w.i.p.(sorta)porsche 956

[guiwee]

Now first let me preface this by saying this is my first 1st time wiring and plumbing a car using detail master hoses and fittings i used like one pic for reference. After seeing some of the work you guys do i feel its woefully inadequate.i just kinda made it up as i went along.Please be very critical of it as i will use that criticism to further along my modeling skills...p.s.i know i shouldve filled and sanded those 4 big sink marks but i didnt think i would be posting it.tell me everything please i dont care if its overly critical or not

[Porsnatic]

Although the pictures are blured, your wiring and plunmbing are serious matter here, if this is you first time you will be a great detailer now on.

[CrateCruncher]

I'm kinda new at these threads and was having trouble with blurry photos due to slight camera movement. I discovered if I rested the camera on the edge of a book or something resting on the table while taking the pic the blur wasn't a prob anymore.

Thanks for sharing your build and keep us posted!

[guiwee]

hopefully these are better







somewhere in my carpet there is a driver side mirror i cant seem to find if i notify tamiya wont they send me another one?

[Twowheelsrule]

The firewall looks really good. Your plumbing looks believable but, some of it needs to be strapped to the support bars so it would be more secure if it was real life. Your paint looks good overall. Your tires however need more sanding to get rid of the mold line in the centers.

Overall your model is very good and you should be proud of it. The improvements it needs are minor and your next model should be really good.

TW

[guiwee]

i scratchbuilt those springs myself and it shows..drvr side hdlght cracked...didnt think about strapping to the support bars as a ref pic i used didnt have it..but it did have hoses going to that chrome thingy..if you can see it i have one drilled but didnt plumb there yet but i will,,thanks for responding i was gonna put it in a contest but its not good enough....how to get rid of those mold lines on tires?..not to mention that crooked line on front windshield..my son wanted to do it when i got back it was not level oh well!!!!..Seems to be hard for me to build cleanly i guess..some models ive done since last april..got back into hobby after multidecade hiatus
http://s715.photobucket.com/albums/ww151/guiwee/

[mrawl]

Hi, that's not bad at all. If you want to get "better", I think it's really just a trade off in time and patience; a critical eye and a steady hand (from practice) will help too. One thing you can do right now is give some thought to the photography - you've got some harsh glare and shadows there, try to find some softer lighting, eg, a cloudy day, bounce a light off a white wall, or place some tracing paper between the light(s) and the model. Good luck!

[Duncan1098]

Looks good to me, well done, great job,. Worth sanding the tyres though, I use a sanding stick, like a nail file.

[CrateCruncher]

Originally Posted by guiwee

...how to get rid of those mold lines on tires?...got back into hobby after multidecade hiatus

I drag the tread surface over 600 sandpaper while slowly rotating the tire to prevent flat spotting. If the tires are really soft you can stick them in the freezer overnight to harden them and make them easier to sand but thats rarely necessary.

I see you already posess many advanced skills. 50% of advanced modeling is knowing what to use and how to use it. The internet will allow you to quickly get up to date in that regard. Manual dexterity, aesthetic "vision" and other born talents aren't as important as I once thought (thankfully for me ).

[MPWR]

The very best thing that you can do to detail your builds is to collect as many pics as you can, and then build what you see. Here is the best online gallery of the 956 I can find. There's some good stuff there.

It helps a lot if you can figure out what you're looking at. Some basic knowledge of engines can also help. For instance, figuring out how to wire the spark plugs isn't hard, but it can take a little thought and looking around. As you have it, your plugs are wired to the fuel injectors- and they should be wired to the distributor. (Maybe you saw something similar to this on an F40 build? The F40 uses solid state electronic ignition, which is a different generation of ignition system technology, so it has different bits.)

The 956 has a 6 cyl boxer engine- 3 cyl on the left side and 3 on the right. The engine has 4 cam shafts- two for each cyl bank. The back ends of the cam shafts are a good place to look for distributors. The lower two shaft ends run water pumps, to provide coolant for the cyl heads. On the end of the upper right shaft, Porsche put the distributor for the 956. It looks like brown plastic, and has six wires, one for each spark plug.

