Phildaupho

Yes. I am glad I got the MKI kits when I did. Thanks David Thanks Trevor. I have a MkII planned for later this year but it will be a curbside Pierre - Although I have the Thunder Valley kit I am not using it for this build. Maybe some day I will build the Thunder Valley as the Le Mans winner which it was designed to be,

This going to blow peoples' minds at the Roadster Show. Absolutely stunning and immaculate. Extremely well done. Congratulations.

I have started a build of the Canadian Comstock Team Ford GT40. A few years after getting back into the car modelling hobby I started thinking about the models I really wanted to build. The Ford GT40 MKI has always been on my top ten list of favourite cars of all time. I was drawn to the ads in model car magazines for an after market full detail GT40 kit offered by Thunder Valley Miniatures. I was a little taken aback when I learned the price but I had to have it. When I put in my order, I added the Fujimi GT40 MKII donor kit which was not available locally at the time and for good measure the Shelby Mustang GT350R trans-kit and base kit were also ordered. This order was placed September 12, 1997 at a total cost of $191.34 US. The exchange rate at the time was similar to the current rate so the bottom line was about $265 CAN. I am surprised I wanted those kits so badly. I also amassed a library of GT40 books. My original intention was to build the GT40 as the Thunder Valley kit was designed as the 1968 and 69 Le Mans winning car but I was reluctant to get started because I did not think my skills had progressed to the point of doing it justice. This was reenforced in the early 2000’s when one of my local car modelling buddies built what may be the definitive 1/24 scale model of the Le Mans winning car. Around the same time, I saw again for the first time in almost thirty years the only GT40 I actually witnessed race back in the day. I could hardly believe my eyes when I spotted in the Monterey Hictorics paddock the restored Comstock Team GT40 which I had been aware of since 1966 when it raced at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Tragically it was withdrawn when the crash of the sister car took the life of Vancouver racing star Bob McLean. Afterwards I saw it race a number of times driven by Eppie Weitzes at the Westwood circuit near Vancouver. Now that was the GT40 I really wanted to build. Things started to fall into place to make this build feasible. Somehow the proprietor of Vintage Racing Miniatures found out I had the no longer available Thunder Valley GT350R kit. He was considering creating a new GT350R trans-kit based on the one I had. I had already built a GT350R replica for a guy that actually raced one and had no immediate plans to build another. A deal was worked out that involved cash and decals. The deal was really sweetened when I found out VRM had a decal sheet in the works that included the Comstock livery which I would be sent a sheet for completing the GT350R deal. Sold-Sold-Sold. Fujimi started re-releasing the MkII in multiple versions and then finally MKI’s with both wide back fenders like the Thunder Valley Le Mans version and the narrower rear body of the earlier GT40’s like the Comstock car. I bought them all and eventually a resin Historic Racing Miniatures engine and transaxle kit. I had just about everything I needed including some photo-etch detail sets but still I was not inspired to start construction. The only Ford GT’s I had built to date are the 1967 Le Mans winning MKIV and a phantom MKII style racing version of the second generation 2005 Ford GT. I did however give a Comstock livery to a 1/32 Scalectrix slot car which I had fun racing even in the dark as it has headlights. So now in 2024 I am going to build my model of the Comstock GT40. As it turns out I may end up not using anything from the Thunder Valley kit. I am using the Fujimi Tour De France version. To get started I have cleaned up the body of molding lines, removed the flare from the wider body at the rear end of the side rocker panels, separated the ducts from the hood to paint separately and started the enlargement of the radiator opening like the real car ran occasionally.

Andrew, I have to agree that was my one and only meal at Red Lobster. Thanks everybody. I really appreciate your comments. Yes John the decals did cause me to seat bullets and I am amazed they turned out as you see them. I thought I had totally blown it.

Thanks everyone. There were some other great looking liveries on 83G's but the Red Lobster was my favourite. I remember back in the day there were no Red Lobster restaurants at least on the west coast of Canada. On a trip to the USA I found one and had dinner. The marketing worked !! Now that the model is together I wish I had got the front end a bit lower but at this point I would probably damage it if I tried to fix it.

Very attractive Toyota. You did a great job with the decals.

Great looking model of such an iconic hot rod. The history of this car is so interesting as is the rediscovery. I recently watched a YouTube video about it becoming part of the Galpin collection. There will be a crowd around it all weekend at the Grand national Roadster Show.

I really like the MOMO livery. I built a 962 with MOMO livery and a future Ferrari 333SP will also have MOMO sponsorship

Thanks. Completed and Under Glass.

This Red Lobster March 83G was built from the Formula Canada curbside resin kit I had in my stash for about 25 years. The big lobster decals over the top needed lots of Solva Set to conform then after a couple of days reacted badly to Tamiya Clear so a major recovery process was required involving lots more clear, sanding and then more clear.

Very nice. I built the same version with snow outside January 1962 but I did not use any paint. Just the red plastic.

Looks great posed with such an appropriate background. I was looking for a French license plate but it looks like it might be a Quebec license plate so that's OK.

That is one tough looking Deuce Coupe. Well built.

Misha and Andrew. You guys are certainly keeping this thread interesting with your excellent works. I assume there will be a new thread Under Glass after March 16 for all the finished Sebring models to be displayed. I can hardly wait.

The aspect of this build that I have been most anxious about is the decals which being very old I was concerned with their condition. I have scanned them so I could make up a new set although getting the true red appears that I might be impossible with my ink jet printer. I also considered resealing them. The main body has not been painted yet so I decided to try decaling the wing which is completed and painted. I am happy to report that the decals appear to be in very good condition without resealing. The next challenge will be getting the large lobster decal to conform to the contours of the body. The wing has brass photo-etched uprights, a air-foil shaped resin wing section and a photo-etched Gurney flap.

I always love to see models of cars raced by Dan Gurney. Yours is a beauty.

An absolutely beautiful ONE.

Looking good to me.

I got the diffuser with rear axle and exhaust pipes attached to the bottom plate.

Excellent progress Misha.

Thanks David Thanks Pierre - I have already touched up some of the cockpit bits and will rewash and re-sand all the body parts.

I have completed all the under-body construction. The kit comes with a nice set of photoetch seat belts to which I added self adhesive material. I really like the look of the wheels with the brass photoetched centres. I used Revell Spray chrome on the rims. I do not have a lot of experience with old resin kits. I did clean all the parts in a dish soap solution and primed all the parts before top coating but I am having problems with paint adhesion which is more obvious in the photos. Those areas have been touched up by brush. I just recently read someone on the forum saying "resin does not like paint". I definitely plan to use more aggressive cleaner on the body parts and do more sanding.

Absolutely excellent conversion. I have always had an attraction to the wedge Lagondas.

The Revell/Monogram 427 Cobra for the most part is a great kit but it and most builds of it lack in one area in that there are no engine compartment sides. The Fujimi Cobra on the other hand which has its own deficiencies does have engine compartment sides. Although I have not tried to fabricate sides myself they should not be difficult and definitely will be included in a planned future Cobra 427 SOHC build.

Glad I got a chance to see your great looking build before it gets moved to the truck thread. Great build. Great livery. I had a buddy in the early 1970's who brush painted his Chevy II wagon in the the Gulf livery.