Pete J.

Just remember - It is always darkest just before it goes completely black! :lol:

Dang Harry, where do you get these ugly cars? This thing looks like the grandaddy of the Aztek!

Thank for the additional photos! When I look at the 5 photos in this group I would bet money that four of the photos are a clay mockup. When you look at the one in the lower left, it is obviously the real deal. The windscreen is clear and you can see the interior. If you look at that front end and then compare it to the front of the other photos it is significantly differant. The left and right intakes are significantly more inset as is the center. The windows look very much like the mylar covers areas used most commonly on clay mockups.

Perhaps another reason to use microbaloons

Mark, I was thinking(yea, there I go again!) that microballoons might do the same thing, but since they are chemically intert, would not present any incompatablity with any paint. What do you think.

This has to be one of the most useful threads I seen here. I will have to throw up a couple of my own when I have a couple of minutes.

Doin' the happy dance! Got it right for once. It wasn't the gaposis that gave it away. Some of the early Porsche race cars had gap problems in spades. It was the paint over the jacking point. That is the little circle below the door. That plug comes out to insert the jack and it looks like there is no separation.

DuPont Velvaseal for primer and Lucite for base coat and Chromaclear for top coat.

I'm going model on this piece. I think it is one of harrys big buck diecasts.

I see you thinned it with enamal thinner. That may create a real problem. Most nail polishes are lacquers. If you treat them like lacquers, then you should have no problem.

Hmmmm, veeery interesting! I got hung up on the right hand drive and kept searching for English or asian countries that drive on the wrong side of the road! Nice move Harry.

Ah, that explaines a lot! Darned kids!!! :lol:

Harry - Surely you are old enough to remember Gilbert chemistry sets. As a kid growing up in the 50's every parent bought their kid one. One of the lessons in the kit was how to cut, bend and strech glass tubing with the alchohol burner that came in the set. We also learned more skills in high school chemistry class. We were making all kinds of tools made of glass. Just one of the advantages of growing up before the lawyers took over.

I grew up playing with glass tubing. You don't have to cut through it. Tubing works just like regular glass. You score a small mark with a triangular file and apply a little pressure under the mark with you thumb and it will snap. You don't need to polish it. Just hit it with a propane torch and heat it until it glows orange and it will melt the edges smooth. Take you about 2 minutes of work. If you are unsure of what you are doing, order some tubing from small parts and practice a little. It really is easy. Oh, and be careful with hot glass. It stays hot for quite while after you heat it. Let it set and don't lay it on anything flamable. I piece of ceramic tile it an ideal surface.

Got to go model also. For me it is the fact that a 50's period photo like this would be black and white. Color was around but it was rare and at this point the neg's would be deteriorated to the point that it would not give you the pronounced colors.

Interestingly, I have been involved in a rather long discussion on the IPMS/USA forum about the subject of judging automotive subjects and attracting more automotive modeler to IPMS. It has proven to be a very long and contetious subject(over 17 pages of posts of two months). I was going to post a link but can't find it at the moment and I must be off to work. Many issues were hotly debated including a rewrite of the judging criteria for autos and differant classes that more accurately reflect the current catagories used in many auto only contests. Frankly, I think you had a bad experience based on one chapter and painting all of IPMS with that brush is a bit extream. I am a member of an auto only chapter of IPMS and we have a sister chapter that is all catagories and we seem to get along fine. In fact we put togeather a contest not long ago that was quite sucessful. IPMS is really quite a hands off organization at the local level and chapers are pretty much free to run and judge contests as they see fit. At regional and national level it is an entirely differant matter, so I think you would be better off to say "I'm not going to that contest again" rather than excuding all contests sponsered by an IPMS chapter. Frankly, I have seen many non IPMS contests where the judging was much further off base than anything I have ever seen from IPMS. I know that there is a lot of rankor from a lot of auto builders with IPMS and some of it is well deserved and a lot is from hearsay. IPMS chapters are just like any other club. They are made up of people, some of whom you will like and get along with, and others that you won't. Keep an open mind about all and reserve judgment for the people.

What I think I like most about this build(other than the shear perfection of the metal work) is the contrast between the natural metals. Looks very turn of the century. I hope Randy doen't decide to cover it all up with paint or something else. It is just killer in natural metal!

The original flashes were done at the track after the team had trouble identifying the cars coming into the pits at night. If you see photos of the start, they don't have the pink and green flashes. One of those on the fly modifications.

Oh, this car so annoys me! found this documentation: Sold for $1,997,565 at 2007 RM Auctions. Sold for $1,465,000 at 2008 RM Auctions. Sold for $1,650,000 at 2010 Gooding & Company. The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969. It was built to win long-distance sports car races against Ferrari, winner at LeMans six times in a row from 1960 to 1965. GT40 chassis number 1065 has a well-documented history with a continuous chain of ownership. When Christies inspected the car in 1998 it still only showed 2,540 miles. T40 s/n 1065 has been re-liveried twice over the years but is now back to its original color of Azure blue with the complementary original black upholstery. Built to nearly the same specifications as the racing version, this example is nonetheless fitted with a fully trimmed interior, which is original and in superb condition. The car has its original engine (number SGT 27) and ZF gearbox. So this was one of the road cars, aka homelgation specials, not a race car. That explaines a lot. Customized for the owner? I guess I can understand this. I got to sit in one of Holman Moodys continuation cars(see avitar) and it was not an easy fit, but there are not a lot of the original cars left so it should be restored to as close to original configuration as possible and taken out the historic events and be seen. Anyone who can spend a couple of million should look after it. Just the ravings of a car guy who will never get to own such a piece.

Mark - I don't think so. The original 1065 is for sale on this page. http://www.maxted-page.com/cars/default.aspx?mode=archive There are a number of differances between this car and the car in the photo. Most notable is the polished Halibrands, the light surrounds, and I really can't see a jacking bar in the front air intake. In digging through the GT40 web site, I came accross this replica which looks a lot like what we have here. It is an RCR Replica. http://www.gt40s.com/gallery/index.php?u=16021 Not a kit car but certianly not one of the originals. What say you Harry? Do we have some info that would clear this up?

Yep, a kit car eh Harry? To me the tip off was the open vent window. Kind of hard to do that on a model and have it look right.

It is really to bad that you are not going to the Los Angeles/Orange county area. The best airbursh shop in the world IMHO is located about 10 minutes from Disneyland. That would be Coast airbrush. They litterally have everything airbush and very good prices. If it is an airbrush you want, you can try them out with experts. Worth a side trip just for the education. http://www.coastairbrush.com/

Ford GT 40 Mk I, oh no that was last week! Well, it is a kit. Now the question is, is it a 1:1 kit or is it something else. I'm going with kit car. Though it could be one of those multi thousand dollar models Harry is so famous for digging up, but I think it is real. The paint job looks to good for anything else.

I'm going with real on this one. The wheels are my clue. Very very few model set get the borrani wheels right and these appear to have the proper three rows, though I don't detect the valve stem. The sticker appears to be from a colorado vintage event and would not be something that you would see just any old modeler throw on. If I am wrong this is really a very nice build!

OOB - Out Of the Box FUBAR - and old WWII military expression SNAFU - see above Lets see if there is any one who knows this one and it's source - Falcon code 269