Tamiya Porsche 959 1/24

[Gary30]

Ok I’ll go first, this is going to be my entry, still waiting on the kit to arrive so more of a place holder for now, but what better subject to represent the 1980’s than the ultimate Yuppie mobile, the Porsche 959!

Hello 1987, watch this space for progress and updates.

[jmurphy18]

Sweet Gary! Yes that is an 80's yuppie mobile!! I was driving a Vette in the 80's Looking forward to that build

[Twokidsnosleep]

Nice
Not my favourite of models, but good choice

[Gary30]

My 959 arrived today so this build will now begin, I'll get sprue shots tonight, heard of a few issues with this kit, so I'll have to keep my wits about me, apparently the rear engine cover and wing has some fitment issues, so we'll see how we go.

Paint colour I hear you ask? I have a few irons in the fire, and plastic spoons in front of the air brush on this matter, it won't be an original 959 colour, as I think they only came in White, Black, Red or Silver, but it will be sympathetic to the time period and to Porsche, so we'll see how that turns out, watch this space

Some nostalgia from 1987, the first 959's were delivered to paying customers:

This was a huge album that year:

One of my favourite films also released:

This old actor is in the White House:

This woman was in Number 10:


And yours truly was a 6 year old full of the joys of spring with his whole life ahead of him, cool time to be alive, at least it was in my care free mind.

[Gary30]

Nice
Not my favourite of models, but good choice

As I said, the F40 was my pin up at this time, the 959 looks like a 911 crashed into a fibreglass factory and came out the other side as a 959, but I think there's definitely something cool about it, and to my mind it definitely looks '80s' so that was my thinking for choosing this for the GB.

In terms of the F40, I may have another iron in another fire regarding that , if I haven't bitten off more than I can chew of course

[Gary30]

So as promised, I made a start on this kit last night, haven't got much to show yet, but...

Box art:


Sprues:



Tyres look nice:
Simple decal sheet:

Body:


I marked the mould lines on the body ready to begin prep work:


And removed all the parts from the sprues ready for clean up:


Not bad for half an hours work!

[barryf1fan]

This is gonna be a good one, Gary. And man, 1987, what a year - I was 17 in 1987 and Senior in HS.

Really looking forward to your build!!

[Gary30]

Things are actually moving boys! I spent an hour or so cleaning up the seams on the body tonight, ready for primer now and the I’ll see if any more clean up is needed prior to paint, I’ve installed the headlight buckets as these are going to be body coloured so it makes sense to get them in before paint rather than ruin the finish trying to put them in afterwards.

[Hawkmoon]

Nice start Gary and looking good. Its easy to miss a seam line that just pops out and waves at you when you prime but thats what primers for to grab em and wipe em out

[Gary30]

Yeah I'm hoping I've got them all, the weird plastic that Tamiya have used to mould the body has a high black content I think, as even after the seams have been cleaned and smoothed they still leave a definite black line, so it's a bit of a leap of faith really until the primer is down.

I also managed to snap the thin window upright just behind the A-pillar with my sausage fingers I have managed to patch it up now, but I could've done without it

[Gary30]

Well it's funny how things turn out isn't it? Pandemic, working from home, still managing to carry on with this build in the background.

I'm made up with my recent rotary tool purchase, it made light work of the tyre seams on the Tamiya rubber, much easier than sanding for an hour, these were done in 5 mins flat:

Top tyre still has the seam, bottom sanded out:


All four done:


I decided to fix the engine cover in place as the fitment is a bit of a pig and I'd prefer it looked right as a kerbside model than being able to remove the engine cover, so I fixed it in place and sorted out all the panel gaps:



And I laid down a quick coat of primer in the spring sunshine this afternoon, still a little bit of sanding and filling to be done on the rear wing then it'll be ready for paint, we're heading in the right direction though

[Twokidsnosleep]

This is looking great

We all go to great lengths sanding and trying to remove the center seam on tires when in reality new 1:1 tires often have that same seam.
I saw a great video of guys driving a classic William Saudi F1 car in Japan. The damn things front tires had a MASSIVE center seam

[Gary30]

Got the base coat down today, fairly happy with how it turned out, nice depth to it, looking forward to getting the 2K clear down on it in a few days to really see what finish I’m going to end up with.

I love ‘brown’ cars, my Dad had a brown Vauxhall Chevette in the 80’s and I’ve fond memories of that car so I decided on a shade of brown for the 959.

[Gary30]

Got the 2K down today, I’m pretty happy with it, going to leave it to cure for a good few days now while I await my Ultimate Polish order to arrive in these crazy times, it’s a nice colour, very hard to photograph though, lots of different shades depending on the way the light hits it that doesn’t really come across with a crappy iPhone photo, but it’s cool in real life.



I will crack on with painting the rest of the chassis parts and interior now they are all prepped and ready to rock and roll.

