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Post by Joel_W on Oct 25, 2018 13:27:04 GMT -8
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Post by afx on Oct 25, 2018 15:38:41 GMT -8
Very nice work Joel. What are your impressions of Ebbro? Never built or even seen one of their kit in person.
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Post by Joel_W on Oct 25, 2018 15:57:59 GMT -8
Very nice work Joel. What are your impressions of Ebbro? Never built or even seen one of their kit in person. JC, This is also my 1st build of a Ebbro kit, but I've got 3 more in my stash,and two more will be added shortly. the kit is very well engineered to the point where I don't remember needing any putty at all. One area that concerned me was the front half shafts had to fit into the inboard brakes. The issue was that the bulkhead wasn't square or plum, so I had visions of the half shafts ending up not aligning correctly, which would have caused the wheels to be out of alignment, and maybe not even touch the ground. but Ebbro engineered it so that there was enough play to compensate for any alignment issues. I've never built a Tamiya F1 kit as yet, but they seem to be famous for really complex and hard to align exhaust headers for the ford Cosworth V8 ,as each header is 4 pcs. Ebbro's are just two pcs. Alignment is a no brainer. Their decals are excellent and I'm pretty sure that they're printed by Cartograf. But they didn't come with the JPS logos. The IndyCal decals for this kit are no longer made as Michael can't print Gold with his new printer. I was lucky and found a small decal company in Hong Kong who actually had just the JPS decals for this kit. A little on the thick side but worked perfectly. My only issue with the design is that the body panels are designed so that you can remove each one. I opted to glue all of them in place except for the nose cone so I can display the front suspension and steering box. Overall, Ebbro designed and engineered this kit up to today's standards, and anyone can build it without much difficulty. From what I've heard, Ebbro is a spin off of Tamiya, so you know that they have the resources to do a kit right. Joel |
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Post by afx on Oct 26, 2018 2:15:28 GMT -8
Thanks for the feedback Joel. This could be wrong but what I have heard is some people left Tamiya for whatever reason and formed Ebbro.
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Post by Joel_W on Oct 26, 2018 6:02:34 GMT -8
Thanks for the feedback Joel. This could be wrong but what I have heard is some people left Tamiya for whatever reason and formed Ebbro. JC, More then once I've done Google searches on Ebbro in what turned out to be a vain effort to learn the history and origin of Ebbro. There have been rumors to go along with what you've heard, others that have the head of the plastic model racing car div leave, etc. But the more I searched, the more I'm convinced that none of these rumors are the sole truth. To start up a model plastic kit company these days requires a huge sum of money, and equally important, a design team. The one big difference today is that you don't have to do the manufacturing, boxing, nor shipping, that's usually out sourced to a molding company in China. Every time I did a Google search for the origins of Ebbro plastic model company, before the 1st site is a box about TAMIYA'S history. Just seems like a no brainer that Tamiya & Ebbro are inter-twined like so many Asian companies. From what I've learned and knew about Tamiya, which started in 1946, Mr. Tamiya 1st love was F1 racing cars, and the lobby of the corp. headquarters is where his collection is displayed. The car division produced quite a few 1/12, 1/20, & 1/24 racing car kits, with 1/12 being Mr. Tamiya's favorite scale. As he got older, semi retired, things did change, and the focus was on military aircraft, armor, and ships (in that order). The retail of the 1/12 cars became an issue. The car div did seem to take a back seat to the other model areas. From what I've been able to piece together, and I'm not so sure that it's the whole story, the head of the car division approached Mr. Tamiya and or his son (I think it was the son) about starting a joint venture that focused on cars. Apparently they liked the idea, and Ebbro became a model kit company. Funded and backed by Tamiya's huge resources. Past this point I have no idea of how many designers made that move, but it was more then just one. Ebbro doesn't just make 1/20 & 1/24 scale race cars & cars, they're a major Asian player in 1/43 scale as well. One strange thing from the start has been Ebbro's choice of subject matter. They started off with F1 cars of the late 60s with the move to the 3.0 liter engine. Why? Lets see, it was Mr. Tamiya's favorite period of F1 racing, and I'm sure that the head designer was right there as well. They make F1 cars from the 70s & early 80s as well, and now they finally released the 1963 Brabham F2 car!! I can't find a single major plastics company that has ever made a F2 car, let alone one from the early 1960's. Just has to have been or is a favorite the powers to be. Not so much the car, but the start of Sir Jack Brabham. I'm looking for more Brabham formula cars to come. And if you love Brabham, then you also love Bruce McLaren. Yeah, I know it's a stretch, but I'm certainly in that camp with both feet. For the closed wheel fans, go to their site, use the translation tab and checkout the upcoming closed will cars. Joel |
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Oct 26, 2018 6:28:45 GMT -8
I had understood what Joel said is pretty much the way i went with Tamiya and Ebbro being connected. Heller the AMT did the Brabham BT 18 F-2 kit back in the early 70's and its still raced in that original form, great kit if you can find one, detailed inc brake lines etc.. Patrick and I have been hard at work on a few of these.. Your Lotus 72 is an excellent replica and I really like it. I have not invested in any Ebbro kits yet but may soon Chris
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Post by Joel_W on Oct 26, 2018 6:48:28 GMT -8
I had understood what Joel said is pretty much the way i went with Tamiya and Ebbro being connected. Keller the AMT did the Brabham BT 18 F-2 kit back in the early 70's and its still raced in that original form, great kit if you can find one, detailed inc brake lines etc.. Patrick and I have been hard at work on a few of these.. Your Lotus 72 is an excellent replica and I really like it. I have not invested in any Ebbro kits yet but may soon Chris Chris Will have to look on ebay for that Brabham BT18 F-2 kit. Thanks for appreciating my efforts on the Type 72E. You can see that at this point in my conversion to mostly car from all aircraft, just OOB is about all I can handle. No sense in worrying about extra details, till I can get the basics consistently up to my IPMS standards. And believe me, in cars it's a lot harder as I modeled mostly in 1/48 scale, and cars are scaled twice as large. Joel |
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Post by garydavis on Oct 26, 2018 8:14:59 GMT -8
Your work looks good Joel. That paint scheme has always looked cool to me.
