Tamiya Lotus Seven

Here's a concept for you... how about a 1:24 scale kit of a 1:1 scale kit car?

The origin of this long-lived sports car has an interesting twist. Due to goofy Purchase Tax laws in place in Great Britain at the time of the car's launch (1957), Lotus chose to offer the car in kit form. This way, the buyer could assemble the car himself and save a substantial sum in taxes, as opposed to the tax rate on a complete car. This continued until 1973, when these laws were dropped. At that same time, Lotus ended production of the 7, though the current Caterham 7 continues the tradition of the original, and the car spawned several imitators.

Now, let's have a look at the 1:24 Tamiya kit.

As is typical with Tamiya kits, the box art is a pleasing print depicting the car in an outdoor setting.

Here we have the body, the Ford Cosworth 4-cylinder engine, the upper body cowling and hood, trans tunnel, wheels, and variious other bits. The seat bottoms (just to the left of the body) are more like throw cushions. The notched rectangular panel to the left of the engine halves is the seat back. These were basic, no frills track cars. The model follows suit.

Here we have the majority of the chassis parts, along with the exhaust header, top boot, and headlights. Front wheels are posable- the rack and pinion serves as a tie rod. The suspension crossmembers are every bit as delicate as they look. In fact, the top crossmember was broken in my kit, but it was easily repaired.

Four tiny hubcaps and a pair of headlight reflectors are on the small chrome sprue.

Here we have the lenses and glass. You can choose between a full windshield or the two smaller units to the lower right. Frames are molded in place.

The grille is photoetched and very delicate- you bend the two pins at the ends downward and it (supposedly) fits into the nose.

The tall and skinny tires have bare sidewalls but decent tread engraving.

Gauges, plates, and DIY-numbered "gumballs" are included on the small decal sheet, along with the Lotus logo for the nose.

The instruction sheet, in Japanese...

And the English/German version.

I have no intention of building this kit box stock, but I have managed to test fit many of the sub assemblies and everything seems to go together pretty well. It is a fantastic looking little model once it's built up and given basic detailing.