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Truck Norris

58059 Porsche 959 original body building / painting project

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I’ve always been fascinated by the 58085 Porsche 959, it was on my radar back in 1990 when I first got into the hobby, and I’ve looked at them enviously ever since. I’ve been asked a few times to paint them but after examining the manual in detail and seeing how complex and involving a job it was I always declined.

Recently I was asked again, and after saying no, I was persuaded to reconsider. I relented, a price was agreed and last week this arrived:

959-body-parts-new.jpg

This will be an exact box art build, none of my usual detailing enhancements (not that this car really needs them).

All original and all expensive. Expect to see the word “carefully” or a synonym thereof multiple times per post :D

The first step was to prepare the plastic parts and interior for painting. This is standard fare that I’ve done many times before. The interior of the 959 is pretty much the template for all the touring and rally cars that follow - a thin moulded styrene tray with plastic driver heads and steering wheel.

I cut the parts off their trees with Tamiya side cutters for plastic, then sanded the nubs with 240, 400, 600, 1000 then 1500. For the cockpit tray I rounded off the corners too. I then washed the parts and left to dry

959-cockpit-rounded.jpg

Next, the first scary part - cutting out the body. I took a couple of my Tamiya 87212 (Brave pills, suitable for 58016, 58028, 58059 and 58081) and got scissor happy.

Considering how thin the blow moulded body is in places, the lexan around the base is incredibly thick and tough to cut. I’m not normally a fan of the score and snap method as I find it hard to follow the sometimes vague cutlines neatly, but 
luckily the precise and detailed mould makes it very easy here.

Due to the thickness I had to make relief cuts every 10mm or so:

959-score-snap.jpg

Fortunately the arches are pre-cut so that saved me a job and all I needed to do was very carefully use a sharp knife to neaten the cut between where the arch pre-cuts stopped and the edge of the arch.

I then sanded the edges of the body smooth, ensured no edges protruded below the end of the underbody curve, and rounded off any sharp corners.

All done, no issues. Phew.

959-body-cut-front.jpg

959-body-cut-rear.jpg

959-body-parts-cut.jpg

(The sprue still attached to the steering wheel is just for ease of painting. Will just need a dab of black after it’s cut off)

The helmets are much like the touring/rally ones, two halves which fit together in a less than perfect match. I’ve tried in the past to use filler, but with no luck, so I sanded down the edges of the join. It’s still visible but only just:

959-driver-heads-before-after-sanding.jp

Everything ready, time to do some painting of the plastic parts.

These light buckets require the inner surfaces, but not the headlight casing, painting matt black. I dislike the finish from brush painting and I don’t have an airbrush (yet) so I’ll be spraying them. Masking the casing part is tricky as it’s a hollow area with curves, so instead of tape I’m using white tack as a kind of 3D liquid mask. Pressed into the bucket and the edge aligned with where the black should stop. Rest of the light piece masked off with tape.

959-light-parts-masked.jpg

When painting parts I use empty paint cans as stands then cocktail sticks or the stalks from cotton buds / Q-tips, which fit most of the screw mounts on parts perfectly. I can then hold these in one hand and spray with the other (wearing rubber gloves to avoid multicolour hands).

I also dust the parts with a Tamiya anti-static cleaning brush.

959-paint-stands.jpg

I primed the cockpit, heads and rear lights white, and the exhaust and mirrors grey. The manual states XF-1 Flat Black, but I’ll use TS-8 Matt Black for the black parts, and TS-26 Pure White for the white parts. The driver suits will be TS-27 Matt White.

An few hours later everything is primed, the exhaust and mirrors are black and the headlights have the black areas done.

Did the 3D white tack mask work?

Yes, perfectly :D (not the clearest photo, sorry!)

959-light-parts-painted.jpg

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We have attained peak TamiyaClub paint project: one of its most talented members, preparing one of Tamiya's most iconic shells!

Keep up the great work!

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looking forward to watching this one.

Great work so far

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Watching and learning intently...  Or as they say at the local blacksmith club, "stealing with your eyes."

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Umm.. the thread title...58085 is the Avante 2001

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Really god work. Am enjoying watching you pull this masterpiece together.

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1 hour ago, njmlondon said:

Really god work. Am enjoying watching you pull this masterpiece together.

Possibly a typo I know, but I am sure many would agree that Mr Norris is indeed one of the gods of RC bodywork! :D

 

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1 hour ago, TurnipJF said:

Possibly a typo I know, but I am sure many would agree that Mr Norris is indeed one of the gods of RC bodywork! :D

 

It was indeed a typo. But as you say, Mr. N can make lexan look like 1:1 metal!

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12 hours ago, Peter_B said:

Umm.. the thread title...58085 is the Avante 2001

Honestly, I never noticed, and that was far from the only thing I would have noticed, either - I was too astonished by his work.

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If anyone can do this shell justice, you're it. Still must be pretty scary though. Brave man!

