Fisher 917LH 1971 w/ Fujimi donor conversion

Hopefully members here can tolerate my multiple long lasting WIPs.

I've started a new project. With all the fuzz around MFH 1/12 917LH and with arrival of Fisher body with Fujimi donor included, I could
not resist and started the conversion project. Idea is to use chassis with most of the components from Fujimi donor kit and Fisher body of
917LH car from Le Mans 1971. Decals I have are for the car with Martini livery. I think it is a cool livery.

First I've detached all parts of Fujimi kit from plastic trees and cleaned them up. Next step is to modify Fujimi parts, so Fujimi chassis fits under Fisher body.
I actually had to shave quite a bit of resin from Fisher body as well. Fit still not 100% as I want it, but not too bad. One kind of funny thing was that Fujimi chassis
did not want to fit well until I removed Fisher copyright block. I guess Fujimi chassis wasn't happy to mate with body from kit with different copyright :)

First photo shows how Fujimi chassis looks like after modifications. Never mind masking tape, it's there just to hold parts together for test fit tryouts.
Next couple of photos show body and chassis' fit. And the rest show how chassis with wheels and tires fitted works with Fisher body. Front looks too high.
In the rear wheels don't fit well under body and end up with too much negative cumber. Not sure yet what I could do about the front ride height. For rear
wheels I will have to reduce their track width a bit and remove some more resin from the body.

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Looking great my friend. Good luck...

Looks like an interesting conversion, but I'm wondering at the point of it though... ;-)

The Fujimi chassis is not really that detailed, and is only a curbside itself, so you might end up with some suspension details that the Fisher kit didn't give you? It will be difficult to cut open the resin body to display any internal detail, although if you do manage to lift the engine lid, I believe there is an HRM resin engine you could use with the Fujimi chassis, but you'd be looking at a LOT of scratchbuilding in the engine room...

When I built my Fujimi 917, I found the front suspension needed to be lowered about 1-2 mm to get a good stance. Looks from your pics that the same might apply here.

Good luck; I'll be interested to see what you make of it,

ianc

Looks like an interesting conversion, but I'm wondering at the point of it though... ;-)
...

Good luck; I'll be interested to see what you make of it,

ianc
The point is actually to build lightly detailed curbside model. I have to intention
to detail this one beyond of what is provided in Fujimi kit and Studio27 PE set.
I have 1/12 kit to go all the way on detailing. This build supposed to be an easy one.

OK, makes sense. Is your 1/12th kit one of the new MFH's? I've seen a couple of those for sale on the bay and have wondered what they look like in the box. Will be on the lookout for that if you publish a WIP on it!

ianc

For no particular reason I prefer to work on this project over F1-GTRs. May be I got a bit tired of them.
Worked more on better body to chassis fit and suspension. I've cut about 0.6mm from upper front suspension
arms and I think it seats lower over all. To be able to mate chassis to body I have extended floor a bit in front.
Also added what I call "rails" - 2 strips of plastic on inside of the body. I plan to epoxy chassis to them later.
I might add 2 more smaller "rails" on the inside closer to the front for even more connection points.
Last mod is for the front of side fuel tanks. I've removed original front pieces, which were more square and put
round pieces in plastic and filled in gaps with super glue and soda powder.


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That's looking good Sergey! I realized that the added plastic in the nose was going to be necessary. At least I had similar thoughts on it and the firewall as you. I'm watching closely but I've got a some personal interest in this one. LOL

Rob

After leaving this project in the background for few months, I have picked it up again. Spent some time preparing parts for primer.
Then over last 2 weeks I have primed all parts, plastic parts with Tamiya grey, resin parts with Tamiya metal primer. Next, parts
were painted in all kinds of different colours according to my references and MFH's 917LH instructions. I could not find period
references for this car's cockpit, so I based colours on what MFH suggested for their kits. It is also not easy to find period photos
of inside body and colours of frame pipes. I've settled on fibre glass for internals of the body and on white aluminium for frame
pipes. They look bright silver on photos and I had no other better match paint for them in my stock. For the body I have selected
TS30. It seems to be a reasonably close match. Unfortunately I missed the fact the small front ducts were closed on #21 car and
that delayed body painting. I'll have to paint body, when putty is dry and surface is prepared again. Beside body, almost all parts
are painted by now. I will only need to do some detail painting on things like shocks, dashboard, steering wheel and brakes.
Really looking forward to the moment when I will be able to start chassis assembly. I don't have photos of it, but chassis is painted
in grey and aluminium and pretty much ready.

Below are some quick photos. Note, that there are some extra parts from my other builds on the go.

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Looking great, good luck whit the hibrid

Finally all prep work was completed on the body and I could spray silver over it. TS30 went on well.
I think it is a good match. However resulting finish is not gloss, so I will have to put some clear coats
on top of it before I could apply decals.

I've also done pretty much all detail painting on other parts. While body will need a lot more work,
I should be able to start assembly tasks on the chassis. Might even have an update by the end of this
weekend.

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good start to an interesting project.

Nice paintjob.

This looks great Sergey! I definitely made the correct choice to sell this project as I don't have the skills to finish it properly. I am glad you bought it because your skills will make a beautiful one of kind finished build.

Rob

Sergey,your work is very good,until now.
for the color,I think TS17 could be better...But it's only an opinion...
Then,when you'll spray the clear coat,you will see the TS30 change a lot....Don't forget it!

