50 replies to this topic

[torinobradley]

I tried to stop myself but I just couldn't let it sit until I finished other projects in progress (or not in progress)... I recieved a partial kit in a package deal and then bought one with a resin FIA body. When I received the Cobra with the resin body, I found the body to be 1/24th and the kit to be 1/25th so that was a no-go. Well, I threw them both into the same box (the partial kit and the doner kit without the 1/24th body) and let it sit. A week or so ago, I grabbed the kit because I was checking out some of the USRRC Cobras on the web and got the urge to mess with a kit. Before I knew it, I had the doors cut off and started on thinning them to scale.

One of my peeves about this kit is how thin the motor appears. I know the SBF is a smaller motor but this little cobra kit has a 289 on a diet! So, I glued both motor halves to a thicker piece of plastic to give it some bulk.


I noticed the oil pan did not match the racing ones utilized so I grabbed some exoxy putty and went to town on the kit supplied one.

I also started doing some other work like smoothing the chassis, removing seam lines and filing these springs to look more presentable.

I also started working on cleaning up the body. This is an older kit designed in the '60s and it shows its age in some places. I added the rear fender flares but have not added the fronts yet. I glued in a thin filler in the door spaces to create the door sills but decided not to cut it to minimize chassis flex. Here is the fender flares and the intial shaping. I'll let the putty cure a while longer then sand them to their final shape.


Since I widened the engine, I would have to source a new intake manifold or modify the kit one. Comapring the kit and parts box units I had to the actual hardware on the 1:1, I decided to scratch one up as the available ones look downright tragic. I also grabbed a parts box water pump/front cover to replace the anemic kit supplied one though I did use the kit one as a spacer and timing cover. I have also sourced a thicker set of valve covers to replace the anemic ones from the kit. The intake and oil pan are not complete as they need details, flanges, water necks and such but you get the idea from the pictures of what they will eventually look like.



I plan to use the Goodyear Blue Streaks with Parts Pack Halibrands and some white metal knock-offs I found. The rear wheels will be deepened. I have also cut the half-shafts off the rear end and replaced them with a pair out of a parts Vette. I don't plan to go total nuts on this kit, just want to make it look much better and maybe raise a few eyebrows.

Thanks for looking and please let me know if you see any mistakes I am making before they get too far... I done a lot of research but somethings are just hard to find reference for.

Edited by torinobradley, 23 May 2013 - 06:05 PM.

[robiwon]

Very nice looking so far. Love the Cobra's. Looking forward to your progress on this.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Is that a microballoon slurry you're using for filler on the rear flares? Sure looks like it. Nice work.

You might want to look closely at the shape of the rear door cut-line on the 1:1 FIA where it clears the rear flare. It's kind of ugly (IMHO) and has a reverse curve in it...not as pretty as on yours and some of the other Cobra bodies where the curve is bulged towards the rear. The FIA has the curve bulged towards the front (to clear the flare).

[TooOld]

Andrew , It looks pretty good so far . I like what you are doing to make the engine look correct !
Bill beat me too it , all FIA cobras had the "cutback" doors because of the larger rear fenders .

[cobraman]

Ah, another build of my all time favorite car. Love it. I will be watching with great interest.

[torinobradley]

Thanks for the comments. The fender flares are modeled after the early cobras. They had the more angular flares and don't appear to affect the door.

The attached picture is the style I'm going for though not the actual car (unless I can find the decals for it). That would be a cool team to do with the Revell '56 Pickup and maybe the sprint car trailer?

Look at CSX 2127, 2128 and 2129 to see what I'm going for. Maybe they weren't FIAs? My car is supposed to be about the 1963 race type. I want to use the Black overall paint with yellow nose and fender stripes decals but will need to find a second set as the kit ones appear to be too thin. I have also began work on thinning the windshield frame. This is turning out to be a fun little project and allowing me to stretch my skills a bit.

Keep the comments coming.

Attached Files

•  Cobra Race Team.jpg   82.92K   96 downloads

Edited by torinobradley, 04 September 2012 - 03:57 AM.

[Cato]

You can avoid thinning the w'shield if you fab a simple little comp screen like on #96.

[W-409]

This is going to be interesting! Looks good so far. These Shelby Cobras are very nice cars and nice to see them in 1/25 scale too.

[TooOld]

CSX 2127 , 2128 , and 2129 raced the USRRC in 1963 and the FIA Cobras raced in 1964 . The one in your photo is CSX2128 after it was sold to Coventry Motors in Northern California .
That would make a great looking model ! Why don't you make your own decals ?

