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Porsche 356 Coupe and Cabriolet - Revell 1:16


richellis

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Porsche 356 Coupe and Cabriolet

Revell 1:16

 

The Porsche 356 range first hit the roads in 1948, with early examples built in Austria. The 356 has an aircooled engine in the back driving the rear wheels and is known as being a lightweight nimble performer. The 356 was built in coupe or cabriolet body style and Revell have given us 2 large scale kits in 1:16 scale. The Coupe kit is a B series, launched in 1959, with improvements and re-styleing over the first A series. The cabriolet is a later C series launched in 1965 this was the final facelift of the 356 range and had a larger engine and disc brakes. The Dutch Police took the final 10 cabriolet models in 1966 before the 911/912 models took their place in the range.

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Both kits are very similar so I look at them both together pointing out the similarities and differences. The kits come in large boxes with a lift off lid, colourful artwork adorns the top and sides to tempt the casual browser in the shop. Both kits have a large body shell moulding needing the doors, bonnet and boot adding. Although they are coloured (red for the coupe, black for the cabby) they will need painting. I feel the part count is low for this size car, and some details are very basic, the engine being one example being to my mind over simplified, the bonnet (or boot?) is a working part so a well detailed engine that the modeller could add to would have been fantastic. I understand the cost vrs parts argument but at this scale it should be better. I also note that the Coupe is an ‘Easy-click’ model and this has an impact on the build and parts count. Right moan over lets look at some plastic.

 

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The bodies are well proportioned to my eye and capture the curves and lines of the 356 they are well moulded with no imperfections or misalignment on my review kits. There is a large web of plastic to be removed from the Cabriolet, this is to help add strength to the shell especially around the windscreen and door openings while in the box. The bars over the door openings  on the red coupe stay as the doors don't open on this simplified kit, some parts are there in the box, but not all, you could make up the missing parts if you wish to.

 

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The main parts are over 9 further sprues, and they are cast in the correct basic colours, body colour, black and silver grey, so they would only need some detail painting. The light grey interior sprue is for the cabriolet, and black for the coupe, other than that the other sprues are the same. As I said before some detail is disappointing and simplified but saying that they are well cast with no flaws. The build starts with the engine and transmission, the model mirrors the real 356 where the engine and transmission sit in a subframe with the rear axle and suspension as a single unit, this is then added to the body-shell as a unit. This will allow you to build and detail this section before attaching it into the complete and painted body. The front axle is the same with all steering and suspension that can be assembled, painted then added to the of the body-shell and it has the option of having the wheels turned with some steering added.

 

The interior is nice, the seats look good with the stitched pattern copied nicely and handbrake, and gear stick detail along with foot pedals. The doors have window winder, handle and arm rests on the inside and a separate chrome door handle for outside. The convertible has a cream and tan interior, with black and grey inside the coupe.   There is no Right-hand drive dashboard, so for a British car you will have to do some work, shouldn’t be too hard as it is a simple flat dashboard. You get the option of a raised roof, or a cover for a folded top on the cabriolet, both have nice textured surfaces and realistic creases and seams on the parts.

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There are 2 chrome sprues in the kit. The chrome is done well and not over shiny and toy like, but most of us will strip it and re-do with our choice of paint. The gates are well placed so not to be obvious on the finished build if you choose to keep the kit plating. There are 4 rubber tyres (5 in the cabriolet) and the detail is nice on the tread.

 

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Both kits come with a decal sheet including some nice small data plates and vin plates, badges and a selection of number plates, the coupe has a simplified sticker set (as part of its ‘Easy-click’ title) but thankfully includes the waterslide also! As expected from Revell they are superbly printed and the dash dials have to be seen close up, you can make out the numbers on the speedometer, and rev-counter. Ill pop my anorak on now, the British plates both are A suffix (so 1963) so unsuitable for the later C series model unless it’s a personal plate, PO shows a West Sussex car.

 

These are a nice pair of Porches, and will be cracking models with a little work. The Coupe is over simplified with non-opening doors and bonnet, while the cabriolet has these features. Only some of the parts needed are there on the coupe? Why not have all the bits, and  instructions to give the modeller the option? 

 

Nice models but for me, with some work will be cracking big car models.

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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  • 1 month later...
15 minutes ago, BerndM said:

Someone has build or started it ?

All the gory details here:

Actually, it is a pretty good kit, quite a few of the detail parts are in the Coupe as well, but marked not to use, and you can scratch build the rest to give it a proper engine fairly easily, as shown in the buikld thread above...

best,

M.

 

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1 hour ago, cmatthewbacon said:

All the gory details here:

Actually, it is a pretty good kit, quite a few of the detail parts are in the Coupe as well, but marked not to use, and you can scratch build the rest to give it a proper engine fairly easily, as shown in the buikld thread above...

best,

M.

 

Superb build. There are some well priced examples on the market currently.

As we know after the salary is before the salary ! :)

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