You can see the distrubutor in these pics (it's partly hidden by bracing).





Half the wires go to the right side plugs, half go over to the other side of the engine for the left side plugs. Tamiya modeled the distributor as a nonspecific plastic dome.


As for pics, you need A LOT of light for them to come out well. It looks like you're using your camera's flash. Unfortunately, the flash will often wash out small details and make them hard to see. You want to use enough light for your pics that the camera doesn't need the additonal flash.

[guiwee]

thanks guys i appreciate your time and patience with me in that regard. MPWR ive seen some of your models and anything you tell me i will listen you are head ans shoulders above me..Youre right i did see a f40 like that.Actually i saw another model like that and it looked good so i copied it.i do no a little about cars and engines since i work at chrysler(laid off now.why i got so much time to build)but my knowledge doesnt extend to race cars which is what i like tobuild.i sure if i did a mustang or something i could wire it no problem but these race cars are a lot different and all the mags seem to only deal with basic engines not fancy ones like porsche or ferrari...anyway on most pics i couldnt see where the wires were going(but the fuel injectors..wow thats not good.lol)maybe ill do another one..that chrome thingy i sprayed alclad from can...thanks for your time and effort in responding to my post everyone.ill try to take some pics outside today im almost done with it..i know i have a long way to go before i build contest worthy models but with you guys help it wont be as hard

[MPWR]

Racing engines are much more similar to road engines than they are dissimilar. They still have all the basic parts- crankcase, head, transmission, intake system, exhaust system, etc. The techniques for modeling and detailing them are also identical to road engines. Really the 'exotic' things about the 956 engine is the large turbo/intercooler system, and the fact that the transmission is a structural part of the car. Otherwise, it's a car engine.

When you're planning a full engine build, a useful and interesting thing to do (if you're into that sort of thing ) is examine the kit parts to identify key components. See if you can find (and make sense of):

-crankcase (and oil pan)
-head/valve assembly (this is where the intake and exhaust manifolds connect to the engine)
-transmission
-intake train
-exhaust train
-starter motor (usually near the flywheel housing)
-flywheel/clutch housing (usually between the crankcase and transmission)
-ignition system (plugs, distributor or coils)

It's equally interesting/useful to look at these things on real cars (or pictures of them). The more you've seen, the more they will make sense to you- and the more you will know about how these things each should look when you build them in scale. Ignore the kit instructions (they're usually written by artists who neither work on cars nor build models), and see if you can determine what the parts you're modeling really look like. What color are the valve covers? The engine block? What kind of ignition system does the car have, and is it visible or covered? It takes some thought and research, but it makes building engines much more fun and satisfying.

Sorry to hear about the layoff. You are certainly not alone.

[guiwee]

i tried to take better pics lemme know what you think






will work on tire sanding tomorrow..mp i will take your advice under consideration next time i try to detail..thank for all your comments
http://s715.photobucket.com/albums/ww151/guiwee/
p.s. supposed to get called back by early jun..will see

[drunken monkey]

The exhausts in this kit have got to be fixed...

One little point; it looks like the black you've used in the rear of the car may be too glossy.
I tend to use Tamiya semi glood black toned down with a little flat black for this sort of thing. Even if the real thing is gloss, gloss paint on a mdel has a way of looking wrong.

[guiwee]

yeah i agree on both points tamiya has those exhausts molded in and they dont look right to me also those tubochargers(?) are a little fragile when you cut off the tips for the p/e parts(tamiya set) so ill place them on when i put body in place so they line up right.secondly i spryd ts-29 on rear and brush painted x-18 on front and youre right of course it does look to glossy i think im gonna start using testors flat back on undertrays and engine bays..in fact all black you see is tamiya semi gloss black the only exception being the drivers seat which is the aforementioned testors.....can someone tell me why there is a second seat? im not really a race fan but i cant think of a reason why....this wasnt a rally car...was it?