After clinching the World championship in 1978 (driving the beautifully liveried JPS Lotus 79), Andretti’s fortunes at Lotus faded.  The following year (1979) was a disaster for the team as they struggled to make the Lotus 80 competitive and they eventually had to give up and revert to the previous years car (type 79).  Andretti was partnered by Elio de Angelis and while the pair didn’t bag any wins, the cars looked stunning decked out in the colourful livery of their new sponsors – the Essex Oil Company.   This version of Andrettis time at Lotus has been on my “To-do” list for some time.  Once again, I used a Denizen casting to which I added the Simpson driving gloves (with Milliput) finished off with Valejo acrylics – so, “job done”!  I also want to do a companion figure of de Angelis at some stage, and in fact, I just started making up the distinctive Simpson (Darth Vadar type)  helmet which Elio wore – so it should look pretty striking – more on this later.