1/8 Porsche 956

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello again,

Okay, so my plan to get the tail finished in paint by the end of September didn't quite work out. Although I did return to it at the end of the month, it's not ready for varnishing or decals yet, and I'll probably now leave it alone for the winter...probably. The issue with the masking tape leaving an impression threw me off a bit, as it hadn't been an issue before. Perhaps it was a consequence of spraying in the cooler temperatures?

However, work has been progressing in other areas. Here's the mirrors I mentioned last time - still unpainted when this photo was taken, but with mounting brackets, stalks, etc:



I spent some time painting and detailing the master cylinders, getting them fitted to the front bulkhead, and threading the pipework through into the tub:



A lot of time in recent weeks has been spent on trying to organise the mass of pipework and wiring in the engine bay, prior to fitting the engine. I've also put together braided lines for the oil cooler, the rear brake line running across the top of the bellhousing adaptor, the gearbox breather, etc:





By early October I decided there wasn't much point in delaying, so the engine was finally fitted:



I added some lead-wire detailing around the top of the engine bay and A-frames to create the fire extinguisher pipework, and have secured more of the wiring to the top A-frame tubes. You can see a couple of the blue connectors on the left-hand side leading to braided hose - one of these is the brakeline and the other the clutch. It's been slow-going as there's so much going on back there - there's been a lot of checking, cross-checking, finding notes I made months ago, etc!

The bellhousing adaptor isn't finalised yet - I'm hoping to get this fitted in the next couple of weeks, but I need to do some work with the rear suspension first.

With the engine in, the focus for the last week or so has been to get the turbos and exhaust pipes fitted, and prepare the intercoolers and pipework. I've had to do a little adjustment on some of the connections, but overall both sides went in with little fuss. Here's the right-hand side:



The exhaust pipes clicked into place under the engine thanks to the magnets, and were glued to the rest of the turbo assembly, then the gaps filled and re-painted. Oil feed lines have been added and attached to the engine, and I've started making some more lines for the turbo control. Part of the pipework to connect the radiator to the intercooler is in place, with the blue locking collar.

Overall, the engine bay now looks like this:



Next job is to get the turbo wastegates fitted, add some more pipework, and apply some filler to the joints on the exhaust tailpipes. Once that's all done, it'll be time to fit the intercoolers and push on with the bellhousing and gearbox...and lots of other things!

More next time,

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello!

November was basically a month of slowly adding parts to the engine bay, tidying up some of the details and working towards getting the bellhousing and gearbox fitted. With the exhausts and turbos already in place I added the wastegates, control hoselines, and the heatshields with support stays:



The wastegates intrude into the ducting on the underside of the engine cover bodywork, so these have been trimmed out to clear. Before fitting the heatshields I added a little filler to the exhaust pipe joints and touched-in the paintwork - same with the tailpipes .

The only delay in final-fitting of the bellhousing was adding the forward mounting for the lower wishbones and making sure that the holes in the undertray gave sufficient clearance for the wishbone legs. With the bellhousing in place, I added the oil tank, diagonal stay, and the oil catch-tank:



...adding some of the pipework to the oil tank, coil wiring, and the main part of the gear-linkage:



After all this, it was time to fit the intercoolers and the solid pipes down to the water pumps:



I had to do a little adjustment to the pipework between the intercooler units and the turbos - it's inevitable that parts will move around slightly during assembly! Having most of the parts magnetised was certainly a big help in this process, allowing quick and easy fitting and removal and also a little flexibility in positioning. The intercoolers themselves are only glued in place via the pipe connections - the main mounting is just the magnets onto the side support frames.

I had a break from work in the second half of November, and this was an opportunity to spend some time finishing the assembly of the back end. Before I mounted the gearbox I opened-up the undertray holes for the rear legs of the wishbones, and checked that the wishbones could still be fitted afterwards - they can.

