This Amazing Porsche 911 1:5 Scale Model Looks Real

Amazing Creation

Many of us grew up collecting and playing with Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars, and various other scale models of automobiles. But this particular 1:5-scale Porsche 911 Targa isn't something that was purchased off the shelf - rather, it was built entirely by hand and from scratch, from measuring, filing, and casting to drilling, milling, and turning. Now, this amazing piece of work is part of the "50 Years of Porsche Design" special exhibition at the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen.

Photos: Porsche

Attention Grabber

The man behind this cool model is Elmar Robmayer, who caught the attention of Porsche with an amazingly detailed scale model ship that he had on display at the Württembergischer Yacht Club in Lindau on Lake Constance many years ago. A member of the Porsche family saw the little ship and was immediately enthralled by it. Soon after, Robmayer received a call asking if he could build Porsche scale models, too.

Photos: Porsche

Second One

"First, I asked my wife what she thought of it," Robmayer recalled. "For my part, I was a bit scared of biting off more than I could chew. Porsche, this world-famous company, wants me to build them a model? But I had nothing to lose." Regardless, he forged on, creating a 911 Coupe before his second model - this Targa - wound up becoming the second.

Photos: Porsche

Emotional Resonance

Porsche notes that models like this are a bit hit at the museum, as visitors seem to enjoy seeing them as much as they like checking out the many cool cars from the automaker's past, present, and future. "Such pieces are increasingly garnering more attention," said Tobias Mauler of the Porsche Museum. "We’ve noticed that models are particularly appealing to our visitors. Perhaps that’s partly because they remind so many people of their own childhood model collections. They clearly have a strong emotional resonance."

Photos: Porsche

Lengthy Process

When he created this model 54 years ago, Robmayer didn't have anything but tools and his hands to work with, and Porsche wanted some extreme detail in this particular model. Thus, he wound up choosing to make the body from epoxy resin, which required him to make a wooden model of the right size and cast a negative and a positive mold for each part before later perfecting the body.

Photos: Porsche

Tedious Work

As one might imagine, this process was lengthy, tedious, and required plenty of problem-solving. Robmayer wound up using a shoe sole to perfect the patterned texture in the lower part of the dashboard, right down the letters on the tires, which were added using a typesetter. Robmayer even perfectly recreated those legendary Fuchs wheels by using a lathe, and just like the real thing, they can be removed via bolts.

Photos: Porsche

Extremely Pleased

Ultimately, Porsche was extremely pleased with Robmayer's work, as they should have been. This is a truly incredible piece of art, which is precisely why its creator recently returned it to the automaker so that it can be on display at the Porsche Museum for everyone to see and enjoy. “When we picked up these gems, we were just speechless in the best possible sense,” Mauler said. “We were then able to restore the Targa for the exhibition.”

Photos: Porsche

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