Well, I've taken off more then a full week since I finished the Tamiya 1/24 scale Porsche 956 build. Usually, I start a new build within a day or so, but the 956 just literally wore me out.

What started out with the goal of just enhancing the engine bay and cockpit, turned into a full blown correction of the cockpit, which was just pure fantasy on Tamiya's part. The engine/transmission bay was just the opposite, and for a kit designed in the early 1980s, it was far ahead of the times, so I thought I'd just enhance it somewhat.

Well, as it turned out, it too received to the best of my limited ability, the full Monty treatment. both areas honestly tested my skill level to the fullest, but somehow I survived, and eventually crossed the finish line.

So this time around I'm looking for a simpler build, one that at best will just have some basic engine and maybe cockpit wiring, as the focus will be what I call an Enhanced Out of the Box build of an iconic open wheel race car. And that car is the Brabham BT18 F2 car.

This is the car that Sir Jack Brabham and his teammate Dennis Hulme drove their team cars to 11 victories out of a 12 race f2 1966 season, and Brabham won the championship with 10 victories. These simple single seat open wheel cars were fitted with a Honda RA302E engine that produced all of 150 hp at 11,000rpm. But it did the job.

Race cars in the rear engine era just don't get much simpler then they were in 1966:



and was powered by the HondaRA320E engine



It's not a very common occurance that a model company specializing in cars would produce a non-F1 car in any scale, but Ebbro announced back in 2016 that they were indeed going to release the BT18 as a kit. And so my 2 year wait started. I'd about given up any real hope of seeing the kit released, when my good friend Richard on Aeroscale let me know that Free Time hobbies had it listed as in stock. So I wasted little time and bought one. to this day I haven't seen any other online retailer here in the USA list one.



Hopefully within a week's time I'll have finished the assemby of the tube frame and side gas tanks for my 1st update.


Joel

A true classic with an Aussie twist, I love it.

I will be following along closely on this journey Joel, best of luck with the build.

Cheers, D

D,
This build is dedicated to you and all my Aussie friends. And thanks for fixing my typing mistake.

Joel

Joel - you bet I'll be watching this one ! Love the 956 BTW - stunning paint and decal work . I wish Tamiya would bump up their 1/20 Lotus 25 Coventry Climax to 1/12 - might even pay the freight if MFH did one . I am surprised it is not available as an über kit from anyone because it is certainly one of the most important and groundbreaking race cars ever .

Keep at it ! Richard

Joel, you know I'm not gonna miss this one! That's a beautiful kit in the right hands!
If I recall myself correctly, no Ebbro was build recently in our community, and that makes the blog even more exciting!

Gabriel

Richard,
It's great to hear from you again. I haven't seen any updates on your Honda 1/12 scale RC 166 since your original post. I'm just assuming that you've been spending all your time working on the other bike. I'm still looking forward to following you work your magic on the Tamiya kit. Sooner or later it's going to happen.

Praise for the Porsche 956 build coming from you, really means quite a lot to me. Thanks so much for those most kind words.

I have a Tamiya 1/20 scale Lotus 25 in my stash, and it will be my next open wheel build. Right now my goal is one or two closed wheel builds, and then one open wheel build. Like you, I'd kill for a Tamiya or anyone one's 1/12 scale kit, but not a multi media kit that would cost literally hundreds and hundreds of dollars. That's why I still don't have a Gurney AAR 1967 Spa winning F1 car on my display shelves. Even the 1/20 scale kit sells for well into the $600 range.

Sure hope that you poke your head into my BT18 build every so often. I'm by no means planning on any level of detailing close to the Porsche, but as you already know, I've wanted this kit for a very long time.

Joel

Gabriel,
it was a given from the start that you'd be there with me from the start to the finish, no matter how the BT18 turned out. And yes, I've never seen a Ebbro kit built here as of yet, so this is kind of Virgin territory for me as well. As a matter of fact, I googled the kit, and I can't even find a in-box review of it. Now where is Rowan when I really needed him?

Joel

Hi Joel. There is a YouTube video review here at DetailScaleView

Scalemates is your friend, you can search the kit and at the bottom of the page is a list of known reviews.

Cheers, D

Hi Joel. I have bought my front row tickets. Will sit back and enjoy the show.

Gorgeous racecar. Beauty in simplicity.

Damian,
Thanks for the link, I'm going to check it out in a few.

Joel

Jesper my friend,
I'm thrilled to have you along on this special build.
Joel

Gabriel,
I'm officially signing up for the Old man's Dementia club. No one can be more fundamentally impaired then I seem to be

Not only has there been another Ebbro build on the AutoModeler site, but yours truly built it

The Ebbro 1/20 scale Lotus 72E F1 car.

Joel

Ah-ha! Here you are Joel!

Along for the, ahem, ride, I am

Absolutely watching you build this Joel. The open wheel cars of the 60's are the most delicate of them all and this looks like one of the nicest. One of Black Jack's own and of course Denny went on to be world champion in '67 in a Brabham.

cheers
Michael

Russell,
Welcome to the journey Russell. Hopefully, it will be fun for all, and real learning experience for me.

Joel

Michael,
The 1960's specifically 1967, was my favorite era and season for F1 & F2. Ford was battling Ferrari on the FIA endurance trail, and even USAAC was starting to become main stream with the Indy 500 as their flagship race.

I'm on course for my 1st major update this Friday or Saturday, as I've made some really good progress. I'm amazed at just how good this kit really is.

Joel

Hi Joel

Nice! I'm looking forward to following this build!

