Hasegawa's Penthouse Porsche 962C

[Nacho Z]

It has been a bit since I did a race car WIP.  On my hobby bench at the moment is the venerable Hasegawa Porsche 962C.  As of this post, I believe this is the latest offering of the kit.  This time the livery is Penthouse / Super Cad / Rizla.  I honestly do not know which one is the primary sponsor.  They all have prominent graphics, just in different places.  If I had to guess I would say they split the sponsorship three ways.

I have built the Hasegawa Porsche 962C kit several times.  It is a nice, simple kit that looks great on the shelf.  I do not add a lot of extra detail on these kits.  I use them as a quick, fun, stress-free, build.  That is what this one is.  As I do with all of my WIPs, I will caption each picture as needed.

 

The kit box art.

 

The kit contents.

 

I always start by highlighting seam lines and areas that will need work.  I use a Sharpie to do this.

 

Generally speaking, the kit is nice.  Things fit well.  Except for that rear wing...lol.  It is made up of three pieces and they just don't fit together very well.

 

Once the body prep was done, I got it ready for primer.  The interior is black.  Although you can only see a small portion of the interior, I wanted to paint the entire interior flat black, with the thought that the exterior white will be a uniform shade.  I masked off all of the openings, (and there are a lot of them), in order to eliminate black overspray on the exterior of the body.

 

Here is the interior airbrushed in Tamiya LP-3 Flat Black.

 

Now that the interior is finished, I basically reversed masked the body shell.  I masked off all of the openings to prevent white overspray getting on the interior.

 

Here is the body.  First picture is the exterior airbrushed in Gravity Paints, Spain, light gray primer.  I used light gray so that it would contrast with the white that I would be painting.  The second picture is the exterior airbrushed in Tamiya LP-2 White.

 

That is enough for this update.  Unfortunately, it goes downhill from here.  I will update my problems in the next update.  Thanks for looking.  Feel free to comment.

 

[Chris Smith]

1 hour ago, Nacho Z said:

It has been a bit since I did a race car WIP.  On my hobby bench at the moment is the venerable Hasegawa Porsche 962C.  As of this post, I believe this is the latest offering of the kit.  This time the livery is Penthouse / Super Cad / Rizla.  I honestly do not know which one is the primary sponsor.  They all have prominent graphics, just in different places.  If I had to guess I would say they split the sponsorship three ways.

I have built the Hasegawa Porsche 962C kit several times.  It is a nice, simple kit that looks great on the shelf.  I do not add a lot of extra detail on these kits.  I use them as a quick, fun, stress-free, build.  That is what this one is.  As I do with all of my WIPs, I will caption each picture as needed.

 

The kit box art.

 

The kit contents.

 

I always start by highlighting seam lines and areas that will need work.  I use a Sharpie to do this.

 

Generally speaking, the kit is nice.  Things fit well.  Except for that rear wing...lol.  It is made up of three pieces and they just don't fit together very well.

 

Once the body prep was done, I got it ready for primer.  The interior is black.  Although you can only see a small portion of the interior, I wanted to paint the entire interior flat black, with the thought that the exterior white will be a uniform shade.  I masked off all of the openings, (and there are a lot of them), in order to eliminate black overspray on the exterior of the body.

 

Here is the interior airbrushed in Tamiya LP-3 Flat Black.

 

Now that the interior is finished, I basically reversed masked the body shell.  I masked off all of the openings to prevent white overspray getting on the interior.

 

Here is the body.  First picture is the exterior airbrushed in Gravity Paints, Spain, light gray primer.  I used light gray so that it would contrast with the white that I would be painting.  The second picture is the exterior airbrushed in Tamiya LP-2 White.

 

That is enough for this update.  Unfortunately, it goes downhill from here.  I will update my problems in the next update.  Thanks for looking.  Feel free to comment.

 

Very cool car and got to love the fact adult magazines had the funds to support a race car. Very impressive start, looking forward to seeing more ?

[Pierre Rivard]

Nice to see you posting stuff again. I hear the Hasegawa is the better 962 kit so very much looking forward to see you apply your skills to it.

