Le Mans Miniatures Joest Porsche WSC LM 1996 Winner 1:43 all open

[gp-models]

Good evening at all and happy new year to everyone!

Time for a new model, and the first for this year will be a Le Mans Miniature Kit with all open parts, the 1996 Le Mans winning car Joest Porsche WSC driven by Manuel Reuter, Alexander Wurz and Davy Jones. It is a 1:43 kit that was prepainted, a way to thick in my eyes, but that`s how it is.
I started this kit about 5 years ago, but only build up the wheels, apllied decals and clear coated the model. I didn`t model the last 4 years, so i found it started, but when i looked at my reference pics, i found a mistake i made by decal job :/
I attached 3 smal decals to the side panels, but they belong to the undertray. This happens cause i only used the instructions for decaling and the attached pictures have been so small, that i didn`t realized that. When i printed my references the last days, i found that mistake and i have to do something on that. I will repaint the sidepanel and decal it once more, still on the lucky side to do so, cause the kit contains 2 decal sheets
There are 2 decal sets included, caused by double front cowlings and back cowlings. To the kit belongs a pit stand set with figures to build up a diorama, that`s the reason for 2 sets, but first i will put my attention to the car itself.
The kit is nice, but a few things are not in the way i like it to be. All is molded in one piece! Wiring, details, plumbing etc. The fitting of the parts is realy bad, so i will try to make this build easy, cause i think there will be enough problems which need attention too.
A first set up of the kit with the mean parts, the parts are mostly cleaned up in this picture.



I glued etched holders for the side coolers into an engraved position on the chassis, but they are not realy symetric. Ok, for the first i let them in position to check the fitting of the side coolers.


I started to build up the undertray, bended the rear end upwards and glued vacuum formed side skirts to the bottom. I cutted them to the line that was engraved, but i think i will have a visible step when chassis is attached. I will change that again later, a second vacuum formed part is in the kit as well. However, to see where other problems are, i will change it later. I bended those etched parts into shape and glued the other parts to it, they will be attached to the bottom later infront of the rear wheels.

Next is, i primerd the intakesystem for the engine and side coolers and applied some Alclad Chrome.


I painted the brake discs with gun metal, and the Chassis, Cockpitfloor, seat, undertray, side coolers and engine airinduct became a semi gloss black coat.



That`s it for the start, commends and critics welcome

[Shunter]

Nice start and i like the way you have it all laid out....good luck with the rest.

[gp-models]

I appreciate your commend, thank`s a lot.
Unfortunately my pics are not the best, my camera is 7 years old and not up to date, so some pics are not the best, cause it is hard to take a picture from such tiny parts. I hope it bores not too much with the pics, i try my best.
At moment i`m doing some detail painting, an update is comming soon

[gp-models]

A small update with some detail painting.
I painted some piping fasteners to the motor, the molding is a bit rough, testfitted the edged radiators and painted the fuel lines.


The exaust with its turbos is one piece, it could be looking nicer if it will be more pieces, but unfortunately it is not. i hope it fits to the underrtray! At moment it is not possible to check that, cause suspensionparts have to be added infront. Fingers chrossed that it works^^



Now i started with the chassis, i thought about carbon fiber decals for the body, but how with all the moldings? Wires and much more is molded in one piece, i think it will not work, so it stays in semi flat black and the details will be painted by brush.

When watching reference pics i found a mistake on the linkage of the front suspension, the real one has no dumper on the left side and the linkage arms are much thinner. I`m not realy happy with these molded parts, they look not realy acurate.
I did a first set up with these parts and i think it could be a nice model with some work to it. Apllied some decals to the cockpit and painted an electronic box red.
The molded dumpers are realy simple done, i thought about replacing them.



The gear box is a bit rough with it`s molded lines, the drive shafts are everything, but not detailed enough i painted some fittings with clear red and blue to give a bit 3D feeling to the gear box. The gold coloured cylinder at the end of the gear box is done wrong, it has to be black when looking at references. I will change that again.


I test fitted the edged radiator fronts and they fit! What a surprise i will paint the inside in gun metal or even black before i glue them into position to give them more deep.


Now i testfitted the chassis to the untertray and now you see what i was talking about, the step from the sideskirt is visible and it looks not nice. I have to replace the skirts and this time i will not cut the inside of the vacuum formed part away, it has to be hidden under the chassis.


