Tamiya 1/12 Porsche Carrera GT

[MOOSE.]

Looking amazing Keith! The carbon looking nice and smooth. Great work with that. I love the work you did on the dash with the alclad... Looks real bud... Keep it up. I bet you'll knock that Enzo out of the park!
That kit looks great too... Going to add it to my stash eventually

[Keith Christie]

Gentlemen,

Bruce, Thanks Mate, there is a lot of Carbon Fibre on this model, so far I've used 4 A5 sheets. The real car is almost completely carbon fibre.

Chris, Thanks very much Fella, this is going to be a big model when it's in it's Display case, I'll need a small truck to move it!

Andy, Thanks for looking in, Glad you're liking it so far.

Bill, Thanks for looking in, I wish I could take one for a spin, a real one is a bit out of my price range I'm afraid.

Moose, Thanks Mate, The SMS Carbon Decals do go down very nicely, with a bit of persuasion! The Alclad range of paints are I believe second to none at representing metal finishes, as long as the surface prep is done correctly.
I'm looking forward to building the Enzo soon. I think you will enjoy the Carrera GT build, comparing the two kits it does look like an evolution from the Enzo.
The Display case arrived today, It's enormous! I bought the Tamiya Display case "L" as this is designed for the 1:12 kits.

More soon,

Best Regards

Keith

[Mence]

Nothing short of stunning Keith, fantastic work as usual.

[Keith Christie]

Mence, Thanks very much Fella.

Mark, thanks Mate, The decals are not as daunting as you would think, I used a tamiya tape template and made sure each one was as flat as possible, so that the corresponding decal did not have to alter its shape too much.
I did consider painting the carbon fibre effects on this project, I was planning to spray a metallic black base, then over spray a mesh with metallic grey to give the weave effect. When I did a couple of tests it worked OK for the plain weave but the twill weave was not so good. Also on the curved and radius'd areas the effect was not so good. That's why I pushed the button on the SMS decals. I'd really like to hear how you would spray your carbon effects for future reference.

More soon,

Best Regards

Keith

[Keith Christie]

Hi Mark,
OK mate, thanks I'll look forward to seeing that.

Best Regards

Keith

[Keith Christie]

Hey jackwagon, hope you had a good trip into welsh land?

Thanks for the more than kind words about the decals, I'm sure most people could achieve the same results with a little time and patience.
The main reason I first thought about using paint instead of decals for the carbon,was the price of the decals, the SMS sheets are around £7 per A5 page and so far I've used 5 of them, I know this isn't a great deal compared to the kit price and the paint involved but it does all add up.
I have thought about submitting some photo's to SMS, as I can't find another of these being built anywhere on the internet at the moment, but I'm not sure they will send me some parts for my Enzo in return?

I'll have another update for you all in a couple of days.

Best Regards

Keith

[MOOSE.]

Superb Keith! I like your approach to building it. I was a little sloppy with the Enzo at times but hopefully that all will change once I'm set up again in the new, better location.
Just an FYI... Scalemotorsport.com has a fantastic template kit for the Enzo bud... If you want it and have trouble getting it just let me know. I know your Enzo will be dynamite! ;D

[Keith Christie]

Hi Moose,

Thanks very much mate, I seem to build everything this way now days, it seems to be the best method for me.
I have seen the scale motor sport sets for the Enzo, they look very nice indeed, I'm particularly interested in the interior carbon set, I'm not too sure about the exterior carbon, although the model in the Tamiya model magazine is the business. I don't think the kit needs any extra photo etch as everything seems detailed enough. I'll probably start the build later in the year as I've got a couple of other things lined up first.

Off now to check on my carbon decals for the seat backs, these have been a bit challenging as the shape is very complex.

More soon

Best Regards

Keith.

[MOOSE.]

Yeah i had issues with the seat backs... I ended using a carbon metallic paint instead because I was running low on the carbon sheets. I think I'd like to build another Enzo later on. Really is a nice kit. When you start your I'll tell you where the directions are screwed up.
Have fun with the Porche fella ;D

[`Boots`]

Stunning fella, absolutely stunning....

[Keith Christie]

Hi Mark,
Thanks very much, for each seat I made up 9 different templates to cut the carbon decals out, a little time consuming but wort the effort, doing it this way reduces the risk of wrinkles. I've now sprayed the 2K clear coat, so once this is hard I will post some more progress shots.

Mark (Boots), Thanks for stopping by, good to have you along.

More soon

Keith

[Keith Christie]

Hi jackwagon,
Yes you're right, I'll just drop the question when I send a photo of the build to SMS.

Dominiek, hi,
Thanks for looking in on the build, and for the kind comments.
All of the metal work has been sprayed with Alclad2 paints, the engine block was sprayed using white Aluminium over a high gloss black base coat.
If you have any more questions just ask and I'll try and answer them.

Best Regards

Keith

[Deleted]

Looking superb as usual Keith     Ref the cost of the CF decals, it adds up but it's not too bad considering the affect you're achieving.  Anyhow, BigEd sets and Fruil' metal tracks aren't cheap either so it's all relative I suppose.

