Over 470 pieces in metal, plastic and rubber, pre-painted and decorated ready to assemble. Well, that’s the theory…
If you’re ever going to build Pocher’s big 1:8th scale Lotus 72, first thing to do is throw the instruction book in the bin along with the pissy little screw driver that comes with it. They’re both useless.
In all seriousness, the kit builds into a beautiful replica of Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1972 British Grand Prix winner. Assembly is a combination of glue and lots of very small screws, and I hope the steps and tips that follow are useful if you’re ever fortunate enough to build one.
The completed model with a couple of wheels and bodywork removed.
With agreeance of the owner, this was built pretty much out-of-box, with a couple of little extras, which you’ll see shortly. I am aware that some of the part colours are incorrect – that’s how they come in the kit – but we agreed the time and cost to fix them all wasn’t worth it. The finished model sitting in the display cabinet was still going to look fantastic regardless.
The 44-page booklet that comes with the kit is full or errors. Download the revised instructions, which you can find on my Resources and Links page. This still has errors, but I’ll point those out during the build.
Secondly, the screw driver Pocher supplies is totally inadequate. You are going to need good Phillips head screwdrivers with decent handles because you will need the leverage. You’ll also need some small drills to clean out and deepen many of the screw holes. It amazes me with the level of engineering, the cost and complexity of a kit such as this, the fundamental principle that a screw hole needs to be deep enough to accept the screw, seems to have been overlooked…
So, on with the action. First problem, the box takes up all my work space…
Luckily I have a big table in another room I can lay out the trays and bags of parts, then pick the pieces I need for each step and take them to the work bench.
The Ford Cosworth DFV engine is built first. These are the parts for Step 1. Most are metal, some are plastic, and there’s a range of screw sizes to use.
There are visible mould-parting lines on most parts. If this was a regular plastic kit, I’d clean these up prior to painting, but these parts are already painted and we’re not going to that level of time and effort on this build.
Same deal with sprue gate attachment points. This is a particularly large one, some of the others are more discreet. The visible ones get touched up with a dab of paint later. Despite what Pocher’s early marketing suggested, this kit DOES need glue. This is a two-piece part, fixed together with regular CA super glue.
Sequence of assembly is not clearly defined for the first step and it’s a puzzle to work out which piece to attach first. It seemed each time a part was added, it blocked access to the screw hole for the next!
Didn’t take long before I was doing my own thing… I added some Mirror Film to these clamps so they contrast better with the rest of the part.
Step 1 done. Wash will be added later. The AN hose fittings are pre-painted red and blue, but should be a metallic/anodised finish.
The parts for Step 2
These pieces fitted without issue, but the instructions are not clear regarding the angle the hoses should be pointing. I looked at illustrations later in the instructions to get an idea based on what they had to connect to later in the build.
Plenty of detail cast into the underside of the engine block. This bright toyish look was dulled down later with panel line wash.
Every exhaust pipe is unique and numbered, so no trouble getting them in the correct position in the side of the engine block. See the small silver pipe? There are two supplied in the kit, one for each side. They have the same part number, but one is identified long, the other short. The DFV Cosworth is asymmetrical, so inspect the instructions carefully here.
Each exhaust pipe is attached via a small screw from the inside. I was worried about alignment with the collector later in the build, so pushed the collector on to assist with locating the pipes while they were tightened. The cam covers come with the Ford lettering already done.
Time to start bringing these assemblies together, with yet another different size screw. Worth noting, the kit includes a few extras of all the smaller screws, so you can afford to lose a couple to the Carpet Monster.
But… before putting the engine pieces together, it was time to accentuate the detail with Tamiya’s Panel Line Wash – compare the top before wash, to the bottom after wash.
The kit provides the inside of the ‘V’ of the engine block in black, but I believe for this car, much of this should be the silver/aluminium colour of the main block. Even though the DFV was used in many F1 cars, the teams and companies that prepared and maintained the engines often had their own specs for finish and colour. It’s even possible a car could have different looking engines fitted at different stages during a Grand Prix weekend.
A screw fits in from underneath to secure each injector. There are two types to ensure they point towards the middle. The instructions (even the revised ones) had the part numbers mixed up for one bank, though the illustration was correct (refer to a picture of the real thing if you’re not sure).
The overall fit for this kit is mostly pretty good, but I had to scrape down the side of one injector to get it to fit.
Throttle slides and fuel injectors done.