However,it's a great project!:thumbsup:

...
for the color,I think TS17 could be better...But it's only an opinion...
Then,when you'll spray the clear coat,you will see the TS30 change a lot....Don't forget it!
You are right. TS30 changed under clear and now looks more like light grey.
Strangely enough, while I can see it with my naked eyes, photo camera does
not pick up that difference. In any case, I'm thinking about taking your advice
and spraying TS17 over it. Yet I wonder how much TS17 will change under
clear itself.

Worked on chassis assembly on the weekend. Because all parts are plastic,
assembly went quickly with only use of plastic glue required. Over all result isn't
bad. But of course there is a lot of room for improvement. I also ended up
with color inconsistencies, because parts were painted separately, and I didn't
realize upfront, they would be connected later. With most of the internals hidden
under curbside body, I'm ok with result so far. Only dashboard and seat belts
are left. Otherwise it'll be left OOB as is.

For next 3-4 weeks this build will be in hibernation, as I go on vacation out of
country and contemplate what to do with body color.

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Enjoying progress on this. Look forward to decision on body colour as this may guide me when I get around to doing a few 917LHs.

Cheers,
Anthony

Returned to this build after vacation. Just sprayed TS17 over the body. Doesn't look
much different to TS30 to me, but hopefully TS17 will stand clear coat better.

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I wander what is out color for your owesome build?

I have initially used Tamiya TS30 spray. But after Tamiya TS13 clear coat was applied,
silver color underneath was washed away quite a bit. So now I've used Tamiya TS17 spray
for my second attempt. Hopefully it will withstand clear better. And this time I will use
different clear coat, which is urethane 2K clear.

I wander what is out color for your owesome build?

After long hiatus, while I was building my courage to attempt UMI decals application, I have returned to this build.
My fears were fully realized. I have ruined big side decals with Martini stripes. Decals were stiff and brittle at the same
time. They did not respond well to decal softeners initially. I had to used Solvaset. However at some point Solvaset
affected them so much, that they turned into small blobs in places, while still been stiff in others. And they did not fit
well at all.

I had to switch to plan B and attempted to apply MFH decals from similar kit. MFH decals are also brittle and obviously
don't fit well, as they were designed for different kit. But with plenty of MicroSet/Sol, heat and some cuts, I was able
to mostly persuade them to get over Fisher's kit body. Lost of wrinkles and tears, many patches as well. I guess from
the distance they will look ok. Clear coat should help a bit as well. I think colors of UMI decals were closer to original
car, but MFH decals will have to do it for this build.

Many decals are still left to apply, but main and most difficult ones are on. More patching will be required as well.

Here is how is looks at present.

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It's things like this that make modeling not so much fun sometimes. :(

Good job though...

ianc

looking great my friend. Good luck...

Πατρίδα?

I have initially used Tamiya TS30 spray. But after Tamiya TS13 clear coat was applied,
silver color underneath was washed away quite a bit. So now I've used Tamiya TS17 spray
for my second attempt. Hopefully it will withstand clear better. And this time I will use
different clear coat, which is urethane 2K clear.

I think the combination of the martini stripes on the silver body look soooo good! I have a 917 (Gulf livery) in my stash, but i 'm considering getting also a silver one!!

Try a hot damp cloth pressed over the decals. They will conform immediately without wrinkles.

Long break again. Was busy with other builds. Returned to 917 this weekend. Finished all the decals on the body, rear wing and
engine cover. Spent hours building up coverage of front louvers from 10 pieces a side. My recommendation to other builders would
be to paint strips instead of using decals. Lot more work applying decals, yet result is far from perfect. Here is how it looked before
last few small arrows were added.

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Once again you're doing great with it. I'm glad you've done so well with it.

Rob

Bit more progress. Finished cockpit items and seat belts. Clear coat is on as well.
Could not find any reference for seat belts. So, went by MFH instructions and my own
guess on colour. Need to paint black on the body next. Then windows and windshield.
And finally wheels.

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Super cool! Bravo!

Sorry to hear about the decals. Nothing halts the progress of a good project like paint or decal problems!
I've ruined many a good project because the laquer has crazed so be careful with that too! Maybe go water based?
Still, well done on sticking it out!

Looks nice and same as others bummer about the decals. I really do like the 917's

Worked on vacuum formed windows and light covers over the weekend. It's quickly becoming my least favorite
part of builds of sport cars. Struggled again with epoxy while attaching them. I wonder if there is a more suitable
glue to do it. Epoxy is too messy. Before clear parts, I've also done front and rear lights and tank caps. Does not
look like a lot of progress, but it took a lots of hours to complete.

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With each update that you make I am reassured that I made the correct decision in selling this project. You have done an amazing job with the troubles encountered. I would never have gotten this beauty finished! Well done!

Rob

Installed wheels, attached windshield viper and married body with chassis.
Last piece was underbody rear panel. I call it done. And it out of my pipeline.
Back to F1, hopefully.

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Worked on vacuum formed windows and light covers over the weekend. It's quickly becoming my least favorite
part of builds of sport cars. Struggled again with epoxy while attaching them. I wonder if there is a more suitable
glue to do it. Epoxy is too messy. Before clear parts, I've also done front and rear lights and tank caps.

I use Formula '560 Canopy glue from Pacer. Works well and cleans up in water. You position the windscreen properly, use some small bits of Tamiya tape to hold it and start to place the glue with a pin or knife point in the join.


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