Group 5 Special Production Cars

[Pierre Rivard]

Currently starting work on a 935/77, the current Italeri release but the tooling is 45 years old as it got passed around from Nitto, AMT/ERTL, Entex and Italeri. It is a simple curbside kit but the shape of the body looks to be pretty accurate and it rekindles a love affair with the outrageously wild and beautiful group 5 race cars. Group 5 rules were created by the FIA for the 1976 championship for makes (from 76 to 80), then the world endurance championship (81-82) but were also adopted by DTM (77-81) and IMSA for the GTX category.

Porsche was the biggest player with so many variants of the 935 but many other manufacturers got in the mix creating wonderful cars. BMW, Ford, Ferrari, Lancia, Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota etc. Many of kits have been made but most have origins in the late seventies / early eighties. I've compiled a list of some the kits I could trace as potential future builds as my interest in the category is growing fast. I've re-grouped brand releases under one picture when my research shows the tooling was the same. I am sharing my initial research with the group and asking input from all about your experience with these kits to help discussions around which of these may be the better ones to consider. All of these are 1/24 scale.

 

Edited April 25, 2024 by Pierre Rivard

[Bainford]

That's a very juicy group of kits. I have nothing to add of value, but I am interested to know more about the BMW M1 kits pictured. Which is the better kit? Any input anyone may have regarding those kits is appreciated.

[Mike 1017]

There is a lot of Group 5 slot cars which our club races. This is just one example of a KOOL Bug.

Mike

[Gramps46]

The Group 5 era was a great time for both the racing and the models offered.  These were my builds at the time but unfortunately, they are now yellowing and the decals are starting to flake off.

Fortunately there are a lot more Group 5 ish kits in the stash.

[Russell C]

'80s guy that I am, I always favored the Group 5 widebody look, and in a quick internet search for 'phantom' images, I came across this one 1:1 custom:  https://chevroletforum.com/articles/group-5-racing-inspired-1972-chevy-c10-is-a-truly-next-level-build/

Edited April 26, 2024 by Russell C

[RancheroSteve]

Great thread. Just wanted to note that there are two (decal variant) versions of the Monogram Mustang - the Motorsport one you depicted and the Miller version. A good opportunity to show off the one I built last year, I guess:

 

Edited April 26, 2024 by RancheroSteve

[Dave Van]

I have built a bunch of the AMT 935 kits. It is simple but a few mods makes a decent shelf model. 

 

This is a Japanese kit, issued by Nitto and others. Same simple build with minor upgrandes....

 

Edited April 26, 2024 by Dave Van

[Pierre Rivard]

22 hours ago, Bainford said:

That's a very juicy group of kits. I have nothing to add of value, but I am interested to know more about the BMW M1 kits pictured. Which is the better kit? Any input anyone may have regarding those kits is appreciated.

The Aoshima and Fujimi appear to be motorized kits (i.e. no interior compartment), the ESCI...Italeri pretty easy to find as Pro Car M1, so not sure what would need to change to represent a group 5 racer. 

[Pierre Rivard]

17 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

The Group 5 era was a great time for both the racing and the models offered.  These were my builds at the time but unfortunately, they are now yellowing and the decals are starting to flake off.

Fortunately there are a lot more Group 5 ish kits in the stash.

Thanks Gary, can you share more about which kits you built these from and your specific recommendations? Of particular interest for me are the BMW CSL and Ferrari 365.

[Pierre Rivard]

6 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

Great thread. Just wanted to note that there are two (decal variant) versions of the Monogram Mustang - the Motorsport one you depicted and the Miller version. A good opportunity to show off the one I built last year, I guess:

 

Thanks Steve, that one is a full detail kit  with a turbo 4 right? Good kit?

[RancheroSteve]

4 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Thanks Steve, that one is a full detail kit  with a turbo 4 right? Good kit?

Yes, I'd say it is a rather good kit. Slightly unconventional in some areas, but good overall fit. No rear suspension detail, but good engine, front suspension, and interior detail with potential to add more detail as the builder desires. If I build another one, I'd be inclined to separate the front framework from the body.

I seem to recall an article in MRRN a few years back where someone was using one of these to build a full detail Capri.

[Gramps46]

6 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Thanks Gary, can you share more about which kits you built these from and your specific recommendations? Of particular interest for me are the BMW CSL and Ferrari 365.

Here goes left to right:

Porsche 935-78 Tamiya

BMW 3.00 CSL Tokyo Marui  - one of my all-time favorites, the kit just fell together.  Includes a driver figure.

Porsche 935 TT BBurago -

Ferrari 356 BB Entex

Corvette Greenwood US Airfix

 

 

 

 

 

[1959scudetto]

Pierre, Gary's BMW 3,0 CSL (Tokyo Maruii) looks great, but the 3,5 CSL from ARII/Micro Ace only looks good on the box lid, but is really awful - body distorted (grill and headlights too small, front spoiler huge!, wheels too tiny, tires too fat ==> it looked like the box of the US Airfix version in your post(could have been the same kit), the decals are junk, the whole kit is a mess - so I sold it a few years ago.

The Gunze 365 GTB however, is a toy and not a model kit in my eyes with a very shallow stock ( !) interior and a sheet with racing decals - the body shows similarities with the real car, the rest is totally useless (eventually for slot racing). I wanted to take some pics, but could not find it anywhere.

