Michael,
As I just said in your other post, the driver's compartment is really starting to look the part. Can't wait to see it once you're done adding the various lines and wires.

joel

HI Michael,

Thanks for posting your process steps - pretty informative and interesting. Among the interesting things, it turns out the steering column in the MFH 908 is also slightly off center from the drivers seat - I wonder if that's the case in real life too? The rest of the model parts (dash board and body parts) for the 908, conform to this, so it seems it's done on purpose. I fretted about this and just assumed I did something wrong, as I couldn't figure out how to do it any other way.

I admire your ability to keep the white metal chassis tubes looking "straight". A subtle difference between this and the 908 is that the tubes in the 908 sit much closer to the walls of the floor pan - where they almost contour along the wheel wells, whereas here, there seems to be a bit of separation.

Finally, i like the look of your fiberglass - it looks like the photos I've seen. I wonder if you might add a light dust/grime wash over all of it to blend it? I don't know if you're using acrylics or not? a wet/heavily diluted dirty wash with acrylics can provide a good look.

Looks great - looking forward to your next update -

Cheers and stay well -

Nick

Neat work Michael, this build seems to be flowing beautifully! The offset steering column is very unusual, I've never seen that before. I did a quick Google (as usual) and found the following:

" . . . The 901 engineering team moved the steering mechanism - now a rack-and pinion design - toward the centre of the car using an offset double-jointed shaft. The central placement of the steering box was decided upon so Porsche could easily build the car in left-hand or right-hand configurations, the latter required in a number of markets, including Great Britain and Japan. The offset steering column also proved to be safer in the event of a severe front collision, eliminating the possibility of the steering column being pushed through into the driver's seat and, presumably, through the driver."

Perhaps this engineering carried over into the race versions.

Looking forward to more progress.

Cheers, D

Interesting observations about the offset steering column. But I can assure you that in a race car the steering wheel and seat are directly in line, there is no offset in the seating position. For one thing, you couldn't drive at the current 9 & 3 positions effectively, plus the foot pedals would also be out of line with the drivers body. Today's race cars all have seats that are fully adjustable. Up/down, right/left, back/front, and pitch.

the Porsche 901 is basically a street car, and therefore needs to have the complete steering from the rack & pinion to the wheel be able to be flipped for right hand or left hand drive depending on the country that the car will be built for.

Each racing organization has different rules. As far as I know all cars that are designed as solely race cars have the steering fixed. The steering shaft has to be a min dia. and a single rod of Stainless Steel. This rule was put into effect even in F1 as Senna's death was caused by a wielded steering shaft that broke at the wield joint. That was the basis for the law suits and criminal charges against the principles including Frank Williams.

Joel

Great work Michael

Those disc brakes look so real!

a very grumpy week or so.
We are having our bathroom redone. Below the bathroom is my modeling room. The builder, while replacing the floor went through the ceiling below as well. Lost of plaster dust and dirt. Fortumately, or so I thought, the damage was away from the models on the shelves. But under the debris was the body shell of one Porsche 917, with the front shell broken in four places.

Three of the breaks are at the hinge joints for the rear shell and one of the doors. Fortunately they are clean breaks and were easily fixed.
Once order was restored I started on the wiring and plumbing. Here I have managed to misplace the brake fluid holders. I fear they may have been lost in the mess in which case a request to MFH to see if I can get a couple of replacements. Undeterred, I put some wiring around the fuse box and connectors.
This is what I was going to use since I am not sure you'll see it

but with the suggestions that I add the detail here's what I did and this is it in place.


Switches next.

Here I will add some white strips as labels for lights, etc. I will just run a bunch of wrapped wires to the fuse board to represent the wiring for that.

cheers
Michael

Michael,
Glad that for the most part the 917 shell survived. I'd have killed those guys if it was lost due to damage.

Your electrical panel looks dead on, as does the buttons on that panel.

BTW, I was watching a Vid on You Tube last night on the history of the Porsche 917 with the focus on the Can Am series: THE CAR THAT ENDED A SERIES! The Story of the Porsche 917 and 917/30 (1969-1973), and they did cover the Pink Pig. Check it out as it's really well done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhsu7t8JROA

Joel

Michael, that builder sure had better do a good job on your bathroom to make up for the damage to the body shell

Meanwhile your electrical work looks spot on!

Beautiful detail work Michael, very impressive! Such a huge relief that the shell wasn't written off in the construction worker incident. I wonder if insurance would cover that one


Looking forward to more progress reports.