The main job during this period was to work on the support frame from the gearbox to the back edge of the tail. With the gearbox position finalised I could work out the correct angle for the side plates and set the height for the crossbeam:



In real-life the sideplates are a folded Z-section, but I knew I would be unable to replicate this properly purely in styrene, and was unwilling to tackle it with aluminium. Although the tail itself is actually quite well-balanced, I knew that the support frame would have to be capable of taking some loading. For a short while I considered making the structure as a pair of small-diameter tube-frames, but bypassed this and settled on using a fibreglass and styrene sandwich, with styrene angle sections along the top and bottom to create the Z-profile:



The holes for the lattice-frames took forever to drill-out and file to shape! I've made them a little 'chunkier' than they should be to improve their strength - I'd rather do this than risk them breaking or cracking. The crossbeam is a styrene / fibreglass hybrid with more rivet detailing, and slots neatly into the channel in the back of the tail bodywork. I've fitted the rear airjack temporarily to make sure the little diagonal stay clears. There's still scope for final adjustment of the crossbeam position when I fit everything together. It sounds daft, but making these pieces took the best part of a week's work!

Adding the gearbox has meant the rear top wishbones are now in place, so final assembly of the suspension is imminent. That's what I've been working towards during the last couple of weeks. The rear uprights are basically ready to fit, but I've finally made the connecting pieces for the flexible brake ducting:



Another job has been finishing the rear dampers and making the springs. I've glued the spring platform collars into position, and added some small-diameter wire coils to give the appearance of the external threads on the damper bodies. The springs are made from 1.2mm plastic-coated wire - the real ones are dual-rate with a tapering shape, but I've settled for winding them around two diameters of tube to get the shape:



Since taking these photos I've airbrushed the dampers and the tail support frame, so you'll see these on the car when I do my usual New Year's Eve update. I've also been finalising the rear roll-bar parts in preparation for assembly, making attachment pins for the dampers, and generally just getting everything ready ahead of the coming weekend. I want to take the 956 into the workshop next week, so my colleagues will be able to see what I've been up to during the year!

That's it for tonight. I'll do an update at the end of month, so have a good Christmas!

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello again!

It’s now six years and one day since I ‘officially’ started work on the 956, putting together the cardboard mock-up of the tub so that I could work out the best way of mounting the drivetrain. Much has happened since then, but I think it’s safe to say that 2025 should see the project completed.

By the start of December I’d assembled the rear suspension, uprights, roll-bar and the spring / damper units – I’ll finish this update with some photos of all this. There’s still some extra details to add – tidy some pipework, add the oil-filler cap, fit the rest of the gear linkage and oil cooler, etc – but one job I wanted to sort out was the toe-links.

I didn’t want to make the rod-end joints on the ends of the links with my usual method – wrapped and twisted wire – as they’re very visible when the bodywork is removed, and I wanted to fit something more detailed and appropriate. Fortunately, the toe-links aren’t load-bearing and they only have to pivot about a simple axis, so I was able to use pieces of styrene-coated wire to create a combined pin-and-pivot for each end of the link, and then camouflage the bend with some detailing:



When I’m happy the suspension is positioned correctly I’ll finalise the lengths of the aluminium rods, add some greenstuff to the ends to smooth out the transition between the two diameters, then get it all painted and assembled:



My focus through the last couple of weeks has been creating the headlight pods. Although the vacuum-former arrived last month I had to wait a little longer for some 1mm hard sheet, as the ‘soft’ sheet I used for the test-run was – unsurprisingly – soft! It proved that the shape could be made, though, and that was the critical thing. Here’s the LH headlight cover as pulled off the machine and ready to be released and trimmed:



Before trimming-out the openings for the headlight pods in the nosecone, I did a final-fit of the lower panel and bonded it in place with some extra fibreglass and resin. I still need to do a little gap-filling and smoothing, but the lower panel stops the front corners moving about.

To help with positioning, etc, I added a styrene support platform below each headlight pod:



I’m cheating slightly by fitting the clear headlight covers below the fibreglass bodywork, but I’m happy it will give me a better result – no gaps! I’ve trimmed each cover to a similar shape, then added strips of styrene to the underside of the nose so that they ‘clip’ into place. I want to avoid using CA glue to fix the covers, as I’m concerned the vapours could fog the clear plastic.

The base of each headlight pod has a noticeable curved transition from flat to vertical, so to replicate this I laid-up a 12” length of fibreglass angle with a suitable inside radius, and used this to make the base in two pieces:



The inner side is relatively simple as it parallel to the car centre-line, so it’s just a question of trimming the top edge to match the underside of the clear cover. The outer side is a little trickier as it has to follow the curve of the nosecone – I’ve kept about 20mm of the radius section, then split the panel so that the remaining piece can curve around.

The vertical panel that closes off the back of each headlight pod was moulded as a single piece of fibreglass, then split for final trimming to size – it was unlikely that I would be able to get the overall width spot-on first time. All of this is still very much ‘work in progress’, but it’s looking good:



I have some useful shots of the headlight lenses and mounting arrangement – some from my visit to the museum at Le Mans 2023 – so once I’ve got the basic pod structure sorted out I’ll start working on the detailing.

As usual at the end of the year I’ve laid-out all the parts again for another set of ‘kit shots’ – it’s a bit different to twelve months ago, but it’s certainly a reflection of how much progress I’ve made:





There’s very little now that needs to be made – most of what’s left is either ready to fit (front lower wishbones, uprights, etc), ready for more paint and decals (doors, wing, engine cover), or ready for some final fettling (front dampers, wheel rims). All the work in the engine bay has swallowed-up a large number of the parts!

To finish this update, here’s the photos of the engine bay and rear suspension:









As I mentioned earlier there’s still some tidying-up work to do here, but I am really pleased with how this is looking!

So, plans for 2025? I reckon I’ll probably be continuing with the nosecone and headlights for most of January, but that’s okay as I’m not planning on doing any bodywork spraying until the Spring. There’s at least a couple of weeks getting the front suspension assembled, finishing the dampers, etc, and I have some brake ducts to sort out. The top section needs to be final-fitted, windscreen and wiper fitted, etc. I can probably get the wheels assembled and the tyres ready for painting too. I’ve got three months to work on all this stuff, then by April I want to be ready for the final push on the paintwork and decals! Finished by Le Mans in June? Maybe…

As always, my thanks to all of you who have been reading this and following my progress – I hope there’s been enough new stuff going on to keep it interesting. All the best for 2025!

SB

[kohula]

what a job... perfection, thank you for uploading your progress

[Midnight Creep]

Very nice job SB, your build looks very clean.


The headlight covers are also looking good.
I'll keep following your build.

[Usmc0802Dad]

Ive been away from the forum for quite a few years. I remember when the build first began, still amazed by the craftsmanship!

[ScratchBuilt]

Yep, a lot has happened since I started working on the 956 at the very end of 2018! The 935-78 and the 956 have both surprised me with the amount of time spent doing 'final assembly', compared to the time spent making the bulk of the parts...

Hello again!

Apologies - I wasn't planning for it to be March before doing my first update of the year. January and February flew by, and as is often the case with me I kept thinking 'I'll do a bit more then do an update', and then something else developed, I made some more progress, etc, and it was put off again. However, I'm at a stage now where this update will set things up for the final push to the finish.

So, I went into January continuing with the headlight pods, adding a vertical section made from fibreglass, with some styrene reinforcement added behind:



I wanted to make each pod quite robust, given that each one will have to trap the headlight cover panel in place. I'm not planning to put any glue 'inside' the pod during fitting, as I don't want to risk any fogging of the either the headlight lenses or the cover panels. This has made me think about the whole assembly process and how I've made some of the detail parts.

For the headlights themselves I've re-used the bowls from the 935, so I quickly laid-up four of those in fibreglass. The lenses would be another experiment in vacuum-forming - I made some patterns by stacking a bunch of styrene discs, adding some curvature, then adding some strip styrene to create the lens detail:





I lined the headlight bowls with kitchen foil to get a bit more 'shine'. The bulb elements are designed so that they can be fitted in from behind, allowing the headlight pod to ventilate during the fitting process. I've glued thin styrene rings to each of the lenses (and to the headlight bowls) so that I don't have to use CA glue for the final fit - maybe PVA? There's also a small indicator repeater light added to each pod:



So that was what I was mainly doing in January. Moving into February, I finished and painted the two rear toe-links, and these are now fitted to the car. I also did a bit of tidying of some of the brake lines, etc, but I'll leave the photos of that for later on.



