Porsche 356A Speedster - CalClub Style
Apr 14, 2019 17:28:15 GMT -4
Post by BERNARD "HOT ROD" KRON on Apr 14, 2019 17:28:15 GMT -4
Porsche 356A Speedster CalClub Style Race Car
Wandering the Internet one day I came upon a great blog post called “Speedster Wars” about the early days of road racing, specifically the late 50’s and early 60’s California Sports Car Club production Porsche racing. You can find it on the RoadScholars.com website here: roadscholars.com/speedster-wars/ .If you ever were curious about the roots of the Outlaw Porsche movement, this is it.
Inspired by the maximum coolness of it all I looked into what 1/24th styrene kits were out there of the iconic Porsche 356A Speedster. It turns out there have been two. In the early days of styrene, in 1960, Revell issued two versions, a street version and a true Speedster Wars race car, complete with tonneau cover and roll over bar. Oddly the street version appears never to have been reissued, but the race car version has been reissued at least 3 times, the last in 1996. Perhaps it’s because the first re-issue, sometime in the 1960’s, which featured new box art, had been heavily revised, with the wheel openings enlarged and rounded, thus losing the Porsche 356’s signature “bathtub” look wheel wells. The tires, too were wider two piece affairs, definitely not correct for the 1960 look of the original issue. Apparently the re-issue was targeted to the red-hot slot car market of the time, the enlarged wheel openings allowing easy conversion.
The other 356a speedster kit was released by Fujimi in 1988, again in two versions, street and competition. They are both, like the Revell kit, Carrera versions with the 4-cam motor. The street variant lacks the rollover bar and race car decals of the Competition version, but is otherwise identical. Both versions are considered rare, having only been issued in 1989, the race version especially so, trading currently for over $100.00 when you can find one.
For my first bite at this particular apple I opted for the Revell kit, not realizing the body had been butchered, since the box art of the most common version is a re-issue of the original box art and shows the stock side trim and correct wheel well arches. Price, or course, was the motivation for choosing the Revell kit. The three-piece body, typical of a ca. 1960 Revell products, was expected, but the funky wheel well openings and wide tires and wheels were not.
When the slot car version was created they also shortened the side trim. Between that and having to fill the seam for the body sides, I decided to remove the side trim entirely. Something I’m starting to do when venturing into a new kit I’m unfamiliar with, is to search on the web for photos of well-built but otherwise box-stock versions. That’s what tipped me off to the wheel opening and wide tire issues (the eBay purchased kit was already on its way to me). I also saw that it had an overly high stance and that the tires didn’t fill the wheel wells properly. So I spent some time modifying the kit wheels to accept narrower, period correct race car tires I had in my stash included with some Halibrand mags I had from Historic Racing Miniatures. The body got a small but critical channel job by shaving about 3/32 of an inch off the tops of the inner body panels. The result is a much improved stance and properly proportioned wheels and tires.
Other than that the build is pretty box stock. The motor is kind of a lump but is largely invisible under the engine cover. Oddly, the kit comes with only one inner door panel and one seat, obviously on the driver’s side, the assumption being that the tonneau cover hides everything else, which, fortunately, is true. I added some leather tie-down strapped made from tiny photo-etch 1/16”x1/8” buckles and plastic strip. The buckles were found on the web from a supplier of miniature hardware for horse modelers, of all things. They use these bits to make miniature harnesses and tack. Who woulda thought? I also scratched a little Porsche Spyder style rear view mirror and added an aluminum quick-release gas cap from Replicas & Miniatures Co.of Md. The paint is Duplicolor Bright Red with white lacquer stripes. The roundels and numbers are custom printed decals from my own designs.
Thanx for lookin’,
B.