The front ‘Y’ panel connects to the bottom-end.
Then the sides slide in and screw to the front panel. This step serves as a reminder to prepare the screw holes prior to assembly. The holes are untapped and often not deep enough, meaning the screws bottom out before the part is fully secure.
Parts to finish the engine block. Again, more different screw sizes.
Main engine block done.
Back of the engine. Panel line wash brings out the detail and gives a bit of a used look.
Hoses will connect to the coloured fittings later in the build.
On to the gearbox with the case halves, brake discs and calipers.
I had to file off a bur to allow the two halves of the gearbox casing to match up flush.
Underside of the gearbox with brakes and calipers fitted.
More parts for the next step.
And parts fitted – top side.
Underside. Again, panel line wash is dabbed into crevices. The internal cooling vents of the discs have been painted to contrast with the outer friction surfaces.
First of the ‘movable’ suspension arms ready for preparation. The suspension does not operate on this model, but most of the linkages would work fine if it did. But the big issue here, when test fitting the parts I could not get the black beam to seat on the silver plate. The instructions were unclear, so I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right. But then…
I discovered the beam was bent up at one end! This was carefully bent straight by hand, but I was concerned it was going to snap!
Lower plate secured in place. The four links swing freely on the screws. Adjustment nuts have been painted a light gun-metal colour, plus some wash, which makes them far more convincing.
Instead of coil springs, the Lotus 72 used torsion bars, which is what the long silver rods, above, are representing. Battery Box is in two parts, already painted high-gloss black. Be vary careful to install this the correct way around. Various sizes of flexible black tubing are supplied. Lengths are cut as required during the build and there’s enough spare to handle the occasional mistake.
There’s much more to add, but the basics of the gearbox and rear brakes are done.
The four lower suspension arms are free to move, so be careful when handling the gearbox, it’s easy for them to catch on objects, risking damage.
The rear wing mount, which doubles as an oil tank and has the oil coolers attached, is in two parts, made of metal. Various hoses and pipes are plastic, some are pre-painted. These two parts screw together, and the hoses, coolers and bodywork ducting (not in this pic) glue in place.
Starting to build out the rear suspension. Determining an order of assembly for the various suspension links and supports was a nightmare, as was holding them in place to get the screws in.
But together they did eventually go! Again, I’ve picked out the adjustment nuts with paint and a little wash. The large silver plate on the gearbox has three locating pins that will align it with the back of the engine. The black central post in the middle (hard to see) is metal. Once the engine slides into place, a screw has to be carefully guided through the centre of the engine block and line up with that post! Again, I ran the screw through beforehand to tap a thread. As the build progresses and extra parts added, it’s more and more difficult to get a good secure grip on the model to tighten the screws, without risk of damaging other pieces.
Bulbous oil cooler and ducts dominate the back end of the car. Black finish and gold decoration is high quality. Rain light is clear red plastic, and I’ve added the silver rim.
Engine and gearbox ready to join.
It was a difficult job to get that one central screw inserted and tightened, but eventually it all came together.
The tangle of wires and pipes for the ignition and fuel system is next. This is the fuel metering and spark distribution unit. The kit provides the same colour tubing to represent the spark plug leads and the fuel line that heads off to the injectors. These are not random lengths – each piece has to be cut to a specific length, which is provided in the instructions. The tube is very flexible and a neat fit on the various mounting nubs, but I used a dab of CA glue to help.
The fuel/spark unit sits deep in the V of the engine. All those tubes are ready to be routed to the right place, one by one.
Hard to see some of the black wires on black parts, but the assembly is somewhat neater once everything is connected.
Braided hoses are provided for some of the oil lines. Unfortunately, they are more flat than round and some cutting was required to allow them to insert into a couple of the fittings. The routing of the various pipes is a point of contention – eg, close-up photos of the real car, some show braided hoses running over the top of the black rear suspension brace, others running underneath, but I’m not able to tell which race or even which year they’re from (the Lotus 72 had a remarkably long life span, competing in F1 races from 1970 to 1975). In fact, many of the detail pics online are of how the car is presented at historic races today, which differ from 1972. Ignition box has also been added here.
Either the instructions call out the wrong reference, or the parts were packed into the wrong bags – whatever the case, the rubber CV boots are mislabelled. The smaller boots are for the rear, the larger ones for the front (this car has driveshafts connecting the in-board front brakes to the wheels).
