Anyone built the Fujimi Porsche 911S '69 kit?

[five&dime]

I have wanted this kit for a while as the 60's and early-mid 80's 911's are my favorite.

I just don't want to spend $40 unless it's a real nice kit. Also thinking of picking up the 88 911 from Tamiya which I imagine to be a better kit. I really like the 60's 911 best though.

Thanks in advance.

[MPWR]

The Tamiya 88 Turbo and Fujimi 911S are about as different as two kits of a 911 could be. The Tamiya kit is a terrific but simplified kit. The body is great and fit is usual Tamiya quality, but the kit has a surprisingly low part count. The Fujimi kit is from their famous/notorious Enthusiast series. It has full detail including engine, but has an absurdly high parts count. It is very detailed, however fit is less than perfect. It is over engineered and over complicated, and takes a lot of building. But with skill and patience it can be made into a fantastic replica.

[fsroman]

If the one you are refering to is from the Fujimi Enthusiast Series, you are in for a treat! These are very well done models with tons of details. They also released a series that is based on the Enthusiast Series, but are simpler curbside models, as is the Tamiya one you refer to.

Hope this helps, Fernando.

[Helico]

Fujimi Enthusiast Series are very nice kits with tons of parts but I agree with MPWR that the fit is not perfect (but still better than recent Revell kits). You don't need to spend >$40 for them. You can easily find them for <$30 on eBay.

[godfather23]

The kits from the Enthusiast Series are a lot of fun. You can spend a lot of time on engine and detailing the interior - and the kit provides most of the necessities.

Also - the Porsche kits come with more parts than actually needed (let´s say to build the 911 S). Therefore you can easily make your own parts-collection for later Porsche builds.

The fitment is fair. I just don´t expect any kits´ parts to fall into each other anymore. Just make sure to try the fitment of the parts before glueing them together...

Have fun with these Dinosaur kits.

Robert

P.S.: Just recently I paid € 15 for a Fujimi Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet from the Enthusiast Series on ebay.de.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

The 911's were the first Fujimi Enthusiast kits; therefore they're not as complicated as later kits (such as the Ferraris/Lamborghinis/BMW 6 series/Porsche 356).

The tooling is a bit worn, so parts fit isn't great, but with test fitting they'll work out just fine. The trunk area has never been a good fit, if you choose to open it up it will take more work to get the chassis/interior to fit properly. If you leave it alone, everything fits better.

They're actually fun kits to build (I've done a handful of them, not the 911S but other variants). They are on a completely different level as the Tamiya 911 Turbo which is a very simple kit but perfectly molded. The Fujimi will take more work, but it's the only 911S out there. Don't pay too much for one, keep your eyes open, you can get a bargain if you don't buy it at a hobby shop.

[ChillyB]

I'm working on this kit right now and I agree with the above comments, in particular those of Zoom-Zoom. It isn't as complex as the 356 kits but certainly plenty detailed. Don't open up the hood unless you want more work overall (I don't want the work but didn't know that when I opened up the hood; I wish I hadn't). There is lots of parts clean-up to do but the parts are nicely molded overall.

It is the only game in town for that particular Porsche, my favorite after the 356, and the Fujimis are well worth building. And you don't need to spend $40. I've never paid more than $25 (shipping included!) on the several 356s and 911s I've bought.