First off, let me show you another late find that I had for the last newsletter.
If you recall, we covered the Lotus 99T. This little gem comes courtesy of Kyosho in 1:64 scale (approximately a Hot Wheels size), and was sold as a "blind box" item in Japan. The "blind box" means that you don't know what you have until you open it! Luckily, I have friends in Japan that were able to track this down for me. I understand that there was a decal set out in the market that would allow you to convert this into Camel livery, but now it appears sold out. You snooze, you loose.
Now on to the Lotus 102B... This car was what Team Lotus entered into the 1991 F1 season. There were a bit of changes from the Lotus 102, including dropping the Lamborghini engine, and replacing it with a Judd V8. Likewise, gone was the tobacco sponsorship, replaced with the model maker Tamiya. The original drivers were Mika Hakkinen and Julian Bailey, however, due to Bailey's performance early on, he was replaced with Johnny Herbert. The models that are currently available (and those that are "unobtainium") focus on these two drivers. This 1/43 scale model was produced by a now defunct company called ONYX, and can still be found occasionally on Ebay. Your best bet would be to try Ebay.co.uk for this. one. The detail is rather spartan, though.
If the details are what you crave, then you can't go wrong with the latest release from Spark. This 1/43 scale model is of Mika Hakkinen, as he drove in the San Marino GP of 1991. Nice touches abound, including antennas on the car. Spark goes one step further by including VERY small Marlboro decals that can be added to this model. The only downside is that I am not sure where to apply all of them....I'm sure the internet will help with this, though. I picked this up from Jim at Diecasm, and I am sure he can also fix you up...but get it soon!!
This is another 102B from my collection that is "unobtainium". It's a 1/20th scale diecast produced by Tamiya to commemorate their sponsorship of the car. This was part of a series of "Collector's Club" models that included a Ferrari as well. It comes mounted on a nice base with a plaque, and includes an acrylic cover to boot! While it's very hard to track this down, (I am sure it can be had out there in cyberland...but for a hefty price) Tamiya also produced a plastic model kit of the 102B that you can easily still source.
Finally, this is from my collection of Team Lotus goodies...it's a Carbon Fiber Damper (Spring) cover off a Lotus 102B! As we cover various Lotus F1 cars, I will share with you a bit of my collection from the actual cars as well!
Happy Hunting !!