Cheers, D

Great link Joel!. Thanks for that. It was a good synopsis of the story I have learned of Porsche 917s. A great photo of the inside in the clip as well which is very helpful.

cheers
Michael

Hi Russ, the builder is no more. The project manager moved him on.
I need to add some bunches of wrapped cables to finish the look off. Just experimenting with skinny tape to make it look like electrical tape.

cheers
Michael

A massive relief!. I didn't notice at first because it was in its plastic bag and there was so much plaster dust and dirt on the bag I was just thinking - glad I put that back in the bag. A couple of days when I started the cleanup then realised what had happened. Luckily the breaks were very clean and it was pretty straightforward to glue it together. I will check once I start the priming.
As for insurance - two edged sword that - would have had to let my wife know what I paid for the kit - hmmm, so glad I could fix it!

cheers
Michael

Well some good news. MFH have agreed to send me a couple of replacement fluid cylinders.
In the meantime, I have been playing around with some cables and lines to see what they look like. Of course, none will be visible at the front and in the cockpit only if you peer into the depths.

First up the brakes lines. As I have said before I am not mechanically adept so this is mainly guesswork for effect.

The cream tubes will go to the fluid cylinders which sit on the crossmember. The brake lines are a bit random but they look OK.

The front oil cooler is in. The oil pipes run up the left side of the cabin into one of the sidepods.


Some of the few photos I have seen of the inside show two bunches of cables running from the fuse box. One back through the side pod to the engine, the other up into the dash.
I made up some cables wrapping thin tape around copper wire and painting nato black to represent some sort of electrical tape. They are just sitting in place until I get the dash and switches on.


With just two months to go this getting tight for a finish. I have been working on the body getting it ready for paint but the big issue are the two doors. They are white metal and need to be shaped to fit which is difficult because the body is not rigid.
I think I need to put the sidepods on and the front shell, then do the doors and then take it apart for painting. The rear is much easier with the only piece too worry about being the body hinge. It seems to work but I do worry about the weight on the hinges. Time will tell for that.

cheers
Michael

Another great update Michael, so much going on and excellent additional details!

Great to see that MFH are coming to the party with replacement parts as well.

Cheers, D

so much detail to see, Michael

Looking very good

Michael,
The detail wiring, cables, and fluid lines really have that authentic look to them. Just the fact that they'll be hard to see when the build is done, should make them look realistic to even the most knowledgeable viewer.

Can't wait to see the body with some primer then color. Should really look spectacular.

Joel

The lost parts have arrived. Great customer service from MFH. It took just three days to get from Japan to NZ.
Here they are installed.

Finished off the brake lines. Never quite sure how they're meant to look.


Progress through the middle steps should be a bit quicker. Some prep work has already been done so should have update on further activity back on the engine bay soon.

cheers
Michael

Huge wraps for MFH for getting the MIA parts to you so quickly, awesome customer service!

Great to see more progress made on this one Michael, it's really coming together beautifully around the front end now!

Looking forward to more progress reports, loving the big-scale builds!

Cheers, D

super impressive Michael

Hey Michael, as always, your work is nice and tidy! looking good! Is the front body section of this kit removable? I hope so - there's a lot of nice detail tucked in there

Cheers
Nick

Thanks Damian, glad your enjoying this. It was great of MFH to respond. It cost me about $15 which about half was postage.

Hi Russ, there lots of blood, sweat and swears behind all great detail!




The front body shell is attached by screws, so that's not coming off. You can remove the radiator cover which let you see a bit of the pipework and pedals.

cheers all,

Michael

Well, it was back to the back this weekend, setting up for the oil and fuel tanks, pumps and piping.
On the right side, the support for the fuel pumps goes in.


on the left, oil tank and pumps plus hoses to front and rear radiators and overflow tank.


And a major milestone, front meets back. Easy to say, very hard to execute!


the problem is the weight so the kit is difficult to handle now with bits sticking out everywhere made a difficult job. It took a few attempts and you don't want to see underneath but it seems stable at the moment.

cheers
Michael

Hi Michael,

looks like you're making great progress. The connections look great - very convincing build. I imagine you wished for a third hand when it came to attaching the front and rear parts of the chassis - heavy, awkward, then, "just" screw the two together!

Cheers
NIck

Michael,
Congratulations on reaching this point of the build where the front and rear sections are finally joined. Boy does that rolling chassis look great now.

As for all those fittings, lines, and connections, the level of realism is just off the charts.

joel