The main job in recent weeks has been working on getting the nose fitting properly. With the headlight pods now limiting the space available for the brake duct structure on the front of the tub, it soon became clear that I would have to make some modifications! I wanted to both reduce the overall width of this piece and to move the duct inlets closer together, so the only option was to remake the upper half:



The mounting plate was retained and shortened about 3mm each side, the new duct inlets were added, and the original top caps and ends were re-fitted. The Mk2 version is a little more compact, but now fits neatly between the headlight pods:





While all this was going on I also spent some time playing with the front suspension. Having finalised the duct inlets, I could do some more fettling of the trumpets that would attach to the front uprights. Making the flexible ducts themselves was a frustrating exercise - after several attempts with the wire and plumbing tape I gave up! Which is odd, given that I've made other flexibles with this method with no problems, but these two were definitely putting up a fight; I'll have another go later.

Front dampers have been painted, with springs added, and I've made a bunch of pins with hex detailing for the mountings. Front roll-bar links have been made from ali tube with styrene end detailing. Adding the uprights and the top links and trackrods will be a job for the next few weeks, but when complete I'll be able to get all four wheels and tyres set to the correct overall widths and offsets.

Getting the nose to fit properly has been...challenging! I've added two aluminium pins to the rear corners - these fit into matching holes in the front of the cockpit panel and combine with the towing eye on the noseframe to keep the panel in position. I had to chop out a small section of the underside of the nose as it was proving impossible to articulate the panel over and around the duct structure with the car at ride-height - now the nose fits 'straight-on' as you would expect.

Of course, having done all this I then found that the back edge of the nose was not matching up with the cockpit section as well as I wanted, so I extended this with styrene and re-shaped to suit:





You can see in this last photo where I've added the styrene backing to the underside of the panel, for the edge extension. I've also added the two 'cups' in the middle which fit over the inlet ducts on the front of the tub.

The end result of all this is:



The nose fits as well as it's going to fit, so the plan now is to get some primer on it, get it rubbed-down and see how it looks, then start the airbrushing. It'll need a little fettling where the front edge of the doors articulate, but I can do that before the final coat of primer goes on. Once it's sprayed white I intend to leave it for maybe three weeks before masking it up and adding the yellow, so maybe around the Easter weekend? Then it's back to varnishing, adding decals, etc, before adding the headlight pods and final detailing, so it's certainly going to be into May before the nose is complete.

We're getting there...!

All the best,

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

More progress to report.

Soon after the last update the nose panel was given a final rub-down, then some grey primer, then the underside was blacked:



After that, more rubbing-down of the top surface, then a couple of coats of Tamiya X-2 white:



This is now ready to be masked-off and sprayed yellow; I'll get on with this from Thursday over the Easter weekend.

The second half of March was spent on final assembly of the front suspension and the noseframe parts. As usual, despite having all the main parts painted and ready to fit, you then find you need to make a bunch of little spacers or nut details, or small pins to put it all together, so it all takes much longer than planned! There's also the 'point of no return' element which leads to much checking, fettling, re-fitting, and re-checking before finally adding glue.

Anyway, here's the upper wishbones added, plus the roll-bar link and trackrod:



...and then the upright, complete with brake duct and aeroquip line:



While all this was going on, I also added the fibreglass ducting section for the brake cooling inlets, then the noseframe with wash-bottle:



The steering trackrods were re-made a couple of times during all of this - I wasn't happy with the size of the wire-wrapped 'rod end joints' I'd made, as they were too long relative to the trackrods. So I remade them in a shorter spec, then increased the lengths of the trackrods - much better. I didn't finalise the length until I'd got the uprights fitted, then I could perform a 1:8 scale 'set-up' of the geometry and get the wheels pointing in the right direction! Just a little bit of toe-in...

With the suspension finalised at all four corners I then did some work on finalising the wheel spacers required to get the final tyre position just-so. These have been made, painted, and are ready to add when I do the final assembly of the wheels. The four tyres have been painted, sealed, and are ready to have some Dunlop decals added at the weekend - then I can give them a final varnish, and assemble the lot. Photos next time.

The last week or so has been spent creating the decal sheets for the nose and tail - I'd been putting this job off, but realised that if I wanted to spend some time over Easter getting some of them in place, I needed to get busy! Some of the logos were already scanned and just needed to re-sized for the new positions, some were taken from the main 1/24 kit sheet then cleaned up to suit, and some were already 'on file' from the 935/78 build. End result, one page printed onto white paper (Pierlant logos, etc) and two pages on clear:



These were printed on Saturday, and the plan is to give them two coats of Liquid Decal Film tomorrow and Thursday night, ready for application at the weekend. The tail bodywork was given a final Micromesh rub-down on Sunday, and has had a spray of Mr Hobby Topcoat, so it's ready to go.

