[X-Filer]

I've always loved the GT1 racing cars from late 1990s, they had that mixed feeling of road car taken to the extreme for racing purposes which I like. But more than that, I love that they had to build road-legal versions in order to homologate the car. Therefore, having the CLK GTR and the F1 LM, I've always loved how the 1998 911 GT1 looked like it was starting to melt while speeding at 200 mph. Unfortunately, no miniature manufacturer made the 911 GT1'98 Strassenversion but luckily Maisto had a superb representation of the cart that won the 24h of Le Mans in 1998 and it would become a perfect base for my recreation:





















The engine would be the trickier part because there were more than a few differences between the racing and the road car engines:









My "to do list" was:

- Remove all logos from the bodywork;
- Paint the rear spoiler white;
- Paint the wheels silver;
- Sand the tire thread for greater realism;
- Disguise the additional headlights that the competition car has;
- Remove all white tampos from the front splitter, door trims, doorsills and tires;
- Swap the racing seat for a pair of road sports seats;
- Change the dashboard for road configuration;
- Swap the original (nasty) gearbox lever for a resin unit from Légènde Miniatures (meant for the F430 GT2);
- Replace pedals with PE (Tremonia);
- Modify the engine for the road configuration (including catalysts and mufflers);
- Replace the original brake discs with perforated discs;
- Detail the headlights;
- Add registration plates;
- Place a mesh grille on the radiator inlet;
- Add mesh grilles at the back;
- Paint all the interior of the passenger compartment, engine compartment and engine cover matte black;
- Disguise the fixation points of the antenas;
- Modify the rear extractor and rear spoiler fixations;
- Add Porsche logos to the wheel centre locking nuts;
- Add brake lines and all other pipings on th eengine bay.

Stripping the car apart:







The engine out the engine bay:





The seats (from Légende Miniatures) would have to be reshaped so they could fit the passenger compartment:



Wheels and tyres striped and ready to be "treated"::



The discs to be replaced:



With a bit of alcohol the Michelin Pilot SX letterings of the Le Mans winning tyres is gone. Interesting though is to notice that on th inner side wall I found the lettering "Bridgestone" on relief. It's not entirely true to the original but I think it lends a bit of extra detail:



A few hours, some ketone, cotton swabs and some very black fingers later, the bodywork is stripped from its deco:



While the body is in the painting shop drying (sprayed the inner surface of the panels matt black), I'll get to some other stuff. First of all, theseats have to fit in the cramped carbon tub, especially height-wise. The driver's is IMO ground down enough to fit but I still have to do the same to the paassenger seat. Just look how much I had to cut:



The back of the original seats is flat so I have to sand down these "ribs" the Légènde seats have:

 

[spikyone]

Another GT1 conversion! Great to see this model getting some love lately, looking forward to how this one turns out. I know from your other work that you're going to do it justice!

I'm hoping to get around to upgrading my UT 993 GT1 over the next few months, I've been feverishly searching for period photos/videos and looking back over the upgrade that another member was working on. I also have some 993 tail lights incoming from AUTOart Spares, which I hope will fit after some minor tweaks.

 

[Oldtimer]

Won't you also need to add a couple of mufflers?

 

[T1000]

This is going to be quite fun

How did you remove the decals but not damage the paint? I am very tempted at doing that for one 1:24 Bugatti Atlantic I have

 

[X-Filer]

Here are the wheels resprayed:



And the sanded tyre surface. It's quite a difference:



On the original car, the headlights had the lens tinted orange where the side indicators were (latelly it's been seen with totally clear lenses) and I like them better this way. The inside also took 2 layers of Tamiya Smoke because the original are tinted and not chrome:



On the edge of the rear diffuser, the competition model had 2 horizontal profiles (in order to provide extra downforce) which aren't present on the road car. Grind away:





The original disc brakes were too small and incorrectly grooved. Therefore, I replaced them by a set of larger cross-drilled discs from a Bburago. In order for them to fit, it was necessary to cut out the centre plate and grind them a bit so that they fit the large wheel hubs:



After adding the set of metalic callipers I sourced from Légende Miniatures, this should be the look of the finished set:

 

[X-Filer]

This is going to be quite fun

How did you remove the decals but not damage the paint? I am very tempted at doing that for one 1:24 Bugatti Atlantic I have

The thing is, they're not decals, their tampo's, a bit like a "stamping". If it were decals, submerging it in hot water would suffice but these will only get removed wit han organic solvent. Sometimes, ethylic alcohol is enough to remove them but in this case ketone works fine and doesn't attack the car's paintjob EXCEPT on the rearview mirrors, which apparently have been painted on a different paint than the metal parts. That paint WILL come off so you should prepare yourself for the need of respraying them after removing the deco.