I must admit I've shied away from Ebbro kits on account of their cost in the UK, but their kit of the classic rival to Brabham the following year - the Lotus 49 - is pretty irresistible for someone like me who was a Jim Clark fan when I was a kid! I think you've decided for me that I should take the plunge and buy it!

Timed perfectly against the testing for the 2019 F1 cars, I just watched a You-Tube video of Jim Clark and Graham Hill in the Lotus 49 in its first race at Zandvoort and it's a reminder of why F1 today can't hold a candle to the classic racing in the '60s! Wonderful stuff!

All the best

Rowan

Over the last week, I've been able to put in a fair amount of time at the bench, since it's done nothing but rain, light snow, high winds, and cold temps. Not my type of weather to be outside for sure.

So I started with step one which is the chassis basics. The Chassis constructed back in the 1960's used plain old steel tubing. Cut, clamped and wielded right there in the shop. The designs while varying slightly from one car to the next, were basically all he same, where everything was bolted to the independent frame. I glued up the basics parts, and I had a frame.



You'll notice that the molded color is aluminum, and that's incorrect, as we're looking more of a basic steel type tubing. Also, the inside of the cockpit tubing is flat on the side facing inward. The tubing should be completely round, so this puzzled me to the nth degree as you can see the tubing in this picture is certainly round



Took a little while to figure that out. With all the other over laying pieces of tubing between the chassis and the seat, having fully round tubing just might have created a space issue. So the halved tubing solved the problem. I was going to try and make half tubing, but as soon as I saw that it would effect all the other tubing in the cockpit, I nixed that idea. Still seems that someone didn't get the measurements totally correct.

I painted the chassis and associated pcs of tubing Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Gray, then when dry I glossed them with Model Master Glosscoat.



Next up was the two side gas tanks. Yep, back in those days the main tanks were actually on either side of the driver, and they neither had a rubber bladder, nor were they self sealing. Plenty of drivers died in car crashes from gas fires when the tanks just erupted into flames. Here's a picture of Jack Brabham working on his BT-18 right next to one of the tanks.



the kit comes with two, 2 piece tanks that fit like a glove when installed. I painted both tanks with a primer coat of Tamiya X-1 Gloss Black, thinned with Mr. Color Leveling thinner #400. Glossy & Smooth as silk when they dried. I then air brushed on a coat of Alcad Steel. Here's a picture a little ahead of the build sequence showing the tanks installed.



Cross members were then added as well as the chromed shift rod and lever. Ebbro called out for it to be gloss Gray, but that is incorrect as a polished steel rod is clearly visible in every cockpit picture I have.

Next up was the front bulkhead. I painted the top plate Aluminum, and the rest Neutral Gray, then glossed it. There are 3 master cylinders: Front brakes, Rear Brakes, & clutch. They're made from Brass, so I painted them Brass, then a little streaking just to show some wear and tear. The top cap is a plastic screw cap, that I painted with a home made brew.



I haven't run any brake lines as at this point I literally have no idea of what or where they should go.

the other side of the bulkhead has some of the finest detailed gas, brake, clutch, and foot rest peddles I've ever seen.



Next up was painting the steering shaft Alcad Chrome steel, then the tank that rests on it Aluminum with another plastic type cap.



Here's a few pictures of the chassis to date as it now stands:





I decided to test fit the bottom of the shell, and to my surprise it fit ok, but will need a little helping hand.





What the heck, I test fitted the top main section as well.



Thanks for checking out my BT-18 to date. it's always much appreciated.

Joel

Stunning work so far Joel, it does look a very nice kit.
You make building these wheelie things look so easy.
Never knew that the fuel tanks were either side of the drivers, health and safety would have a fit nowadays over that one .
Andy

Rowan,

Great to see you here. I've seen that Vid on the Zandvoort race, and Clark won it going away. That was his 1st race in the Lotus 49. Not many drivers can ever say that they won 1st time out in a new car.

Ebbro has the Lotus 49 series, and I've got two of the 3 kits. Tamiya makes a Lotus 25 and I finally got one still sealed off of ebay for a decent price.

BTW, any updates on the MGB? I'm still looking forward to seeing you bring it to completion.

Joel

Andy,
Thanks so much for checking out my update, it's always greatly appreciated.

today the F1 cars have the gas tanks behind the drivers and directly in front of the engine. Those tanks just won't rupture like they use to. Indy cars were even worse. Some of the most horrific accidents I ever saw were at the Indy 500 when a gas tank went up. Plenty of drivers died that way. Glad that those days are long gone, and safety is #1 in all divisions of auto racing.

Joel

Hi Joel

I'm afraid I'm up to my neck in preparing a build-guide for Silver Wings on their 1:32 Yak 9. I'd seriously love to get stuck back into finishing the MGB - which I've promised myself I must do before starting another car-build, but it's a way off yet.

All the best

Rowan

Rowan,
I'll wait as the Silver Wings guide certainly comes 1st.

Joel

Joel, are you building a Brabham or a Fokker?
It looks very nice so far - no doubt. And the amount of time you have spent in research pays off big time now and allows you to identify at a glance the kit's errors.
I'm by no means a specialist in open wheels cars, but the detail provided by Ebbro in this one looks very good. I'm just gonna mark down that name, just in case some day I have any idea...

Gabriel

Ow another build to follow, how did I miss the start of this?

Any way great start to this build Joel, and as for fire I just watched via YouTube the opening race of this years NASCAR truck series, a few fires on the first lap! Unfortunately none of our tv channels show these races and we’ve also just lost the channel that did show the Aussie V8 supercars so now I’m stuck with the boring F1.

Well I’m off to watch the second race of the truck series on YouTube and see if I can find the V8’s on there as well for when the new season begins.