Thundersport 1/43 1972 Porsche 917/10, previewed by Scott Van Aken

KIT #:	MM64
PRICE:	$50.00 when new many years ago
DECALS:	Two liveries
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	Multimedia kit with resin, p.e. and cast metal

The 917/10 was built for Can-Am racing, with a 5 litre engine, new bodywork and weight pared to a minimum. It was run in the latter part of the 1971 Can-Am season by Jo Siffert, with moderately successful results.

The revised 917/10 was Porsche's first full-scale attempt at Can-Am for 1972. This car ran the 5.0 litre flat-12 and was modified to accommodate additional compression; two turbochargers were added to give the car tremendous horsepower. George Follmer won the championship in the Roger Penske car. The later 917/30 was so dominant that it basically ended the Can-Am series. Though the name was used for a later series, the unlimited nature of the series was gone.

THE KIT

Many years ago, I was interested in 1/43 sports racers to an extent that is greater than it is today. As such, I bought several kits from the Marsh Models 'Thundersport' range, which pretty much concentrated on cars of the 1965-1973 time period. This is one of them, the Penske Porsche 917/10. This car was built is fairly small numbers and a number of teams ran it, though few with the success of the Penske team.

These were priced at the then-astronomical price of around $50.00. Today, if you can find them, the price is greatly escalated. These are true multi-media kits with a body in resin and parts in photo etch, cast metal, and rubber with vacuformed windscreens.

As you can see from the instruction sheet that I've duplicated, they are not all that complex if used to working in these various materials and thanks to a well done decal sheet, is easy to paint. Much of the interior is photo etch with some casst metal parts. Same for the rear portion of the car. Wheels are spun aluminum with a number of inserts. Rubber tires fit over them.

I've shown the major bits and decal sheet but not the myriad of smaller parts for fear of losing something in the process of spreading everything out. Though the decal sheet is fairly old, I've had good success with what comes with these kits. Liveries for the two drivers are provided along with an addendum sheet where the numbers have no white background. While the fins on the body are slightly warped, straightening them out should be very easy.

Not sure just when I'll get around to building this one, but based on my experiences with other kits in this series, the results should be a very nice model for the collection.