RancheroSteve

It's done - all except for the trailer, at least - I still need to build that, but here's a shot of it finished. I'm going to do an "Under Glass" post in a few minutes with more photos and details. Thanks to all who commented along the way - your encouragement means a lot.

He was great guy - I'm really glad I had the chance to meet him. The Attempt 1 buck was a last minute addition to his donation - I had just recently built the kit and spotted it on a shelf just as I was getting ready to leave. I remarked on it and he said, "Here, The Museum might as well have this too". I was kinda floored just looking at it and realizing what it was, but then I got to hang out with it for a few days before I shipped it off. We did talk a little about the Aurora drag stuff, but I don't remember the subject of the busted mold coming up.

I had the privilege of meeting Tom West back in 2007 when I facilitated a donation he was making to the International Model Car Builder's Museum. Part of that donation included a lot of the promotional materials for the Aurora Racing Scenes.

Earl Bruce's Von Dutch flamed Gullwing was pretty upsetting to the sports car purists back in the fifties.

I decided I was unhappy with how the "snaps" along the sides of the seat looked. I had tried to represent them with dots of silver paint, but it just wasn't cutting it in my eyes. I went back and drilled a series of small holes where the snaps were and inserted pieces of .035" wire. Also applied a few contingency decals; sponsor decals next.

Got mine yesterday - really good!

I'll admit I took just a casual glance at the parts and presumed they were mostly the same, but thanks for the more precise info, Tim (no surprise)!

Just since I haven't seen anyone else mention it, I wanted to point out that apart from the Bantam body, the chassis, engine and other mechanical parts in the Bantam Blast are identical to those in the Willie Borsch "Winged Express" altered. I suspect the Borsch model came first?

More progress: the seat (with belts) is in, windshield and handbrake lever on. Just some decals to put on, a couple of small details, then a few touch-ups and it should be done.

Up on its wheels; the dash is in and wired, and a few more parts added.

Getting the bodywork and a few other bits on.

Very nice work on all of those, Gary!

Thanks again, Josh. It is Viking Metallic Blue (from MCW Finishes) - the correct color for the early Cobras and Cobra Daytonas before they changed to the darker Guardsman Blue - and incidentally the color my Ranchero was painted when it came from the factory.

Or go here for a bunch of views: https://public.fotki.com/Roullier/model_cars-1/shelbys_cars/

Thanks Josh. Yes, that's mine. There are a few other pictures of it on the various Cobra Daytona threads here.

I totally agree with you about the two pic listing. I bought one off eBay some years ago and got a good deal (under $100) because it had been barely started, but I could see what I was getting, so no surprises. For what it's worth, I cut the hood away when I built mine, even though I built it basically box stock/curbside. It's been a while, but I remember thinking that it made getting the body on the chassis much easier. If it's done cleanly it shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the interest, everyone. I absolutely agree with Justin - this kit is right up there! This is indeed a fine little (and I do mean little) kit; really fun to build, goes together without any drama. Delicate for sure, but very much in scale, with nice opportunities to add a few details here and there. Metallic finishes are a combination of things: Testors Metallizer (airbrushed), Molotow (airbrushed), Tamiya TS-30 (out of the can), some Model Master and Testors bottle paints (brushed on), plus a wash here and there with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Black. I'm also experimenting with a new lighting set-up for photos - I recently bought a couple of rechargeable LED worklights, and the combination of those lights and old-fashioned incandescent bulbs makes for some interesting reflections and color casts, but also illuminates well overall.

I waited until I was a little ways along to start a thread on this one. The Revell Kurtis Offenhauser Midget, with a few modifications. I added a crossmember under the transmission (per Tim Boyd's suggestion), nerf bars to the rear radius rods, and modified the front nerf bar. I'm building a specific car (more about that later), so I've made some other body modifications, as well as custom decals. More soon.

You were the guy I was thinking of, Russell!

Ha, great - as a Deora fan I love it! What builder is gonna take this on?

I've probably got about a half dozen of those and have built a couple. Very nice curbside kits. Let me know if you need any info on them.

That came out great, Phil!

Revell/Monogram:

These are really nice kits - well-engineered and detailed. I'm using the chassis and running gear for the '36 Ford that I'm building.

Same here. I remember watching some of those races when guys were breaking axles left and right, and the announcers had no clue as to why. Of course later it became clear.