After hearing that Fujimi was releasing an all new tool of James Bond's Lotus Esprit sub from the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" I jumped on the pre-order. That was last summer. The Sub kit was released in December and I spent a month or so working on it. Around the same time Fujimi then announced they would be doing a street version of the same car! That was great news as no current kit exists of the original first generation Esprit except for some older Japanese kits that fetch upwards of $100 on eBay. I again jumped on the pre-order list. The kit was released last week, middle of February. It arrived from HLJ just 4 days after leaving Japan.
Again, this is an all new tool of the Lotus Esprit S1, based on the original release of the James Bond version. It is NOT a re-pop of the old Nichimo or Entex kits. Like all others, it is a curbside kit with no engine. Unlike the others, it does have a nicely engraved chassis plate with separate front and rear suspension (steerable front wheels) and exhaust components(chromed). Like the Bond version, it is also right hand drive. However, do to the design of the dash board, converting to left hand drive would be a relatively simple affair I think.
The kit includes some window masks to help with painting the front windshield and small rear window in the cockpit. That was a nice touch. The satin chrome wheels are nice. The chrome around the very thin edges of the wheel lips had rubbed off in a few spots though. An easy fix. The tires are generic no names and are hollow rubber, instead of the typical solid rubber tires typically found in kits
All of the kit parts are otherwise very, very nice. Like the sub, all clear lenses have a chrome reflector behind them. This version does include tiny side maker lights for the front and rear finders. These do not have chrome reflectors though. The body is very crisp and no flash was found on the parts.
There are better pictures of the sprues online, but here is what I took. for you guys. I'll be starting the build soon.
Hopefully, Fujimi will entertain us with a Turbo Esprit edition in the future. If not, I have already put a bug in the ear of my favorite 3D printer artist on Shapeways...
Enjoy...
