éX-Driver Caterham Super 7

       

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Original Kit:
Lotus Super 7 Series II
Made By:
Tamiya (kit #24046)
Scale:
1/24
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Lisa Sakakino's Caterham Super 7 from the anime eX-Driver
eX-Driver Caterham Super 7 interior eX-Driver Caterham Super 7 engine eX-Driver Caterham Super 7 rear

 
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The third and last of the main cars from eX-Driver, Soichi's Caterham Super Seven, took a bit more work than the others thanks to a lack of base kits. The closest I could get was the same Tamiya kit as I used for the Prisoner Lotus and a Caterham 3D printed transkit from Motobitz. The transkit had parts for the fenders, exhaus, hood, dashboard, seats, lights, Minilite wheels, tires, and roll bar...not quite everything I needed, but still a big help.

My first task was to remove the Lotus' stock fenders. They came off pretty clean, needing just a little filler in spots. I also had to fill in the rear fascia where Tamiya had the cutouts for the spare tire carrier, which I did with some styrene plugs and a little putty to smooth the surface. The new fenders were carefully sanded to remove the 3D print lines, and the rears were attached to the body with superglue. Motobitz's instructions were a little unclear on how the cycle fenders were supposed to attach to the front spindles, so I did a lot of test fitting and just went with what seemed to have the most positive locators.

No parts were provided for the engine, but the stock 1.3L SOHC motor was clearly incorrect. I had most of a second Europa kit left from messing up Lorna's car, including the complete 1.6L DOHC. It still wasn't quite right, but much closer. It even accepted the Seven's transmission and motor mounts with little difficulty. Once those modifications were made, I painted it a few shades of black and metallics. The intake manifold was adjusted so the intakes were a little higher, and the original Seven exhaust headers were modified to fit the larger head.

With the engine done, I went back to work on the body. the transkit had a louvered hood, but the number of louvers was wrong and it still needed to have the intake hole cut in the right side. Since I was going to have to do a bunch of work anyway, I opted to modify the styrene Lotus hood rather than risk working with the more brittle 3D resin. I started by smoothing off the left side of the hood, then using the mounted engine as a guide I cut the hole in the right side. I then marked off the top of the hood and applied the louvers using Archer's waterslide detail parts. Once the modifications were done, the body was painted Tamiya TS-16 Yellow and TS-14 Black.

Most of the suspension was assembled straight out of the box, the only modification I had to make was cutting the spare tire carrier off the rear frame. The wheels and tires were a bit of a problem, as none of the five-spoke wheels or tires I had in the stash were the right size or shape to fit. I had some that fit the front fenders but looked silly under the rears, or some that fit the rear fenders but were too big for the fronts. I finally happened upon a 1/32 Nissan GTR diecast made by Jada, and there was my solution. The spoke style wasn't exactly right, but it was real close and definitely had the right feel for the project. The tires were very nearly the exact same size as the ones provided by Motobitz (just with a lower profile sidewall), and I could add a set of parts box tires to the rear by just cutting off the shoulder. They were painted a matching TS-16 and were good to go.

The interior was painted satin black, with matching satin black vinyl used for the side panels to ensure nice sharp edges. The seats came from the same GTR that donated its wheels, cut down and reshaped slightly to fit the Caterham's cockpit. Motobitz's transkit provided the dashboard and steering wheel, and the seat belts were scratch built with aferemarket photoetched buckles and my own custom labels.

The engine was installed permanently at this point, and I added basic wiring and plumbing. I then scratch built a new air filter to fit the carburetors and poke through the side of the hood. The exhaust pipe was cobbled together from a combination of kit and transkit parts.

At this point there were just a few details remaining. The headlights were straight out of the kit, with my own custom marker lights added to them (Motobitz provides these in the kit, but they didn't look quite right to me). The windshield was cut down and reshaped from the glass out of a Monogram Z-28 Camaro since it was already tinted. The roll bar was scratch built from 0.062"/1.6mm rod stock. The taillights were straight out of the transkit, colored with magic markers for the red and orange lenses. I used the nose badge and spat decals from the transkit and made my own custom éX-D markings. The sideview mirros were taken from Tamiya's Porsche 962C kit, not an exact match to the anime but had the right sporty-but-square look. Finally, the grille was acustom 3D printed piece I drew up based on the photoetched piece from the kit. A properly thin grille would be too fragile for anything but photoetch, but I made it to include a false radiator and electric fan as abacking plate. The result isn't perfect, but I think it turned out pretty good and it fixed the one remaining problem I had with the build.

 

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