SAPMA (South Australian Plastic Modellers Association)

The LOTUS 25/29/33 Series Cars
Part 2

. The smaller 1/25 scale Lotus 25 is a full on multi-media complete kit. Produced by Joker, aka K-Model in Japan, I obtained this kit through Hapico, but it may now be out of production sorry to say. By the way, Joker also produce a 1/25 scale 49 and a 63… mmm have to think about that. If you're quick I think Hapico still have copies of these kits. Yeah! Do it! All tub and body bits plus the wheels are resin, included are real rubber tyres,everything else is white metal, oh! except for a beautifully vacformed windscreen and, AND a real brass mesh intake cover. (Are you reading this Tamiya) You have to add nothing, it's that good. The significance of this car is that it represents a very early 25, the livery does not include the broad yellow band down the length of the car, and it has the transmission cowling/cover. This cowling was deleted when cooling became an issue. It’s a very nice little kit relatively easy to construct if you have dabbled in resin before.


The rear transmission cover clearly evident on the early Lotus 25’s Note stained exhaust pipes done with Tamiya clears. Intricate detail makes for a good little model.

The #93 Lotus 29 Indy car was a specially made car to contest the 1963 Indianapolis 500. It was a derivative of the Lotus 25, with asymmetric suspension, and a thumping 255 cubic inch piece of agricultural machinery in the rear that started life in a Ford Fairlane, I kid you not.

This 1/25 scale kit is part of MPC’s 3in1 Indy Hall of Fame set, that also includes a Watson roadster and an M16 McLaren. (More about these two in a future article) Its not a bad little kit OOB but to get a modicum of accuracy into it became a bit trying. Wheels, tyres, windscreen and decals are the culprits. The decals are fairly easy, just trash the kit jobs and obtain a replacement set from Fred Cady Design. He does sets for the Jim Clark car and this one driven by Dan Gurney. I chose the Gurney car because it's white and blue, and looks more ‘Indy’ish’ if you get my drift.

The windscreen is a piece of junk. I used the thing as a mould to vacform a thinner longer version. Not long enough if you look closely at the photos. Ah well nobody's perfect, I just call the gaps air bleed slots, that'll fool ’em.

Now the wheels and tyres are a bit of a juggling act, you see the wheels are ’wrong’ and the tyres are grossly out of scale. Let me explain, first the plastic kit tyres are another bin job. So I got a set of black resin replacements from Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland, they do a heap of stuff, this particular set are 1/25 Early Indy cars, Big & Little's.(Once again check their web site, they should be listed on our links page).

OK next , the wheels that the instructions tell to go on the back actually go on the front, because they are close look-alikes for the cast magnesium jobs manufactured by Dunlop and used by the Lotus cars. Gurney had to use US made Halibrands on the rear of his car because his Dunlop's broke when he had an off in practice for the 63 race and couldn't get replacements rears in time. These you will have to scrounge from the front of the Watson roadster kit. ( The kit front wheels don’t resemble anything ever used on a Lotus car) Why? How the hell do I know, go ask MPC.

There you have it. Not a perfect model by any means but good enough for the collection, and I’m glad I persisted with the wheels and tyres it sure looks more like a 29 than it would have OOB. Hope you all like the photos.

Dan Gurneys Lotus 29 in qualifying trim and raced in the1963 Indianapolis 500. He finished in 7th place