[CygnusX1]

Looks really great so far. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

[Gary30]

The interior is starting to go together now, I wanted a garish scheme for the interior to go all out with the 80’s theme, I think this will look pretty cool against the dark bronze paintwork of the car, and I purposely softened the edges of the colours and did the airbrushing freehand with no masking as I think that will give a more realistic effect when it’s boxed in under the body and only visible through the windows.



I’ve painted a lot of the chassis and engine parts now too and I’m hoping to get a good run at it over the weekend to get everything painted and then it will be assembly and polishing the body next week to the finish with a bit of luck!

Thanks for looking in, hope everyone is happy and healthy

[Hawkmoon]

All looking good and nice work the brown has popped nicely and it suits the car, I think I remember them being that color too around that time

[Gary30]

And just in case anyone thinks I've lost the plot with my interior choices, here is a 1:1 959 interior (there are many different colour options)

[Gary30]

Started on some assembly this morning:

Interior tub is complete



Engine starting to go together

[digger303]

Engine looks good, the fan belt has just the color. Yes I'm the silly bugger who looks at the most inconsequential item

[Kevthemodeller]

Great looking colour & clear coats Gary, liking the interior effect too

[Gary30]

Engine looks good, the fan belt has just the color. Yes I'm the silly bugger who looks at the most inconsequential item

Tamiya NATO Black, I think flat black (XF1) is too dark so I use a slightly lighter shade.

Running gear and chassis is now complete





I didn’t go crazy with additional detailing etc where the vast majority of the work will be hidden by the body anyway, but just got it done out of the box concentrating my efforts on what will be seen, more important things to worry about in life than rivet counting, I had fun!

So my Ultimate Polish kit is due to arrive tomorrow, so I’ll crack on with finishing the body and then we’re on the way to completion! Thanks for reading so far everyone!

[Gary30]

Oh and I must mention it’s my first time using Tamiya LP paint, I’m in love! The sparkling silver is amazing, my new favourite colour to spray with, goes down like an absolute dream, I have got a few other LP’s in my stash now and will be my go to range from now on I think, if they all spray as nice as the sparkling silver!

[Gary30]

Well the Ultimate Polish arrived, had a quick blitz with it this morning to see what’s what, impressive shine! And this is before the #3 wax and final shine goes on!




Hard to photograph in direct sunlight but you get the idea hopefully, fairly flawless finish....for me at least!

[Miiqqula]

Really nice shine. So Ultimate polishing kit is must buy?

[Kevthemodeller]

Polished up real well

[Gary30]

Really nice shine. So Ultimate polishing kit is must buy?

Well not one to blow my own trumpet, but my 2K was petty good to begin with, and the polish has REALLY brought it up another level, so it's definitely good stuff.

I did try a patch on my test mule and it brought that up a treat as well

[Gary30]

The reflection of my lamp here to show how smooth the roof is

[Twokidsnosleep]

Sweet paintwork
That is the hardest prt on these car builds

[Kevthemodeller]

Oh yes superb finish

[jchrisf]

This is gonna be a good one, Gary. And man, 1987, what a year - I was 17 in 1987 and Senior in HS.

Really looking forward to your build!!

Me too.. just a little east of you in Arkansas.

[DRUMS01]

Looking really good so far and I agree with it being an iconic car of the 80's along with the F40 which somebody else mentioned.



Oh, and nice color... both application and results.

Another 80's car could perhaps be the BMW M1? I know is was first revealed in 1978, but it really came into its own in the early 80's.

Keep up the great work!

Ben

[digger303]

[Gary30]

The last bits of this are going together now, I decided to re-clear the alloy wheels as I was going for a slightly satin finish but they came out Matt, so I’ve blasted them with some gloss today to bring them up a bit, I don’t want them as shiny as the bodywork though. Just waiting for them to dry and they can be fitted and we will be done.

Last bits painted early before being fitted:


Bits and pieces being fitted:


I messed up the number plate decal and it split, you can spot it if you look closely but nothing I can do about it now!

And regarding the F40, you heard it here first, I’m going to build one as a second entry for this GB and do a photo shoot with the 959 before the GB deadline, I’ll start another build thread over the next few days.

[Gary30]

PS I hate clear parts! They were a headache

[Gary30]

Ok this one is pretty much done now, I'm very apprehensive to attach the single rear view mirror to the door, as the contact patch is miniscule and I'll probably blemish the paintwork with CA if I go for it, I should've thought ahead and put a pin in it as an attachment point as Tamiya don't provide anything, I may leave it off completely unless I get really brave.

I'll take some proper photos over the weekend and give it a final polish for the final reveal.



Thanks for looking in everyone!

[Kevthemodeller]

Looking real good

[Gary30]

This one is complete now, I decided to be brave and attach the door mirror using CA, worked out fine in the end, final reveal pics HERE