1/8 Porsche 935/78 'Moby Dick'

[ianc911]

Strange thing about the shower and its capacity to make\break plans.

Stripes look fantastic, about like the rest of your work...

ianc

[kalax]

Amazing paint job!!!!!

[ScratchBuilt]

Back again.

I'm very much moving into the end-game on this project now - lots of jobs on the 'to do' lists being crossed off, and a set of bodywork which has totally transformed the look of the car. It's killing me that I'm not posting lots of photos showing the overall view, but I'm really looking forward to when it's complete (hopefully in a few weeks time).

So, a few things tonight to get us sort-of up to date. Here's a rear view of the engine cover with wing fitted, plus the three ali gurneys across the back of the main bodywork:



At the rear edge of the wing flap you can see one of the two curved adjuster plates which would allow the end-plates to be rotated as the wing was moved, keeping them upright.

Next up, here's the nose with the full set of sprayed Martini stripes:



Over the last two weekends I first sprayed the upper/inner set of blue bands, then the lower set which also extends around the headlights, etc. The lower section was probably the most complicated of the whole project - despite spending the best part of two hours making various templates and masks in advance, it took me over two and a half hours to apply everything to the bodywork before actually spraying anything! After that it was straight-forward; no tape removal problems, no runs, and nothing that couldn't be touched-up by hand afterwards. The thin dark blue lines which run up the middle of the light blue sections were painted at the very end - masked, but applied with a brush.

The interiors of the headlight pods were airbrushed as much as possible, but I was careful not to flood the area and spoil the finish of the exterior of the panel. I applied a few thin coats by brush to tidy them up, but primed and sprayed the floor sections while I was also spraying the mesh grille:



The 'Cibie' decals have been varnished with 'Purity Seal' as usual, so the panels are ready to fit once the headlights, indicator repeaters, etc, have been fitted into the pods. Having checked the photos again, I made two more indicator lights to attach to the top of the front wheel-arches:



Not many decals to add to the outside of the nose:



I've wrapped the two 'Bilstein / Bosch / Shell / Dunlop' decals around the back edge of the panel - I'm hoping this will help to avoid a disjointed look when I add the second half to the door extension panels.

The small black logo ahead of the front wheel is - strictly speaking - not required for the Le Mans 1978 livery. They're for the company that (I assume) painted the original factory car, and appeared at the first race at Silverstone but not at LM. They were back on the car when it raced later in 1978, and when it was in the museum collection in the mid-80's (as no.1). However, the museum car is now back as no.43 and they have disappeared. Given how much I was worried about getting the paintwork right, I'm more than happy to leave these logos on the model as a 'thumbs up' for the guys who did the same job in full-size 40 years ago!

So, a bit more work to do this week fitting the headlights, etc. Then it's back on the doors and window frames. When I'm happy with the door fit, I'll add the extension panels and can then mask and spray the extensions for the stripes running across from the nose. After that, it's the final details - add the exterior mirrors, door handles, interior door pulls, etc, apply some decals to the doors, finish the bonnet, add bodywork securing pins...and so on. Maybe another month or so? Six weeks? We'll see.

Have a good week,

SB

[MarcoSaupe]

I love it!

[freakray]

Just incredible......you make my own efforts feel completely inadequate.

[ianc911]

Wow! A few more weeks?

Hmmm... I wonder... :-)

ianc

[Kjenjak]

Originally Posted by ianc911

Wow! A few more weeks?

Hmmm... I wonder... :-)

After 6,5 years, why rush anything?

Now all you still need is a good diorama to display it.

[ScratchBuilt]

Thanks, guys.

No, there's no need to rush anything at this stage of the build. It's more a situation where the success of the stripes has really given my enthusiasm a major boost! There's also that moment when you realise that the end is closer than you thought - that last kick for the finish line!

I'm pleased to see that there could well be an AFMOTY competition this year, but I will not be entering the 935-78 - whatever happens. I stated very early in the build that I wouldn't, and I won't. I'm very proud of my win with the 908-3, but it's probably not right to enter again with another project that has taken so long to complete.