Isn't white/blu-tack great? I wouldn't want to paint anything without some on standby. Great stuff!

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3 hours ago, Fuijo said:

If anyone can do this shell justice, you're it. Still must be pretty scary though. Brave man!

Isn't white/blu-tack great? I wouldn't want to paint anything without some on standby. Great stuff!

never used it, mmmm

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A week later and the matt white drivers have been masked off. I’ve not had good results with liquid mask and I don’t like the idea of taking a knife to cut the mask on something so rare. The moulding is very thin too so risk of damage.

Tape it is, time consuming but very safe and works well.

959-drivers-masked.jpg

I sprayed them with TS-6 matt black, the underside too. I want this to look neat when the body is removed.

As you can see there is some white arears around the arms. I’ll touch this up with a brush when I’ve painted the arms and gloves.

959-drivers-sprayed.jpg

Driver details all brush painted. For me this is the hardest part of the build - my hand just isn’t steady enough to get as good a result as I can in other areas. I find it looks a lot better when the heads are on and the stickers are applied though.

959-drivers-painted.jpg

The spoiler is now painted TS-26 Pure White, with two wet coats of TS-13 clear. This came out very well, not a spot of dust which is very lucky when using white and clear. The rear lights are painted white. I need to do the red before I clear coat them.

959-spoiler-painted.jpg

On 5/15/2018 at 3:05 PM, sparkysx said:

so are you doing the blue in the correct PC4 or the darker PS4?

PS-4. I won't be able to get the line between white and blue on the back sharp enough with brush paint. I've never seen mention of a difference in shade, but other cars like the Bigwig state PC-4 or PS-4. If Tamiya consider the colours close enough to be interchangeable that's good enough for me! It'll be backed with the white though so that should lighten it a little perhaps.

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A bit more this week. Driver faces masked to paint the helmets:

959-driver-heads-masked.jpg

Painted, one mask removed:

959-driver-heads-painted.jpg

Jagged edge but this will be the trim painted matt black so no problem. I'll clearcoat these with the masks removed so the face is glossy. This way the eyes have the shine.

Started on the masking:

959-masking-engine-cover.jpg

To get perfectly curved masks I'm using my cutter to make little corners like this:

959-masking-cut-curves.jpg

These have a precise 2mm radius curve so for the areas that have rounded edges these should give a nice corner.

In place around the intercooler:

959-masking-intercooler.jpg

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The PS4 is quite a bit darker, but I prefer the colour to the PC4. I had both available and still chose the PS4. I have done PC4 though and did a great blue white line, but it is arduous to get perfect, as it's quite complicated there!

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I clearcoated the helmets then masked and sprayed the visors TS matt black. I brushed painted the faces, the black trim around the face matt black and then did the eyes. As usual for me they came out a little square, not helped by the head mouldings being so old and not particularly well shaped around the eyes.

I painted the harness buckles X-11 chrome silver and then applied the stickers. The map needs trimming a little around the co-driver’s left hand to fit properly.

959-cockpit-finished-1.jpg

959-cockpit-finished-2.jpg

The steering wheel was a little of a loose fit, so I applied a little white tack to the underside, then painted over this black to blend in.

With the interior done I decided to take a break from masking and paint the small black details on the body. I decanted a little PS-5 black then brush painted the door handles and filler cap. The window surrounding the filler will be black so the over-brushing here doesn’t matter.

I used a cotton bud / Q-tip with Tamiya polycarbonate learner to ensure the handles had no bleed, routinely checking with a sheet of white paper.

959-door-handles-painted.jpg

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Nice idea with the white paper! Never thought of that myself. At the risk of telling you how to suck eggs (not my intention) I found the best thing to do eyes with is a cocktail stick. I just cut down the tip until it was the right diameter. 

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On 5/28/2018 at 10:14 PM, Truck Norris said:

A bit more this week. Driver faces masked to paint the helmets:

959-driver-heads-masked.jpg

Painted, one mask removed:

959-driver-heads-painted.jpg

Jagged edge but this will be the trim painted matt black so no problem. I'll clearcoat these with the masks removed so the face is glossy. This way the eyes have the shine.

Started on the masking:

959-masking-engine-cover.jpg

To get perfectly curved masks I'm using my cutter to make little corners like this:

959-masking-cut-curves.jpg

These have a precise 2mm radius curve so for the areas that have rounded edges these should give a nice corner.

In place around the intercooler:

959-masking-intercooler.jpg

I like the idea of the masking process for the corners. It's just given me an idea of using a hole punch 

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On 7/15/2018 at 10:43 PM, mman2005 said:

I like the idea of the masking process for the corners. It's just given me an idea of using a hole punch 

I've tried that in the past. I found the tape invariably stuck to the hole punch...

I painted one of these a couple of months ago.... SO much masking.

Are you going to paint the stripes btw?

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