Jump to content

Porsche 936


hythe

Recommended Posts

I've decided that I'm definitely going to finish a GB for once with this one. Hence the ridiculously simple choice of a Tamiya 1/20 Porsche 936. Lashings of Halfords Appliance White all over, when it comes to the paint, so even I can't get bogged down on the masking, which is usually where I start to lose the will to live.

Looking forward to this one! If I finish quickly, I might just take a stab at one of my pile of 956 or 962s...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First sprue shots:

5EA8C5DF-BC5E-4B2C-ABB1-29E8DAF843BA-608

Not many pieces to this one...

B5051102-155F-4FE6-A482-0D00043ADD3C-608

And half of them appear to be Jacky Ickx!

I'm going to keep this simple - Car No.4, the 1977 winner - might go for some weathering for that "post-race" look, but as I understand it the car lost its perspex headlight covers during the race, so I'd have to replicate the polythene and duct tape look. TBH, I need to do a bit more research on the 1977 race, but I figure I can do that as I get the build underway.

Chose the 936 over two other main possibles - the "New Man" Joest 956 and the more involved task of converting the Bburago 959 "Raid" metal kit (a roadgoing 959 with Paris-Dakar markings, as far as I can tell) into a Le Mans 961 - would require a modified airdam, fuel filler and, more difficult, a completely new rear wing. Tricky. Might just build that as a 959 road car and get a Tamiya 961 at some point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the funny thing - so this car won the 1977 race, after dropping down to 41st position at one point, with engine maladies. Ickx, Barth and Heywood managed to drag it back up the order, until it took the lead when the an Alpine-Renault dropped out, towards the end of the race. Then, at the very end, it lost a cylinder - or rather, misfiring badly, they disconnected the fuel and ignition to one cylinder, so Barth went out for a couple of laps right at the end, running on only five cylinders - possibly the only five cylinder car to win Le Mans!

Anyway, so I will be doing the car with Juergen Barth in the driver's seat, not Jacky Ickx. What's interesting is that, although in the museums and in almost every build I've ever seen of this kit, the car had white wheels and perspex headlight covers, in the race itself it seemed to get through a random mix of black and white wheels, and had sheet plastic taped over the headlights. Clearly I need to do some more research to confirm the details, to find exactly how it looked at the finish! :)

Now, where is my CD of 1970s "Motorsport" magazines?

Edited by hythe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Right, I've made a start!

So far, this looks as straightforward as I was hoping. There are basically three main sub-assemblies - the chassis, the body and the cockpit/driver.

I've assembled most of the body now and cleaned up a few little bits of flash. For a widely produced 35 year old mould, it's not in bad shape, and the basic engineering remains very good, even if some of the details are a tad crude.

I'm going to resist the urge to open up the airbox and the front wing vents, though I may well blank off the back of the NACA ducts in the rear bodywork, as I suspect you can see straight through, once the model is finished.

I wish I had taken a much closer look at the 936, when I was at the museum in Stuttgart a couple of years ago! Any hi-res photos, especially those not readily available on the web, of the 936/77 or of Juergen Barth at the 1977 race (for it is he who finished the race in the winning car), would be gratefully received!

Here's the damage, so far:

2DF7E6D1-FEC2-4832-8556-C98DB096ED38-894

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Progress IS being made on this... The body is prepped and primed, the assembly of the driver (Barth, including modifications to the helmet, since his was so distinctive) is underway and the chassis is coming together. Meantime, I've been doing a fair bit of research - I have to say, this car is trickier than many to research, not least because a fair few modifications seem to have happened during the race! By the finish line, it seems to have an entirely different front end, somehow - the driver's side wing-mirror stalk is missing entirely, while the other one is missing the mirror itself. Meanwhile, the taped/plastic sheeting headlamp covers seem to have been replaced by the "official" perspex covers, there seem to be two extra black grooves (cooling vents?) on the top of the front fenders and from some angles there appear to be mirrors just alongside the cockpit aperture (jury-rigged, perhaps?)

Anyone have any more info on the appearance of this car at the end of the 1977 race?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Ah. Was just about to take another crack at this one, build up some momentum to get it finished before the race, when I realised that the GB ends THIS weekend, not the RACE weekend! Oooops!

Suffice to say, I'm not sure I can get it completed by tomorrow night, especially with the mods to build it as it ended the race. I may just see if I can finish it OOB, as it appeared pre-race.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...