I've been doing a few long term projects

[mattb]

I guess I'll never quit dreaming up new stuff to do. I've wanted to do a 1/32 scale Lotus 38, basing it on the Monogram Lotus 33 body. I got a pretty rough body a few months ago and finally got around to working with it a few weeks ago. I cut off the injector tubes, and re-shaped the area in front of the windshield. Took some balsa and carved a close copy of the rear section, trying to copy the shape of my Monogram 1/24 Lotus. when it was all done and re-shaped and putty sanded and re-puttied and sanded and finally, I accepted it for what it was and made a mold. As tight as the chassis is in this little car, I had to do a 2 part mold to keep the cavity big enough for the Monogram Slimline chassis to still fit. I got the first one done today and have a second one under way, but it will have a Buzco 13d chassis, which is just a bit wider, but the body flexes easy. The Buzco is actually a simpler design and fits better.

This is pretty typical for me and it is OK. Had so much trouble with paint that a lot of detail was lost. I'm not a great modeler but at 4-5 foot, it suits me.

[chappyman66]

Matt,
That's great scratchbuilding for sure! Much more ambitious than anything I ever try. Looks pretty nice to me!

[chrisguyw]

Nice conversion Matt,......well done

Cheers
Chris Walker

[mattb]

Paul, it wasn't any more a challenge than any of the stuff you do. All I had to do was make the new back end and some little re-shaping of the old Monogram body and I was ready to do a mold. The windshield is from the stock Lotus 33. I made a buck and it's an easy copy job with my old Mattel Vac Form. The exhaust is a resin casting from Brad Blohm for the Strombecker Lotus 38. I copied it in 2 pieces, the snakes that fit on the body and the two exhaust pipes. The injectors are just wire ferrules as a lot of us use. Not anything hard to do. just hard to do it precisely like some guys can do. The Indycals decals are what sets it off!

Vac form is hooked to my shop vac and I heat the plastic with a butane torch to soften it up. If it doesn't look like it pulls tight, I will add a little heat while it is being pulled down on the buck.