What's up with the engine block in the 1/25 scale Palmer Porsche 356 kit? It's a V8?

[Russell C]

Palmer kits being a riddle wrapped in an enigma when it comes to the various design aspects that went into them. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist bidding on a cheap eBay Palmer 356 gluebomb which I won for $1.50, should arrive in a week. I'll share photos of it in the Gluebomb thread when it arrives. But in an effort to try to figure out what scale it was, I ran across this Youtube video of a guy trying to see if a decent box stock build of it was possible (seems there's no hope of success on accomplishing that). What has me puzzled is what the kit engine block appears to be, before the 1-piece blob gets put on top. Is that not a V8 engine block that's utterly incorrect for the car? Or did Palmer engineers halfway replicate a rare 356 engine that wasn't a flat four? Or replicate somebody's outlaw V8 conversion, and the Palmer people didn't know it was custom?

[peteski]

I don't  really see any semblance to an air-cooled boxer 4-cyl engine. Could the engine parts be from another Palmer kit, and they just got mistakenly put into the Porsche 356 box? I also see more parts (black plastic) in the box which look like an engine block and transmission.

Edited yesterday at 04:17 AM by peteski

[sidcharles]

Palmer kits require a certain amount of "suspension of disbelief."

once you embrace that, everything else will fit into place.

[Mark]

Engine is cribbed from one of the Revell 1/32 scale '55 or '55 car kits.  

They say it has an engine included, didn't say it's anywhere near correct.

I don't think it gets any better when it comes to the chassis...

[Chris V]

7 minutes ago, Mark said:

Engine is cribbed from one of the Revell 1/32 scale '55 or '55 car kits.  

They say it has an engine included, didn't say it's anywhere near correct.

I don't think it gets any better when it comes to the chassis...

As Mark says, Palmer literally just reversed the chassis from one of their other models to put something under the Porsche.

[Mark]

I've got the MGA kit (bought it cheap, the body looks about 1/25 scale).  I think it has that same engine and chassis.  I'll have to take a look at it...

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wow. That's pretty cool. Palmer seems to have reached new heights with this one. I had no idea.  

[Mark]

A new high, in low!

[NOBLNG]

I agree with Bill. I had heard Palmer kits were bad, but I had NO IDEA! WOW! 😳

[mr moto]

Palmer kits are kind of like Free Jazz. Lots of improvisation. Take it for what it is.

[peteski]

I'm still wondering what the black engine block and transmission in the bottom of the box are for.

[stavanzer]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

I'm still wondering what the black engine block and transmission in the bottom of the box are for.

Me too.

That Yellow Steering Wheel doesn't look Porche Either....

[Russell C]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

...wondering what the black engine block and transmission in the bottom of the box are for.

Wow - I was distracted enough by the sight of the white V8 and my subsequent search for some mystery Porsche 1:1 engine, I completely missed the "bonus V8" in this kit. No offense to the Youtube builder, I always mute the sound in these kinds of videos and speed-watch through most of them, but I sifted through it again a short time ago, and there it is. Near as I can tell, the guy never said a word about it  .... Edit: Oops, at the 13:19 point for barely over a second, he waves his finger over the black-molded engine and says "look at that." But that was it.

Edited 14 hours ago by Russell C

[Bugatti Fan]

You will have to ask Palmer about that engine !

But you will need to go to a spiritualist to make contact with them.  Lol.

[Mark]

As with later kits, Palmer used some of the same parts trees across all, or nearly all, of their car kits.  The "other" engine is on the tree molded in black, which was needed in the Porsche kit for the tires.

[NOBLNG]

How could Porsche allow this to happen?

Edited 5 hours ago by NOBLNG

[Ace-Garageguy]

Holy what-the-thingamy?