Michael,
the decals look good online but unfortunately that really doesn’t tell me much. I googled the company but it just goes back to Esey which seems to be more like a French Amazon where they sell all sorts of stuff.
I did email Cartograf and Tamiya USA, but came up with nothing. Tamiya USA doesn’t have any, and Cartograf won’t sell to the public by contract.
joel
Hi Joel, that’s too bad about the 917…
But more important is your and your wife’s health: wishing you both the best in getting some quality of life back for the both of you.
I’m sure that a new batch of 917 kits will be ready and easily available when you’re ready to return to the bench 
Russelle,
thanks for your support as things finally are starting to fall into place. between the two of us, we’re feeling like the 6 million dollar couple with so many man made devices installed to replace worn, damaged, or disease body parts.
As for modeling, I’m back at the bench when I find the time which is more and more these days.
I’ve refused to order the Porsche 917K from Spot Models as the kit costs $37 but the UPS shipping is nearly $50, and that’s insane. Their shipping costs have been an issue in the past, and I’m really leaning towards their adding a non posted surcharge to it for an additional profit.
But I’ve actually ordered a variant of the Fujimi Kit from ScaleHobbyist. com, the 1971 Martini 917K winning car, and will be building it as the Gulf Wyer car.
joel
Hey guys,
The ScaleHobbyist.com Fujimi Porsche 917K Martini 1971 12 hours of Sebring winning car has arrived, and it’s on my bench for the better I hope. My plans for the kit isn’t to really just change out the rear engine body section hoping for a better fit, but basically start over as I’m just not confident that from custom primer through color coats that I can get an exact match. So I’m basically starting over. I’m not going to post many updates till I get to the point that my original attempt reached. But I’ll post a pic or two of progress and a short blurb so you know that I’m still alive and kicking but barely these days.
Already one twist to the build. Since I’ve got 3 Ford GT40 MkIIs in my ever growing stash, with two slated for the Gulf Wyer colors, and I’m looking at a resin Porsche 917LM which will also be in those colors, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll switch to the Martini scheme. Right now it’s 50/50 one way or the other, but I need to make up my mind now as there’s a few differences in the cars like the top cockpit window, and the mini tail wing.
joel
I got that same kit from a buddy in Japan. Looks like scalehobbist didn’t order any extra or you got the last one as it out of stock on the site. 
Ryan,
That’s weird for sure. The kit has been listed as available for almost two months till I finally went that with option rather then Spot out of Japan with insane shipping costs.
I’ve looked at ebay for the Porsche and the Tamiya Mazda 787b both of which you’d think were made out of gold for the prices they’re asking. No way would I ever pay $100 plus for the Mazda kit.
joel
Hi Joel,
I just ordered 2 Fujimi 917Ks from Hobbyeasy in Hong Kong $78 for both including shipping. I’m on the west coast and delivery is generally 10 days to 2 weeks. They air freight to LA and then USPS. I have used Hobbyeasy for years and not had any problems. Currently payment is through PayPal. I always am inspired by your work.
Cheers
Russ
Will be following along as usual to see how this one develops. I hope you have better luck. What are you going to do with the Mazda, or you still waiting for the decals?
cheers
MIchael
Michael,
Updates will be short and a little less frequent till I catch up to the original build. Going to do one tomorrow as I’ve got enough done plus a little PE work!!
The Mazda 787b is on hold till the Porsche 917K is across the finish line. I’m taking my time and enjoying the build as I really need something to offset all of these medical issues my wife and I have that consumes a great deal of our time, and certainly is nerve racking to say the least. They keep on finding new things wrong with us. Just seems like a never ending process that’s just not going as planned.
After this build, I’m actually looking at a full resin multi media curbside on steroids as I found a French company that has 4 Porsches I really want including the Pink Pig!
And yes the decal sheet arrived in perfect condition. Looks in perfect register but the decals seem to be a little thick, but nothing that would concern me.
joel
You’re really doing this one some great justice Joel. Painting and decaling methods perfectly explained and carried out well. This car looks fantastic so far!!!