CV boots slide onto the axle which has cut-outs that align with a drive peg on the brake disc. I added thin strips of silver mirror film to the boots to simulate the clamps that hold them in place. Not sure how long these ‘clamps’ will last as they don’t adhere to the rubber very well.
I sit the model on a foam block so there’s room for suspension movement when fitting the uprights and shocks. The kit instructions very poorly illustrate how these mount – the two arms do NOT not screw inside the two clevises you can see here (photos of the real car provided a better reference). Make sure you fit the shock absorber and roll bar linkage before these arms.
Anti-roll bar and linkages added. CA glue secures the eight injector trumpets in place. Something I didn’t do, but would be a good idea, is to use the airbox base (part C-1) as a fixture to ensure they’re aligned properly. Rogue wire at the front will connect when there’s a car to connect to…
I dropped some black Panel Line Wash into the intake trumpets to give a perception of depth to the throttle slides.
Milestone moment – engine/gearbox assembly done! Again, poorly illustrated instructions for the bracketry that connects the upper trailing arm to the front of the engine. The parts are different left to right due to the asymmetrical nature of the DFV. They fit fine once you’ve worked out the correct orientation.
I was concerned about that lower trailing arm finding a home once mated to the monocoque, but it located without issue. Rod-ends and locking nuts have been hand painted.
Metal tail pipes needed an inside bur filed off, but otherwise fitted well and look the part. On the real car they are secured by a spring, not a circular bracket such as this.
For the chassis, each side has three parts that get screwed together, then attached to a central casting of the inner cockpit skin. The bodywork is already painted gloss black with all the gold markings in place. An oily residue and soft plastic wrapping protects the main body parts.
Underside view – the two side pontoons (which housed the fuel tanks on the real car) being fitted to the inner cockpit casting.
The side pontoons mount to the inner chassis via two pegs and three screws, but the holes don’t line up very well. I’ve secured the front and rear screws, but this middle one is misaligned. On a flexible plastic kit, no problem, but being made of metal, a LOT of pressure was required to squeeze the parts together to allow the screw to take.
I was concerned about this gap between the two halves, so grabbed the upper cockpit surround to test fit (below).
The mounting pegs lined up with the holes in the chassis skin, so this was left as is.
On to the front suspension, I twisted the head clean off this screw as I was preparing one of the bell cranks!
Thankfully the part has a shaft that sits inside a sleeve in the front rub-frame, so does not rely on the screw for strength.
Once assembled, the bell crank will be held captive and cannot come out (and this side will be hidden anyway).
For the rest of the build, I decided to drill some of the screw holes fractionally larger. They are just too tight considering the screw is also tapping a thread at the same time, and I fear breaking some of the smaller pieces due to the excessive force required. This allows the screw to run through far more easily but still secure enough for sturdy assembly.
Like the rear, front brake discs are two parts, CA glued together, then some Tamiya wash added to differentiate the brake hats/hubs from the disc surface.
Front drive shafts assembled. As per the rear, strips of Mirror Film were added to simulate the clamps that hold the boots in place.
Each brake caliper is made from four parts, then screwed to the chassis. Paint and wash was used to bring out the cast-in hose detail.
This one-piece grey sub-frame holds all the front-end components. The calipers are screwed in place first (fitted at the bottom, so hidden here) then the discs drop in from the top and driveshafts from the side.
The discs and driveshafts rotate.
While fitting the suspension arms, linkages and shock absorbers, the discs and drive shafts kept falling out. I worked out they can be re-fitted afterwards, so left them out until later. The poor sequencing of this in the instructions just adds a level of frustration that does not need to exist.
On the gas! All three pedals pivot. Brake and clutch have a texture cast into the foot pad to which I’ve added some wash to make it more visible.
Hidden springs hold tension on the pedals.
The discs and axles drop back in, secured in place when the uprights are fitted. Steering rack needed some manoeuvring to get it to fit. The long black piece along the bottom is the anti-roll bar, which is made of plastic and clips to the top wishbones.
Top view illustrates the weird angle the axles run at (notice how they sweep forward? I assume Lotus lengthened the wheelbase at some point with alternative wishbones?). The steering works, but due to the axle angles, any rotation or steering movement dislodges the rubber CV boots…
This is the underside, showing the bottom of the brake calipers, plus bell-cranks and linkages.
Ready to fit the sub-frame to the monocoque. Two screws pull these together…
…then four more screws fix it to this chassis plate. The back two screws (right of picture) go in fine, but the front two are further examples of the hole not being deep enough to accept the screw… so, drill the holes deeper.
