Porsche 911 (964) RS 3.8

[Tommy124]

Hi folks,

I'd like to start a WIP on this project. It's about this Fujimi kit: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/966180-fujimi-12450-porsche-911-carrera-3-8-rs

Basically, I have started this kit already in May 2017. But gradually finding out about it's numerous shortcomings (more about that later), I put it aside for the time being.

Some days ago, after finishing the Porsche 928 S, I opened the kit's box again and it clicked! So I decided to proceed with it.

The first step I did last year already, is that I filled the panels of the sunroof. No Porsche RS ever came with a sunroof! I used styrene melted in glue for filling back then. I used this instead of regular filler because I heard that glue can help to prevent the appearance of ghostlines. Someday soon, we'll see if that's true... It does not look too nice but the surface is even and smooth as glass.

There are quite a lot of aftermarket parts that I will use on this one. Nearly all of them are coming from Scale Production (SP), a German specialist exactly for these kind of things. Here are the parts:

The 964 RS model comes with a different kind of rear bumper but the Fujimi kit has the regular Carrera one. So I cut that out and replaced it with a resin bumper part from SP:

It took some sanding and filling with Plasti-Zap CA, but it worked out okay. The big rear wing has been fixed at this stage too:

As can be seen, the wing needed filling as it's one part with the engine cover. On the lower side just aswell as the upper side:

A little mock-up with the wing "board" fixed. I love that view!

The Fujimi kit comes with molded-on door handles like this:

Proxxon time!

I also drilled 2 holes for the separate SP door handles to be fixed in later on:

Like that:

That's all for now. I hope you like my progress.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Tommy124

[beeRS]

Nice start! Door handle is particularly affective. Keep us updated.

[afx]

The 964 isn't my favorite body style but I'm starting to appreciate them more. I'll be following.

I have this RSR kit in the stash. You do get decals, roll cage and racing slicks but Fujimi gives you stock interior and a sun roof(!). 

Edited September 27, 2018 by afx

[Justin Porter]

The subtle corrections definitely make for some big impact. Looking forward to how this progresses. 

[Italianhorses]

Great start!

Its amazing how companies like Fujimi produce BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH kits like this and still get away with it.

[Rider]

Great looking start.Those door handles make such a huge difference. 

[Dann Tier]

ALOT of great things going on here, Tommy!!!!

[Tommy124]

16 hours ago, afx said:

The 964 isn't my favorite body style but I'm starting to appreciate them more. I'll be following.

I have this RSR kit in the stash. You do get decals, roll cage and racing slicks but Fujimi gives you a stock interior(!). 

HI JC, the 964 wasn't my favourite Porsche either back in the day, I was more of a "G-model man" then. But as you get older... Today I think it's design is pretty puristic and it made for a good stylistic transition between the G-model and the more modern 911's that were yet to come. About the Fujimi kits...

16 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

The subtle corrections definitely make for some big impact. Looking forward to how this progresses. 

Glad you follow, Justin. Most of these corrections cannot be avoided imho, once you noticed the kit's flaws.

15 hours ago, Italianhorses said:

Great start!

Its amazing how companies like Fujimi produce BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH kits like this and still get away with it.

Thanks, Alex. We agree they really should do better than that. But not just them. These days I purchased an Italeri Porsche 944 S kit in order to have that car in another version than the Turbo, for a change. And what's inside the box - you guess it... 944 Turbo: Turbo engine, Turbo body, in fact, not even any other decals than those for the Turbo. What's the point...??

12 hours ago, Rider said:

Great looking start.Those door handles make such a huge difference. 

Thanks, Lloyd. Yes indeed.

8 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

ALOT of great things going on here, Tommy!!!!

They better be, Dann!

[iamsuperdan]

I'm the opposite of some of you guys. The 964 is my fav generation of 911, and the 964 RS has been my dream car for a long, long time. From 1990 to 2005 I worked for the local Porsche dealer. FIrst as the detailer, then as Porsche sales. Spent a lot of time with a lot of Porsaches, and the 964 just always did it for me. 