 

[wet sellery]

Cool project !

A walkaround of the real car :

https://www.youtube....h?v=NiI1gfRcj5w

 

[T1000]

This is going to be quite fun

How did you remove the decals but not damage the paint? I am very tempted at doing that for one 1:24 Bugatti Atlantic I have

The thing is, they're not decals, their tampo's, a bit like a "stamping". If it were decals, submerging it in hot water would suffice but these will only get removed wit han organic solvent. Sometimes, ethylic alcohol is enough to remove them but in this case ketone works fine and doesn't attack the car's paintjob EXCEPT on the rearview mirrors, which apparently have been painted on a different paint than the metal parts. That paint WILL com off so you should prepare yourself for the need of respraying them after removing the deco.
[/quote]

Thanks, luckily on the Atlantic the tampos are only on metal and on the main body, so it should be easy. Although now that I'm looking at it, it feels nostalgic and wrong to remove them, lol... decisions, decisions...

 

[X-Filer]

Here the inside of the engine cover and all the inside of the chassis and body are painted matte black:







... chassis...



... and passenger compartment:



In the meanwhile, I placed the thermal shielding on the inside of the diffuser where the mufflers will be placed (which are provided by a Maisto Aston Martin DB7 Vantage):





The airbox is off and I adapted the intercooler from a Bburago Ferrari 348 tb radiator:

 

[looney]

great project. It's one I've had on my mind for a long time too, but finding a base car to tinker with always seems to elude me when i decide to do it.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Out of Gear]

Looking great! For the wheels, have you thought about filling in the 5 lug nuts to make them flush? The real car only seems to have the centre lock nut style.

 

[Snakebitten]

Great start. Interested on how you do your engine compartment. Might have a go at mine whenever I get some free time. Can’t wait for the final reveal.

 

[spikyone]

Looks good so far! Did you paint the matte black with an airbrush?

 

[ROBSMC]

Great build so far. I like the all white body. Nice

 

[X-Filer]

Great build so far. I like the all white body. Nice

Haha, thanks. Just like it was supposed to be!

Well some more progress. The headlights are pretty much finished and in place:



Also added the front licence plate (as on the original):



I added some aluminium tape on the front bonnet latches, I think it adds a bit more or detail:



The doors (had to respray it all cause the tampos on the inside of the doors wouldn't come off):





The new seats are adjusted to fit and painted flat black in order to mimick the leather trimming:



The dashboard had to be rectified too. First had to cut-off half its "height" and delete some switches and buttons. Then, the top lining was sanded to remove the carbon pattern and resemble the leather trim of the road car. The steering wheel was also rectified in order to delete the central screen:

 

[Craig]

Looking good! Nice work so far

 

[T1000]

Very nice progress

 

[Oldtimer]

Was looking all your detail, and how extensive it has been, and you are to be commended on it. Was looking at the video provided above of the walk-around of the real car, and noticed the small dive planes molded into the nose at each corner.

Not too many people are aware that Maisto did two versions of this model, and the Zakspeed-liveried one also had the dive planes molded into the diecast.

 

[Snakebitten]

Yep have both versions of the Maisto. Thats actually the Street version I was going after.

Another DX member actually did the street version a while back. I think his name was Rinceman or something like that if memory serves. Looked good. But X-Filer is taking it to another level with the interior and engine work

 

[Oldtimer]

Yep have both versions of the Maisto. Thats actually the Street version I was going after.

Another DX member actually did the street version a while back. I think his name was Rinceman or something like that if memory serves. Looked good. But X-Filer is taking it to another level with the interior and engine work

Years ago (2006 to be exact), I used one of the Zakspeed's to do a Gulf color livery scheme.