And this is how it came out. Looking good 🙂
Rear view shows radiators that were put in place in the very first step of building the chassis.
This is about the capacity of my photo booth! Once these two parts fit together, the Lotus will no longer fit in my booth.
The top panel of the monocoque that goes over the pedal box area would not sit down flush. At first I thought this edging was the problem, so started filing it away, but didn’t solve the problem.
Then I discovered there was not enough room for the panel to drop in place, due to misalignment of the main monocoque side (the black panel, left side of photo). Careful filing of the offending edge – basically just taking the paint off – plus filing the panel itself (below) fixed the fit issue.
The back edge of the panel filed back a fraction.
Finally, the panel sat down flush and could be screwed in place. If this was not fixed, I’m pretty sure the nosecone would not fit later in the build.
Firebomb and straps are pre-painted. There is no point detailing the nozzle and pipe as this gets closed over with floor panels.
Gearstick fits inside a side cover that clips to the inside of the tub, though a couple of the openings and mounting tabs had to be cleaned up to allow it to fit.
Start of the fuel system work on the top of the central rear tank.
It’s a complex tangle of pumps, tubes and fittings! The colouring of several of the parts here is not accurate to the real car (eg, many of these hoses were braided lines) but it still looks ok. Multiple loose ends will find a home once the engine is attached.
The seat belt tongues are made from heavy photo etch. Each needs to be removed from the fret, then any remains of the mounting gate filed away. The instructions call MB-2 (the larger parts) for the top belts, but these should be used for the lower lap belts.
This is part number “SB-1”, the wide seat belt material. Pocher provide just over 200mm…
…but, according to their own instructions, the build requires 304mm! (two lots of 40+45+67)
I decided to change things up a bit and use the wide belt (SB-1, above, being measuring out to not waste a single millimetre!) for the shoulder and the lap belts, then SB-2 (the narrower material) for the crotch straps. The kit calls for using the narrow material for the laps belts, which is strange because lap belts are usually the same, or wider, than the main shoulder straps, and crotch straps are narrow belts due to where they have to navigate…
The belt material frays very easily, so as soon as a piece is cut, a dab of CA glue is touched on the end. It soaks into the material and holds it together.
The pieces that make up the Wixy500 version seat belts. I’ve created loops on the ends of the crotch straps (the kit omitted these) which get fed through the square buckles on the lap belts, then over the tongue before it’s snapped into the main quick-release central buckle (not pictured). This is still not accurate as the main shoulder straps are one piece threaded through the adjuster, whereas in real life this would be two pieces with a free end for adjustment – but there was not enough material in the kit to do that.
The Willans branding and stitching are water slide decals, which adhered to the seat belt material surprising well. The belts ended up soaking up lots of decal softener, so maybe that helped.
Crotch straps secure to the underside of the flexible rubber seat with CA glue.
Then feed out over the top of the seat padding.
Seat and belts installed. The instructions call for all the tongues to be glued to the central buckle (ie, the belts are done up), but why would the belts be done up if there’s no driver in the car? I left them undone.
(Above & below) Drilling one of the small brackets that make up the engine mounting. Again, the hole is not manufactured deep enough to accept the screw. Holding small parts like this for drilling and subsequent tapping of the thread, leads to finger cramps.
So you can see what you’re doing, the model needs to be upside down to connect the engine to the chassis. I use foam blocks for each side of the chassis to rest on, allowing the more delicate parts (seat belts, tubes, wires, steering column) to just hang free.
The lap belts protrude through the cockpit, but this one prevents the main floor piece from seating properly, so has to be cut off (the belt tail on the other side is in a recess, so is fine)
Underside view shows the part of the fire extinguisher that is about to be hidden from view for ever. All the vertical ‘hole towers’ are drilled and tapped prior to fitting the engine and floor.
Slowly bring the two halves together, lining up the mounting brackets, suspension arms and gearshift linkage, plus fitting the lower coolant hoses (seen in next pic). I was dreading this step because there’s a lot going on all at once, but all the parts lined up to where they should.
The main chassis plate is a snug fit, but secures easily. I decided to fit it now as it provides increased strength and rigidity when handling the model, but it will need to come off later to fit the rollover bars.
Once flipped back over, the stray tubes and wires can be connected.
Front brake lines, some detail painting and wash improves the look of a simple single-colour plated part.