The closest I ever got to experiencing the RS was the ultra limited RS America we got here. Very basic, but with the standard North American spec suspension, standard engine...and it came with a sunroof. My dealership got one, in Arctic Silver.

 

Anyway, looking forward to following this one.

 

[Dominik]

just watching your Progress Tommy. thank you for your wip here on this board! So i can catch more Details as in our Group (you know, what i mean  )

you know, i built the same kit decades ago - sure - without your changes you're showing here. Some days, i will restore my RS...

 

work on!

 

[Jantrix]

This isn't something I'd ever take on as a project but I do appreciate the lines of the 911 and I love me some whale tail. So I will be following along. I dig the attention to detail, nice work.

[89AKurt]

Attention to detail, and the mere fact you have resumed, I'm cheering you on!  I have Porsches waiting for me.....

[Tommy124]

20 hours ago, Dominik said:

you know, i built the same kit decades ago - sure - without your changes you're showing here. Some days, i will restore my RS...

Hi Dominik, nice you're following along too. I remember exactly what it was like "decades ago"... Back then and without the internet we wouldn't have found out about all the kit's flaws. So really everything was better then, right? Truth be told, I learned an awful lot on the WWW...

19 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Attention to detail, and the mere fact you have resumed, I'm cheering you on!  I have Porsches waiting for me.....

Thanks Kurt, looking forward to you working on some Porsches too!

[Funkychiken]

Lovin' the detail on the build, keep it coming!

[Tommy124]

Okay... today I will post some images of myself having a hard time.

I noticed that on the bottom of the real car there are some additional horizontal panel lines:

As these panel lines are not done on the kit's body, I had to find a way of doing them myself, properly.

The task was to find some kind of material that I could (temporarily) fix to the body as a "guide" in order to follow along with the scriber. The problem is, it has to be flexible enough in order to adapt to the body's curves but yet be hard enough not to move while scribing (in order to avoid uneven lines).

These are some things I tried. Let me tell you, they all basically failed...

Thick "fix-o-moll" tape (originally used for sealing windows) - too rough and uneven...

Double-sided adhesive tape - too soft:

PE part fixed to the body using tape - too unsteady.

I even found myself trying to fix PE scribing templates to the body using white glue but that failed aswell.

If the body was even and not curved, it would not be any problem at all, but this way...

Eventually I managed to complete the lines using several more or less unsatisfactory techniques. I have not made any photos of that so far but will show the lines once the body has been primered.

However, I would really appreciate any tips and tricks on how this can be done better. Be that on materials themselves or alternative methods, your feedback will be much appreciated!

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by Tommy124

[Scalper]

got my attention.. been a while that Ive had a Porsche on my bench., I will be watching.

nice work so far .

[Italianhorses]

These are not panel lines, these look to me like a crease in the bodywork. 

I would superglue a very thin wire where the crease should be, and then just putty the rough shape. Then sand to correct shape.

[Tommy124]

32 minutes ago, Italianhorses said:

These are not panel lines, these look to me like a crease in the bodywork. 

Well to me, they are lines. See this image.

 

32 minutes ago, Italianhorses said:

I would superglue a very thin wire where the crease should be, and then just putty the rough shape. Then sand to correct shape.

That is a good tip for creases though, thanks for that.

Edited October 2, 2018 by Tommy124

[Italianhorses]

Ahh, sorry, didn't see the line on the image you provided. Yep, looks like there is a crease AND a panel line there.

[Rider]

Alex, I use 3M Super 77 Spray adhesive. Styrene card stock, 0.020" which is more then flexible enough while still providing a good edge. . The spray adhesive is only sprayed on the template then the template is placed on the body, it secures it quite nicely. 

[Matt Bacon]

Dymo labelling tape (the kind you used to have with a little handheld machine that you dialled letters into and clicked to emboss them in the coloured plastic tape so they appeared white). It works for single curvature surfaces very well and can be reused repeatedly. Not so good for compound curves because it doesn’t bend in two directions at once.

