on the both sideof the underbody. So today I made up my mind toadd these pipes hurriedly.

I reshaped the outlines of the rear-view mirror. Themirror planes were made from thin nickel silver plate.I'm going to polish them and put into the body of themirror, as usual.

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I had to remade the windshield by vacuum formingbecause we can find the different shape in the earlytype of Lotus 49 compared to the late one.

I added the finishing touch, the braking pipes alongthe front suspensions. Many thanks for your help,M.Goto, M.Saito, HiSuzuki, Y.Kabasawa andI.Nomura.

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