vamach1

Don’t try to slip a GT40 drivetrain in the Lotus. I double dog dare you. ?

Saw this old article posted on Facebook.

No disagreement there but how many mid 70’s to 80’s “family” cars do you see on the road or for sale? Cars got really boring and slow and were still gas guzzlers. By now those cars should be old enough to be cool now but I see a lot of older imports of that era than I do American cars that are in junk yards or have been destroyed. Even 3-4 years heads turn when they see and hear and older muscle car but a silent electric vehicle would pass by without a glance.

Cool cars have been and still are are Lambos, Mustangs, Ferraris, McClarens, Corvettes, Camaros etc. Yes what kid is going to get excited about cars 60 to 100 years old but I also cannot see a ten year old getting excited about a Mach E SUV model. If you were in your teens in the 80’s who was clamoring for a Minivan kit ?. While Tesla cars are very popular I’ve yet too see a model cart of one. Sure they are cool from a technology standpoint but they are sedans meant to get you from point A to B and the styling to me is an after thought.

No and No for any other SUV type vehicle regardless of brand and power (gas, diesel or electric). It would just be a BORING kit.

Thanks for the very details Ed post and the problems you encounter and how you overcame them.

Nice build. For better or worse AMT did not modify the body of the kit for this issue so needless to say the car as raced had body modifications. The chassis goes back to the 68 Shelby GT500 kit and AMT “added” a section to lengthen it to fit the 71-73 kits. I’ve have one in progress I need to finish and you’re right about the paint scheme which was no fun.

Nice build and while I am not a fan of the engine swap it is just a model. The rear spoiler looks strange but then again I’m just not used to seeing one on any 65-68 Mustang. Now I know how the Ford hot rod fans feel when someone puts a Chevy small block in their car. ?

Agree. I did not try to smooth it out very much and if that does not work with another try then painting would be the far better alternative.

You did a great job given the problems you encountered and it’s nice to see one of the other 66 Lemans entries besides #1, #2 or #5. I built the IMC 1/25 and Lemans Miniatures 1/87 kits and as you probably know the IMC kits can be a bear. Here’s a few pictures of the #8 that is in the Simeone museum.

From the few kits I have under the ARII or Otaki or Nichimo branding only the 1/16 and larger kits have opening hoods and engines. Anything in 1/24 and smaller usually had an electric motor but I’m sure there are exceptions depending on the source of the molds. The bodies are pretty accurate but the engines are not their strong point.

Indycals.net

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. It probably would have been difficult and expensive to mass produce this car and to compete with the Corvette which had a ten year head start. The 260/ 289 Cobra was getting off the ground at the same time and made for a fast race car but was a pretty impractical street car. I guess Ford figured they could make so much more money using the Falcon chassis for the new Mustangs which would have a much broader market appeal. One wonders without the Mustang if Ford could have bankrolled the many domestic and international racing programs and ultimately winning at Lemans. One thing I did not notice unless the chassis was squeezed into the body was how far back the engine sits. This overhead shot shows it was basically a longer body on a Cobra chassis so there is a lot of open space in front of the radiator.

I had planned to go this year but when Saleen pulled out I was disappointed as I really wanted to see all the Mustangs and maybe a S-7. If I still lived in Virginia I would have gone anyway but since I am Miami now it’s a little more complicated travel wise. I agree 100% it is a spectacular event and you are right about the race cars going by in the town is fantastic. I hope to get to Sebring next year but there are so few hotels or places to stay anywhere near the track. Glad you had a good time and the Historic’s are always a great event although it would be pretty hard to top the GT40 reunion I went to there in 1989.

I’ve had this kit for a very long time and I figured it was time to get out the paint and glue and BMF and see what I could do with only brush painting. The body was molded in a very nice metallic red so I thought why not just build it like someone might have 60 years ago. The frame and interior were molded in black plastic so they are also unpainted. When I go to the end of finishing it I realized the roof portion would have to be either painted or covered with BMF because there was no way the decal would conform to the shape of the roof. I would have spray painted it earlier in the build but the though of making it off after I basically had finished it was the backup plan if the BMF did not look good. A few things I will note about the kit (later reissued by Testors and Lindberg) is the chassis will NOT fir inside the body IF the body is completely assembled. Since I did not paint the body that was not a dealbreaker. The doors open but sag so they are best left closed. The windows can be “rolled” up which is a cool feature on a kit this old. The build went pretty well despite vague instructions and the shocks and upper and lower radiator hoses were quite the challenge to get them in the right positions. I decided to leave the headlights closed and did not bother with the lenses. As I was taking photos I noticed I forgot to paint the FORD letters on the side so I did that and retook one picture. I was pretty happy overall with the kit and if I decide to build another one I would paint it. It only took about three days to knock this one out. The diecast is a 1/43 model made by Matrix.

They have holes but look more like slugs than a grommet. The center is too small. I also bought these seats and like Ray am disappointed. Not sure if I will find more realistic metal ones or just paint them on the seat.

Thanks for posting for the forum members not on Facebook. As always your work is 2nd to none and just imagine what models could be made by the big model companies spent some time offering variations of kits that have been good sellers but are in desperate need of updating.

From the posts I have seen they are not simple to build and have their own challenges. Has anyone built the MENG 1/12 GT40? I just bought one a few days ago.

My guess is if they could not see it then it did not exist in their minds. Given the origin of these kits which I assume are developed by people that perhaps have never seen a real GT40 it’s not surprising. Of course the alternative is a smaller scale Japanese kit with a very accurate body with no engine to speak of or the MENG kit that cost 2-3 as much and as they say you get what you pay for.I’d have to look at my Trumpeter kit but I’m pretty sure I raided my Otaki 1/12 Mach1 for the distributor and had some resin copies to use for the GT40.

I found maybe four kits with the clearance sticker out of the hundred or so kits in the regular model section. I did not going looking in other aisles. None of the four interested me but I bought some supplies at full price. This was the HL near downtown Miami which I have to wonder how may car modelers there are in this area as I rarely see anyone in that aisle. They of course sell diecast like Autoworld and Racing Champions and I buy those sometimes but rarely any kits and if I do only at the 40% off week.

Do you need the kit wire wheels and Dunlop's? I should have a set.

It looks that way but it has figment issues too. However, you would think kits regardless of scale would have gotten dramatically better by now.

Great one of kind builds.

That’s insane.

Excellent job. I’ve built a fair amount of 1/32 and most seem to be pretty accurate. From the pictures you might think it was 1/25 scale.