Revell Porsche 962C longtail conversion

I have a couple of these kits :

http://www.modellversium.de/kit/bilder/9/7/3/2973-deckel.jpg

It's the high drag / short tail version, but I want to try to modify it into the low drag / long tail 1986 Le Mans winner :

http://cdn.images.autosport.com/specials/60years/photos/large/bell86.jpg

These are the planned modifications :

* Short tail to long tail.

* Modification of the backside of the chassis (if someone has reference pictures of this part, they're very welcome !)

* Modification of the NACA ducts behind the cockpit.

* Filling the oval exhaust holes and making new ones as seen on the Le Mans 962's.

* Changing the high drag nose to a low drag nose.

If possible I would like to lower the bottom of the windscreen, and fill the resulting gap on the top with plasticard. With some luck this gap / plasticard will be covered by the windscreen decal. Or maybe there are some vacuform windscreens available ?


Not a long list, but it will require a fair bit of surgery. The first thing I did was cut off the thin strip - that holds the lights - at the back of the short tail. The fins came next. A piece of plasticard was used to lengthen the backside, the NACA duct covers were sanded and the holes were filled :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/28052015%20(1).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/28052015%20(2).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/28052015%20(3).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/28052015%20(4).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/28052015%20(5).jpg

It looks a bit rough, but after a couple of filling and sanding sessions it will be a lot better. The NACA holes were filled with CA and flour, the brown stuff at the back is Motip filler.

Please feel free to comment, all help is welcome.

Sincerely

Pascal

PS : I'm looking for 2 decals for the third driver Al Holbert.

Update :

The big NACA duct needs to be moved to the front. In this blurry picture the duct has been cut out :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(1).jpg

The hole was filled with a piece of plasticard :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(7).jpg

The sides have been enlarged, the back got another strip of plasticard to make it longer :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(6).jpg
I'll wait for the longtail decals to come in to decide the correct length of the backside

This part is from the Tamiya 956, it's missing in the short tail 962 kits :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(5).jpg

I made a new one from plasticard, it will be a little bigger then the one from the 956 :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(2).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(3).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(4).jpg

The backside of the chassis will get a lot of modifications. I cut away some plastic to make the plate rectangular :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(8).jpg

The hump was cut from the plate. This plate is horizontally in the Revell kit, it needs to run diagonally upwards like the plate from the 956 :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(9).jpg

The hump needs to be enlarged. I started with the sides, these were made from plasticard :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(10).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(11).jpg

These parts will be made to fit together :

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(12).jpg

http://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/04062015%20(13).jpg

Later on the plastic tubes that hold the wheels will be removed and an axle will be made from metal rod. This axle will run through the hump.

Please feel free to comment.

Sincerely

Pascal

Great start and look forward to seeing more of your progress...

Thank you Shayne.

I'll be on holiday for two weeks, so the next update will be after that.

Sincerely

Pascal

very interesting work.
For the rear bonnet,there's a problem,if you want to do the official Rothmans version...
The Revell kit is the old Hasegawa kit,with the rear wheel arches "Kremer type" ,bigger than the "normal" version,because Kremer often used the 19 inches rims.
the official 962 never used 19 inches rims,from '85 until '88 ....


I'll follow you with interest!

Alessandro

Hi Alessandro, Thank you for the info. Do you know what size of wheels were on the official Rothmans Le Mans car ? 16 inch front and back, with bigger tires for the back wheels ? Or 16 front and 18 back ? Or something else ? Sincerely Pascal

if i remember right,the official 962 had 16 inches rims front & rear.

And also in the 1988,with the Shell 962 ,a lot modified ,they prefered use 16 inches rims,with little less grip,but more aerodynamic vantage at high speed...

Great project Pascal.
Being the week of le mans, is cool to see derek bell at la sarthe in 1983, and hope you like it: :)

https://www.facebook.com/HistoricRacingHD/videos/vb.282950401873215/455370754631178/?type=2&theater

Thanks for the replies.

I have some 16 inch wheels from the M&Shobbies IMSA transkits. Will use those to get an idea for the size of the wheel arches.

After my first modifications, the body still had the too big wheel openings and the very pronounced bump over the wheel openings :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(1).jpg

I glued a 1 x 1 mm strip in the wheelopening and sanded the bump. It's now 2 - 3 mm lower :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(2).jpg

These pictures show (I hope) the difference between the orgininal and the modified bump :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(3).jpg

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(8).jpg

Compared to the unmodified body of a second kit :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(6).jpg

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(7).jpg

The "inverted spade" shape of the nose has been sanded flat :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(4).jpg

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(5).jpg

A lot of work was done to get the right shape of the hump of the underside. It's not finished, more filling and sanding is needed :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(9).jpg

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/12072015%20(10).jpg

Sincerely

Pascal

Coming along nicely. Excellent work on the modifications so far. Looking forward to seeing more as you progress...

it seems a good work on the rear wheel arch !

On the nose,remember to "fill in" for the low-drag configuration...

Thanks for the replies :)

Yes the nose needs more work. Looking at the pictures of the real car, I think I will use a rectangular piece of plasticard to make the front of the nose (between the headlights) higher. That will (hopefully) result in a nose with a not so steep slope.

PS : Please keep the comments coming. I need all the help I can get.

Sincerely

Pascal

nice rework on the rear part. looking forward to the front part next :)

Thanks !

Today I did some work on the interior. Out of the box, it looks like this :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(2).jpg

I cut out the plastic radiators, these will be replaced with PE sheet :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(1).jpg

I glued 2 small parts and now it looks like this :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(3).jpg

I added a plastic strip to the front end to give it more height and used my Dremel to remove the triangular part between the seats :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(4).jpg

A new triangular part was made from plasticard :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(5).jpg

Looks a lot better then the original :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(6).jpg

But after a test fit of the drivers seat, the part is almost completely hidden :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/15072015%20(7).jpg

Sincerely

Pascal

This is the first step in correcting the to rounded inner side of the front fenders. I've traced the line with a pencil. The line is to rounded / curved and should run almost straight :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/17072015%20(6).jpg

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/17072015%20(3).jpg

I cut away some plastic and bended the remaining plastic towards the inside :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/17072015%20(1).jpg

The holes were filled and sanded, then a coat of primer was added followed by more sanding :

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/17072015%20(5).jpg


https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/17072015%20(7).jpg

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/albums/241/10969/17072015%20(4).jpg

More filling and sanding will follow. Sincerely Pascal

Very interesting to see the corrections you make to what appeared at first sight to be a satisfying model :)

very good! :thumbsup::thumbsup: