MFH 1/12 Porsche 956 Short Tail Ver. 'B'

[Cookster007]

Great idea for the weld seams. Loving the detail work.

Cheers,
Anthony

[ianc911]

Great solution on the weld lines. Really a gem so far,

ianc

[Eric Cole]

A few minor updates from this weekend's modeling sessions.

I started off by adding the rear support rods and oil tank as well as the shifter linkage. The shifter linkage still needs some detail painting.



With the weight of the engine constantly pulling against the firewall I could feel the engine beginning to loosen the more I handled and worked with the model. I thought that it would tighten up when I added the support rods but there really is only small surface areas to glue the support rods.

Attaching the first half of the trans-axle was also a tight fit. I was constantly knocking things loose while trying to make it work and the more I handled it the more loose the engine mounting became. Personally, I feel there's too much engine weight for how the kit is designed but I know others have built the kit so it must just be me screwing up!

Anyway... I was able to get things sorted out but I knew I would always be concerned about the weight and the constant stress created by the weight of the engine so I "pinned" all of the attachment points. I drilled a very small diameter hole at all the locations depicted by arrows. The holes were drilled in the direction of the arrow as well. After drilling the holes I inserted a very fine piece of metal guitar string in the hole, cut to length.

On the top section of the support there is a molded in hex-head bolt so I drilled through the middle of that and through the roll bar support and inserted the wire through the hole with CA glue. The bottom hole was drilled through the bracket and support rod and then the wire inserted and glued in place. At the back end where the rod mounts to the transaxle I drilled from the bottom through the transaxle and through the support rod and inserted the wire from the bottom with CA glue.

I repeated this process with the support rods on both sides of the car. The result is a very strong support system and a lot less stress on the engine (and a lot less stress on me personally)


I also began the process of hanging the radiators and support brackets on to the side of the monocoque. This all proved to be very finicky and I felt like I needed three hands to hold parts and glue parts all at the same time. The result looks fairly good though. Overall I'm happy with how they're turning out. There's one more radiator to add to each side and then some additional plumbing, washes and weathering should finish it off.





...And the first official test fit of the main body.




Next up will be finishing the radiators and plumbing them, and assembling the exhaust headers and turbos and attaching them to the engine.

[das_auto]

A fantastic build you´ve got here Eric!

Keep up the good work!


Emil

[Niro750]

That is looking beautiful, great work and great patience!

[Cookster007]

Great work on the strengthening. Superb job all over so far.

Cheers,
Anthony

[liya_leacree]

Wa ho, i want it.

[Eric Cole]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Still so much work to do....

[Eric Cole]

Some more progress to show.

Added the seatbelts and roll bars. The seats and the seatbelts, as well as much of the rest of the car, will get slightly dirtied up and weathered with various pastel chalks as I get closer to finishing the model.


Also added the side frames and radiators. This portion of the build is very tedious and somewhat difficult to get everything to line up. I'm still not 100% sure it's all lined up correctly. Also added a few other smaller details like the battery and battery support, and the hydraulic lifts. The battery and lifts still need to be wired and plumbed.



The exhaust and turbos were also added. The wastegate/blowoff valves still need to be plumbed as well. I got as far as drilling the holes for it.




During this phase of the build I discovered a major mistake I had made due to the instructions not being very clear. Hopefully I can help save others the same problem. There is an engine mounting plate the attaches to the front of the engine with three screws. There are four pins on the front of that plate that insert into four holes on the firewall/plate. The firewall then screws to the monocoque. In the firewall, the four holes to accept the four pins in the mounting plate need to be drilled all the way through or the mounting plate will sit back about 2mm to far. This pushes the entire engine and anything that attaches to it (exhaust, intercoolers, oil tank, etc. back 2mm too far also. This means the exhaust outlet will not line up with the opening in the side body panel, the oil tank filler neck will not line up with the opening in the rear hatch/engine cover and so on... you get the point. I had to completely remove the entire engine assembly from the monocoque, drill the holes in the firewall and build it all back again. It was not fun .

These four pins.... drill the holes they fit into all the way through so the front face of mounting plate can be pulled flush with the firewall. All that was needed was for the instructions to say "drill these 4 holes all the way through" and there would have been no problem.

[88Porsche944]

Eric,
Incredible work your doing!

Trevor

[Eric Cole]

Although I did spend quite a bit of time working on the 956 this weekend I have very little to show for it but here are a few new progress pictures.

The transaxle has been attached and the rear suspension started. The trans cooler is just sitting on the gear box for a test fit. Still needs to be painted and attached later.



Some detail work completed on the dash as well.



Other than this I got a lot of parts primed and painted. Next update should show more progress.

Thanks for looking.

[das_auto]

Wow Eric! This build is insane!

Your detail painting and subtle washes really makes the detail pop! Excellent!

[John18d]

Eric - this is really coming out awesome.
Your WIP is really fantastic and you have been supplying so many really great close up pictures and explanations for what you have done and where the MFH instructions can have a builder go wrong.
I hope this is a WIP that will last in the Forum and not have the pictures disappear at some time in the near future like so many on the forum have.
I know this WIP will be very valuable for anyone else brave enough to make this kind of purchase and actually build it.
Kudos to you Eric
John

[Eric Cole]

Thanks guys, here's another small update to the transaxle, rear suspension and wheels/tires.

Transaxle/suspension. Really no issues assembling this section. The brakes are just hanging for now until the lower A Arms are attached but those can only be attached after the rear undertray has been added, then the A Arms will insert through the undertray and attach to the transaxle assembly.
I need to add a few more parts like wheels studs, some nuts and bolts and a little more wiring and paint detail but it's getting closer.





Wheels and tires are almost done. I toned down the machined aluminum with semi-gloss clear, dirtied up the decals and sealed the tires with flat clear... need to add some markings like RF, RR, set #, etc, and would like the tread area to be sanded more. Even though the tread has been sanded it still looks too smooth to me.

[Niro750]

Beautiful work, wheels look fantastic