Lola T-70 MkIII [FINISHED!]

Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 5:15 PM

First part of a new subassembly… A few hours of machine work; slow going using 1/32 inch end mill. Now for some hand finish work.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Monday, April 25, 2022 9:13 PM

Thanks! You got me Steve; I'm still figuring out what assembly lube to use on the bearings....

The tail lights got the same treatment as the headlights except I made the bulbs from thin clear tubing that was sealed on the ends with clear gloss. Since the lenses are molded in clear I used Tamiya lacquers to tint them.

I added details to the housings as well to accept the wiring/plugs.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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DUSTER

Member since
August 2007
From: back country of SO-CAL, at the birth place of Naval Aviation

Posted by DUSTER on Saturday, April 23, 2022 11:03 PM

What a great tour-de-force in modeling. Thanks for the ride so far.

One question, Where do you buy the 1/12 scale fuel to run in this? Angel

Steve

Building the perfect model---just not quite yet Confused

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, April 22, 2022 8:02 PM

I used the kit reflectors and lenses for the headlights, but I drilled out the reflectors and added halogen light bulbs. Steel and clear plastic for the bulbs.

More work was done to the back side of the headlights for the electrical connectors. They are made of brass and styrene. They will get lightly weathered when the inside of the hood does.

The loom for the light wiring was made the same way as the one for the engine. It takes 18 inches of armature wire to wrap one inch of the loom.

The pigtails are just fastening features for the offshoots for each light assembly.

It's tighter under there than I expected so I had to be careful how I routed the loom. The driver's side headlight is connected here.

The lower driving lights have been turned into parking lights/turn indicators. The front section that supports them had to be reworked to accommodate some other changes I made too; still a little finish work to do on that. Those lights are connected here.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, April 21, 2022 5:38 PM

The rest of the car has been modified so much that when I revisited the front of the chassis I realized it needed to be reworked to match. When I first converted it from right to left hand drive (back in June of 2019) I used a "stock" configuration. But since the brakes and clutch systems have been upgraded, including the masters, it didn't fit the theme of the rest of the car anymore. Truly a victim of progress.

I removed all the metal rivets that I made back then (except two that I temporarily used for alignment) and fabricated a new upper plate with a cleaner look that still followed the same style. I went with ¼ inch diameter rivets instead of 3/8 inch.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 6:57 PM

I made decals for the printing on the gas struts for the doors (based on the struts I copied the physical dimensions from off one of our real cars).

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, April 15, 2022 8:39 PM

I mostly planned a way from the start to connect/disconnect the electrical for the lights in the removable hood assembly to the rest of the car. I found some easy-lock nine-pin connectors that would work and made one from brass with magnets so it should be easy to connect after the hood is installed to the body. I'll detail them later.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Sunday, April 10, 2022 5:24 PM

I reworked the headlight covers and added the seals & fasteners. They are just sitting loose on the body.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, April 8, 2022 1:21 PM

Never can be too careful...

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Tuesday, April 5, 2022 9:38 AM

Thanks Joe!

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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mustang1989

Member since
March 2012
From: Corpus Christi, Tx

Posted by mustang1989 on Monday, April 4, 2022 2:47 PM

Good LORD man!! Where do all the details stop with this one!!! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!

Forum | Modelers Social Club Forum (proboards.com)

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Monday, April 4, 2022 2:05 PM

The sawhorses are finished. I made decals and added the pivot point fasteners.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Sunday, April 3, 2022 3:51 PM

I mixed some enamel cream and acrylic clear yellow and painted where the magnets were visible on the bottom.

Steel pins locate the wood beams to the frames.

Ready for final paint…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Sunday, April 3, 2022 11:42 AM

Thanks! I use Sherline machines. The rest of my tools are the same you'd expect to see on anyone's workbench.

I painted the insides of the horses and the latch/locks before installing them with hinge pins.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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dinglebery

Member since
March 2021
From: Southern California

Posted by dinglebery on Sunday, April 3, 2022 12:14 AM

Again, Amazing attention to detail and crafstmanship!!! I would love to see the tools you use to make and turn all these parts. I'm thinking about getting a LMS mini lathe soon...

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 2, 2022 7:48 PM

I set my mill up to work as a planer and shaved some basswood stock down for the tops.

I also imbedded some magnets to make them more stable when the hood is perched on them.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 2, 2022 6:47 PM

I soldered a second layer of brass to the stiffeners for detail, and stiffness…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 2, 2022 4:07 PM

I soldered the sheet metal stiffeners to the A frames.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Saturday, April 2, 2022 10:54 AM

On my list of ancillary parts is a pair of saw horses to support the hood when it is not on the car.

I started with some brass C channel and rectangular box stock. I milled the box stock into another size of C channel for the tops. I soldered the perimeter of the A frame together. (As fun as making them fold up seemed at first, their job is to show off the car part safely first.)

Next I cut the angles for the bottoms of the legs.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, April 1, 2022 10:48 AM

Thanks John!

I made small doors for stowage for the inner door panels. The knobs are steel. I painted the doors to match the wheels and the recessed areas of the panels are body color.

The inner door handles are fabricated from aluminum. I also added a latch mechanism to the front of the doors for safety. The front and rear latch pins are aluminum. I'll add the two fasteners to the bottom of each door panel when they are permanently installed to the doors.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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keavdog

Member since
April 2003
From: USA

Posted by keavdog on Monday, March 14, 2022 11:35 AM

Door handles looks fantastic!

Thanks,

John

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Monday, March 14, 2022 10:41 AM

I machined the aluminum door handles too.

The inner door panels were given some attention and a few more magnets as well. I was using screws to attach them to the doors when I started, but the magnets will make for a cleaner look. Up until now they were just being used to align the doors to the body. I haven't decided if I'll fill the two bottom holes on each on yet, or add a small pull bar. Depends on the inner latch handle…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Sunday, March 13, 2022 9:58 PM

Once I got the door lines better than the real cars I've been using for reference I turned my attention to the door handles. I like the cleaner smooth look better than the T-bar handles with the deep dimples that came in the kit. The sleeker GT40 style handles made sense since the same guy designed both cars.

I cut out a section of the doors to fit the brass inserts I made to receive the handles.

After they were located uniformly I filled in the dimples too.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, March 10, 2022 2:23 PM

I got the engine cover and doors to open and close smoothly and uniformly, but the doors and their panel lines still needed some adjustment. I added material (more sheet plastic) to the roof to make the left door align better. The A pillars also received more material for the same reason.

These shots give a good indication of how much material (white styrene) was added to true up the body panels. I did not use any putty at this point, just styrene and CA. Hopefully this will be under primer for the last time soon…

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Thursday, March 10, 2022 2:16 PM

Now that the inner door jambs have been fleshed out, the final adjusting of the door lines should be achievable.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Friday, March 4, 2022 3:57 PM

I fabricated a pair of rubber floor mats...

Made custom decals for the Lola logos.

Build what you want and build it for yourself, the rest will follow... Mark D. Jones

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Scale-Master

Member since
October 2020

Posted by Scale-Master on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 11:03 AM

Time to work on the body again. I had gotten the doors to fit pretty well along with the other body parts, but knowing the changes I would be making to the chassis would affect the body I didn't try to make them fit as well as I intended to.

The first adjustments were to do some inner door jamb work. Plus one of the doors had fatigued from handling so it was drilled and steel reinforcement pins were installed.

The right door ended up with a low spot on the top rear and on the front next to the fender. Sheet styrene was added to fill as well as reshape the edges and corners.