[Keith Christie]

Hi Steve,
Thanks for stopping by.
Yes you are right, the decals are well worth the cost and much more effective than what I could probably reproduce in paint.

Best Regards

Keith

[Mence]

Do we have an update coming Keith?

[Keith Christie]

Good Evening Gentlemen,

Here is another update for you.

The first photo is the luggage compartment, this is cast in white metal and will have to have some fairly tricky paint and mask operations as it will end up being three different colours including the body colour and 2 pack clear coat. here we see it in primer.



This second photo is of the under tray looking at the inside, this is also a white metal part and is supplied sprayed(on the under side) in semi gloss black by tamiya, the finish is very good with no floors so I will not be doing any thing to this part except for fitting it.



Next we come to the steering wheel, painted in tamiya German grey and semi gloss black, Tamiya supply a nice decal for the Horn Push, this required some decal solution to settle it into it's recess



These last two photo's are of the seats, these are each made of 5 parts which can be painted and decalled individually to simplify things, the backs were given the carbon fibre treatment along with a 2K clear coat. The front parts were painted in semi gloss black and german grey, the german grey was then lightly shaded with NATO black to give a little shadowing effect. the carbon fobre decals required 9 different templates for each seat back, breaking it down this way helps eliminate wrinkles whilst the decals are settling down. The Aluminium parts were painted with Alclad2 White Aluminium.





Well that's it for now, as always all comments, questions and criticisms welcome.

Best Regards

Keith

[Keith Christie]

Yes Mence we do

[Mence]

Nice update mate, thank you.

Loving those seats, immaculate CF and paint again, brilliant!

[deafpanzer]

Those seats look freaking awesome! Nice work on the trimmings where stitches are!

[wbill76]

Now that's some fine work there Keith, very realistic look to all the parts in question, nice!

[Keith Christie]

Good afternoon,

Mence, thanks mate.

Mark, thank you, no these seats came straight from Porsche HQ at reading. You won't be disappointed if you get one of these, so far the fit and finish is superb.

Andy, Thanks for looking in,

jackwagon, thanks mate, you're right no Halfords parts for this baby. It's a pleasure to have you here.

The front end went into the paint shop today, so I should have some more progress soon.

Best Regards

Keith.

[Keith Christie]

Bill, thanks for looking in.

Keith.

[Keith Christie]

Hi Mark,

I haven't built that many of the 1/12 car kits as of yet, this is only my third, I'm relatively new to Automotive modeling. I do have 10 more I'm my stash though.
I have bought the tamiya display case "L" for the ferrari 312T and for this Porsche. ( the first model was of the Lola T70 and was more of an experiment really so this is just being stored).
I plan to display them on shelves in my front room, once complete.
They are very large and do take up a lot of space though.
Hope this answers your question.

Best Regards

Keith.

[Keith Christie]

Good Evening,

Well the front end of the Porsche is now ready for the painting operations, here are a couple of progress photo's

In the booth waiting for primer



In the booth with the colour coat added, waiting for the 2 pack clear coat.



The colour is Porsche Basalt black metallic supplied by Zero paints.

More soon,

Keith

[Keith Christie]

Hi Mark,
Thanks very much,.
For the money the Lola is a reasonable buy, but it needs a lot of work and there are a lot of issues with the fit of the body and the doors. It is a very old kit re- released a couple of times, I think it was first issued in the 1970's.
I wouldn't recommend it really as I didn't really enjoy the build. Save your money Mate.
There is a huge difference between the quality of the Lola and the 2 new kits
If you don't wont to spend the money for one of the new Enzo or Carrera GT kits, you might want to try and get hold of the older Porsche Martini 935 Turbo kit. These do come up on eBay every now and then and they are superb. I can also recommend any of the formula 1 kits, as I have the Ferrari, Mclaren and Williams in my stash.

Hope this helps

Best Regards

Keith

[Mence]

Great colour choice Keith, she's gonna look great

[`Boots`]

All i can say is WOW mate...........those seats looking amazing!!!!, one day i`ll have a pop at one of these big kits .......shame they don`t do a large hotrod , fantastic work fella and really looking forward to more of this.

BTW.........have ya heard from Neil lately??............got that nice wingy section thats right up his street

[Keith Christie]

Good Morning Gentlemen,

Mence Thanks very much, it looks even better with the clear coat on. Enjoy your Holiday mate.

Mark, no problem, the wolf and the Shelby both look like nice kits, The Wolf is a re-release right? I don't have either in my stash, I'll look forward to seeing you build those.

Mark (Boot's) hello mate, thanks very much, you won't be disappointed if you have a crack at the 1/12 kits from Tamiya, most of them are superb, especially the 2 new ones! I saw Neil earlier in the year, he's doing fine mate but doesn't blog now very much, drop him a PM he'll be glad to hear from you mate.

The Clear coat is hardening off nicely on the front end (i usually allow 48 hours before removing it from the drying box), so hope fully I will have another update for you soon.

Best Regards

Keith.

[Keith Christie]

Mark,
The mustang set looks like it would bring quite a lot to the build mate, I think it will definitely be worth getting when you're ready.

Best regards

Keith.

[robbo]

Wow this looks like a real car build, the detail is superb mate.