For that specific problem, I’d stick the body shell firmly to a piece of glass or smooth tile, either double sided tape. Mount the scriber horizontally on top of a block of wood or plastic the correct height to move the cutting head along the body at the point where you want the line. Then just slide the block and scriber gently over the glass and the point will hit the body the same distance up from the lower edge all the way along. If necessary to get low enough down, start with a scriber blade or sewing needle to make the first guide line, then take the body off the base and use the regular scriber to cut the line deeper.

best,

M

 

 

[afx]

This is my favorite scribe for fine detail work: 

• 0.7 mm mechanical pencil
• cut the head off a straight pin of similar gauge (diameter)
• install it in place of the lead

Edited October 4, 2018 by afx

[Tommy124]

On 2.10.2018 at 7:57 PM, Rider said:

Alex, I use 3M Super 77 Spray adhesive. Styrene card stock, 0.020" which is more then flexible enough while still providing a good edge. . The spray adhesive is only sprayed on the template then the template is placed on the body, it secures it quite nicely. 

Thanks, Lloyd. Interesting process. I checked on the 3M Super 77 Spray adhesive, however, did not find any notes saying that it can be easily removed, let's say with water. There must be a way to remove the templates after scribing, right?

 

On 2.10.2018 at 9:38 PM, Matt Bacon said:

Dymo labelling tape (the kind you used to have with a little handheld machine that you dialled letters into and clicked to emboss them in the coloured plastic tape so they appeared white). It works for single curvature surfaces very well and can be reused repeatedly. Not so good for compound curves because it doesn’t bend in two directions at once.

For that specific problem, I’d stick the body shell firmly to a piece of glass or smooth tile, either double sided tape. Mount the scriber horizontally on top of a block of wood or plastic the correct height to move the cutting head along the body at the point where you want the line. Then just slide the block and scriber gently over the glass and the point will hit the body the same distance up from the lower edge all the way along. If necessary to get low enough down, start with a scriber blade or sewing needle to make the first guide line, then take the body off the base and use the regular scriber to cut the line deeper.

best,

M

 

 

Thanks to you too, Matt. Although I'm done with scribing for now on the Porsche, I appreciate to learn about the "quick" solution, using Dymo tape. I'll order some of that and do some exercising on an old model. Good to know aswell about the "sophisticated way", this is very good. Indeed I think it's enough to have a rather light, but straight guide line to proceed with cautiously and free-handedly. Appreciated!

[Rider]

Thomas, when it is only sprayed on one object it is not permanent and removes without any additives, any residue left behind simply rubs off. I have painted 1:1 cars with the lace treatment found on low riders. I use this stuff for spraying the lace to attach it to the body of the car.

It's only permanent if you spray both objects, then join them.  It's actually contact spray adhesive. The instruction on the label used to state it's not permanent if only one object is sprayed. This is no longer included in the user instructions. Regardless, I have been using this product for close 15yrs for many projects. It clean up with turpentine which is not harmful to styrene, at least not for simple clean up.   

 

As also mentioned Dymo tape is a great solution too. This is something I also use for straight lines, you can find it on evil bay. 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Rider

[Tommy124]

10 minutes ago, Rider said:

Thomas, when it is only sprayed on one object it is not permanent and removes without any additives, any residue left behind simply rubs off. I have painted 1:1 cars with the lace treatment found on low riders. I use this stuff for spraying the lace to attach it to the body of the car.

It's only permanent if you spray both objects, then joined. it's actually contact spray adhesive. The instruction on the label used to state it's not permanent if only one object is sprayed. This is no longer included in the user instructions. Regardless I have been using this product for close 15yrs for many projects. It clean up with turpentine which is not harmful to styrene, at least not for simple clean up.   

 

As also mentioned Dymo tape is a great solution too. This is something I also use for straight lines, you can find it on evil bay. 

Thanks again, Lloyd! Sounds good to me, will get me one of these cans...