Thanks again for watching

[lovegt40]

wonderful details for 1:43 scale. the cars are really nice too.

[racer93]

Very interesting subject in 1/43! I've wanted to try one fully detailed and you may just have given me the inspiration!

Keep up the good work!

[mike@af]

Absolutely fantastic work, even more incredible that its 1/43!!

[Greg23]

I like big models. The bigger the better but you guys are going to turn me into a 1:43 fan yet.

[gp-models]

Thanks a lot for your kind commends guys!

You push my motivation and today i was on the lucky side to model a lot.
But first some reference pics to the car itself, found them in the net, some came with the kit and some others i bought at a local shop many years ago, i think most of you know this car.
The chassis was build by Tom Walkinshaw, original made for a Jaguar engine i think to remember, then Reinhold Joest bought the car, put in a Porsche engine and had a winning car!^^ Funny cause the wirks team entered LM 96 too, but unfortunately with no succes.






Here we have the cockpit section, a buisy place with a lot room for detailing i think
The pictures from the renaissance side shows the sister car, there are a few differences to the winner car like seat belts and some other tiny points.






The front section in real, the moldings on the model are out of way, i wish Tameo has made it!^^


The engine bay needs a lot of attention, lots of wires, connectors etc. I will try to detail it as good as possible, i don`t have a lathe or a mill and my skill is not the best, so i have to use aftermarkt products as well.




and a final overview



First i watched my Junk box and surched for etched parts that can be usefull and found some parts i may use.


long time gone, but i bought some Scalehardware hex nuts in 0,5mm size, they are realy tiny pieces but I will use a lot of them i think. I Don`t know what from Sakatsu will fit, but the airvalves can replace the 2 holders for the front bonnet on the chassis. The braided line fittings are too big, i can`t use them.
The electronic connectors and drive shafts from Tameo are great, i must order some more connectors





There is no comparsion between the molding and the Tameo part, i will replace it.


Sorry for the bad picture quality, but sometimes i think i am too close to the model. I used the makro, but it don`t worked like i want it to be.^^
On this side the drive shaft is replaced with the new one, it is painted with black and a small clear red step. On the other step i removed the paint by sanding lightly till the metal shine came out. Then a round edged brass part from a 1:43 brake disc was added behind the drive shaft. Not realy to be seen here, only to clear what and how i did it.


Now i added some wiring to the cockpit, only dryfitted them first to see how it works. Some of the Tameo connectors are added to the box on the front, i did 2 additional wires to it by using 0,15mm wire. Unfortunately the most wiring is done in black, with the black surface it is hardly to be seen. The big black box on the side is the battery, needs wiring too.


I drilled 2 holes to the front where it was marked and added 2 of those Sakatsu air valves as mounting points for front cowling, looking nice, but again a mistake by watching references, they are more to the middle of the front and not on the edges. Another point to be rebuild, i think i don`t care of any engravings now, will do it only by references.
Those 3 edged nuts on the front are too big i think, but i don`t have smaler ones. I will see if i replace it with 0,3mm brass pipe, that`s more realistic i think.


The cockpit is decaled too, i added some switches, but i`m not happy with it. I will have to do some replacing here too.


There is only a decal for a seat belt included, funny but i will not use it. I made a new one but again watching references too late an build one part for the junk box. The lower belt is not doubled, it is only one belt, i think this is not my day!^^ However it does not matter, i only have to make one new part.


i started with some carbon fiber decal work, made some templates of the inducts by using Tamiya tape and put them on.



I glued a edged round part behind the steering wheel as quick fastener and put carbon fiber to the cockpitwall. An edged holder for the battery is added too. Then i made more templates and decaled the complet inside of the chassis.




Sorry again for bad pictures, and bad english too, i`m still working on it^^
Thanks for watching, i hope you like it

[mike@af]

Great detail. It's been a long time since I've done a small scale, I can't imagine how challenging adding all the detail is at that level.

[lovegt40]

thats always a great combo. Breitish chassis and a big powerful german engine.
Also I remember the car, but was young and was convinced she was just a sort of 962 barchetta type.
Looking now pics it is indeed real different, even if in that years many cars look very similar.

in LM is always also a matter of lucky..

Great and nice details here, keep on postin'.

[sportracer02]

Outstanding job, great details for that scale

[Shunter]

Sensational work, the details look so good.

