30 Years in the Making

[icon_modeler]

It has been 30 years since the last model I completed and it feels good to finish these two Tamiya 1/24th scale Porsche 935 kits. The last time I finished a kit I was 19. A lot has changed over the years so there are a lot of things about these two that are completely new to me. For example this was the first time I ever paid an attention to mold seams and getting rid of them. Something I think most will say goes with without saying but It thought it was worth mentioning since I think we all take that part of building and file it away under the heading of "doesn't everyone do that". Yes I think most do but it was something I had to think about and say to myself, "Oh ya, you have to do that" It was not just an automatic thing. This was also the first time I ever stripped Chrome plating from a model part. 1st time I ever used sprayed metalizer paints buffed them up to the shine on the wheels. This is the first time I have ever used Photo etched parts on a model. It was also the first time I've had a chance to combined a kit with a transkit though the TK is nothing more then a body change.

The build of these was most challenging for me in a couple of areas. The PE seat belts were darn near impossible for me with my vision and hand shake but I managed two sets and only lost one part flying across the room The decals were also a point of contest. These kits both are original issue so the decals were 35 years old. I painted these with Tamiya TS-26, Pure White over a couple light coats of Tamiya White Primer. I sanded everything between coats with Tamiya 1200 grit paper. I applied the decals and had no trouble until I went to apply the stripes over the rear fenders. These basically dissolved when I put them in the water. The crappy part about this is that all the other decals from the same sheets went on without any trouble. So I bought two new release kits and poached the new Cartograph decals from them. The bad thing about this was that the Cartagraph decals stripe colors did not match the original Tamiya decals so I had to re-decal all the stripes. Kind of a PITA but in the end it work out OK. Both of these have been clear coated with Zero 2K clear. I was completely lost having not used an airbrush for so long so I enlisted the help of a friend of mine to get everything set up correctly. After so much trouble with the decals I did not want to screw these up with the clear. They came out OK. There is a large fish eye in the roof of one car along with a large piece of dirt. Again I did not want to take a chance to mess things up so I did not polish the paint. They are both finished just as the air brush left them. I also had a friend make the mesh decal for the naca duct on the right rear fender. I bought a Acu-Stion real mesh cover but did not end up using it because I did not think to get it until after the cars had been painted and it needed some fitting to look correct. I did not want to take any chances so decided to go a different route with the mesh decals. I did not like the fitment of the Tamiya windows so I cut them into separate pieces and fit them accordingly. The side windows are all separate pieces of clear plastic I bought at the hobby store. The side windows on the #1 car are left open just as all of my reference pictures showed. The headlight glass on the #4 car did not fit well but it was beyond me to try and make those so I did the best I could with the kit parts. I used Scale Motor Sports Faux Fabric on the seats which I think looks great. I also tried to make the seat look like raw fiberglass with a painting technic, both of these things are something I had never tried before. As I said above the wheels were striped of the chrome plate and painted with Model Master Metalizer then buffed with a Q-tip. I brush painted the gold and then gave them a couple wash coats of Tamiya smoke. I then picked out the centerlock nut with chrome silver. I used Acu-Stion PE for the oil cooler screen, the hood pins, the oil filler on the hood and both the gas fill and vent on the hood. All of the mirror faces are also Acu-Stion PE. I bought the Acu-Stion machined wheels for both of these but did not end up using them because I did not like how the PE centers did not offer any depth and failed to look like the real wheels. On the #1 car I used the Aardvark Models 935 transkit to convert the Tamiya kit into the first 935 to ever grace the race tracks of Europe. The kit is nice, easy to use. It come with a completely new resin body and rear wing assembly. If it lacks anything it is in the headlights. It comes with the headlight buckets, those are resin castings of Fujimi 911 parts but the headlight lenses are missing. I had an old 911 Targa kit that was given to me so I poached the plastic buckets and lenses from that and used those. I thinned out the wall of the plastic exhaust pipes so that they looked more in scale. I also made from plastic sheet the tow rings of the front and back. The electrical shut off is made up of some T2M fitting parts and the fire extinguisher handle on the front cowl is also a Acu-Stion PE part. I gave those more body by adding a couple of drops of CA to them before painting red. Last I tried my best to find and use a PE windshield wiper but everything I found either looked like crap or was so fragile I destroyed them trying to assemble them. In the end I ended up using the wiper from the new Tamiya 934 kit so now I'll have to cast up some replacements for those kits before they get built.

So that's about it. Sorry to be so long winded but after 30 years there was a lot of thing I had never tried before and I wanted to tell about them. I also entered these in the GSL Model Car Contest last weekend. They did not garner any special attention but that was fine I was not expecting anything so there was no disappointment. I was just happy to finish something and have it to show
Anyhow, here are the pictures.

Porsche 935 1976 Mugello Winner-









More pictures here: http://s601.photobucket.com/user/dtc...?sort=3&page=1

Porsche 935 1976 Vallelunga Winner









More pictures here: http://s601.photobucket.com/user/dtc...?sort=3&page=1

Interior Pictures:







I forgot to take a group shot so will add that when I get the chance.
Thanks for looking!!!

[corvettekid_7684]

Fantastic results! Well done!

[Tompidom]

I have to admit, After reading the text abive the pic's i thought the models would be terrible :P But they are really good! Keep up the modeling and they will get even better!!!

[BVC500]

beautifully done!

[icon_modeler]

Thanks Guys!!

It's a really nice feeling to finish something to show.

[rgriffs]

the rest has done you some good, you really have no excuse not to do some more.

[spincarez]

This post is an inspiration as it makes me start building my countless kits, which i have started but not finished. They look awesome and the detail and finishing speaks for itself. Outstanding.

[nugundam93]

now that is some amazing and inspiring work there.

*gazes at all his WIP cars and gunpla*

[lovegt40]

can we add those nice ones to the 911 tribute gallery?
they look very nice.

[da_ashman]

You did a great job & they look fantastic!!!

[MidMazar]

Great job on both!!

Who makes that t-kit?

[Greg23]

You're never too old...

[lovegt40]

Originally Posted by MidMazar

Great job on both!!

Who makes that t-kit?

ardwark models.very nice one, and also quite cheap compared to european productions (nearly 30 euros incl exp to eu.)

http://www.aardvarkmodels.com/product_porsche.html

good base also to plan an rsr 1976 conversion....

[icon_modeler]

Originally Posted by lovegt40

can we add those nice ones to the 911 tribute gallery?
they look very nice.

Thanks very much.

Sure we can add them to the Tribute Gallery, do I need to do anything special??

[icon_modeler]

Originally Posted by MidMazar

Great job on both!!

Who makes that t-kit?

Yes as Paulo has pointed out it is an Aardvark trans kit. Very nice little kit, easy to use. Like I said the only draw back to it was that there is no lenses for the headlights included so you need to get those from something else.