New Man Porsche 956

I've built this already but before I post the completed pics, I might as well post the WIP first.

I was planning on doing this as an OOB build but when I got this cheap due to water/mold damage, I knew I'd be in for a lot of work. The kit itself has some water damage, evident in the box, manual and ack, decal sheet. fortunately, the sheet was still ok for scanning and i just printed one using a clear laser wet transfer decal paper (brand is scopa).

Apologies for the sometimes poor pic quality, was switching between a 2MP cellphone cam and a 3MP digicam with a good macro function :)

Here's the kit and the contents (including the printed decal sheet I did)

http://i43.tinypic.com/ibcufk.jpg


started painting some semi-gloss black parts...though i decided to just fill in the sink marks and ejector marks (this kit has a lot of the latter. gah). i've also deepened the panel lines and opened-up the vents near the exhaust. lastly, i've roughened up the plastic with 600 grit sandpaper before i spray with primer once the weather's ok.

lotsa ejector marks...puttied

http://i44.tinypic.com/2094scj.jpg


gearbox and engine parts, the steering assembly and the two turbos glued together

http://i42.tinypic.com/1y91t0.jpg


opened up the side vents

http://i43.tinypic.com/118df12.jpg


puttied and leveled the sunken plastic on the tail

http://i39.tinypic.com/246tf0x.jpg


i normally wouldn't have cared for the ejector pin marks on the tail's underside...but the tail actually comes off to display the engine bay, so i need to putty them

http://i41.tinypic.com/14cvacw.jpg


sanded down the puttied sink marks on the chassis...and roughed-up the other plastics

http://i44.tinypic.com/zvt0sz.jpg

Good choice of subject! I have some questions for you, what is scopa? Where do you get it? Natl bookstore? Hows the print quality? Can you post a closeup of the decal? Thanks in advance! :)

Yep. Weather sucks in QC! :shakehead

Good choice of subject! I have some questions for you, what is scopa? Where do you get it? Natl bookstore? Hows the print quality? Can you post a closeup of the decal? Thanks in advance! :)

Yep. Weather sucks in QC! :shakehead

thanks. i do still regret "experimenting" on my Toyota 88C-V, [From A] Porsche 962C and Jaguar XJR-9LM. someday i'll build them again :)

Yup, scopa is the brand, i believe it is korean-made. Bought them from Nat'l bookstore, though some branches carry only the inkjet-compatible paper, some only have the laser-compatible. Print quality is dependent on your printer - mine's a laser printer with a max resolution of 600dpi and it looked ok, given that most of the decals were simple anyway. i did run into quality problems (not that good a printout) when i did a decal sheet for an itasha kit tough.

i'll try to post a close-up tomorrow, along with the rest of the pics. couldn't post anymore as i was already sleepy, lol. :grinyes:

Continuing with the rest of the WIP...

the rims with the tires on. i overscuffed one of the front tires (left lower tire in the pic), it looks like it's gonna have a tire failure now. hehe. funny thing is, the tires were already gummy when i was roughing them up with 100 grit sandpaper...kinda felt like the rubber here was the same as real qualifying slick tires of the old days where it's good only for one blistering lap and then will fail immediately due to it's tremendous grip at the expense of tire life.

http://i44.tinypic.com/8x1rbo.jpg


here's the painted parts at this stage:

http://i40.tinypic.com/4rsy6x.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/35bul50.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2s6n2xk.jpg


here's the tires with the wheel rim covers. i thought it would just be snap-fit but it comes off loose, so i had to glue them on. in hindsight, i should have used elmer's glue so that i could remove it again, but i used tamiya cement.

http://i43.tinypic.com/25i14yg.jpg


chassis + engine

http://i44.tinypic.com/5whz51.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/fjmhk1.jpg


the silver part on the underchassis' supposed to be chrome silver but i'll be scuffing this up later along with the rest of the bottom to simulate race wear so it was left as flat aluminum:

http://i41.tinypic.com/2vmyt05.jpg


and here's the completed chassis:

http://i41.tinypic.com/zwdhfs.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/4io5xg.jpg

to be continued in the next post...

so i discovered that this kit's rear rims are wrong. gah. during the 1984 24 hours of le mans, it didn't run with the rear wheel covers/fans and worse, it ran with mesh rims (same design as the front), not the 6-spoke rims. i've been told that the kenwood 956 has the correct rear rims but since i don't have one, i decided to copy the front rims' mesh and transplant it to the rear after thinning down the spokes to serve as support. the one on the right's the recast part (i used bosny 2-part epoxy) and i still need to trim off excess plastic and properly shape the hole where the center lock nut of the rim will go through. the one on the middle's a newer casted part which i still need to start trimming. in retrospect, i should've started trimming it off while the epoxy was still curing as it was still soft, just like what i did with the first cast. oh well, there's always the PE saw.