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Post by Joel_W on Oct 26, 2018 9:25:20 GMT -8
Your work looks good Joel. That paint scheme has always looked cool to me. Gary, Thanks for stopping by, and checking out my build. it's greatly appreciated. The whole run of JPS Lotuses are some of, if not the best F1 looking cars of all time. I keep on telling myself to do them all. The only one I'm not found of is the Type 88 which was banned and never ran in a race because it was just to good for the rest of the field. Joel |
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Oct 26, 2018 11:23:44 GMT -8
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Post by Joel_W on Oct 26, 2018 11:26:32 GMT -8
Chris,
It looks fantastic. Please finish it up ASAP as you're almost there.
Joel
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Post by pnance26 on Jul 17, 2019 16:38:11 GMT -8
   I shouldnt post at 5am anymore! The Heller F-III kit is a Brabham BT-15 F-III not a BT-18 F-II here are some pics of my WIP , I have been working on and off for about 3 years  I have the AMT, Union and Heller versions ...all the same kit. Designed for Heller by my life long friend Phillipe DeLespinay.. actually have known him since I was 8 years old... I assume one day I will get motivated to finish this beauty up.. Chris.... It seems like I saw one F-2 car in all the research I have been doing. Since I have only done about 700 data entries in the last three days, it's no wonder I can't remember. It should be easy to find in a search. There are a ton of F-300 Lolas out there but F-2... hmmmm. I have three Lotus cars... a Mark III already built, two 72Ds, and a 49B, all in 1/12th scale. I really like those almost as much as the collection of Ferraris. Good think they haven't kitted many of those! I'd be broke. I have a 312B, a 312T, T2, already built the T4 and a T5, so that's four more in the pile. I also built the 641/2 and the 126C2 so I will have 7 Ferraris when all is said and done. And I do have a source for the T3 but since I bought a Matra MS11 ths week and decals, my budget is pretty much gone for a week or month or so! I'm so glad to find a group of F1 kit builders! I will try to finish up the spread sheet but I have Tameo and their 350 or so entries still to do. I am not quite done with Studio 27. They have kitted 396 different F-1 cars in 1/20th scale in all media... plastic, resin, and metal! Glad that never obsessed me! Along with Model FActory Hiro, i'd be bankrupt! And homeless! I would have to have a train of shopping carts! |
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Post by arcticwolf on Jul 17, 2019 17:18:55 GMT -8
I have a Lotus 72E Ebbro kit. It's still in the box, I'm waiting for my skills to improve before I tackle it. I have an Ebbro Tyrrell 002 supposedly en route I bought on E Bay, but I'm starting to doubt I'll ever see it. I think I got shafted. The Ebbro's look like beautiful kits, the only downside is the price.
I too love the look of all the black Lotuses (Loti?). Almost as much as a red Ferrari.
Top of wish list - Fujimi Lotus 97T Renault, Senna's car. But I won't pay $130.00 for it.
Nice job Joel!
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Post by Joel_W on Jul 18, 2019 5:11:50 GMT -8
I have a Lotus 72E Ebbro kit. It's still in the box, I'm waiting for my skills to improve before I tackle it. I have an Ebbro Tyrrell 002 supposedly en route I bought on E Bay, but I'm starting to doubt I'll ever see it. I think I got shafted. The Ebbro's look like beautiful kits, the only downside is the price. I too love the look of all the black Lotuses (Loti?). Almost as much as a red Ferrari. Top of wish list - Fujimi Lotus 97T Renault, Senna's car. But I won't pay $130.00 for it. Nice job Joel! Arcticwolf, Thanks for the Thumbs up, but most of the success of the build was due to Ebbro's engineers. The kit fits together extremely well. I started off collecting all of the Ebbro F1 kits, but like everything else I seem to do, I change course mid-stream for some other new interest in car modeling. As for getting shafted on ebay, if you paid via Pay Pal, you're covered. Open up a claim and within 30 days if you don't get your kit, they'll get you your money back. I've had to do that once with Gravity USA and it was a painless experience. Joel |
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Post by Bernard Kron on Jul 18, 2019 12:23:23 GMT -8
Beautiful build. Oh to be skilled enough to finish something to the level of deserving a formal display stand like this one quite clearly does!
Great follow up, too. I now very little about model car history, and even less about sports and formula car model companies at that!
But I do know a fair amount about the cars themselves and Ron Tauranac is as much a hero for me as are Chapman, Broadley or the Costin brothers. The structural efficiency of his designs take my breath away. I have made a mental note to build one of those little Hellers as one of my first attempts at a formula car. I'm pretty much a 1/24-1/25th purist so I'll have to avail myself of The Spreadsheet as it takes shape.
Thanks to you all for the stimulating discussion.
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