[Leo64]

I haven't started it yet, but I bought the Beemax/Platz/NuNu Porsche kit and it is a really nicely detailed kit.  I know of a few builds and review of the kit on Youtube, here is a link to one of them.

Steve A.

[Pierre Rivard]

4 hours ago, Leo64 said:

I haven't started it yet, but I bought the Beemax/Platz/NuNu Porsche kit and it is a really nicely detailed kit.  I know of a few builds and review of the kit on Youtube, here is a link to one of them.

Steve A.

Looks like a great modern kit of the ultimate 935

[Pierre Rivard]

5 hours ago, 1959scudetto said:

Pierre, Gary's BMW 3,0 CSL (Tokyo Maruii) looks great, but the 3,5 CSL from ARII/Micro Ace only looks good on the box lid, but is really awful - body distorted (grill and headlights too small, front spoiler huge!, wheels too tiny, tires too fat ==> it looked like the box of the US Airfix version in your post(could have been the same kit), the decals are junk, the whole kit is a mess - so I sold it a few years ago.

The Gunze 365 GTB however, is a toy and not a model kit in my eyes with a very shallow stock ( !) interior and a sheet with racing decals - the body shows similarities with the real car, the rest is totally useless (eventually for slot racing). I wanted to take some pics, but could not find it anywhere.

Thanks Helmut. Looks like the Ferrari Entex kit is a much better option. As for the BMW CSL it appears the Maruii is very good so I have to keep my eyes open if one not outrageously priced pops up on eBay. Other options would be more challenging projects for sure....

Edited April 27, 2024 by Pierre Rivard

[bytownshaker]

18 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Here goes left to right:

Porsche 935-78 Tamiya

BMW 3.00 CSL Tokyo Marui  - one of my all-time favorites, the kit just fell together.  Includes a driver figure.

Porsche 935 TT BBurago -

Ferrari 356 BB Entex

Corvette Greenwood US Airfix

 

 

 

 

 

Really like the Ferrari 365 BB. I have it in 1/43 waiting in the stash.

 

[oldcarfan]

I grew up a fan of the Group 5 and IMSA's Camel GT racing. Those cars were so much more interesting to me than Formula 1 or Indy cars. I've managed to acquire most of the Porsche kits you show, and now I need to search for these other kits! Thanks for bringing back some good memories.

[robdebie]

On 4/27/2024 at 12:39 AM, Leo64 said:

I haven't started it yet, but I bought the Beemax/Platz/NuNu Porsche kit and it is a really nicely detailed kit.  I know of a few builds and review of the kit on Youtube, here is a link to one of them.

Steve, I found the Beemax/Platz/NuNu Porsche 935K3 a big disappointment shape-wise. Not an uncommon problem with Chinese manufacturers I think. The body is far too tall, whereas the K3 was lower than the works 935-76 and -77. But I really wanted it on my shelf, so I tried to analyse where things went wrong, and made several corrections. Here's my partial report: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/kremer-k3.htm

Rob

[CrashK]

i could be mistaken, but didnt tamiya issue a Gp5 Celica long ago?

[iamsuperdan]

3 hours ago, CrashK said:

i could be mistaken, but didnt tamiya issue a Gp5 Celica long ago?

Yup! They've done a very simple 1/24 version, and a 1/20 version too.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

I have had the 1/20 Tamiya Celica pass through my hands, but I don't do much at that scale so I moved it on.

About 40 years ago I built the simplified 1/24 version, it's still complete and looks decent sat in my cabinet:

 

It went together nicely and it remains still my most ambitious use of decals! Body was unpainted, which given the standard of what I was doing back then is perhaps a blessing....

[Pierre Rivard]

I was aware of the 1/20 scale Celica, but not of a 1/24 one. Thanks for posting that info Dan and Nigel.

Anything else out there we should add to the kit list for Group 5 / IMSA GTX ?

[Gramps46]

14 hours ago, robdebie said:

Steve, I found the Beemax/Platz/NuNu Porsche 935K3 a big disappointment shape-wise. Not an uncommon problem with Chinese manufacturers I think. The body is far too tall, whereas the K3 was lower than the works 935-76 and -77. But I really wanted it on my shelf, so I tried to analyse where things went wrong, and made several corrections. Here's my partial report: https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/kremer-k3.htm

Rob

Rob,  thank you for posting the photo and link to your review.  I really wanted a model of this Le Mans winner and had gotten the Black Box kit but was disappointed with it and ordered the NuNu kit and now see it has problems too.  I have always respected your analysis and reviews.

Gary

[robdebie]

2 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Rob,  thank you for posting the photo and link to your review.  I really wanted a model of this Le Mans winner and had gotten the Black Box kit but was disappointed with it and ordered the NuNu kit and now see it has problems too.  I have always respected your analysis and reviews.

Gary, thanks for the kind words. I will admit that I always feel reluctant to point out these problems. Most modelers either don't see or don't mind shape problems, and I don't want to kill their joy. The good part is that the required modifications are not too difficult in this case - in other cases, a shape correction is near impossible. I'm quite happy with my modified K3 as it is now.

Rob