http://i43.tinypic.com/25hk2sg.jpg


since the reprinted decal was done on clear decal sheet and not white, it won't be able to do white decals. i masked off the white parts and sprayed them already so that when the rest of the reprinted decal goes in, it'll look like the original...like in this case, the windshield:

http://i43.tinypic.com/2rff2ns.jpg


here's the masked-off body. i need to keep the white parts around (aside from the design) so that it can serve as the white background for the reprinted decals:

http://i43.tinypic.com/2lmtct0.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/10pw0so.jpg


after previously weathering the rim covers and using the old yellowed decals, i decided to repaint it in white and just use the reprinted decals. notice the rather raised edge of the clear decal on the lower left quarter of the rim cover on the left, i'll probably spray clear on them later and sand them down flush:

http://i40.tinypic.com/ej96v.jpg


and here's the other glass parts. if you notice the rather transparent "Dunlop" decals on the headlight covers, that's the reprinted decal. i tried to use the old decal as a base for it but it was too crunchy, it broke up as soon as it separated from the backing paper (and i soaked it in warm water for 1 min. ugh):

http://i41.tinypic.com/2wn9pjd.jpg


annoyingly, even though the front and rear rims are of the same height, the mesh on the fronts won't fill the rear rims, so i'll have to concede and use the wheel covers on the rear rims.

http://i39.tinypic.com/24ln33r.jpg

here's the body waiting for a coat of clear. after that, i'll slightly wetsand it to even out the paint, recoat the black (hand-painted tamiya acrylic x-18 but when the clear went over it, some white basecoat showed up), then i'll put in the decals and panel lines, then a final clearcoat. after the clearcoat, polish it and then add race weathering.

http://i44.tinypic.com/al5dms.jpg


here's the body with the rest of the decals. some of them like the BP logos are from the original water-soaked decal sheet as the printed logo didn't color well once applied onto the yellow body (should've masked it off so that the bottom is white and the green logo body comes out looking okay). worse, the two BP logos on the rear wheelwell covers on the rear cowl and the two smaller BP logos on the inside of the rear wing's sides can't be seen since the background color is black. same goes for the newman logos on the rear cowl and wing - it isn't visible unless you look for it intently. i tried to use the old decal and while it worked, it reacted badly with bosny clearcoat and wrinkled:

http://i40.tinypic.com/4j7r5t.jpg


But...DISASTER! :banghead:

turns out, the white stripes running on the left side of the car should be from the upper right down to lower left and not the way i painted it (upper right down to lower right). so, on to a bath in IPA:

http://i39.tinypic.com/vhxfdi.jpg


for some reason i decided to buy a laser sticker sheet along with a new pack of scopa decal sheets. when i got home, i found the reason why - i'll be using the sticker sheet as a masking template for the body. the decal on the left, the sticker sheet on the right:

http://i43.tinypic.com/nl99fs.jpg


so while it's taking an IPA bath, decided to put aluminum tape instead on the engine bay, cockpit and underchassis (goodbye OOB build, partly due as well to the opened vents, hehehe). used masking tape as templates then put them on the aluminum tape for trimming (other templates not shown):

http://i40.tinypic.com/34hcjua.jpg


so here's the underchassis (taken before i repainted the black engine bay vents):

http://i39.tinypic.com/fz3yth.jpg


engine bay:

http://i42.tinypic.com/mbub69.jpg


cockpit:

http://i39.tinypic.com/143hoco.jpg

after repainting the white base color, i then applied the sticker sheets to mask off the white:

http://i43.tinypic.com/11l35ah.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/34oowes.jpg


and here's the body sprayed again in lemon yellow:

http://i39.tinypic.com/okpkio.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/650d8k.jpg


painted the black part of the body:

http://i42.tinypic.com/3450pw0.jpg


and here's the body after removing the masking templates:

http://i43.tinypic.com/29dv629.jpg


sanded down the paintjob to remove the high spots also left due to the masking and after putting the decals on:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2ytwq5g.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/10i9qv5.jpg

Looks great and a nice save. Nice idea with the stickers as a mask..