It would be nice to get the 935 finished sometime in November, though. I like the idea of having a bit of time off from work and not having to worry about the model! I'm sure I won't give myself too long before starting the next project - there will be some more research to do, maybe make a few cardboard mock-ups, etc, so it could be Christmas before work starts properly...

SB

[heyes57]

Superlatives abound for the quality of your build SB, keep up the great work as it's inspiring to all modellers. I'm currently looking at the Tamiya 1:24 Moby Dick and I've noticed that it has 2 rows of vents in the front fenders instead of your 1 row. Do you know which is more correct or are they just representing a specific race?

[ScratchBuilt]

The vents in the front fenders are 'variable'!

At Silverstone and LM in 1978 it certainly had the two sets as per the Tamiya shell - the lower set to exhaust the air flowing through the coolers, the upper set to relieve pressure in the wheelarches. In it's final 1978 race at the Norisring (running as car no.40) it appears to have only the lower set. By the mid-80's the car is in the museum collection and has the Norisring-spec nose with just the lower vents (as no.1). The unbuilt '1979' chassis recently restored by Freisinger has only the lower vents, as does the museum car (but now liveried as no.43).

What's been amusing for me in the last few weeks is seeing how many variations there have been on the stripes, etc, on this car - considering that there was only ever one 'works' car which only had four races in period, plus the Freisinger car. The Tamiya decals allow you to build as either the Silverstone or LM car, so that's the style I've got. The stripes on the two cars as they are now are subtly different.

For me, given how worried I was about how the painting was going to work out, I was quite happy to only cut the lower set of vents. Each one took about 45 minutes, remember! There was also a minor concern about how more holes would affect the strength of the bodywork. I decided to keep the strength and not be 100% period-correct. As it turned out, running the masking over the vents didn't really cause any trouble - it was easy enough to touch-up the little bits of underspray.

[chris24]

AFMOTC : AF Model Of The Century !!!

[ScratchBuilt]

No pressure, chris24...!

Things are still moving along nicely. In the last couple of weeks I've got the nose section maybe 95% finished - the headlight pods have been assembled, I've added some detailing to the back of all the light fittings, and started giving the interior a coat of grey paint. Apart from a little tidying-up, the only detailing to be done now is to add some internal wiring for all the lights.



I'd already done most of the work on the left-hand door window-frame, so the next job was to sort out the right-hand door. Not the most satisfying of jobs, but over the course of a few evenings it came together. The main frame is sections of 1/8" box, with 0.25mm styrene sheet and strip laid on top to pull it all together:





In this second photo you can see where I've added lengths of 0.5mm strip around the inside so that I can fit the window panels after painting. There's also some angle-section and strip added along the top edge of the door itself to create the bottom of the frame.

The latest job is to sort out the extension panels for the nose which are mounted onto the front edge of each door. It sounds easy enough, but allowing the doors to open complicates matters! After making various cardboard patterns and test pieces, I've ended up with a pair of styrene panels each side which will space-out the door extensions:



The two on the left-hand door are glued in place, these two on the right-hand door still need a little adjustment. The extension panels will look kinda like this:



What you can't see here is that I have to leave a small gap between the main nose section and the extensions in order to allow the doors to open. The extension panels as currently made end up with a gap all around, when they could actually be trimmed differently to close up the gap on the top surface - the gap is only needed on the vertical face.

After spending some time considering my options for building-up the panels with styrene and filler, etc, I simply decided to re-make the panels. The third layer of fibreglass has gone on the mould tonight, and by the weekend I should be able to re-trim the extensions and start re-painting. It's work that I wasn't planning to do, but doing it any other way would have niggled me! Meanwhile, I can use the originals to get the mounting plates fettled to shape, and to work out how I'm actually going to hang the panels so they go back on the car in exactly the same place each time.

Making progress...

SB

[ridefast]

Absolutely stunning! It gets more exciting day by day. I am waiting for every update. I love it! =)

[360spider]

Man! The patience you have!
This is shaping up to be another mind-blowing model.

[F1Tommy]

Amazing work. Look forward to seeing it completed.