Revell 1/25 Porsche 356 Speedster - Oh my!

[Duddly01]

Being the glutton for punishment I appear to be I decided to start on my next project while I literally wait for paint to dry to complete my 1967 Mustang GTA convertible build. I picked up a Three Legends model set for a what I thought was a reasonable price for an early Jaguar XK-E, Datsun 240Z and a Porsche 356 Speedster. I absolutely love early Porsche air cooled cars, and especially 356s. When I was young my parents had a 1957 Porsche 356A coupe.  As it turns out the Revell Porsche Speedster seems to have been originally released around 1962, and it shows it’s age. Multiple part body that has major issues. I have sense picked up an amazing Fujimi kit but for some reason I have decided to go ahead and try to make something of this really really not good kit. I will be doing a lot of fabrication, modification and scratch building on this one for sure. It will get the full LED treatment, headlights, taillights & gauge lights as well as possible steering.

I assembled the body, drilled out the headlights, sanded bad seams, added reinforcements for the joined parts and added filler patches to correct the terrible rear wheel arches. I got a set of 3d printed early 356 rims, metal Porsche decals from ZoomOn, found a decent set of tires from my stash and created a template to fix the wheel arches and cut the doors more correctly.

this is the box art of the set and the Porsche kit by itself. Look at how bad that looks, what was I thinking???

glued together the body cut out the headlights and checked the rear wheel arches.

added the filler pieces and reinforcements.

removed what I think was supposed to be wipers, they will be photo-etch later.

trial fit to make sure the wheels will fit inside the fenders. I am sure the suspension will need work.

This is what I am going to be going for. Scratch building the bumpers, etc. I will be going with Ivory over red interior.

Edited December 23, 2024 by Duddly01

[CabDriver]

I wonder how they got the rear wheel arches so wrong - I wonder if the prototype they modeled from was like that?  Weird…

Looks like you’re making a good start!  Nice work!

[Duddly01]

10 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

I wonder how they got the rear wheel arches so wrong - I wonder if the prototype they modeled from was like that?  Weird…

Looks like you’re making a good start!  Nice work!

Thank you! I suspect it was necessary to get their two part wheels that stick out of the wheel openings to work. Not to mention the side pieces were easier to make with a straight edge. Remember this was early 1960s mold making tech.

[Steamboat]

Nice start.  I'll be following this one. I did the same on the Revell kit a few years ago and it came out OK.  Notice that the kit comes with a chopped down piece of glass for the windshield, and no frame.  I made the windshield frame out of styrene, and it took me many attempts to get it reasonably correct.  In retrospect I wish I had attempted to make it out of sheet brass.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I applaud your efforts. I bought several of these kits when I first returned to hobby modeling years ago, having been satisfied with Revell's ability to render lines and proportions correctly on many other kits produced in the 1960s.

I've rarely been so disappointed with any kit, being a 356 owner and enthusiast myself. The body shape rendition is almost as bad as anything Palmer ever did, a loose impression of a Speedster done apparently without measuring, by an artist lacking talent.

Every time I've taken one out to see what I could do to improve it, I've put it back in the box shaking my head. Pretty much nothing is right.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with the thing. I definitely need some inspiration, as I kinda hate to give up on the models if anything reasonably like a Speedster can be achieved without starting from scratch. 

Edited December 23, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 hours ago, Duddly01 said:

...Remember this was early 1960s mold making tech.

Just a thought...some of the kits produced in the early '60s are pretty much perfectly scaled renditions of their full size prototypes.

It's nothing to do with the "tech" available at the time. The issue with this kit was no-talent tool designers and insufficient management oversight.

Edited December 23, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[drodg]

Wow this is an ambitious project.  I owned numerous years ago a 356C and that is so cool your parents had a 57 356.  How many people can say that!!   Anyhow good luck with this build.  

[Pierre Rivard]

You are a brave man Donald. It's hard to see a 356 in that body kit. I understand your quest as went on the same path with the infamous ESCI Ferrari 250SWB and almost lost my mind trying to make it respectable. It might be doable but persistence... no, stubbornness will be needed.

[SpikeSchumacher]

Oh, my indeed! You are a brave man as Pierre stated above. 😉

[NOBLNG]

Might be easier to build the fujimi kit as a replica and make a wild custom out of the Revell kit? I have a Testors (Fujimi) kit that I have been putting off starting for a while now…so I am interested in what you can do with this one.😎

[Duddly01]

2 hours ago, Steamboat said:

Nice start.  I'll be following this one. I did the same on the Revell kit a few years ago and it came out OK.  Notice that the kit comes with a chopped down piece of glass for the windshield, and no frame.  I made the windshield frame out of styrene, and it took me many attempts to get it reasonably correct.  In retrospect I wish I had attempted to make it out of sheet brass.

Thank you! I saw your post, nice work with what you had to start with. I will likely be scratch building most of this build, bumpers, windshield, etc. at the very least heavily modifying.

[Duddly01]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I applaud your efforts. I bought several of these kits when I first returned to hobby modeling years ago, having been satisfied with Revell's ability to render lines and proportions correctly on many other kits produced in the 1960s.

