Making of a Porsche 911 (996) GT3

[360spider]

This is going to be a change for me in so many different ways.... First of all, this is going to be my first Porsche in many many years. In fact, this is second Porsche I've ever attempted to build, first was an 84' 911 from Fujimi kit and I gave to a friend as a present some 10 years ago. Second, this will be completely box-stock build. YES, that's right, out-of-the-box 100%. In fact, there will be minimal corrections to the kit because I'm building this for a contest on one of the Russian modeling forums, and the rules are to build box-stock, no aftermarket or additions of any kind. You can use any paints and chemicals (i.e. decal set, etc) and can file away plastic, but can't add. So, this is going to be simply a very clean but completely stock kit.

Should look something like this:





So here is what we have here so far. The body was painted once, and spend last 3 years in the brake fluid, and plastic become very brittle. So when I tried to scrub it with a toothbrush, broke one A-pillar in 4 places! Bummer!

So, I reconstructed the pillar with some superglue and tamiya putty, and kept sanding and filling until it was looking more or less like new.




Primer:




Painted one layer of Zero Nuovo Nero Daytona (Ferrari paint) but found some artifacts and sanded it a bit...




Then sprayed another coat of paint:





Then 2K Zero clear, then 3M polishing compound, then Tamiya Fine, then Treatment wax:





Continued with the chassis - painted the horrible "all-in-one" underside:



Painted engine block, added upper A-arms, driveshafts, exhaust system (weathered it a bit):




Brakes and suspension just painted and washed:




Then put it all together - rear suspension:



Front:



Chassis assembled:




Wheels are on:




Mocked up the body to check the stance - the rear sits way too high:





Will lower it down to something like this, not sure how yet (this is just a mock up)




Interior is next!

[Twowheelsrule]

Your details and finish look excellent!

To lower your car and a lot of the Tamiya cars you have to cut the strut below the spring area and remove material before glueing it back together. Then, add styrene tubing to the lower suspension strut mount so that the strut remains captured.

Beware that the tire may hit the shortened strut depending on the fitment.


TW

[MPWR]

It's fun to build a simple curbside every once in a while, isn't it? Good shine.

Just please remember to strip that gawdawful chrome off those wheels!

I'm surprised to see the back end sitting so high- Tamiya lowered the suspension of this kit compared to the 'stock' parts from their first 996 kit. I'm sure you've checked it all, but it's not that the body is sitting too high on the chassis, is it? (And you didn't use the stock suspension parts, right? )

[AustinMartin]

Awesome build Alex!

[BVC500]

Originally Posted by MPWR

It's fun to build a simple curbside every once in a while, isn't it? Good shine.

Just please remember to strip that gawdawful chrome off those wheels!

I'm surprised to see the back end sitting so high- Tamiya lowered the suspension of this kit compared to the 'stock' parts from their first 996 kit. I'm sure you've checked it all, but it's not that the body is sitting too high on the chassis, is it? (And you didn't use the stock suspension parts, right? )

Yeah, I agree. I've built this kit and had no problems with the rear height. I even used GT3 suspension parts for a regular 996 and it sits very low too.

[godfather23]

Marvelous paint job and great coloring overall. I like it. Please get rid of the stock chrome. With the chrome off, does this still fit the description of being oob??


Robert

[360spider]

Originally Posted by MPWR

It's fun to build a simple curbside every once in a while, isn't it? Good shine.

Just please remember to strip that gawdawful chrome off those wheels!

I'm surprised to see the back end sitting so high- Tamiya lowered the suspension of this kit compared to the 'stock' parts from their first 996 kit. I'm sure you've checked it all, but it's not that the body is sitting too high on the chassis, is it? (And you didn't use the stock suspension parts, right? )

Andy, its a revelation - everything fits, and I don't have to spend hours modifying or detailing stuff....what a relief! I almost forgot the feeling.

The wheels will not remain chrome (see update below). I agree, they look too bling-bling for a Porsche.

I double checked everything and it turned out the struts were not sitting all the way in the wheel wells, which resulted in suspension problem. I snapped them in place and now everything fits right.

Originally Posted by godfather23

Marvelous paint job and great coloring overall. I like it. Please get rid of the stock chrome. With the chrome off, does this still fit the description of being oob??


Robert

Yeah, stripping and repainting is allowed. See what I did to them below.
Wheels:



And interior:







I'm on a finish straight - just need to put everything together! I've never had so much fun putting a model together in 4 days!

[Entau]

woww..u broke the pillar to 4 pcs and still manage to put it back in 1 piece , did u add any thing behind the pillar to reinforce it?

everything looks great

[KevHw]

Everything looks great. Really nice save on the A-pillar. It's nice to see so much potential extracted from a box-stock build. Interior is very clean...what did you use for the flocking? Looking forward to seeing this finished.

[360spider]

Originally Posted by KevHw

Everything looks great. Really nice save on the A-pillar. It's nice to see so much potential extracted from a box-stock build. Interior is very clean...what did you use for the flocking? Looking forward to seeing this finished.

Thanks! It is not flocking, it is a self-adhesive paper that is included with the kit. Real thin and conforms nicely. the only drawback is that the sticky layer is well... not very sticky, so I had to use some CA glue at the corners to make it fit snug.

[Ferrari TR]

Nice!
I've been in a Porsche mood as well, i was looking at a rather red example at Ferrari of Denver last night.

[360spider]

Well, I had so much fun with it so I already finished....More pix in the "completed" section.
Thanks!



Completed thread:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...53#post5931953

[spideyman]

a beautiful model you have built there. the paint is perfect, the attention to detail is spot on especially on the chassis.

one quick tip for any future water cooled porsches that you may have. i noticed that you painted the oil filter blue, not a big deal however this is incorrect for the vehicle. since the 993 body and on porsche has gone to using a cartridge style oil filter and not a canister style as you have depicted. please take no offence for me pointing this out, i am a technician for porsche and i get to crawl around them all day so it was just something that stood out to me.
if you are interested, it should be dull black plastic like an air box or an intake plenum, not glossy metal.

just my observation, other wise like i said before a beautiful model you have there and you should do well with you competition.

[TightDA8]

Great thing about Tamiya kits is how their panel lines are so well defined, even without painting them, still looks good...Great looking model!

[360spider]

Originally Posted by spideyman

a beautiful model you have built there. the paint is perfect, the attention to detail is spot on especially on the chassis.

one quick tip for any future water cooled porsches that you may have. i noticed that you painted the oil filter blue, not a big deal however this is incorrect for the vehicle. since the 993 body and on porsche has gone to using a cartridge style oil filter and not a canister style as you have depicted. please take no offence for me pointing this out, i am a technician for porsche and i get to crawl around them all day so it was just something that stood out to me.
if you are interested, it should be dull black plastic like an air box or an intake plenum, not glossy metal.

just my observation, other wise like i said before a beautiful model you have there and you should do well with you competition.

Thanks for pointing that out, I never even thought of looking it up!

Originally Posted by TightDA8

Great thing about Tamiya kits is how their panel lines are so well defined, even without painting them, still looks good...Great looking model!

Not sure what you mean, panel lines on this one were deepened and accented wit ha black wash. The panel lines on most Tamiya's are so bad they disappear under 2 coats of paint.