Phildaupho

Misha - MGB looking fantastic. Too bad about the red decal. I recommend adding another layer.

Very well done re-creation. Great looking engine.

Thanks Andrew - I agree VRM decals are great and I am glad I got a number of sheets when they were available including the Cobra Daytona sheet. Thanks Pierre. Likewise I always follow your projects. Thanks Randy - I found some additional photos of your amazing brass GT40 project on Facebook. All will be a big help getting me back on track. I spent some time searching the forum for GT40 parts, projects and completions. Overwhelming what is or was available and the complexity of some of the GT40 model completions.

Extremely well built in all respects.

Thanks Art. Likewise !!

I am moving onto the engine compartment and using the Historic Racing Miniatures GT40 engine and transaxle kit which also includes a rear bulkhead that better fits the inner contours of the body. The HRM engine has Gurney Weslake heads but my GT40 has standard Ford heads. The G/W heads were easily removed from the block and will be replaced with heads from the 1/24 Rev/Mon Shelby Mustang. The Weber carbs and manifold I will be using are also HRM items designed for the Rev/Mon 1/24 for 289. After getting what I thought were all the parts together I read the directions that came with the HRM kit. Torsion bars and sway bar attachments are mentioned but I could not find them. I searched everywhere with no success finding these parts. So, then I did an online search of photos of the HRM kit. In none of those photos are radius rods or sway bar attachments. I wonder why these were not included. I don’t remember another HRM GT40 suspension kit. Fortunately, I have an old IMC glue-bomb GT40 that will supply these parts or help me fabricate them.

I heard the song the other day on the radio and could not resist.

This build has evolved to be how it look if I actually owned the real car rather than a replica of how it looked at a moment in time back in the 1960’s. Although the actual car was eventually restored to being white with green stripes it does not have any other aspects of the Comstock livery. Photos of GT40 MKI interiors are few and far between. The only photos I could find of the car under the skin are of the restored car. I like how the light blue colour of the tub is a nice contrast that allows other components to stand out rather than everything being painted black. Like the restored car and road versions, the battery is located in the engine compartment area. For extra detail, I am using photo-etch from Acu-stion and Studio 27 and the excellent decal sheet from Vintage Racing Miniatures [VRM]. A friend built what I consider the ultimate GT40 1075 a number of years ago. I remembered that he even drilled out all the holes in the seat. I decided to do the same. To paraphrase The Beatles in A Day in the Life – Three hundred holes in GT40 seats And though the holes were rather small I had to drill them all Now I know who many holes I’ll never drill again I did not turn me on

Thanks Thomas - I just checked out your gallery. Fantastic collection of models. I have never gotten into selling kits I might never build. Maybe I should. The additional cost of shipping has discouraged me from coming up with an appropriate selling price.

Great WIP thread. You are the king of 1st gen Mustang conversions. Round 2 should follow your lead and produce a proper 65/66 1/25 Mustang kit and while they are at it a 67/68 Notchback.

Very nice model. I am a big fan of first gen Mustangs especially race versions.

You definitely did a great job on this Mercedes. Probably the best looking 450 I have seen. I had a 450Sl for a years but never really warmed up to it. It just was not my sort of car. That being said I was given a 1/12 Doyusha 450SLC kit I might convert to a 450SL someday.

I saw Gilles race this car at the 1979 Gilles race this car at the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama. Photos during and parc ferme

Hi Steve - I just discovered your new great new project. You are doing wonderful work as always. I have built a number of models over the years as gifts for family and friends and found it to be a very rewarding experience both for me and the recipients. In the summer of 1967 a 442 Convertible was the first muscle car I ever had a ride in. The acceleration was amazing.

I dig the Porsche headlights o

Another great model. I am really glad you built this as it captures an interesting aspect of both automotive and model car history.

Coincidentally just last week I had a look at my AMT 250 SWB kit. I am certainly not considering anything like your surgery but thought about maybe using Fujimi 250 Testarossa under-pinnings. Previously I did clean up the body so maybe just for kicks I might even build it semi-stock stock. Looking forward to seeing yours after you perform your magic.

Thanks Gary and Bill. I failed to mention that this is Ford GT40 P1037 if anyone wants to research it.

Thanks you Andrew and Rich. Now that I have started I do have a plan. I am going to complete the interior, underpan and front suspension before moving onto the engine, then finally the body

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.