I've rarely been so disappointed with any kit, being a 356 owner and enthusiast myself. The body shape rendition is almost as bad as anything Palmer ever did, a loose impression of a Speedster done apparently without measuring, by an artist lacking talent.

Every time I've taken one out to see what I could do to improve it, I've put it back in the box shaking my head. Pretty much nothing is right.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with the thing. I definitely need some inspiration, as I kinda hate to give up on the models if anything reasonably like a Speedster can be achieved without starting from scratch. 

I have made to scale views of a real speedster as a template, and your right, it is a big mess. Much does line up just not quite right and will require modifying heavily.

[Duddly01]

1 hour ago, drodg said:

Wow this is an ambitious project.  I owned numerous years ago a 356C and that is so cool your parents had a 57 356.  How many people can say that!!   Anyhow good luck with this build.  

I have a great love for early air cooled Porsches myself. I actually have a scar on my forehead from when I was 4 I believe. I was standing in the passenger seat when my mother took a sharp turn in her 1957 356A coupe, and my head got to know the shifter knob all too well.

[Duddly01]

1 hour ago, Pierre Rivard said:

You are a brave man Donald. It's hard to see a 356 in that body kit. I understand your quest as went on the same path with the infamous ESCI Ferrari 250SWB and almost lost my mind trying to make it respectable. It might be doable but persistence... no, stubbornness will be needed.

The body is starting to show some promise, but it won’t look anything like out of the box when I am done. I am very stubborn, if you have seen any of my other builds. 😂 

1 hour ago, SpikeSchumacher said:

Oh, my indeed! You are a brave man as Pierre stated above. 😉

Brave or insane…fine line. 😊

[Duddly01]

17 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Might be easier to build the fujimi kit as a replica and make a wild custom out of the Revell kit? I have a Testors (Fujimi) kit that I have been putting off starting for a while now…so I am interested in what you can do with this one.😎

Seeing the Fujimi 356 enthusiasts kits going for well over $100 and this one I got with all three for far less I thought I would give it a try. May have been a bad idea but I am going with it. 😁

it will be a Carrera Speedster GS-GT which was a stripped down version especially lightened for racing. I do however plan on scratch building the bumpers sans overridders. I since did get a Fujimi Speedster kit and have had a 356B/C kit in my stash for awhile. I will build those and purchase more Fujimi kits at some point. They are basically my holy grails. 😁

[dino246gt]

I love seeing what a talented builder can do with a crappy kit.

I'll be watching with interest as I also love a challenge, as you've proven that you do!

[oldcarfan]

I built one of the old Revell kits long ago and decided that as it wasn't that accurate I would just have fun with it. In my mind I imagined it as a fiberglass bodykit that you would put on a VW pan. From that standpoint, it made more sense to me.

[Duddly01]

2 hours ago, dino246gt said:

I love seeing what a talented builder can do with a crappy kit.

I'll be watching with interest as I also love a challenge, as you've proven that you do!

We will see just how talented I am on this one I guess. 😊

37 minutes ago, oldcarfan said:

I built one of the old Revell kits long ago and decided that as it wasn't that accurate I would just have fun with it. In my mind I imagined it as a fiberglass bodykit that you would put on a VW pan. From that standpoint, it made more sense to me.

That’s a good way to think about it. I just love a challenge and I have gotten used to scratch building a lot of the parts. I will be posting some updates soon. I literally boiled the body to fix some issues in the rear shape. 😂

[lordairgtar]

That rub strip on the side was always problematic for me. Much like AMTs 53 Vette that seemed off.

[Duddly01]

21 minutes ago, lordairgtar said:

That rub strip on the side was always problematic for me. Much like AMTs 53 Vette that seemed off.

Side trim panel is going away. Was not included on the 57 Carrera GS-GT, thought it would be simple to make a correct looking one. This build will look very much like the reference image above.

[Duddly01]

Just a little more work on the body today. The rear section of the car was way too rounded and high so I literally boiled the body to flatten it out to have the correct shape.

Flattened the body and then had to flatten the back of the cover and rear hood. I am not even sure I will use the cover, at least not all of it, but I am remaining prepared.

luckily the frunk (front trunk) fits better than expected. I also cut out the front vents.

Created a master to mold the 1957 cats eye taillights. Will be cast in clear UV resin for LEDs. Cut the hole for the LEDs and filled the additional ones.

[Duddly01]

There really isn’t a single part of the body of this kit that is quite right. I created the headlight buckets. It will get inner lenses and outer clear covers like the real car. The front hood was way too long and extended far too low. 

It almost looks like it is smiling now that it is getting fixed to look right. 😁

Created front and rear bumpers. I am not happy with rear bumper yet, but I will get it right. 

[250 Testa Rossa]

Where are the wheels from? They look good!

[Duddly01]

22 minutes ago, 250 Testa Rossa said:

Where are the wheels from? They look good!

I got them off Etsy. Just search for Porsche 356 wheels.

[250 Testa Rossa]

28 minutes ago, Duddly01 said:

I got them off Etsy. Just search for Porsche 356 wheels.

I'd like to find a set if possible