Thanks shunter. It really was a case of finding an unexpected use for something that i shouldn't have bought under normal circumstances. LOL!

24hrs, i still owe you a closeup of the decal. i'll try to look for my camera, but in the meantime, i'll post the decal as it was scanned and after it was cleaned-up in photoshop later when i get home. :)

Looks like it's coming out good despite all the problems.

clearcoat's done and i've sanded it even, then polished and waxed the body:

http://i41.tinypic.com/5bd7yw.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/207nsds.jpg


finally with everything in place and awaiting weathering. had to bend the wiper though so that it fits snug against the windshield:

http://i41.tinypic.com/2cwtut1.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/pn2g6.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/14lees.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/xfuiu.jpg

thanks greg! was really relieved when everything was put together :)

for all intents and purposes, aside from the antenna which wasn't attached to the mounting point on the roof's naca duct when these pics were taken (but now is), the car's done. finally got to weather it with a handbrushed pastel wash of white, black and brown with car paint thinner, and also airbrushed the rest of the weathering wash and a black acrylic wash for the engine bay. methinks though this car ran in a 48-hour race, not 24 hours. LOL! so here are the pics:

http://i49.tinypic.com/b7ews7.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/10n6q78.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/3321g8y.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/10ynn77.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/33njfjt.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/14e6w0h.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/309tu0y.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/307m7b9.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/xlmg5w.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/971t90.jpg

and a couple of rants too late...either the chassis itself or the front part of the body is misaligned and also the rear cowl won't fit securely (easily pops off). and i lost that sort of filler neck-looking thingy that would normally be seen on the left side of the rear cowl (see the rear left quarter pic and there's a circular hole in the cowl - that's where it's supposed to be at). oh well.

when i get the time i'll take proper pics for a completed thread. :)

24hrs, unfortunately, it turns out i was unable to save the original scan pic of the moldy and yellowed decal sheet. what i do have though is the cleaned-up decals after some photoshop:

http://i42.tinypic.com/2przbk6.jpg

Nice 956! Nice and dirty! :wink: that's the decal using scopa? At 600 dpi? How does it react to micro sol and set?
Thanks!

thanks. :) yup that's the decal. the edited file was 1200dpi but i could only print up to 600dpi due to printer limitations. i only used micro sol and it reacted fine, though my decal fixative was actually bosny acrylic clear as during that time, scopa's decal fixative was out of stock. fortunately, there weren't much complex curves for the decals so making them cling properly wasn't too hard, given that bosny clear actually makes for a "crunchy" decal as it won't flex compared to a decal with proper decal fixative.

Sounds good! I'll give it a try. Going to trinoma later to look for scopa and fixative. I want to try and print some small decals that nobody else prints. Like the small plates located on the door jambs and such,found on vintage 911's. Since I'm due to buy a new printer, any recommendations? Tnx!

Looks like good solving of the problems, Looking forward to seeing this completed, Bravo!!

so far, the best printer for decals are alps printers. but iirc they are no longer made, and their toner will soon run out as well. they're not available locally though.

what you do need is a printer with a high dpi, if you can get a 1200dpi one, then that's good. whether you get an inkjet or laser printer is up to you too, as long as you consider the resolution first. there are scopa decal papers anyway for inkjet and laser printers.

and a word of caution - if you do get to buy the scopa decal fixative, spray in a WELL ventilated area. the spray stinks like there's no tomorrow and is guaranteed to give you a headache if you're not using a chemical mask. :)

going back to the decal sheet i posted, if you noticed, some parts have a black background - that's because since the scopa decal sheet makes semi-transparent decals, they won't be visible if applied against a dark background so if you also saw, i masked some parts to leave them white so that when the decals go on, they have a good background and they'll be seen. you could buy decal sheets online that have a white backrgound to them already (not just the backing paper) so that you can make light-colored decals that still stand out when applied to dark surfaces.

nugundam93 - I was following your build and I felt things were going well until you added 100 years of weathering to the chassis. - not sure you did the 956 any favors.
just my thoughts
John

looks really good! i like the weathering!

i did feel i over-weathered it. i might clean it up a bit when i take pics for a completed thread. thanks for the feedback john18d. :)

i did feel i over-weathered it. i might clean it up a bit when i take pics for a completed thread. thanks for the feedback john18d. :)

nugundam - it was just an observation, not negative criticism.
I just thought you did such a great job masking - painting - and decaling, that it was all over-shadowed by too much weathering.

As far as the build goes -- I thought you did a great job
John