MA Models Sonauto 914-6 GT, Le Mans 1970

[ianc911]

Hi Folks,

I dragged my feet in getting the body of the Fujimi 917 I'm building ready for paint, now I've got everything else done but the weather's crappy, so I needed to get started on another project until I can paint.

I picked this MA Models Sonauto 914-6 GT, which finished 6th overall, and first in the 2 liter class at Le Mans in 1970:



I had read some bad reviews about MA Models' (mamodels.com) quality before ordering, but decided to try them anyway. Some of the cars I was looking for are just not available anywhere else... Anyway, I initially ordered two: this car and one of the 917L's from the 1971 Le Mans. I see now what people were talking about. The quality is really quite poor. The casting on the 914 is the worst of the two. The panel lines are crooked and the entire bodyshell is uneven and absolutely riddled with pinholes. I've been through about 6 putty\sand\prime iterations now and I think I'm about getting there. The rubber tires had massive seams to be sanded off and the white metal parts are covered with flash and lack any real detail. The windshield is uneven and lumpy. The kit is comprised of about 30 parts total, and there are no PE parts included. Following are some pics of the kit out of the box:













Here's a shot of the wheels and tires which actually came out rather nicely and will probably be the focal point of the car. I'm not even going to attempt the white Goodyear lettering on them...



The panel lines on this car are just a mess, although I have improved them somewhat from above. I really should just fill them in completely and rescribe, but not sure I have the patience for that, or if the final result would even be worth it...

Anyway, we'll see if I can turn this out looking just awful, instead of complete crap. Wish me luck...

ianc

[LeeABC]

I admire you for even attempting to build this one, it looks like a rubbish kit!
I think I would bump this straight back from where it came with a demand for a refund. It's appalling that manufacturers are allowed to get away with selling this sort of crap.

Good luck Ianc!

Cheers,
Lee.

[ianc911]

Yeah, it's really quite disappointing. However, I'm on a mission to collect every 917 that ever ran at Le Mans in 1:43 scale, and the Gulf cars, particularly those from 1971, are just unobtainable for some reason. Not sure why that is, but he's pretty much the only game in town. I don't think the 917's body is so pathetic as this however, so the 914 may be one of his earliest kits before he got some experience at it. Don't say you haven't been warned however...

ianc

[nugundam93]

wow. pretty sure after you've built this you would've turned into a saint with all the patience and perseverance to fix and build this kit.

[914joe]

Oh nooo... MA kits are horrible All MA kits I've seen are a combination of pirated parts. That 914 body is a PIT copy and that model was wrong to begin with. It's true that they make versions that other manufactures don't but if I were to build one the only thing I'd use would be the decals. If you need some spare or better parts let me know.... I've got a big parts box

[Tim Bradley]

Boy you have your hands full on that one!

I know the owner of the car and have sat in it. It really is very stock.

One thing I spotted is the wrong tire and wheel size. The ones in the kit look like they should be on a IROC 911, way too deep. I would think a set from a 911S would work out just right.

Good luck with it!

Tim

[ianc911]

Well, here I am back with a little progress to show. I've been working like a slave on the body and finally managed to get it ready for paint. Not sure if it is actually ready, or if I'm just sick of it, but I decided to paint it anyway. I masked the bumpers, rockers and roof side panels (which will be black) and shot the body in white. As is typical of my paint jobs, it's orange peel, so I've sanded it back already and will probably be painting it again this afternoon. I think I'm not thinning the paint enough, so will be experimenting with that.

The cockpit (such as it is) is nearly done too. The bit of paper taped to the the rear cockpit panel is a template cut from the kit instructions for the rear window. Which doesn't fit; surpise surprise. So that will require some custom fitting as well. I had a devil of a time getting the wheels spaced equally in the fenders since as you can see from the rear shot, the section holding the rear axle is not symmetric with the cockpit!

Anyway, thanks for the kind comments and encouragement.

Tim, I know the wheels\tires are too big, but I think I'm going to just throw accuracy out the window on this one. Hence the red seat, gold script on the engine lid, etc. The model is so poor, I may as well try to give it some visual appeal...

Joe, thanks for the offer of the spare parts bin. The encouragement means something coming from you...







ianc

[Porsnatic]

Excellent performance on this one with a kit all of us known very well its not the best one to start with...You're doing pretty well...

[914joe]

Looking good!!! Not everyone can make one of these kits presentable... Your on the right track

[Tim Bradley]

I talked to my friend tonight who owns this car. I asked about the rim size and he said they are seven inch wide wheels.

I also wanted to know about the red stripe around the front windscreen was. It is French duct tape! They removed the chrome trim and the tape keeps the glass from coming out of the rubber moulding.

The red tape is used for the gas cap. People think the cap handle is not aligned with the red tape. It is so the mounts align, not the handle. See photo.

The rollbar was not used for Le Mans, but was installed for a later race.
The holes for the bar are still in the car.

The seat was a bare fiberglass 906 seat. It has "real" seats now

When the car was retired from the track, Sonauto used it as the "lunch getter"


Here's a link to some photos you may have seen, but new to me.


http://www.pbase.com/9146gt/factory_...1020_sonauto40

http://www.pbase.com/9146gt/factory_...0_glenn_stazak

It's always fun talking to him, story after story. Oh by the way, he used to own and raced the JDavid K3 Porsche that grasset2005 is working on!

Tim

[ianc911]

Well, I finally wrapped this one up, so I guess it's time to close this up with a few pics. It really didn't come out that bad, but it was a helluva lot of work to correct the kit deficiencies, and as mentioned before, the car is totally inaccurate. But hey, you pays yer money...

Thanks for looking; thanks for the cool stories Tim, and off to the next project.

[Tim Bradley]

Nice job! Glad to see you got it finished up.
Tim