A side note: If you want to display how well a shine is on the paint finish position the bench lights to where you’ll get a good reflection.
Like so:
Hope that helps. Great work in here Joel
Joe,
That’s a A+ paint job for sure.
Joel
Work has finallyt started in earnest on build #2 of the Fujimi Porsche 917K, as the Kit from ScaleHobbyist.com arrived right on time. My original concept was to use the top body shell sections with a new lower body shell. But the more I thought about it, I became concerned that I would have issues with matching the new paint to the old paint, plus I wasn’t thrilled with my shall we say how the cockpit was turning out as my frustation with the warpage/twist issues appeared again with the installation of the interior tub. So I decided to just start from scratch, and just try harder to correct what issues I knew I could do a better job with. At that point I ordered new decals from Michael at Indy Cal, as the build took center stage on my bench.
Naturally, I didn’t follow the build sequence in the directions, as I much prefer starting with the body right through painting, decaling, and gloss finish. I glued up the front clip which had the same so so fit issues which needed some body work. Then I glued the front and rear body shells together. After test fitting the bottom pan, and the curling into the body of the front section was still present. I once again made two side tabs that keep it correctly aligned.
I spent some time with a hot damp cloth coaxing the chassis twist which was minor compared to the 1st build effort, and got a near perfect fit. I’m hoping that it stays this way. Here’s how the body and chassis pan fit using no pressure, just a nudge here and there to get the locating pins to correctly locate.
Time to add a little PE wh8ch is by no means one of my stronger modeling skill sets. Both the front and rear radiator screens were glued into place.
As is the split rear spoilers
Now I had to decide which year of the Daytona 24 hour race i wanted to model. Gulf Wyer won both the 1970 and the 1971 races with their Porsche 917K’s both carrying the same number 2, but with different team drivers. So I changed from 1970 to 1971. There were a few changes made to the body of the cars between the two years. In 1970 the electrical connection for the ouyside power source needed to help start the eninge was on the inside of the engine compartment, but for 1971 it was on the outside being a square opening with the plug mounted to the inside of the body in the B pillar. All three cars retained their ID light which was mounted on the left side of the engine cover. This was used so that the pits could quickly ID which car was which at night as each car had a different colored lens. The kit does come with a lens in chrome but no fixture and just doesn’t look right. So I drilled a hole in the proper place to create the bulb receptacle. Also for 1971 a small rear adjustable wing was added to the area between the two fixed rear spoilers. The start of that wing is just dry fitted as it needs to be hinged as it does hang off the end of the deck. The wing is supplied in the kit, but the fit is pretty poor
And thanks for stopping by and checking out my progress. It’s always greatly appreciated.
joel
Better luck this time Joel - I think starting from scratch is a much better plan than grafted this to that .
Cheers - Grandpa
Sometimes returning, to zero, is the best option. I have no doubt you’ll nail this one.
Richard & Jasper,
Thanks guys for the support.
Starting over from scratch eventually seemed like the most realistic and most sensible course to take, especially since I bought a brand new kit. And so far that’s been proved out.
joel
Great to see this on the move, again Joel 
Russelle,
Always great to have you stop by and checkout my somewhat spotty progress of late.
joel
Really happy to see progress here once again Joel, great stuff mate!
Cheers, D
D,
so glad that you’re along for the ride, and like what I’ve accomplished so far.
Still working on body details but almost to the point of primer. The more I research my 2nd most favorite all time Porsche race car, the more new information keeps on popping up. There’s even two different versions both named 917K, and they don’t even look alike.
joel
Looking forward to the paint shots. That got me thinking about your approach to car building which is to always do the body first with full prep, primer, paint, decals and gloss coat before starting the rest of the build. I am the complete opposite and leave those steps to last. Why did you did on your approach out of interest?
cheers
MIchael
