Hai everybody,

I am an aircraft builder, spending a lot of my on-line time on Aeroscale.

But I would like to do some cars, Porsches in particular, one hindrance being that I know nothing of the subject except that I dream of owning a 1.1 scale Porsche at some moment (which will most likely never happen :-) )

So, my questions:

1. Which scale should I take? I tend to stick to one scale to make things comparable.

2. Which brand is best for Porsche?

3. Is there any outstanding book on car modelling (and on Porsche in particular)?

You Are basically looking at 3 scales, 1/2, 1/24, & 1/43.

In 1/12, about the only player is Model Factory Hiro. Multimedia kits that are very expensive and very difficult to build. Race cars only.

1/43 is the way to go if you want to build Porsche race cars. Many different brands available, although kits will be resin or white metal. Many are OOP (out of production) but a lot show up on eBay. Marsh, Starter (OOP), or Provence Moulage (OOP) would be the way to go.

Best bet for street cars is 1/24. Tamiya being you first choice. After that, there is Hasegawa, Fujimi, Revell, & Testors. What brand may just depend on which Porsche you want to build, although they probably all do some form of 911.

For 1/24 race cars, again Tamiya is your best choice, followed by Fisher Model & Pattern (resin) and Fujimi.

AK-interactive have made a couple of books.

"Ratz, rodz and rust(Feat. expert car modeler Dr. Cranky)"
Mainly US cars, but lots of basic good to know stuff.

"FAQ civil vehicles scale modeling"
Haven't got this book myself, so I can't say much about the content.

Don't forget Youtube and this forum

Looking forward to seeing your first car build.

Hi, Drabslab! Yes, your callsign is familiar to me from Aeroscale

When comes about European and Japanese cars in styrene, one scale reigns supreme: 1/24 and three producers are standing out Tamiya, Revell of Germany, Fujimi. Myself I'm not a Fujimi fan because their models are mostly curbside and rather pricey for what they offer. Tamiya has the widest offer on "street" and racing Porches and their prices are decent (especially for the older models). I just ordered a Porsche 959 for $ 15.49. For Tamiya kits are also plenty aftermarket additions, most notable the ones made by Scale Motorsport.

I book I can hearty recommend is Airbrushing and finishing scale models published by Osprey in Masterclass Series by Brett Green. It's a little obsolete in regard to the materials used, but covers very good the basics and the last chapter is a superb step-by-step practical lesson. The book is readily available on Amazon and as e-book. Not very pricey either.

As Jesper pointed out, there are also a few outstanding Youtubers and I endeavour to suggest a few names: The scale modeling channel, Plasmo and Scale Model Aircraft.

This site has also a good wealth of info, and I will like to mention the latest posts by Adam Rehorn (callsign Mechworker) but that is, of course unfair - any build blog has its part and you may find it useful.

I hope this helps.
Cheers!
Gabriel

Hello everybody,

Thank you all for the infomative replies.

So it is clear, it will be 1/24 scale

And I will of course keep you up to date on my Porsche adventures

I would recommend the Fujimi Enthusiast series of Porsches in 1/24. Their 356 models are outstanding; virtually every version of this was made, and the model is complete down to the pistons and crankshaft! It builds up similarly to the real thing. I have the roadster here in my office; quite a kit. They also had a 930 (?) series of late sixties/early seventies Porsches, many different versions. Some were better than others, but again some are quite detailed. The Enthusiast Series kits were really ahead of their time. And of course Tamiya did some nice ones as well, but many are older tools and are not nearly as detailed as the Fujimi kits, although as a 'curbside' build you'll be happy with the results.

Hi Drabslab,
Maybe there could be a Porsche campaign. There seems plenty of interest in Joel's build and yours. Automodeler probably needs another campaign.

cheers

Michael

1/24 is the way to go.

I used to own an early model Porsche:



They are getting about as expensive as the sportier version these days.

Excellent idea and very tempting... but:

- I have a terrible record in finishing campaigns on time, already under normal circumstances

- circumstances are not normal as I can't upload any pictures on the site gallery, and after photobucket I don't want to put effort in any other photo site to loose it all at the end

But then, it would give a boost to my Porsche idea ...

What do you all think?

A Porsche campaign, any scale, any time, road and racetrack, prototype and mass produced, but no military.

starting 1-07-2018,

finishing 1-07-2019 (should permit staff_jim to update the site and allow us to upload pictures again )

@Joel: what about a second Porsche?

Hi, guys. A Porsche campaign sounds good to me but my schedule is very tight already. Of course, one year should be enough for a Tamiya kit

I would say Yes!

Gabriel

1 year for a Porsche sounds perfect. I did have peek at the LHS and all they had was a 914! Hardly the most charismatic Porsche sold! I think Gabriel has the right of it, a Tamiya Porsche, like a 934 would work.

cheers
Michael