1959scudetto Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 (edited) Recently, I unearthed my old Heller 908 only to find out that – apart from the missing rear wing – its livery was totally wrong for the 1000 kms Monza 1969 which it was supposed to be. Instead of scratchbuilding a wing, I decided to turn it into the 907 longtail which participated in Le Mans 1968: entered by the (private) Swiss Squadra Tartaruga, it was driven by Dieter Spoerry/Rico Steinemann to a surprising 2nd place behind the winning Gulf GT40. Although it was only equipped with the 2,2 ltr. engine, it beat the only surviving 908 longtail (3 ltr.) and was therefore the best placed Porsche that year (Here with the original box of my 1986 reissue) As I had also a second Heller 908 (gluebomb) at hand, I used both for this one: color was partially removed, after masking windshield and headlights, everything was oversprayed with Tamiya racing white which is not correct, but my strict rule was not to spend even a cent of money on this because it has that many faults and issues. So I used what I had on hand to turn my old ugly Heller 908 longtail into a – little less ugly - 907 longtail. Tail fins made from evergreen sheet, fine wire mesh for the grille, engine cover and side windows tinted Tamiya clear yellow, decals are from DMC, Colorado, Calle’graphe and others – the numbers have been cut into pieces and puzzled back together to come close to the real one, a few details were added using leftover parts from different kits. Before I glued everything shut, the seats were repainted dark red and the driver received seat belts. For those of you who are interested in the real car, here is a link to a French slotracing website which has 66 (!) pictures of the original car at Le Mans: https://lemans.slot-racing.fr/le-mans-1968/porsche-907-66-src.html I strongly recommend this site as a valuable source for reference reasons to all interested in Le Mans racecars (for exemple: the #7 Chaparral 2F – Phil Hill/Mike Spence from Le Mans 1967 65 pics online!): https://lemans.slot-racing.fr/marques.html text is in French, but don't let that scare you - just click on the model you are interested in and scroll down (skip the slotcar description) to the original photos ! Edited July 16, 2022 by 1959scudetto 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Rivard Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 From the graveyard and back to life. Wonderfully done Helmut. These old kits and a bit of TLC can turn out into very nice models. I should be on the lookout for some of these Heller kits. They look nice and the topics are great. Thank you for sharing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Bentt Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 So very beautiful, that it is restoration even moreso. Not an easy kit, made to look so wonderful. Thank you for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belugawrx Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 Very nice reproduction Helmut! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Absolutely beautiful!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Chernosky Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 I always like that Heller kit and you did a wonderful job. Your conversion and attention to details are superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Very nice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 14 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said: From the graveyard and back to life. Wonderfully done Helmut. These old kits and a bit of TLC can turn out into very nice models. I should be on the lookout for some of these Heller kits. They look nice and the topics are great. Thank you for sharing this. 13 hours ago, Michael Bentt said: So very beautiful, that it is restoration even moreso. Not an easy kit, made to look so wonderful. Thank you for sharing! 13 hours ago, Belugawrx said: Very nice reproduction Helmut! 12 hours ago, slusher said: Absolutely beautiful!! 4 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said: I always like that Heller kit and you did a wonderful job. Your conversion and attention to details are superb. 2 hours ago, ChrisR said: Very nice!! 1 hour ago, PappyD340 said: Very nice! Thank you all - Pierre, Michael, Bruce, Carl, Rich, Chris and Larry for your compliments: done as a quick conversion without spending money on it, the main problems of the kit can't be hidden: dimensions are wrong and the whole car is out of shape when you compare the model with the real car. (For a good-looking 908 longtail, Paul Fisher's resin kit would have been the right choice.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramps46 Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Very nice no cost conversion into something quite presentable. Thank you for the link to the LeMans slot car reference photos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 1 minute ago, Gramps46 said: Very nice no cost conversion into something quite presentable. Thank you for the link to the LeMans slot car reference photos. You're welcome, Gary - you will find lots of great pictures in color and b/w there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave B Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 That looks great Helmut, you should be proud of that restoration. Dave B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted July 22, 2022 Author Share Posted July 22, 2022 16 hours ago, Dave B said: That looks great Helmut, you should be proud of that restoration. Dave B Many thanks, Dave, it looks a bit more acceptable now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy grumpy Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Somehow , I missed this one, if not too late, great restauration project, giving a second life to an old model is always satisfying. Thank for sharing Helmut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1959scudetto Posted July 29, 2022 Author Share Posted July 29, 2022 (edited) On 7/28/2022 at 6:57 PM, happy grumpy said: Somehow , I missed this one, if not too late, great restauration project, giving a second life to an old model is always satisfying. Thank for sharing Helmut. Thanks, Mario - you're right, reworking old models brings fun and is a rewarding experience - I intend to do this with several others of my old builds. Edited August 4, 2022 by 1959scudetto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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