johnlambert Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 (edited) I think this is the final Matchbox car kit missing from @Rabbit Leader's build list PK-308 Porsche 935, which is in Martini colours as raced at Watkins Glen in 1976 (according to the kit packaging). It was bought on eBay on Monday evening, so I'm impressed that it arrived so quickly. It's been part started but I think it falls well under the 25% completed rule. It also needs decals as these are completely absent. On the white paper and cutting mat is everything that came in the box. This is what arrived assembled. The body shell had a slight twist when it arrived, but I soaked the shell in warm water and think I've managed to straighten it out. The parts of the body seem correctly aligned so I don't think it was an assembly error. The body needs a few more panels adding but the good thing is that it can all be assembled as a unit before being joined to the interior/floor assembly. I think the first step will be to finish assembling the body, then get it primed and painted. I don't build many competition cars, so I'm a bit nervous about this. Edited March 8, 2022 by johnlambert 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Hi John You are an absolute star, delighted to see this one joining the GB, and as you rightly say completing the set of all the Matchbox car kits This is an amazing achievement, I can't think of another GB where we have had such an enthusiastic response. Put a wanted add on the wanted section here on BM, someone is bound to be able to help with the missing decal. It never ceases to amaze me how great the people are on this forum. The very best of luck with this one. Cheers Pat 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 John, if anything else fails and Matchbox decals can't be found, try Indycals https://www.indycals.net/decals/lemans/76martini935-4.html V-P 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 Thanks Pat and V-P. I need to make sure that I finish the Citroen before I get too deeply into this one but I have made a start. The sills and rear wheel arch pieces have been added, There will be some sanding to smooth the join but I'm leaving it well alone for the cement to solidify first. I might see if I can put something behind the joints to provide extra strength. As seems typical of Matchbox car kits, there are lots of chrome bits, which don't need to be so shiny. I got most of the chrome off, but used up the last of my Mr Muscle in the process. I'll get some more and finish the job. I've put a request in the "Wanted" section for decals and it's good to know that there is an aftermarket option too. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 There is always the option with decals of resizing another kit’s decals of the same subject in a different scale and printing it on decal paper. I’ve done it twice before with Airliner decals but of course you need to seal and then carefully cut them out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 'Well done' from me too John, for picking this one up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Just getting around to the newer threads on here and sending across my official GB welcoming. As mentioned above, well done John for hunting down our last elusive Matchbox Car kit and building it for us here. This is certainly fantastic news and I am more than thrilled that we have all collectively achieved the excellent results so far. I do hope you will have some luck on the decal front so fingers crossed someone kind will come to your aid. Cheers, welcome aboard (with this kit) and best of luck.. Dave. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Until today I had never seen one of these kits in the flesh and I'm very glad you managed to find one. Back in the day before 'wrapping' the colours would be painted on before the stickers for sponsors and so on were stuck on. If you get stuck that could be an option I did a few real ones and they look very different in just underwear. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 17, 2022 Author Share Posted February 17, 2022 A bit of sanding and priming on the Porsche today. You can't see the join (as someone once said). Well, most of the joins are pretty well hidden. I've given everything here a coat of Tamiya white primer. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 21, 2022 Author Share Posted February 21, 2022 A little bit of progress to report. The body got a bit of filler primer and a rub-down before another couple of coats of Tamiya white fine surface primer. It has also had a couple of coats of Tamiya X2 white airbrushed on, but I'm not happy with the finish, so I'm not posting photos at the moment. While waiting for paint to dry I had a look at some of the other parts. It might not be visible once finished but I don't want to take the risk, so the back of the driver's seat had to be fixed. Plenty of sanding later and it looks a lot better. The engine and gearbox were already partially assembled but the previous owner had not read the instructions and glued the engine halves together before installing the rear suspension, and then razor-sawed off the top of the gearbox to fit the driveshafts and semi-trailing arms. No great damage was done as the cut was very fine. A fillet of styrene filled the saw cut and various other engine parts were added. In retrospect I probably added too much before painting, but the inlet manifolds were off the sprue and I didn't want to risk losing them. The engine and transmission are a bit basic. Reproducing the finned cylinder barrels would be a lot of work but I decided that the transmission case could be improved. Some microstrip makes it look a lot more like a metal casting. A bit of primer and it'll do. The roll cage was a bit lopsided. Some hot water and a bit of bending seems to have effected a restoration. I added some interior detail before priming the centre of the tub. Bringing things right up to date, various parts have been painted. I've ordered a set of decals from Indydecals, so it might be a while before they get here. At least there is plenty to do in the meantime. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Nice progress John and I really like your work on the gearbox casing. Great too that you can get some new decals . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 A few more little bits done. The exhaust system needed a little adjustment to fit properly. The engine is together. The turbo is another part that is tricky to fit, there are only two attachment points with small contacting surfaces. The front suspension is nice and fine but quite fiddly to assemble as the steering arms are difficult to locate in the suspension struts. If you're not careful the finished model will end up with severe amounts of toe-in. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 A bit more work on the Porsche. I've given the body a rub down and polish, it's not too bad but the process of polishing caused some parts to fall off... Brake disks painted, it's nice to see this level of detail even though they will be hidden by the wheels. Talking of wheels, they have been painted aluminium along with the roll cage. The wheel centres need painting dark blue. I just need a suitable paint match. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 One more quick update for today. Brake disks are in place. The centres of the disks all needed opening out slightly to fit on the stub axle ends. It's also worth noting that it would be a lot easier to fit the front disks to the struts before assembling the suspension on the body. To be fair, this is implied by the instructions but I chose to ignore them. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimJ Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Great job so far. I'll be watching this one as I have the Liqui Moly 935 lined up for the GB. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 8 hours ago, TimJ said: Great job so far. I'll be watching this one as I have the Liqui Moly 935 lined up for the GB. Thanks Tim. I'll try and highlight any problems and foibles with the kit as it goes together. As you've probably noticed, it's mostly just fiddly rather than anything else. I look forward to seeing the Liquid Moly 935 getting built. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Looking very nice indeed, looks like a nice kit too. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 I'm going to run out of things to do with the Porsche if the decals don't get here soon. Interior, such as it is, has come together. I glued down the "rear parcel shelf" before installing the roll cage, because the underside of this part closes off the top of the attachment holes for the cage. The tricky part with the cage was getting the upright parts installed in the holes in the floor, especially the one behind the driver's seat. The seat has to go in before the cage. I was worried that the front "tubes" of the roll cage wouldn't align with their mountings, especially as I'd had to bend one leg back into shape, but they lined up perfectly in the end. I was also worried that the roll cage would foul the dashboard, but you can see I needn't have worried. I'm quite pleased with how the seat turned out, I went for matt black on the back so that it wasn't the same as the satin black of the floor, and NATO black for the upholstery. I also added a little deck tan on the outer edge of the seat bolster where it might have picked up some wear. You probably won't see it on the finished model, but I'll know it's there. I also used a little NATO black on the steering wheel rim and matt black for the dashboard. The top of the gear lever is picked out in wooden deck tan as I'm sure I've seen some 935s with a wooden gear lever knob (balsa for lightness if I remember correctly), anyway, it adds a little colour to the interior. I thought about adding a harness, but I decided against it. That's it for now, more coming soon. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 A few more bits on the Porsche. Wheels have had the centres painted, they look less patchy in real life. The tyre lettering was picked out with a brush in matt white as an undercoat for yellow. And picked out in yellow. Adding a wash to the wheels. The wheels are a bit tight on the axle so the holes may need opening out a little. The tail needed painting in dark blue, which was a bit tricky to mask and paint. There's also a little blue around the headlamps, I've added the lamp parts and various filler caps (I assume that's what they are) as I don't see why they can't go on now. It feels like it's going to be a long wait for the decals to turn up. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimJ Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 That's coming along well. Great job painting the Dunlop on the tyres, that must have taken a steady hand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Superb work coming on there John, lovely detailing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Thanks for the likes and comments. The wheels are dry-fitted and it looks like a slick-tyred beach buggy. The tyres were sanded down on the "tread". The wheel nuts are white as per the colour call-out in the instructions, which fits the Martini colour scheme but also doesn't feel right to me. I've not seen pictures of the real thing to know if they should actually be metallic. As you can see I've also painted the tail lamps. Note that the instructions contradict the box art and would have you painting the indicators red and the tail lamps orange. 7 hours ago, TimJ said: That's coming along well. Great job painting the Dunlop on the tyres, that must have taken a steady hand. Yes, plus quite a bit of cleaning up with a cocktail stick to remove unwanted paint. I think the next step will be painting the window surrounds, which is one of my least favourite parts of doing car kits. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Looks the business John And as you say the ultimate dune buggy ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 This does look great, cracking work, wheels and tyres look awesome. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 I've gone missing for a few days and boy.... there's a few updates to catch up on here isn't there?? Nice work John, all your car threads are very detailed and this is certainly no exception. Great work. Cheers.. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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