Cato

Substantially improved pics Henry, thanks. The build is a knockout and has the brute look of serious race cars. You nailed it with a lot of imagination too.

Henry-that thing is BAD! Killer detail-I think! Please take better pictures so we can fully appreciate your skills.

The wheels actually bother me more than the tank. You made a fine mod of that and yours is beautiful. The kit wheels---I wish one of the machinist guys was making those. BTW- been meaning to show you the Stanley Mann site-restoration specialist. http://www.stanleymann.com/showcar.asp?ID=250 Used to have multi-page ads in Classic and Sports Car (Brit) which you can drool over. Look at these wheels. He just lost a law suit over a resto he did for a woman that was essentially an 'air car'. About $800K worth.

C'mon Harry-want to see how you handled the wheels...

No harm Highway. There are significant differences between 9.5 Windsors and 10.17 FE's but in 1/24 or 1/25, they seem like a dizzy up front, a carb on top and chromey valve covers and the kit manufacturer calls it good. Let's hope we've helped Kaleb.

Hold on a minute... The top photo is a 9.5 deck 351, Windsor based engine. It may be 427 sized but we don't know that. The lower model photo is correct for an FE 427. Notice the exhaust ports on an FE are extended from the head side. Not so on Windsors. Here is my 427 Sideoiler FE and you can clearly see the wiring and ports. The plug tips angle forward on the forward two cylinders and rearward on the last two. Here are the aluminum heads being installed and you can clearly see the angled plugs: Blower installations on these can be found on nostalgia drag race web sites.

Amazing how water down the intake doesn't put the fire out huh?

Harry, as I said earlier in the thread-I'd use wire, tubing and styrene gussets everywhere I could without being conspicuous. Once most of it is painted dark green it will mostly disappear.

Front mounted Potvin blower and two Kinsler mechanical injectors. Prolly takes air from below the open chassis. Yes-I'm that old...

Brush some liquid styrene cement on them and let dry. That will texture them slightly. Then paint with semi flat black to match OE Hemi covers. Try on a test piece of sprue if you're unsure. Works on dashboards too.

My bad Dave-ya got me! I was thinking Vertex and completely missed the Elephant in the room too!

Great model. Really tame though when you consider the HORRID fantasy/warrior/dungeons vid games of today-non-stop violence and bloodshed.

Great old-timey, 'bucks-down' look Robert. Other than the plug terminals and a distributor instead of magneto it's very faithful to period correct. I crewed on a local shop's bucks-down car just like that from '68 to '71. It spent more time on the tow rope than the asphalt!

A. Build glass cases for your prize builds. B. Re-assign said cleaning lady to bathrooms only...

Harry, Superb job. Combine a talented guy with voluminous reference and this caliber of work results. You're putting on a clinic here. Really should be in the magazine. Just a possible word of caution: I built mine in the '80's and I remember it being somewhat 'rickety' on its wheels. The detail you're adding is also adding weight. Mine survived our house move four years ago but the cycle fenders and front axle pins seem way too fragile. You're probably past that build point but maybe some gussets, brass tube axles in the uprights and .045" wire for the fender attachments would make for a more solid base. I'll someday re-kit mine and shoot for a build like yours and incorporate some of the strength-adding features. The aircraft guys do it all the time with white metal landing gear and such. But it sure won't look a fraction as good as yours.

No, the block and heads were black.

Can't say enough. John, you rock. Thanks for the inspiration you bring here.

Have you seen the headlight ring I suggested in your other thread?

Try those very simple, one loop key rings, the cheap kind. Look like a paper clip bent into a perfect circle with an overlap to slide keys onto. Dunno if the diameter works but worth a look...

The only other model I've ever seen even near what you accomplished is Kyosho's 1/12 S/C. http://www.diecast.org/diecast98/html/asp/list_reviews/xq/ASP/id.KY08631B/qx/reviewpix.htm But it's a die cast with some of that 'clunkiness' that goes with them-but the shape is also dead-on. Yours is a superior accomplishment in my view because it's a hand-carved piece of art. And you've definitely captured the soul of the Cobra. Should you ever want Cobra 'technical support', just PM me.

Thanks for the tech info about your material. I would surely read your book.

Mike, Is the foam you carve called RenShape? http://www.freemansupply.com/RenShape5045Polyur.htm

Mike-make no mistake-I'm not picking on 'imperfections'! The work is fantastic as is. I'm simply offering facts should you wish to modify your parts in the future and help others who may view your thread and want to build them as they actually were. A problem for builders is that today there are so many 1:1 replicas on the web as reference that are built to their owners taste but not as originals were. One has to be careful what one uses for reference where accuracy is desired. I didn't 'miss' one-you got it RIGHT! There were NO grommets around the roll bars of Comps and S/C's. And mostly none around the front and rear jack hooks! That came much later from the replica guys. I have none on my roll bar-you have to make perfect holes and a slot and I did. Your garage is doing just fine with a Boxster and Elise inside...you have good taste.

Torque Thrusts on the Cheetah please.

Mike, You've satisfied my request for photos perfectly. Your car is the benchmark for models of Cobras. Some facts for reference should you wish to refine the next one or build for production: The front park lights have a thin chrome bezel-the light you did is superb with the orange bulb in white cover. The steering wheel is flatter with about a 1" dish and 16" around on originals. The shifter you chose is from the small block cars-big blocks have the forward bent Mustang shifter. I'm sure you made these choices simply because you prefer the way they look. The body at the tail lights seems to have a slight 'edge' but 1:1's just have a gently flowing curve-it's very subtle and hard to do. Also a more gradual angle as it tapers downward under the car. Magnesium Halibrands have the stems outboard on the rim a bit, not inside the spokes. You have modeled (perfectly) aluminum replicas. The aluminum over the oil cooler is raised like a small 'roof', not flat. In fact, it's called a 'dog house'. The cooler is taller than the 'shelf' in the nose. I agree, RP is the wrong process to capture metal surfaces and sharp details. It's very labor intensive to get it smooth. The tires are stunning-did you carve yours and then cast them? Never seen G'years in this scale before. A nit - the letters do not have raised edges-they are sprayed through a stencil and have soft edges-see mine. And Goodyear was very careless about it-they're race tires. And friendly advice-forget Superformance. Your standards are much higher than that. It's the 'Monogram' of 1:1 replicas. Search for an aluminum Kirkham, CSX or ERA. And build it yourself, your way, like I did.