Tamiya 1/20 scale Lotus Type 79 1978

Nicknamed “The Black Beauty” because of its smooth lines, the Lotus Type 79 is considered one of the most beautiful F1 race cars ever developed. Tamiya delivers uncompromised quality with its 1/20 scale kit.

There are more than 135 precisely molded parts in gray, black, and chrome-plated plastic. Rubber F1 tires and beautifully molded metal-mesh engine covers are also provided.

Nicely printed decals are included for Mario Andretti’s No. 5 and Ronnie Peterson’s No. 6 car.

Tamiya replicated the aluminum monocoque of the full-size car well, with all of the rivets and assembly holes.

The directions call for all polished aluminum parts to be painted chrome silver. Handling parts wearing this paint is always a problem, so I sprayed Tamiya (TS-30) silver leaf lacquer directly from the can.

The front suspension goes together well, with functional, poseable front steering. The front brake rotor and caliper assemblies are well molded, as is the cooling duct work.

The front rotors are assembled for each to hold a polycap inside, so installing the front tires is a breeze.

The Type 79’s Ford Cosworth engine is faithfully represented. The plug wires are included in the kit — always nice — and they are easy to install.

The rear suspension is well detailed, and its fit and finish is perfect. It’s built as a separate unit on the transmission, then glued to the back of the engine block.

Mating the engine to the back of the monocoque firewall is the only tricky part of assembly. The front of the engine block has a hole that slips onto a tab on the firewall. You must force the engine assembly down toward this tab to lock it in place.

The tires are molded in rubber, each having only a minor seam to contend with. The wheels have bright chrome plating; some may want to tone them down with a semigloss clear or strip them and paint with Alclad Chrome.

The four-piece outer body shell has various parts that need to be glued to them to be complete.

Make sure you use plenty of water when positioning the decal stripes on the car, or you can easily tear them.

Assembly of the side pod and lower wing section was tight. I had to reglue the front intakes to the front side pods twice before they snapped in place correctly. The rear wing was a bit difficult because there is not a positive location to glue it onto the arms coming off the side pods.

The last step of the instruction manual calls for adding the Weber carb trumpet intakes with their kit-supplied mesh domes. The domes are beautifully done, but are tricky to glue to the trumpet assemblies.

In my opinion, this kit will be a home run for Tamiya. Out of the box, the model is impressive. If you want to make the model even nicer, Tamiya makes a sheet of photoetched-metal details for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this kit, and recommend it to experienced modelers.