How To: Custom Die-cast model

[David McLaughlin]

A fellow Porsche owner wants a die-cast replica of his 964. He couldn't find a match to his car (964s are hard to find in Die-Cast) so I'll be making a replica for him. I couldn't find a 964 Coupe in any scale except for 1:43 and even then it will take two models to make one replica (wheels, mirrors, interior).

I figured someone would be interested in seeing the process, so here it is...

Here's the two models I'm starting with:

[David McLaughlin]

Starting the teardown:

[David McLaughlin]

More stuff being removed. It's amazing just how easy some models com apart and how difficult other are.

[David McLaughlin]

Here's a size reference:

[David McLaughlin]

Yup, you're right. I had a case of the brain fades.

[carambola]

don't stop because you had a brain fart

[RickM]

Interesting subject. Can't wait to see the process.

[Rick Lee]

In Napa, CA last weekend I totally stumbled upon a diecast gold mine. He ha d a ton of Porsche, BMW and Ferrari memorbilia too. Shop was called Automobilia and was in Napa.

[M.D. Holloway]

Pretty cool, do you know if a middle years targa diecast is available?

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

Pretty cool, do you know if a middle years targa diecast is available?

There are several. Minichamps makes a nice '77 Targa. I have one that needs a couple of things fixed (mirror glued on, etc.) PM me and I'll send it to you...

[911Rob]

How To?
Go on ebaY and buy yourself one, I guess?


Where's the rest of the thread..........?

That's actually a model I bought of my car on eBay.....waiting delivery now.

[David McLaughlin]

The thread will continue.

I need to resoak the model in paintstripper and haven't had the time yet this week. I was also waiting for pictures from the owner. The model will get a custom dashboard to replicate the righthand drive of Austrailian Porsches. I've also been researching what I can use to build up the stock "race" seats to more replicate street seats. The last item I've been searching for is 1:43 scale decals. Most likely I'll just replicate them in paint.

[David McLaughlin]

I wasn't going to strip the green car yet, but decided since I'm already creating a mess, I might as well go ahead. Although the decals on the white car were thr crummy water slide type, they did a good job protecting the paint from the stripper. I had to scratch the body before the second pass. Here's the two cars soaking in aircraft remover.

[David McLaughlin]

The green shell needs a bit more stripper, I'm also adding a bit to the few areas that need it on the white one too.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by Paul K

There are several. Minichamps makes a nice '77 Targa. I have one that needs a couple of things fixed (mirror glued on, etc.) PM me and I'll send it to you...

You got it! In turn, I will hook you up with some oil for your car!

PM sent


Thanks again!

[David McLaughlin]

Oh yeah, DO NOT apply aircraft remover to anything plastic, it creates one hell of a mess. While I'm waiting for todays application of AR to do it's thing, I'm working on the dashboard. This is going to require quite a bit of creativity. It's a good thing I'll have a backup piece in case the operation doesn't go as planned.

As I'm writing this post, I was studying the photos of the owners fullsize car and reasized that he has a widebody! Now I need to decide if I want ot buy another model or not. I don't recall seeing a 964 turbo coupe in this or any scale. I may make my own flares on this shell or maybe I'll just leave it be.

[M.D. Holloway]

You can fab some flares?

[David McLaughlin]

You can do anything with bondo!

[911boost]

Porsche (and Wayne) sell a 964 turbo model. Its chrome.

Edit to say I went and looked, and couldn't find it anymore....

Bill

[David McLaughlin]

Those are really expensive too. This car will be completely custom fro about the same price.

There's a reason these models sell for cheap on ebay. The metal is iffy and the finish is average. With a little work, they'll be pretty good though, I'll need to spend a bit of time with a file to get rid of the ridges and seams. Here's where I'm stopping for tonight. With a wirebrush on my my Dremel tool, it looks pretty good.