I see in the background that the R8 Gordini is still alive!

[Nacho Z]

14 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Nice to see you posting stuff again. I hear the Hasegawa is the better 962 kit so very much looking forward to see you apply your skills to it.

I see in the background that the R8 Gordini is still alive!

Thank you, and yes, that Gordini stares at me every time I’m at the bench…lol. Once this Porsche 962C is finished, I will work on the Gordini and I will finish it.

[marathonman5962]

i will follow your making 

the HASEGAWA 962 is better than the TAMIYA 962 for the body. it's a fact

But the problem with HASEGAWA is the engine part (none) I am not asking for a complete engine since the rear cover is fixed but for example the gearbox which can be seen from the rear
HASEGAWA gives the view of an empty space and it's a bit of a shame

Edited July 10, 2024 by marathonman5962
correction of fault

[Nacho Z]

18 hours ago, marathonman5962 said:

i will follow your making 

the HASEGAWA 962 is better than the TAMIYA 962 for the body. it's a fact

But the problem with HASEGAWA is the engine part (none) I am not asking for a complete engine since the rear cover is fixed but for example the gearbox which can be seen from the rear
HASEGAWA gives the view of an empty space and it's a bit of a shame

I agree with you, Damien.  It would be nice to see more detail out back.  I have done a detailed build of the 956 using the Tamiya kit and Studio 27's "Spirit of America" decals. That build has been posted here.  I like these Hasegawa kits for a nice, easy, stress-free build.  They look great on the shelf.  Thanks for looking in.  I really like yours, you did a great job on it!

[Nacho Z]

Time for another update.  As with almost all of my WIPs, I am much farther along than what I am posting.  I've never been one of those who post a ton of updates of minor progress.

As I said in my first post, that rear wing is probably the worst fitting part of the entire kit.  After the initial body work on it, I shot it in primer and found that there were still seam lines and sanding marks.  I filled and sanded the wing again.  Here it is before the second round of primer.

 

And here it is after the second coat of primer and paint.

 

Here are the wheels and tires.  The wheels were airbrushed in Tamiya LP-1 Gloss Black.  The bottle is not labeled "Gloss Black", just Black, but it is gloss.  The chrome is Green Stuff World Chrome Metal.  The centers are brush painted gold.

 

Per the instructions, the interior tub was airbrushed in Tamiya LP-3 Flat Black.  This would come back to haunt me.  I masked off the black so I could lay down some aluminum paint.

 

I shot the aluminum paint and couldn't figure out why it came out looking like silver instead of shiny aluminum.  I tried another shade.  Same results.  Then it struck me that I was shooting over a flat surface and not a gloss surface.  No way I'm redoing all of this.  Silver it is!!

 

To be honest, you really can't see inside these cars very well.  Your eyes will be drawn to the red racing harness.  I covered the decals with a clear flat to take the shine off. 

 

The next update will document the small disaster with the paint.  Thanks for checking in!  Comments are always welcome.

 

[Rich Chernosky]

John..been following this WIP. You picked the right project  for a stress free build.  I did about 5 of these and they were fun.  But wait...I picked up a cool tip from you. Holding assembled wings for painting has always been a problem for me. Never thought of using one of those clamps ( I got a few) to hold them. Thanks and good luck on your project. Its coming along great and should be an awesome model. 

[marathonman5962]

I don't see any degradation in your editing.

frankly it's very very clean.

(I'm building a 956 America, it's funny, isn't it? I saw yours which won a prize)

[Nacho Z]

On 7/11/2024 at 9:49 AM, Rich Chernosky said:

John..been following this WIP. You picked the right project  for a stress free build.  I did about 5 of these and they were fun.  But wait...I picked up a cool tip from you. Holding assembled wings for painting has always been a problem for me. Never thought of using one of those clamps ( I got a few) to hold them. Thanks and good luck on your project. Its coming along great and should be an awesome model. 