Final job at the weekend was to get the windscreen drilled, pinned and ready to fit. The top section has had a spray of Topcoat, so this is another job lined-up for the next few days. I realise I also have to add a 'Joest Racing' sunstrip across the top - this won't necessarily be a decal, but I'll work that out! It'll be easier to do this now the screen can be pinned in position.



...and that's it for tonight. The main plan for the next week or so is to (1) get the nose masked and sprayed yellow, (2) add decals to the tail bodywork, (3) sort out the windscreen, and (4) add the tyre decals and assemble the four wheels. There's still some small detail bits to make, the windscreen wiper parts need to be painted prior to fitting, a few little finishing jobs in the cockpit, etc, so there's still plenty to do. It's that odd period of the build where you can see the finish is in sight, but most of the jobs that you need to do require time and can't be rushed. Waiting for paint to dry, if you like! I've still got to deal with the doors and wing flap too, and I can see all three of those parts needing some rectification.

Thanks for reading, and I'll hopefully have more progress to share with you at the end of the month.

All the best,

SB

[Deathtrap]

Always tastefull die watch your builds. I've recently been using your Moby Dick build as a reference for my own 1/24 project. No clue where you have all that detailed information from, but I enjoy it every step of the way

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello again!

One word to describe the last few weeks: frustrating!

From mid-March I’d been making week-by-week plans of what I wanted to do with the 956 – the long Easter weekend was going to be a good opportunity to make good progress, and then the weeks leading to Le Mans. The day after my last update I managed to pull something in my lower back, so I wasn’t able to do anywhere near as much as I wanted to over Easter, and it feels like that has set the tone ever since!

So, what’s been happening? Over Easter I was able to make masks for the large oval ‘Pierlant’ logos on the nosecone. These were positioned and the nosecone was sprayed with coats of Tamiya Flat Yellow and Lemon Yellow, as per the other bodywork. After removing the masks and a final rub-down with the micromesh I set the nose aside for a week before applying a coat of spray varnish.





Adding the nose decals was relatively painless – it was actually quite pleasing to see them bringing the panel to life. The large Pierlant oval at the base of the windscreen needed a little softening with MicroSol to help it fit the contours of the panel, but no big dramas. A second coat of varnish was applied afterwards.



I cheated slightly with the headlight pods – the Dunlop logos should be applied to the clear cover panels, but I felt it was safer to put them on the fibreglass pods:



A little later I fitted the headlight pods and covers – really pleased with how these came out:



Next job – apply the Dunlop logos to the tyres, then assemble the wheels:



The decals on the engine cover and wing went on okay. I had to re-print the green BP shields using white decal paper, as the originals on clear disappeared as soon as I put them on the black bodywork! My idea of spraying the background areas then applying the clear decals worked well, even if it did require a lot of planning and preparation. The large ‘Joest Racing’ on the underside of the wing went on so much easier than when I first tried it several months ago.





I should point out that there will be plenty more photos to follow when the 956 is finished – it’s reaching the stage now where I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Getting the windscreen and surround fitted was another period of frustration. My original thinking was that I could glue the screen in place, then use the surround to cover the join. However, even with the screen cut from thin 0.25mm plastic it was soon clear that it would need to be somehow pinned in place before gluing. Having pinned it, I couldn’t cut the pins back flush, so I had to put holes in the surround – which meant I had to fill and re-paint the surround while it was on the otherwise complete top section. It was a painful sequence of ‘one step forwards, two steps back’ which shouldn’t have been such a problem.



The sunshade band across the top was relatively easy – I used a copy of the screen as a template to cut a piece of 0.25mm styrene sheet, sprayed the end red, then added a suitable ‘Joest Racing‘ decal. It’s fitted under the screen (for a smooth finish), rather than being applied on top.

Doors next. Before masking and spraying the yellow sections over the white base I wanted to check the fit again – and inevitably, things had changed. The fit along the leading edge was not as good as it had been – I don’t know if this was because of the frames I’d added to support the doors, because the top section itself had moved slightly, or whether the doors had taken a ‘set’ having been laid down for several weeks, Whatever the reason, I had to try to improve the fit before doing any more painting. I certainly wasn’t going to completely remake the doors at this stage, so I settled for doing a little surgery on the support frames I’d glued to the inside of each one, gently trying to tweak the curvature to better match the main body. It’s an improvement, but it was always going to be difficult to get them to fit properly.

