1/24 porsche 944 turbo

[mitchell]

rescue this kit from a collection. It was started by the previous owner and then abandoned. Pick it up from him, must be collecting dust for 20 years. It was painted silver so I had to strip the paint and re-painted it red. This kit is one that I wanted for years but out of production. The details of the kit is amazing, it comes with carpet and all the details are presented while some parts have problem with accuracy, it is still a great kit. Not as sophisticated as modern kit but from 25 plus years ago, this is BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH good.

[WizPorsche944]

Nice !!! Which kit was this ?

[o-man]

Looks like a good start to me! I too am curious as to what kit it is.

[mitchell]

old Hasegawa kit.

[o-man]

Ahh, I have one of those along with the Testors cabrio. Will be watching your progress

[PappyD340]

Very NICE, paint looks great!!

[Foxer]

The Hasegawa is the best 944 kit for sure. I had five 924/944's and have been working to reproduce them all. The two 924's stand at one done and one in process. All the 944 kits are turbos and mine were not, so converting to normally aspirated was necessary. The one 944 I've completed was a Testors but the body was close ... it didn't compare to the Hasegawa kits though. have a Hasegawa kit that's becoming the '91 944 bad a few Hasegawa 968 kits that have been donating their engine as the '91 944 has the 3 liter 968 engine.

Anyway, it looks like you're doing a good rescue there. Nice that you got one with tan carpets.

I'll be enjoying watching this one come together.

[beeRS]

Good luck with this project Mitchell. The old Hasagawa kit is very good in my opinion. I have owned 1:1 924 and 944's in the past and I can say the accuracy of the body is very good. It would make an ideal model to super-detail!

[Brizio]

Looking good!

[mitchell]

have a bit more progress on this today. i am super detailing it right now. But even with the detail on it, it still lack quite a few important pieces under the hood. And the casting of Hasegawa cannot be compared to tamiya. Tamiya tend to simplified stuff but their casting is unbeatable. With this Hasegawa kit, it tend to give you more detail but the casting is sometime too toyish. And the fit is also not as good as usual tamiya kit. Talking about panel lines, Hasegawa is also on the shallow side. I had to do a lot of work in the panel line before getting it painted or else it will be gone. I even sealed the sunroof since the panel line is shallow to begin with, so might as well seal it up. As the pictured tell, I mated the engine and interior tub on the chassis already. The engine is a bit of a pain to fit with the turbo plumbing. But it is in. I rework the shock tower and put better bolts for the strut bearing and bunch of wiring. more to come.

[mitchell]

a bit more progress today. Drilled the locks out on the exterior and got the dash almost done. And worked more on the engine bay. added a bit more wiring and detailed the bolts on the strut support. also ready to detail the battery. a lot of work needed to make it look busy under the dash.

[mitchell]

it's getting close to complete. But might be searching for a parts kit of a 944 to complete some of the missing detail in the Hasegawa kit such as hood latch and and motor and linkage for the headlight. Although this kit is quite good on the eyes, the engineering of it back then was very average. parts not lining up properly and suspension is all off, sitting on 3 wheels and had to modify it to make it sit flush. The front window fit is also poor and clashes with the dash. Had to trim the dash to make the body fit a bit better. But other than that, it is a fine looking kit. Maybe in another few days, it ready to move to Under Glass. Here are some picture of the engine bay of the original kit and after I detailed it.

[beeRS]

Its looking good Mitchell. I notice that the wheels seem to stick out of the arches slightly - is this just because they are yet to be pushed onto their hubs further or is this a problem with the kit?

BTW, Nice Aston in the background!

[mitchell]

the wheels are not really in previous picture, Now the wheel is on, the alignment is a bit of a issue and really need to trim and align it. It has some toe-out and quite a bit of camber, like it is just off a race track. I am about to call it done. and here is a picture with another family member, a GT2.

[Foxer]

This looks fantastic! Your engine detailing looks just right.

I checked the kits I have here for those parts you are missing. I didn't see a hood latch in my kit ... don't believe there was any.

The kit headlights are joined by a very thin plastic rod ... all one piece. This was so the headlights would raise together, but there were no other pieces to the assembly other than the retaining clip. I couldn't locate my instruction sheet to verify all this.

[mitchell]

Hasegawa doesn't have the hood latch and the correct headlight motor setup, their setup is for the light to be functional using a thing plastic rod. I deleted that option and opt for gluing the headlight in the shut position. the rod is wrap to begin with. Think I need to locate a Testor kit for the missing details.

[Foxer]

The Testors.Italari kit doesn't have a hood latch ... I made a hood latch for the build I linked to above. The missing headlight mechanism does create a hole and could be made pretty easily. The motor itself wouldn't be too bad to make from tube, but it's an expensive part if you get a kit just for that.

Here's a link to the Testors instructions if you haven't seen them. I need to fins another to build the '84 I had. What's nice about the Testors kit is it's a 944S body, although it does have a turbo motor.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Foxer

[mitchell]

Good info, I saw the Italari kit and the ones for sale seems like a curbside, so out goes that idea. Now have to scratch build a hood latch since it is very prominent in the engine bay. That will take some time. So for now, it is consider done.

[IMSANUT]

I have several of both the Testors and Hasegawa 944 kits. The Testors is faifly easy to convert to a US spec early 944 using one of the Monorgam 924 kits for the bumpers and early style dash. I've been working on one of these conversions off and on to replicate my very early 944. The cookie cutter wheels were a problem for a while till I ran across an obscure Revell 911 turbo kit that had OK examples of them. Turning the turbo motor into the non turbo one is a little tougher.....

[Foxer]

I have several of both the Testors and Hasegawa 944 kits. The Testors is faifly easy to convert to a US spec early 944 using one of the Monorgam 924 kits for the bumpers and early style dash. I've been working on one of these conversions off and on to replicate my very early 944. The cookie cutter wheels were a problem for a while till I ran across an obscure Revell 911 turbo kit that had OK examples of them. Turning the turbo motor into the non turbo one is a little tougher.....

That's one of my next 944's to do .. an '84 ... and you comment cured aI problem I saw with the Testors kit I got to do it ... the front bumper. I must have used a 924 kit to do the '87 I made, but don't have a salvaged 924 kit around ... I wonder if Testors had an older bumper in one of their many variations. I did get a 944s kit with the red cover but I know the one used for the '87 had a white or silver car on the box. A 924 WOULD solve the dash problem so I guess there's one in my future.

I did the conversion to normally aspirated so my '87build may give you some ideas. Fee; free to ask me anything about it.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Foxer