Thank you, Rich!  The clamp works very well.  I also use an old #11 blade taped to a wooden stir stick and I stick it up into the gap at the end of the wing.  What I would worry about with the clamp is paint build up on the edges, especially if using a spray can.  No issues when airbrushing.  I hope that made sense.  I can take a picture of what I'm talking about if that would help to clarify.

[Nacho Z]

Time for an update.  I have mentioned that I had a small disaster with the paint.  Let me explain.  I know that the airbrushed white paint layers are very thin.  I managed to get a few dust bunnies in my paint and I needed to get them out.  I very, very carefully began to rub out the paint, but still burned through the paint to the primer.  No problem, I went ahead and got the dust bunnies rubbed out.  I thought I would just go ahead and rattle can some Tamiya White on top of the LP-2 White and then I would have a thicker coat of paint to work with.  This actually worked, but I hit a snag.  My can of Tamiya White was almost empty and it spit.  It spit bad.  I grabbed another can of Tamiya White and shot it a little heavy in hopes of absorbing the drops of spit.  This also worked, but I put it on too thick and it started pulling from the panel lines and I also got a couple of sags in the paint.  I decided to strip it.

I used 91%IPA and it stripped both the rattle can Tamiya White and the airbrushed LP-2 White.  It did not hurt the Gravity Colors Primer.

 

This is the body after approx. 30 minutes.  I did nothing more than swirl the container around.

 

Once the body was stripped of the Tamiya paint, I washed it in warm Dawn dish soap water and scrubbed it with an old toothbrush.  I then basically repeated the entire process of masking and shooting the interior flat black and masking and shooting the exterior.  The difference is I airbrushed the exterior in Zero Paints Pure Brilliant White.

Here it is in a fresh coat of Gravity Colors Light Gray Primer.

 

And here she is in Zero Paints Pure Brilliant White.

 

Although it was a lot of extra work, in the end, the finish was better than what I originally had.  Silver lining and all of that.  I had no dust bunnies in the paint this time around.  I let it cure and cleared it with Tamiya TS-13 straight from the can.  I did this so that I had a smooth finish fof the decals.

Thanks for looking.  Comments are always welcome.

[Rich Chernosky]

14 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

Thank you, Rich!  The clamp works very well.  I also use an old #11 blade taped to a wooden stir stick and I stick it up into the gap at the end of the wing.  What I would worry about with the clamp is paint build up on the edges, especially if using a spray can.  No issues when airbrushing.  I hope that made sense.  I can take a picture of what I'm talking about if that would help to clarify.

John..thanks for another good "tip".  A word of caution. Be careful about combining Tamiya's LP and TS lines of paint. I decant a lot of Tamiya TS sprays. One time I was a little low on TS29 semi black so I added some of the LP semi to it.  The resulting gelatinous goo was totally unusable. I have sprayed TS13 over dried LP colors with no adverse effects but I still think some caution is advised. BTW how white is the  Zero paints brilliant white?   Brighter than TS26?

[Nacho Z]

5 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

John..thanks for another good "tip".  A word of caution. Be careful about combining Tamiya's LP and TS lines of paint. I decant a lot of Tamiya TS sprays. One time I was a little low on TS29 semi black so I added some of the LP semi to it.  The resulting gelatinous goo was totally unusable. I have sprayed TS13 over dried LP colors with no adverse effects but I still think some caution is advised. BTW how white is the  Zero paints brilliant white?   Brighter than TS26?

Thanks for the heads-up, Rich!  I don't know if I can accurately answer your question.  I would probably give a tip of the hat to Tamiya TS-26.  My FATurbo Express model was airbrushed in Zero Paints Pure Brilliant White as well as this current project.  Maybe I will set them up side-by-side and see if I can see a difference.

 

[Chris Smith]

So I’m not the only one that has had to redo an entire paint job…she’s coming together nicely! I’m assuming decals are next.

[Nacho Z]

8 hours ago, Chris Smith said:

So I’m not the only one that has had to redo an entire paint job…she’s coming together nicely! I’m assuming decals are next.

