SPA Modeler

Fixin’ to repair some old damage.

Oho, look at that, have not see earlier or paid attention to that damage.

What is your plan, cutting off the entire rear and replacing with clear PVC or just half of it ?
Or a totally different approach ?

- Kari

Oh no!

Kari and Carlos! Thank you both for your comments... I am really not sure how to fix this yet, to tell ya the truth. As far as keeping as much material as possible, I do not know if the bottom edge that is bent will ever properly return to its normal unbent state. I built a test piece out of white plastic stock that fit inside the lower edge of the rear spoiler then pushed against the sides. I was not able to push out the section that is pushed inward. That is the major impact area. The major reason I ordered a whole new shell was to keep the original one free from more potential damage. I want the car to be as close to its new out of the box appearance as possible.

Thoughts over crappy coffee: I came home from a work day when most people have the day off, thinking about a project I am working on, thinking about life, the universe—everything, man! This is L.A. This is where Don Draper went after Mad Men ended. Here I am. So thinking those dark Irish thoughts I was pleasantly surprised by a knock, a series of taps, I wrote pleasantly surprised after the fact because at the time I was shocked. I felt... maybe it was a salesman... or maybe it was my neighbors with the dog on the patio... instead it was a cute mail carrier person with three packages for me. One I had to sign for hence her knocks.



Package 1 was props for the Pencil. Package 2 was a new body shell. Package 3 was an envelope from Torben! Inside was one of the coolest cards ever and inside that was a set of 1/24 Porsche Carrera decals which are impossible to source outside of Germany... and Torben, bless his soul, procured a set for me and shipped them over here. What he did was one hundred ten percent incredible and I want to put in writing for all to see: Thank You Torben. Plus Anton Corbijn, who knew how artistically close we were. He’s a fantastic photographer-director. Man oh man did tonight turn on a dime (or a series of polite knocks) from mopey dopey evening into excitement... Don Draper would be so proud. Have a coke and a smile.

Happy new year, buddy! I'm so glad they finally arrived. Them greedy customs dwarfs, right?
I wrote you some lines on that folded card, in case you missed them.

Best New Year Ever. Thanks, Torben! Happy New Year to you, sir!

Sounds like you had a great New Years Eve Bruce! Especially with those surprise arrivals....

Question, is the new arrival car body for the car with the damaged rear end? And on that car, you want to keep that car body as original as possible? Just a thought, but can you graft a new replacement rear end onto the original body shell after cutting out that damaged rear panel?

Hi Carlos, you make a great suggestion. I had not thought of that (a graft). Hmmm. Well my idea was to use the new Lexan shell with one set of decals and also finish the second shell with the other, race with the new shell and keep the older, more fragile one as a showpiece. The way I was planning to repair the rear end I was informally and colorfully calling a “butt plug,” which would be two pieces of poly clear spreading its side cheeks with spacers in between. I thought I could at least build the piece and glue the spacers as one unit first then test fit the plug first mainly to see if the rest of the car is not stressed out by being stretched out again. My guess is the car flipped off the track somehow and hit the floor hard enough to compress the side as well as split the rear. I also thought “plastic finds a way” to return to its original shape through coaxing and application of heat. I have been chary of adding too much heat to this butyrate shell as yet. I was thinking about using a hair dryer on low heat just to see if I could warm up sections to bring these closer to their original forms. Having a new shell albeit a copy created from an original gives me a better idea of the dimensions before the old shell was crushed.

We can do this the easy way, or the hard way...