klubman01

Beautifully built. Love the staining of the exhaust pipes. Well done. Trevor

Nice work with the lathe. One of my favourite race cars. I shall follow with interest. Trevor

Thanks very much! Trevor

Thanks very much. I am quite pleased with the end result. Trevor

Another great looking, and slightly obscure, project. As always, I will follow with interest. Trevor

Thanks guys, much appreciated. More 917's soon(ish). Trevor

Great model, nicely done. Did the decals come with the kit? Modsports produced some excellent races back in the day. Trevor

Nice work refurbishing this one! Trevor

Great models! The 914 was very much the unwanted lovechild of VW and Porsche. A shame, as it was quite a decent racer but never received the credit it deserved. Trevor

Thanks very much. Test cars, particularly of that era, are always interesting. Aerodynamics were still a bit of a "dark art" back then. Cheers Keith. I grew up with enamels and have never really considered anything else. I guess it's what I'm familiar with. Gotta love the 917! My favourite race car of all time. Thanks Chris. Plenty more 917's in the pipeline. Thanks Pat. I've not seen this car with twin intakes, but I was at Brands Hatch in 1971 and saw the Martini car with them. Trevor

Completed over the weekend, this is my model of the Gulf Porsche 917K as it appeared during the Le Mans Test Weekend in 1971. The aims of the test were to evaluate the new tail with the vertical fins, and also to try the twin airbox arrangement for the engine which had been seen for the first time on one of the Martini 917K's at Brands Hatch two weeks previously. JWAE liked the new tail but rejected the airbox because it generated too much drag and did not distribute the air evenly to the cylinders. The mixture of paint schemes and the unusual configuration attracted me to make a model of this car. Previously, this car (chassis 016) had been a principal race car in 1970 but was mostly used as the T Car in 1971. It had the "third car" colour scheme of blue, with everything above the bottom of the windows in orange. It was also fitted with a "Daytona window" above the windscreen, although this was blanked off at the test weekend. In addition, it was fitted with doors from a different car. The base kit is the Provence Moulage kit of the Martini 917K that won Le Mans in 1971. Modifications were the airbox, plus the JWAE arrangement of cockpit ventilation and rear brake cooling ducts. The electrical cut-off switch and extinguisher button also had to be relocated. To make the airbox, I cut the top of the engine from the chassis, trimmed away the normal intake covers, and made the airboxes from 20thou plastic card filled with Milliput to add some heft to the structures and also allow me to round off the edges without creating holes in the structure. The new inlets were created from 20thou card, as was the vac-formed vent on the cockpit roof. The rear spoilers were re-positioned at a flatter angle. Masking the minimal amount of orange remaining from the original colour scheme was a bit fiddly, but came out OK, I think. The narrow stripe sections at the tops of the doors, and on the engine cover came from a spare decal sheet. The blanked off Daytona window was a piece of Xtradecal yellow stripe cut to shape using a template from a kit with the window opening. The shape marked on the paper was cut out and stuck to the decal backing paper and then the decal was trimmed to match the paper template. Humbrol enamels were used throughout the build. The Porsche badge, race numbers and roundels were from Virage sheets, with the Gulf decals from the spares box. Xtradecal silver stripes were used for the tape sealing the gap between the cockpit and engine cover. Quite pleased with the end result. Another 917 completed, and the "non-standard" configuration made for an interesting build. Thank you for looking. Trevor

That's a really lovely Herald. I think the non-standard wheels and tyres set it off nicely. Trevor

Absolutely fabulous! Love the details, even down to the tyre pressure and fuel grade decals. Lovely work all round. Trevor

The top bodywork and engine cover were moulded in GRP, so I think a dull matt green finish would be appropriate. I came across this picture showing the body work lifted clear of the chassis and I think the inside (the area visible just below the end of the yellow stripe) looks dark green. Hope this helps. Trevor

That is top notch! Trevor PS, what is a Fuji Cabin? Never heard of them.