Tamiya 1/24 scale Rothmans Porsche 956

[Joel_W]

Finally, I've gotten enough done for my 1st update on the tamiya Porsche 956.

Usually I start with the shell, but as with the Ferrari 330 P4 I decided to 1st concentrate on the Engine/Transmission/suspension/chassis/cockpit, and leave the shell for the end of the build.

While the kit comes with a nicely detailed engine/transmission, I've found some issues that seem somewhat strange to me, but once I realized that this kit was molded in 1984, things were certainly done quite differently back then, as I had to every once in a while remind myself of that fact.

I started my build on Nov 9th with the Porsche twin turbo flat 6. It's the same engine that powered the 936 in the FIA class 6 enduracne races. The only change was with the addtion of a Bosch fuel injection metering system. I primed all the engine parts with Ammo Mig Black primer, then a few various shades of Alcad metalizers, with Flat Aluminum as the basic color. I followed this up with 1st masking off the top of the engine, and then air brusing it with Tamiya Gloss Red Acrylic paint.

I then drilled out the distributor cap and glued in 7 black wires, 6 for the spark plugs. The 7th will be attached to the coil that is located on the front top of the gearbox. Next up I scratched out using round pieces of .020 sheet plastic the basic unit for the fuel injection lines, which in all my reference material are black, and ran them to the injectors. I added two alumiumin lines from the fuel enjection unit to the base of both injector banks. Finally I glued on two sheet plastic discs to close up the back of the Alternator.









Now I built up the Transmission and painted it along with the main rear suspension arm Ammo Mig Black Primer, then various shades of Alcad. And yes, being lazy, I totally forgot to mask off the overflow catch tank.






Everything looked pretty good till I turned it around. The back of that massive suspension arm was hollow!! 1st 1984 issue that I needed to deal with.






So I ended up stripping off all the Alcad and Primer, then using .020 sheet plastic, I covers all three sections.









And yes, I still have to re-Alcad the suspension member, and paint the over flow tank.



I decided to test fit the enginer engine/transmission unit into the rear of the chassis just to make sure everything fit. And so far so good.









And this is as far as I've gotten to date.



Joel

[afx]

Good start Joel.

[Joel_W]

Nov 24, 2018 17:20:53 GMT -8 afx said:

Good start Joel.

Thanks JC, it's much appreciated.
Joel

[Ben_B]

Furiously taking more notes! I think Joel is going to end up building every car kit I have in my stash.

Looking great so far!

Ben

[robhart]

That is an aggressive yellow.

[Joel_W]

Nov 25, 2018 10:59:23 GMT -8 Ben_B said:

Furiously taking more notes! I think Joel is going to end up building every car kit I have in my stash.

Looking great so far!

Ben

Ben,
  Thanks my friend, but you don't need to take notes as your skills are equal to mine. As for building every car in your stash, mine is all of 12 kits including the Porsche 956.  Retired builders are on a budget according to my wife. 
Joel

[Joel_W]

Nov 25, 2018 13:06:46 GMT -8 robhart said:

That is an aggressive yellow.

Rob,
  The Rothmans 956 will be the traditional white & blue. the Yellow is the actual molded color as this is the Newman Entry. But the Yellow sure does look dead on. 

Joel

 

Joel

[Joel_W]

No real Update to post as I really screwed up due to nothing other then a bad case of stupidity, and just not following my usual painting procedures.

 I needed to stop working on the engine detailing, and paint the chassis so I could install the engine, transmission, turbo charges, radiators, etc., then continue with more detailing. I thought that I could take a few short cuts and paint the black undercoating for the White Aluminum Alcad2 with the same matt black that I was using for the rest of the chassis except for where the white gloss color is used, as there I would use a Mr. Hobby Gray 1,000 primer.

 I primed the entire chassis with Mig Ammo Black Acrylic primer. Really good stuff, but even thinned out 50/50 with Tamiya yellow cap 50/50 was a little grainy looking, and the chassis tub doesn't lend it self to polishing all that well. While it would work just fine with the Matt Black areas, I wasn't to sure how the Alcad Aluminum would look over it.

 I spent a few hours masking the chassis, then I air brushed on the Alcad2. Two major issues popped right up. One was the grainy effect on the Alcad finish which just wouldn't do, and some damn small Cat hairs and some dust. I totally forgot to wipe down the chassis with a tack cloth once again. So that was major issue and mistake #2.

 Just looking at all the convex and concave shaped made trying to rub out the Alcad useless, and then dust and Cat hairs ( two small ones) made it completely unacceptable. So I decided to strip off all the paint & primer and start over again.

 For stripping paint I've found that Denatured Alcohol will remove just about anything from plastic and won't harm the plastic. Good thing I keep a full qt on hand for these type of screw ups. Took a good hour of soaking and scrubbing with a old toothbrush, but I got it 95% clean. Those Nooks & Crannies can be really hard to completely clean.

 Ok, time to re-prime, only this time lets do it the right way. I primed the engine chassis with Mr. Hobby Primer Sealer 1,000 thinned 50/50 with Mr. Hobby/Mr. Color Leveling Thinner 400. The end result is a smooth and very consistent base to work with.

 I didn't bother painting the nose as it can't be seen once the cockpit and shell are glued into place.




 The masking over the area right behind the nose clip will have a plate with the lower suspension arms attached, so I didn't want any paint there to interfere with the Testors Model Master glue I use for max strength.



Joel

[shunter]

Very nice details so far...

[Joel_W]

Dec 2, 2018 1:25:54 GMT -8 shunter said:

Very nice details so far...

Shane,
 Thanks for stopping by and checking out my progress to date. it's always much appreciated.
Joel

[Joel_W]

I finished up over 3 painting sessions painting the top and bottom of the chassis. The topside of the nose isn't painted as I couldn't see any reason to waste the expensive Gravity paint on a area that can't be seen once the shell is glued in place. I've also left the molded on exhaust headers as so little of them will be seen verses, trying to make the pair from scratch, which seems more likely as I continue to see how they're going to look once painted and weathered.



And the chassis bottom. I also masked the area where the front suspension plate will be glued to.



I thought for a change of pace I'd start to work on the cockpit. Tamiya did what I thought was a rather nicely detailed pit until I compared it to the real deal. Here's the Tamiya basic pit.



You'll notice that Tamiya molded in a left hand passenger seat. The drivers seat will go on the right side as it's a separate part. the issue is that there is no seat on the left side, and a lot of the electronics are missing.






So I had to decide how to modify the cockpit. 1st job was to cut out the seat and replace it with some sheet plastic.






Next up is to prime and check how everything looks.



Thanks to all for stopping by and checking out my progress to date.



Joel

[Joel_W]

Well, another week just flew by, and it's time for my next update.


I scratched built all the major components needed for the left hand side of the cockpit, after I'd removed the 2nd dummy seat and rebuilt the cockpit with sheet. Then I wired up those components just to fool the viewers eye.









I used Tamiya panel line wash on all the radiators, but I must have jumped the gun and removed the excess wash before it really had a chance to dry, so I've got to redo it, but this time I'll give it enough time to really dry.



Next up I needed to install the transmission & engine.

The transmission was a little wobbly when I test fitted it, so I made a simple jig to align it while the glue dried.















Then I dry fitted the cockpit to see how it all tied in together.






Thanks for stopping by. and checking out my 956 build to date. As always, it's much appreciated.



Joel

[afx]

Coming along nicely Joel.

[Deleted]

Very nice Joel, you "airplane"guys😉 catch on quickly!! Good job

[Ben_B]

Lookin' good, Joel!

Ben