Porsche 356 pre A Carrera Panamericana 1953

[F1Tommy]

Here is a Fujimi 1/24th 356A kit I just finished for Ferrari Expo 2011. I modified it to make it a pre 356A model and put on the brand new Scale Designs SD38 Carrera Panamericana decals. This car ran in the 1953 Pan Am race. The sponsor was Canada shoes of Mexico. The owner of the company entered the car and drove it. The "new" Scale Designs SD38 will be available as of March 19th 2011 and includes 3 356's from the Pan Am 1952 and 1953 race.









The decals were printed by Cartograf, Italy. I did do alot of work on this model including making aluminum window frames just like on the real car.

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2011-Chicago March 19th 2011

[F1Tommy]

Here is a very rare 1953 Pan Am photo of the real car to show the accuracy of the color and the decals:










Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2011-Chicago March 19th 2011

[quadzero]

Beautiful work and amazing livery. Nice job you did on this.

[ScaleCentral]

Count me in for a sheet and whatever else you have coming. This is a beautiful car. Great job on the decals and the kit!
Nic

[F1Tommy]

Originally Posted by ScaleCentral

Count me in for a sheet and whatever else you have coming. This is a beautiful car. Great job on the decals and the kit!
Nic

Thank you for your comments. This Fujimi kit is amazing on its own. The chassis and engine detail are unreal for a plastic kit. The engine has a crank and pistons!! It is the most complicated car kit motor I have ever seen in 1/24th scale plastic.

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2011-Chicago March 19th 2011

[The Modeler]

Great detail the rear open window

[Sebastian.]

perfect!

[Mech@niC]

Wow,

That's a unique project.

[jaykay640]

Beautiful build of a great looking subject!!
I wasn't even aware of these until you started posting about doing the decals. Nice work!

[F1Tommy]

Thanks for all your comments. The Pan Am 1950-1954 was an amazing race. I know they did alot of the cars in 1/43rd and a few in 1/24th but not the cars on the Scale Designs SD38 sheet. This Canada 356 has never been done in any scale. That is because no one could find good color photos of the car.


I will also do the Peron 356 and early low roof #199 356 from 1953 on SD40, my third sheet along with the cars on SD38 resized to 1/43rd scale. My next sheet will be SD39 for the Alfa 1900TI Carrera Panamericana 1954. It will include 3-4 cars and is for the very nice Quattroruote Alfa 1900 diecast in 1/24th scale. I have plans to do 3 or 4 sheets total and maybe a model for the Carrera Panamericana.

Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2011-Chicago March 19th 2011

[sprite46cfk]

This 356 as well as the others from the Pam-Am races are beautiful. I look forward to the decal sheets. Could you post a brief summary of the major mods to the Fujimi kit to postdate it back to a pre-A?
Thanks!

[alvarol]

Beautifull work Tom!

Thank you for making it now possible to us, to build these cars.

I agree with you on your comment about the 356 Fujimi series, I can still remember when the first series arrived here at Portuguese stores, and "enthusiast series" was really a good definition for these kits. I was really "Enthusiastic!" about them, as I am about the real car.

These are still one of my favorite 1/24 model-kits, ever! even if they are a bit "demanding" on our building skills!

How, or where can I order one of these decal sets Tom?

Thank you.

[TZ2]

Nice idea and fine build, Tom. I had already seen some more in other forums but too bad, that you never reveal where to buy these decals...

Here one of mine FUJIMI conversions:

[F1Tommy]

I should have a dealer list in a week or two. I am sure Stradasports, Island Collectibles and Raccoon will get them. I also am adding a 2 sheet Ferrari Daytona Competition sheet also printed by Cartograf that will include the Lemans Feraud #36 car and 2 NART cars(Lemans 1972 #74 and 1973 #37).


The main modification on the Fujimi 356A body is to remove all the trim below the door. You also have to blank the tail lights and front turn signals. The early cars just had round bike lights(clear front and red tail).
The other part is the dashboard. The were very crude on pre a models and had flat faces with instruments mounted directly. In the middle of the dash was a radio/radio speaker. They all did come with a radio This was basically a hotrod Volkswagen with a lower and lighter body.

Here are a few photos of the first 2 new sheets:





Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2011-Chicago March 19th 2011

[alvarol]

I should have a dealer list in a week or two. I am sure Stradasports, Island Collectibles and Raccoon will get them. I also am adding a 2 sheet Ferrari Daytona Competition sheet also printed by Cartograf that will include the Lemans Feraud #36 car and 2 NART cars(Lemans 1972 #74 and 1973 #37).


The main modification on the Fujimi 356A body is to remove all the trim below the door. You also have to blank the tail lights and front turn signals. The early cars just had round bike lights(clear front and red tail).
The other part is the dashboard. The were very crude on pre a models and had flat faces with instruments mounted directly. In the middle of the dash was a radio/radio speaker. They all did come with a radio This was basically a hotrod Volkswagen with a lower and lighter body.

Here are a few photos of the first 2 new sheets:

Thank you for your reply and pictures. I will wait for these decals to be available.

The main modification on the Fujimi 356A body is to remove all the trim below the door. You also have to blank the tail lights and front turn signals. The early cars just had round bike lights(clear front and red tail).

Windscreen shape was very different too, but I am aware that this part could prove to be difficult to reshape for the average skilled modeler.

Anyway, it will look quite good as it is.

Please remember to post here some pictures of the coming event, OK?

Best regards to all.