[torinobradley]

I do like the coventry cobra and think that would be an awesome combination. I have found a site that does full size decals for the car so maybe I can use the picture to create some smaller ones. I will have to work on it. Though, I still like the black car with yellow stripes. I changed the title to say USRRC instead of FIA so I am being correct. Thanks for all the knowledge passed along from our viewers!

[rickcaps55]

Hi if it helps AMT and Revell both make that kit I have both and I realy never looked befor but the AMT is in 1/25th and the Revell is in 1/24th.I was going to do one build using both but now it will have to be 2 defferent cars.

[torinobradley]

The Revell '56 I'm thinking of is the one reissued as the Roth shop truck with all the opening doors and fiddly parts. Is that one a 1/24th?

Does anyone know if the AMT cobra will fit on one of the Edlebrock sprint car trailers? I don't have the sprint car kit so I can't compare.

[bigphoto]

The Revell 56' p/u is 1/25th and I don't think it will fit on the Midget trailer however the MPC Caprice comes with a two wheel car trailer that fits the bill perfectly. Also a lot of the rear fender flares were crudely put on and you can see in some photos that they are pretty rough but yours is very nice!!

Edited by bigphoto, 06 September 2012 - 10:45 AM.

[torinobradley]

I've had little leisure time as of late but snuck off and did a bit of work on this one. Since the last episode, I have done more work on the body, trying to fill the sink-holes and remove the mis-molded casting marks on the fender tops along with trying to get my rear fender flares to a more acceptable level. Initially, they looked very cool but were in fact, too large. So I am in the process of trimming them down. The major work, however, has been on the intake and exhaust system. I tried several times to heat bend some plastic tubing to create the side-pipes. I knew this would make or break the model so I wanted to ensure they were perfect. As anyone that has tried to bend plastic, it's pretty darn hard. After several tries and several tubes, I needed a better way. The aluminum would kink, brass was just too hard and I was running out of options. So I tried solid rod and pow. I had it. Then, I drilled the header end to accept a pin the size of the center hole in the photo-etched flanges, glued the pin in and drilled the bottom of the header to mate. I then cut to size and drilled out the business end and thinned the walls with the drill and exacto.

I pretty much did the same for the headers. Drilled holes in the heads the size of the plastic rod, then used heat and persuasion to create the headers. Then, made sure they cleared the interior tub and chassis and lined up wth the side pipes. Enough talk, on with the pictures!










Thanks for looking and feedback encouraged. After all, how am I going to know if I did something wrong without frank and honest feedback...

[Intmd8r]

Very nice work so far. It looks like you did your homework and the build shows it. Can't wait to see more progress.

[Gluebomber]

I've been interested in this thread because I tried a similar project a number of years ago. I really like some of the things you're doing, especially with the exhausts. Yours are going to be more accurate than the ones I fabbed. Also, your trick of widening the AMT 289 engine block was a clever solution to the problem of that engine looking "too skinny".

In my case, I mated the now discontinued Scale Coachworks resin FIA Cobra body to the AMT chassis and used the 1/24 289 engine from the Revell Shelby 350GT Mustang with some Replicas and Miniatures Webers. I used the AMT 1/25 frame rather than the one from the Revell 427 Cobra because of the differences in the front suspensions between the 289 and 427 Cobras. I needed to widen track a bit and lengthen the frame by about 1/4", but other than that it worked pretty well.

Here are a couple of reference pics of the engine compartment you might find helpful, along with the Revell 289 with the R&M carbs. Hope they help.

Attached Files

•  Cobra Engine.JPG   62.02K   66 downloads
•  002_webbers.jpg   62.28K   74 downloads
•  001_webbers2.jpg   62.25K   48 downloads

[Ace-Garageguy]

Your header and side-pipe work looks great. Nice job getting the headers to clear the foot-boxes.

[torinobradley]

Thanks for the good words, guys! I found the Coventry decals from a firm in Australia that does both stick on and waterslide for a lot of different cars. They are for slot cars but fit the bill perfectly. I'm ordering a set. That being said, I went ahead and ordered the roll bar, tonneau snaps and windscreen from Historic Racing Miniatures. Looks like this one will be the Coventry Motors Executor. IF I get this one finished, maybe I'll work on the truck and trailer! Would be a nice display set.

Regarding the trailer, looks as though I might be scratching this one. The Caprice one is too big and the sprint one may be too small. Does not appear to be a too difficult project, though.

[topher5150]

Is this the kit that came wit a carroll shelby figurine?

[torinobradley]

No, this is the AMT 289 Cobra in 1/25th scale. It will be re-released soon with the halibrand wheels I am using.