Roll-over bar structure, only the front angled bars are secured properly to the chassis with screws from underneath. It is not sufficiently strong to use as a handle to lift the model! As usual, these all had to be re-drilled deeper so the screws would not bottom out.
Headrest looks very real, is soft and made of rubber.
On the back of the dashboard, the kit provides the circular bodies for the three dash dials, but that’s all. I painted the brackets then drilled holes in the switch backings to accept wires.
The kit incudes no wiring for the dash, so I’ve raided the parts bin of tubes and wires. Very fiddly work getting these to sit nicely. I used EZ Line to tie the wires together, then a dab of CA glue to prevent it from coming apart.
Front of the dashboard is pre-printed with the Lotus ID, red ring and yellow wording, and I’ve added chrome paint to a few of the toggle switches. The three dials are decals. Clear plastic lenses fit behind each bezel which is secured to the dash with Kristal Klear (white glue).
Home made wiring loom done! It’s not accurate to the real car, but I think looks far better than if it had been left as the kit came.
The tubular front structure is actually several diecast parts that have pins to locate the pieces, but requires glue to hold it together. The structure screws to the top of the monocoque.
The lower half of the nosecone is plastic. A couple of screws hold each metal wing in place.
The lower nosecone half then screws to the model. The brake and clutch reservoirs have to go in last as they block access to a couple of the screws.
The upper nosecone panel is metal and designed to be screwed to the model – which hides all the chassis detail… It should be fine to just sit in place and removed by hand if needed.
Paint is very glossy and the gold decoration flawless.
An unexpected detail – these rear wing support struts are telescopic 2-part tubular pieces, which means the angle of attack of the wing can be adjusted! Ends are crimped, ready to be screwed in place
A metal pin secures the bottom half of the rear wing (which is plastic) to the model and doubles as a pivot for tilting the wing.
End-plates secure to this bottom half before the metal top panel is fitted.
The pre-painted and decorated top panel of the rear wing in place. It carries a lot of rivet detail.
I usually scuff the tyre treads, but on this kit, the tyres are not soft rubber – they are a rock hard material! I tested sanding the inside surface of the bead, which resulted in this scratched grey appearance; nothing like a raced rubber look. So the tyres were left as supplied in the kit.
Rear rims are two halves (bottom of pic) that glue together (top centre of pic). Front rim is mostly one-piece, but requires the silver outer-ring be glued in place (top left of pic).
At room temperature, the tyres are so stiff it’s impossible to get them onto the rims. I placed them in a tub of hot water which made them more supple and allowed them to pop on without too much effort.
After carefully cutting the windscreen from the clear parts sprue, I used Kristal Klear to stick it to the top edge of the black cockpit surround bodywork. The white marks make it look messy here, but it dries clear.
All the bodywork fitted, just needs the wheels screwed on.
Like this… the ’72 Lotus used knock-off spinners to secure the front wheels and a single central wheel nut for the rear. Pocher provide a special tool to reach the rear nuts as they are deep inside the wheel.
This is the heaviest kit I’ve ever built, 2.849kg
This kit is not a simple build. Some of the illustrations and instructions are confusing and require further research outside of the kit. If you’re looking for a straight forward assembly, this is not the kit for you! Also, don’t be mislead if you happen to stumble over some of Pocher’s early marketing for this kit, announcing it as “screw together, no glue needed”. That is NOT true.
There is plenty of scope to go nuts improving this model, from removing seam lines and repainting plastic parts, to stripping and re-finishing the metal appearance of the monocoque, engine and gearbox. There are now after market detail sets available to take this kit next level – tiny bolts to replace the screws, additional tubing, wiring, springs, linkages etc. Of course, that will ramp the cost up and blow out the build time, but it would look good!
If you ever get to build this one yourself, here are my top tips:
Drill and tap each screw hole prior to assembly. A small tap set would be ideal, but just the kit screws with a dab of lubricating oil worked for me
Take note of how parts fit together within in each step. The instructions rarely provide a sequence of assembly within a step, and you don’t want to glue a part in place, only to realise something else had to be fitted prior
Try and keep your work area dust free, especially when it comes to using and handling the black tubing – that stuff grabs every bit of dust floating in the air!
Wear rubber gloves when popping the tyres on the rims – yes, the water needs to be that hot
If you want the seat belts to be properly accurate, you need to source replacement material
Ensure your display shelving is solid – this model is pretty heavy, almost 3kg
