Eighties Contest Entry: Porsche 961

[Gridgirl]

I'm building Tamiya's Porsche 961. It's a bit of a late entry I know, but I think I can have it finished in time! I started this kit last June, and have been working on it off and on since then. It's still not entirely completed, but I think I can have it in just under the line. I didn't plan on entering it in the contest- it's actually only the second kit I'd ever started and my first foray into airbrushing a body(!), but I'm happy with how it's turning out. Besides the 959/961 is a cool enough car that it shold be represented in an 80's contest! (Phil, am I too late? )

The 961 was the road/endurance racing version of Porsche's fabulous 959. The 959 itself was created for the Group B category. When Group B was canceled, the 959 (like Ferrari's 288 Evo/F40) found itself as a car without a race. In 1986, the 961 ran in it's own 'invitational' class (GTX) in Le Mans, and obviously won it. More impressively it finished seventh overall, behind a string of 956's and 962's, having completed 320 laps. The 959 also won the Paris Dakar Rally in 1986, but these two victories were the hightlights of the 959/961's disappointingly short racing career.

The Tamiya kit itself is a bit strange. Unfortunately, it isn't a motorsports version of the 959 kit. Instead, Tamiya had for a while a series of 1/24 R/C cars called Tamtech. One of the kits in this series was a 961. Tamiya took the rigid plastic body from the R/C kit, added a simple interior and motorized chassis, and produced this 961 kit.



It's a very simplified kit. The one parts sprue has only 19 parts.



The body itself has the windows already molded in place, probably to give it more strength for use on an R/C model. Headlights and taillights are opaque and molded in place. But otherwise, the detail is fairly good. The body had some wicked mold lines, and the lines around the taillights had to be deepened with a scriber- but all told it's pretty minor surgery.





Here is the chassis. The kit includes no detail to speak of- but it does have a motor! My model is faster than yours. The underside is painted white to match the body.



Here is the body, painted up in white. I masked the windows with lots of Tamiya tape, and sprayed it with MM Acryl gloss white. Doesn't look much different than it did in bare plastic- but I guess that's a good thing.



Still rather plain looking- but theres more to come!

[nugundam93]

wow...motorized!

you might wanna post a vid of it running as well when you complete it. looking forward to more pics!

[quadzero]

as with your other wip's I'm sure this is going to be a fun thread. althou there isnt much for pieces,(just extra distractions, anyway ) I know you will still produce a winner here. good luck on the contest.

[gionc]

Mhhhhh
I'm wondering the right place for chianti, plaid and pic-nic's crate.

[p9o1r1sche]

Here's some inspiration

I used this kit body and the street 959 to build a full detail model.

Good luck with your build!

[RallyRaider]

Originally Posted by Gridgir

Phil, am I too late?

Never too late Gridgirl. nice subject. Godspeed finishing it off in the less than a week remaining!

[Gridgirl]

Thanks everyone!

nugundam93- Cool idea! I don't think I'd risk it with the body on , but a quick video of the chassis running around the kitchen floor would be fun. Problem is that I don't know how to host a video on the web.

p9o1r1sche- Cool build! Do you have a thread for it, or some more pics?

gionc- I think for this one, the brie and bagette (it is LeMans, after all) will remain in the pits.

RallyRaider- It's still not done, but I think I'll have it ready. The pressure's on, though!

Here are some pics of the body painted and decaled. The decals were in rough shape, but happily they went on OK. I decided to clearcoat them with X22- which of course was applied over the windows, too. Strange kit. I got held up because the X22 badly fogged the windows and I wasn't sure what to do - so I built a Fiat . In doing so, I discovered Meguiar's Scratch-X. Rubbing the inside of the windows (overspray) solved my problem, and I was back on track! I did the black frame around the windshield with black BMF, and the back surrounds on the other windows are kit decals. The windshield retainer clamps and the fuel filler caps are also BMF. Almost done, just needs a bit more detailing.









Thanks for looking!

[Gridgirl]

One more update!

The wheels were painted gloss black, with a white hub, and given a wash. They're Fujimi style, so I could have replaced them with just about anything, but Tamiya's Speedlines look pretty accurate.



Here's the chassis with the cockpit in place. Unfortunately the windows aren't completely clear, after the clearcoat, so any detailing wouldn't really be visible. So I kept it simple.



Here it is with the wheels - ready to roll (across the kitchen floor)!



I replaced the main and wastegate exhausts with aluminum tube.



Here they are with the body in place. I also mounted some nylon mesh over the vent openings. It's painted with Metallic Grey.



A bit more detail on the bonnet. I added some photoetched bonnet pins, and highlighted them with a wash. You can't really see it in the pic, but I also put some mesh on the radiator grill.



Here it is completed!







It was a fun build. I learned a lot - there were a lot of challenges painting the body with the fixed windows. My airbrush and I are much better friends than we were before.

Finished just in time (it really was finished just today)! Looking forward to next year's motorsports competition, whatever it may be.

[quadzero]

very enjoyable wip with great results.

[RallyRaider]

Super work on a very basic kit. Now can we see it zooming accross the carpet please?

[robrex]

Originally Posted by RallyRaider

Super work on a very basic kit. Now can we see it zooming accross the carpet please?

Yeah, I want to see it run too?

Nice work by the way!

[klutz_100]

Great job at making a simple kit look like much more

Good luck in the comp!

[Icon Modeler]

Great Job and in short order too. It looks wonderful!! You should be very happy with the results.

Icon Modeler

[Gridgirl]

And now...

By popular demand...

Exclusive video of the straight line speed trials of the 1/24 Porsche 961 blazing across the living room salt flats!



See, my model is faster than yours.
Enjoy!

[white97ex]

Cool. Glad to see you made it. I just finished up my entry today!! Good Luck