As I had posted on FB, I think this was the first time I’ve ever had to strip a body.  I’ve definitely had to sand and reshoot them before.  The 91% IPA made quick work of both the LP and the TS paint.  After all of these years in the hobby, I still make rookie mistakes every now and then. ?‍♂️
 

Regarding the decals, they are done, I just haven’t posted that work yet.  I’ll probably do that tomorrow night.

[Nacho Z]

It is Monday night and time for an update.  This one will get me caught up to where the model sits currently.

After the Zero Paints Pure Brilliant White cured, I went ahead a shot some Tamiya TS-13 Clear over it.  I did this in preparation for the decals.  Once the TS-13 cured, I masked and airbrushed the dash panel and hand painted the headlight buckets.

 

And so it begins!  Decaling is my favorite part of model building.  I guess that is why I gravitate towards race cars.  I enjoy it but that doesn't mean it is always easy or that I do a perfect job.  Guys, that is one heckuva compound curve between the front fender arch and the cockpit bubble.  To get that long striped decal to lay down was a chore.  It came out very well but not perfect.  It could have been sooooooo much worse.

 

All of the bits and pieces have been painted and are ready for installation onto the body.  Once the body is cleared, cured and polished, I will add the glass and decal it.  Headlight covers, door glass and windshield all have decals that need to be applied to them.

Thanks for checking in on the build.  See you at the next update in a couple of weeks!

[Nacho Z]

My clear coat order came in a little sooner than I expected.  I tried Mr Top Coat for the first time.  It is "water based" which I assume would be safe for decals.  Hasegawa tells you to clear coat their decals at your own risk, or something close to that.  I played it safe and did some light coats, letting them flash off, before putting down a few heavier coats.  I had no issues.  This will be the last update.  I will post the finished model in the Under Glass section.  Thank you all who followed along and thank you to those of you who commented!

It was hard to capture the brightness, whiteness, and shine of the finish.  The picture below is the body after being polished out with Micro-Mesh clothes.  After this picture was taken, I used Tamiya Fine and Finish compounds on it.

 

 

[steveracer]

@nacho z, I have found with Tamiya spray paints, and their clear, even after waiting a few days or weeks, when I tape the body for masking, the paint has the imprint of the tape on it.  More like IN the clear.  You had no problems with the TS-13 clear.  Was that from a rattle can?  Did you do anything special?  

Edited August 1, 2024 by steveracer

[Modelbuilder Mark]

That paint work looks really nice, would not have guessed it to be an aqueous clear. 

[Nacho Z]

48 minutes ago, steveracer said:

@nacho z, I have found with Tamiya spray paints, and their clear, even after waiting a few days or weeks, when I tape the body for masking, the paint has the imprint of the tape on it.  More like IN the clear.  You had no problems with the TS-13 clear.  Was that from a rattle can?  Did you do anything special?  

Hi Steve.  I have definitely read about the exact thing that you have mentioned.  On this model, only the interior of the body, the dash, and the cockpit were painted with Tamiya, and that was with their LP (lacquer) line of paints.  The only exception is the top of the dash which was shot with Tamiya XF paint.  Even that did not do what you mentioned.  I did mask them, but I had no problems with the tape imprinting on them.  The exterior was shot in Zero Paints and cleared with Mr Top Coat which is GSI Creos.  If you do a search on my posted models, you will see that I do use TS-13 on a number of them and then mask them off to shoot window trim, etc.  I pretty much only use Tamiya tape for this.  I wonder if the fact that I have polished out the paint before masking makes a difference?  Or if the type / brand of tape would matter?  The only other thing that I can think of is I pull my masking off as soon as I can.  Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have other questions or if I didn’t answer the one you had.  I sometimes go off on tangents…lol.

[Nacho Z]

58 minutes ago, Modelbuilder Mark said:

That paint work looks really nice, would not have guessed it to be an aqueous clear. 

Thanks, Mark.  It was my first time using it.  I was pleasantly surprised with it.  Honestly, I haven’t heard a bad thing about any of the Mr. Hobby line of paint.

[marathonman5962]

VERY NICE !

be careful TS13 in spray! 

it sometimes happens that it destroys the decals (depends on the manufacturer)