After masking and spraying the yellow to match the main bodywork I wanted to get the side windows sorted out before applying the first coat of varnish. Again, the 0.25mm clear sheet was going to need some encouragement to stay in place, so I switched plans and decided to vacuum-form the side windows instead. This would take care of the curvature issue.

My first attempt was a shambles. I carefully cut and shaped a section of blue foam, added a layer of draughting film over the top to give a smooth surface...and didn’t consider how much heat would still be in the plastic when it was pulled down over the pattern! What should have been a nice smooth curved surface was rippled and distorted as the heat melted the foam…

So, plan C: make resin patterns to get the correct curvature. Easy enough in theory, but another week’s work to lay-up more fibreglass, make the two ‘casting boxes’, pour the resin, let the resin harden, then smooth it all down again. The vacuum-forming process didn’t go smoothly, either – with the headlight covers and lenses I was able to get perfectly clear ‘pulls’ that only needed trimming to shape before use. With the side-windows, I had four or five attempts – and every one was cloudy or distorted.



At this point, saying that I was ‘a bit fed up’ with things was something of an understatement! With everything else that had been happening since Easter, this was too much. I couldn’t understand what had changed – why wasn’t I getting the same results as before? Why was it that with the 956 so close to completion I was now having all these issues with relatively minor things? A few weeks ago I’d felt that it would be possible to have the 956 finished before Le Mans, but this was clearly now unrealistic.

So, I did the only thing I could – I had a couple of days break from modelling, and considered my options. Whatever was causing the cloudiness and distortion, it appeared to only be on the inside of the mouldings, so maybe I could polish it out? Starting with 1200-grade wet-and-dry, then 1500, 2000 and then five grades of micromesh, I spent over an hour on each one – even using some toothpaste as a polishing compound. They don’t photograph too well, but I promise you this is much better than the original finish:



From here it was easy enough to cut each one to shape to fit neatly into the recess on the doors. Next problem was what do do about the sliding ventilation panels. Answer: don’t fit sliding panels! It’s not period-correct for the ‘84 Le Mans winner, but other 956/962’s have side windows with the three round holes, so that’s what I’ve done. The high-downforce tail isn’t correct for LM either, and there’s other details that are not totally correct for this exact car, but that’s okay – when I started this project at the end of 2018 I didn’t have a specific chassis in mind, and the livery choice was mainly down to what decals I could print.

Here’s where the doors are now:



Decals are on, so another coat of varnish and they’re ready for final assembly. The side windows are trimmed, drilled, and I’ve made some little pins to help fix them in place. I need to add some little push-buttons on the outside, and the release mechanism on the inside. Both mirrors have been varnished and fitted with reflective foil:



Bringing things right up to date, I spent some time yesterday applying the decals to the two front aero-disc wheel covers (that’s another job that didn’t go entirely to plan, either). I'm going to hold-fire on re-varnishing these until next week, in case I decide to start-over with them. I’ve also fitted the detail parts to the main bodywork – electrical and fire pulls, plus the controls for the air-jack system:





...and that’s it for now. The 956 will have to take a back-seat for a while as I head for Le Mans this weekend; hopefully the break will do me good and I will return with renewed enthusiasm. The end is definitely in sight! There might be another WIP update before completion – there’s a few more little details that need to be sorted out before I can call it finished. However, I'm looking forward to getting it completed, then being able to present it to you all...

...and then it'll be time for the next project!

All the best,

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello...and here’s the final WIP update for the 956!

While it would have been nice to have completed the build before Le Mans, the various delays and niggles described in my previous update made that idea a non-starter. However, I’ve made good progress since returning from France (getting plenty modelling done whilst following the 24h races at the Nurburgring and Spa, and with Le Mans Classic this last weekend).