[gp-models]

Thanks to all for kind commends and interest in this build!



@mike: most problem is to handle such tiny parts, in the mean it is not possible to hold the parts with your fingers, that`s a bit boring when you have to check the fitting of parts several times, very time consuming^^

@gt40: I agree to that, many cars looked the same at these years. In the mean i like the Group C era and all GT`s, F1 as well, so enough room for the next project

@sportracer: Thanks for commend und alles gute aus Aachen

@shunter: I appreciate your commend, a bit more will follow



Here we go with a new update, some might call me crazy after watching, but i made a hard decision!!^^
Normaly a build is in progress, this time it will be 5 steps back until 3 have been done forward. I will remove all molded details from the front to decal the complete chassis with carbon fiber, then i will scratch build all details i removed. A lot of work, but from the beginning this was a boring question to me and now i will do it, so this turns into a longer time project!


I started with the battery, scratch build it with styrene, made a frame from 0,15 Aluminium sheet, 2 Electronic connectors from aftermarket will be added too.


Then i made a new starter for the engine, the holes i drilled are 0,4mm for adding wiring. I used a brass pipe and a brass rod that fits to the pipe, the rod is so long, only to handle this part better, i will cut half of it away when i glue it to the model.


Now i removed all molded details from the front, shaved it down to the chassis.
I engraved the lines a bit deeper, cause all will be decaled with carbon fiber. The molded dumpers will be replaced too, i have to putty some scratches to get a smooth surface.
After 3 steps to the front, now 5 backwards.^^




I scratch build new shock absorbers with some edged parts, a spring, a Tameo drive shaft, a brass pipe and a needle head. I shaved the needle head flat, there will be some wiring added later. Not to bad, but i will order some Tameo shock absorbers to see which will better work. It took me 2 hours to get all the parts together and lenght.
I made the rear ones a similar way, but i have to add these 2 round reservoirs finaly, i think i will use Sakatsu`s antenna feed for that.
The molded parts are not detailed enough in my eyes, i like a metal shining on it.
I started with some templates for decaling the cockpit bottom too.




the cockpit bottom is ready decaled, don`t care about the watermarks on it, all decaled parts will be washed with an all purpose cleaner and much water before they get a final flat clear coating.


The electronic box on top of the front will be scratch build from styrene, i use Tameo`s edged radiator fronts to simulate the surface on top of the box. The electronic connectors from tameo will be used again after painting it semi gloss black, and maybe some hex nuts from Scale hardware.
The wiring to the cockpit will be replaced in a final step, first i have to build up the parts, painting, decaling and clear coating has to be done infront too.



A lot of work till i get back to the point i have been before, but i think it will look much better that way.

Thanks again for watching, critics and commends are welcome

[gp-models]

Here we go with another update, progress is slowly at moment, cause scratch building all the removed parts is time consuming.
The tank beside the engine will be removed too, i think real Aluminium looks better, so i decided to make a new one by using a thick Aluminium rod, cut down a piece and polished the outside with a dentist tool for metal polishing.




Now i drilled some holes for fittings and the section where the cage is going through.


I made a new reservoire for the back of the gear box by using brass pipes, the molded part looks not fine. A polished needle head will be glued to the bottom and a 0,3mm hole is bored to the side of the Pipe on top for later plumbing.




I started to drill out the holes in the square frame on top of the gear box, it looks a bit too thick as molding, the original part is realy thin. It`s not done like the real part, but i will try to give it a touch up by drilling out as much as possible.


I sanded off the molded lines on side of the gear box and removed the tank. I replace the molded lines by using wire and braided lines with fittings at a later point. Some more sanding is needed to get a smooth surface.


By watching references i found another major point, i have to build a mounting point to the gear box to connect the frame, the kit means to glue it against the gear box, this is not working!^^
I drilled 2 holes and inserted 2 brass pins. Some putty has to be done to bring back a smooth surface to the gear box. I did a dry fit with the rear suspension and the fitting was terrible, the forward conecting points needs to be changed too.




I sprayed some primer to the gear box to check the surface at the sections where i added the mounting points for the cage, it needs some more additional sanding before i can paint it again. As you can see, the square frame is totaly thinned out, i have to handle it very careful now, i think i made a mistake by doing this now, it would be better if i did it on a later point.





Thank`s again for watching