Lola T-70 Mk III

[ScaleMaster]

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.

[ScaleMaster]

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

[ScaleMaster]

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…

[ScaleMaster]

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

[ScaleMaster]

Never can be too careful...




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

[ScaleMaster]

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.

[ScaleMaster]

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).

[ScaleMaster]

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).

[ScaleMaster]

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.

[ScaleMaster]

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.

[Roger Zimmermann]

When I did the lightning on the Mark II, I had the advantage to have a common ground as the model is made with metal. You must have two wires par bulb as yours is plastic. Nice job!

[ScaleMaster]

Actually three wires. (Fiberglass/plastic doesn't carry electricity.) Common low beam hot , high beam hot and a ground for the head lights. The parking lights/turn indicators have common ground and one low hot with two different high hot leads.

[ScaleMaster]

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.

[kon_gee]

Absolutly incredible build! I have been away from this site for a few years while you have obviously been creating another masterpiece. It seems that the original Lola kit was merely a suggestion of what you are actually building! I know you started this project in 2019 but I cannot even process the amount of time and effort you must have dedicated into this build. The level of detail you bring to the table is way over the top! Every page of your build is like going to school to re-learn what is possible!
Bravo!!

Gary

[ScaleMaster]

Thank you Gary!

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.