Le Mans Contest Entry: Porsche 917 Gulf #20

[RallyRaider]

Slow down there Guy, we could be running a seventies comp in a few years and this will fit right in! Looks fantastic!

A Steve McQueen Gulf 917 was going to be my next project, but then MPWR had to go and start this Lotus Super 7 group build thing....

[stevenoble]

Originally Posted by Sennake

Tamiya TS-12 orange, but I transferred the paint into my airbrush to be able to spray more gently. I think Tamiya TS-56 Brilliant orange is probably an even better choice, so you will have to make a comparison there.

Thanks a lot I'll certainly give the Tamiya Orange's a try on my GT 40.

[Sennake]

In the meantime I let the Porsche body dry through and through because it has at least 8 or 9 layers of clearcoat. After a few weeks of thourough drying it still shows my fingerprints when I old it to tightly, but at least I can remove them now with a little Tamiya compound.

So I did some work at the cockpit. First I thought : the body didn't work out 100% like I would like, so why loose time and energy at the cockpit? But because the windscreen is very large I think it's the other way around : a nice interior upgrades a somewhat less succeeded bodywork.

To the Batmobile! Ehrm I mean workbench of course. I brushpainted the chassis in the right colors, following some reference pics, and I added some accents here and there with Tamiya smoke.

I replaced the radiators with photoetch items. The fire extuingisher-holder was covered with bare metal foil. The battery received 2 wires and the seats were handpainted and weathered. Next I added the photo-etch seatbelts.





I put the chassis aside to dry and I started to work at the dashboard. I cut away the center part of the steering wheel and replaced it with photo-etch material, as I did with the meter panel. The original decals were used for the meters. The switches were made from some wire, painted in the right color. The switch-bottoms were made with my punch 'n die set.



Finally I glued the dashboard to the chassis and I took some pictures of the intermediate result.





Next I concentrated at the bulkhead. After drilling all the little holes in the electric components and in the bulkhead itself I started adding some wires, as close to thye reference pics as I could. The result might not be 100% correct but it's the look that counts.



Next I glued the bulkhead to the chassis and I pulled the 2 battery wires through the remaining hole.







Finally I also glued the windscreen and the side windows to the body with epoxyglue.



To be continued!

[RallyRaider]

Super work Guy, the weathering on the seats is a highlight.

[godfather23]

I wish my 917 would look as good as yours. Great work! And if I didn´t mention it before...your bodywork rocks!

RallyRaider: I wish we would have a 70s contest at some point! I really do! Why don´t we just start one?

[RallyRaider]

Originally Posted by godfather23

RallyRaider: I wish we would have a 70s contest at some point! I really do! Why don´t we just start one?

On that line of thought I guess I bettter kick off the Alcohol/Tobacco comp at some point. A seventies theme has been my favourite idea since the original Le Mans comp, keep getting out voted on that one!

[nugundam93]

looking good!

[Samurai75007]

Wow, I always loved the Golf paint.

[Sennake]

Ok. In the meantime I worked a lot at the rear of the car. Although this is a "curbside" model, in other words there is no engine nor can anything be opened, Fujimi was still forced to include a large part of the engine in the kit. The gearbox and the complete rear suspension became visible once John Wyer litteraly cut the rear off the car, so these parts deserve as much attention as any other visible part.

First I made some pictures of the rear before I fixed the wheels, so you can see the suspension and the brakes better.











After a little hesitation I finally convinced myself of the fact that the wheels needed small balancing weights (is that the correct word guys?) and I convinced myseld to put the tire decals aside and use the "Firestone" tire stencil instead. So that's what I did, and in the first picture can see the completed wheels. The weights were made of solder material, the tire publicity was spraypainted with matt white.



The next 4 pictures show the chassis with the wheels fixed, and the only missing thing are the mudguards which I will fix after I posted these pics. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see the rear wheels, and that would make this pictures thread quite senseless

[JoeAngelicchio]

Awesome looking so far. Can't wait to see the finished car.

[SeanyG]

Sennake,

great work my friend, I love the fact that you are not making the car look 'pristine', Im not a fan of heavy weathering as I have never seen a model which looked realistic enough to be good (and also Im crap at it myself!!!!!) but anyway I think yours looks just about right, especially like the interior and engine bay - again superb work.
As it seem everyone has I too have this in the to do pile along with the GT40 and I'll be doing them both in the Gulf colours, I think its one of the most distinctive colour schemes ever maybe only second to the Marlboro McLarens.

Look forward to see this one finished, great work mate

Sean
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http://www.scalereproductions.co.uk
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[Sennake]

The model is finally finished. The finished pics are here : http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...92#post4361992

Enjoy!

[Pippin1974]

I cannot recognize if this is the real car or the plastic one!!!! You did an incredible job"!