It’s really just been about working through the to-do list and pushing forwards, even though this means a bit of jumping around from one area to another. First up, I completed the interior door latches and the two retainer clips which will be attached to the rear cockpit bulkhead:



Next up, the focus was on getting the cockpit bodywork ready to attach permanently to the chassis. I added some retainer brackets around the edge of the windscreen, then fitted the washer jet pipe to the windscreen wiper arm:



I decided it would be easier to fix the water header tank to the fan duct first, before fitting the bodywork. The socket for the engine cover electrics was sandwiched in between, and I added some wiring to the back to add to the mess of cabling on the rear of the tub:



The bodywork was glued in place using two tabs just below the two main ‘NewMan’ decals on the sides. I also added some more CA glue on the inside around the radiator side support frames. At the front, I’m relying on the magnets to hold the windscreen surround in place (and this allows me to access the lower door hinges, too). Back in the engine bay, I connected the four braided hoses to the header tank, then added the clear overflow pipe and the sensor wiring:



At this stage I was nearly out of things to actually make – it was just about final assembly. One thing outstanding was the two large flexible hoses for the front brake cooling ducts – I had tried to make these some time ago, but they just wouldn’t work. However, I had a new plan: wrap masking tape around the plastic tube with the sticky side outwards, then wrap the wire around, then add the plumbers tape. The masking tape gives the plumbers tape something to grip, and stops it trying to pull through the gaps between the wire coils:



It was a bit of a struggle to remove the hose from the tube afterwards, but they couldn’t resist for long! The rear end of the hose simply fits over the hard duct on each upright, and the front end goes onto a socket which fits into the main fibreglass structure on the front of the tub. None of this is glued in place, so I have the option to change the parts out if necessary:



Before I fitted the top bodywork I took a batch of photos to record some of the details that would be lost:





At this point I was very much down to the last couple of jobs. The aero discs were fixed into the front wheels with double-sided tape (just in case I decide to re-do the decals at some point), I connected the front brake lines to the side of the tub (hidden by the brake ducts), and the doors received their latches and hinges. At the back, I spent some time getting the gearbox shroud fitted into place, added some wiring for the rain light, then did a final fit for the main tail support. Pin the two door mirrors in place, make some spacers to fit behind the rear wheelnuts….and that’s about it! After six and a half years of work I’m calling it ‘done’:







I’m going to take a bunch of proper photos shortly and I’ll be posting these in a new ‘completed’ thread. There’s bound to be a few things that haven’t been covered in the WIP.

After all this, I do feel slightly odd now that the model is completed – not sad or disappointed, but having lived with all-things 956 since the end of 2018, it’s almost hard to believe that it’s gone from ‘nearly there’ to ‘complete’ in the space of a couple of days! I also have to think about some of the things that have happened since this project began – Covid lockdown, friends and colleagues lost – and those memories are locked into the build.

I’ve tidied up all my 956 notes, had a sort-out of all the leftover parts and bits of scrap material, and generally had a bit of a ‘clearing the decks’ session. There’s a part of me that’s itching to get on with the next project, of course, but I’m forcing myself to take things easy for a little while. What is the next project? Well, something a little different (for me) – I’ve got an old 1:43 white-metal kit of a Chevron Formula Atlantic single-seater to put together for a friend, so I’m going to get that sorted out before starting the next next project…and the 962/88 book is not a clue!

As always, thank you for following this build, and I hope it’s been interesting. I’ve tried to add to what I achieved with the 935-78, and the requirements of the 956 have forced me to add some new techniques to the toolbox. Hopefully I can expand the vacuum-forming on the next build. I’m particularly surprised by how much of this build was airbrushed, even compared to the 935.

Look out for the new thread in the ‘completed projects’ section in the next week or so, and a WIP for the Chevron soon!

All the best,

Scratchbuilt.

[Midnight Creep]

Stunning build SB.


I hope my car will come out as good as yours although its a very different kind of car.


It's also good to see that everything fits at the end (doors, hoods etc etc.)


Looking forward to the final photos in the ready section.

[ScanmanDan]

Thank you SB for more than a dozen years of wonderful posts, insights and inspirations. I've been following along and watching your last two magnificent builds grow and bear fruit. What a wonderful model created completely from your efforts and determination to see it through. I have learned that nothing in modelling is impossible if you break it down into its simplest forms and just keep at it. That push to see the project through to the end even knowing it will take years to accomplish. Well done Sir. Thank you for all the great ideas and techniques. I hope you have many more of these builds in your future.