Bill J
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Posts posted by Bill J
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No one mentioned this. maybe relevant, HRM once made an upgrade kit for the Gunze Daytona coupe. It came with 2 piece wheels, tires most of an engine and all the cast metal and rubber parts are included in resin. The frame is built and in resin also. It makes building the Gunze kit much easier.
The 6 coupes are all a little different, most have a more rounded nose and look better to my eyes. The one used to model the Gunze was very flat across the nose. HRM copied that. The little Cobra Daytona coupes have an amazing race record and to me was the most significant American race car, definitely of the 1960's.
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I think those flame looking marks were for ease of identification. Most of the Fords that year had some unique markings. I also think the col,or of those marks was flourecent red on Ken Mile's car.
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That's a real beauty! Hardly ever see a Montego GT and your's is awesome
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Gerald, the Montego is looking amazing! I really appreciate the extra efforts to make this perfect
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Very nice!
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On 5/8/2020 at 10:04 AM, Motor City said:
Snake,
"It's either a Torino or a Cobra, but it's not a Torino Cobra. Both are variants of the Fairlane."
Yes and no. I have a mailer sent to my Dad from 1969. It's a colorful bi-fold with a snakeskin pattern printed on the outside. When you open it up, a Cobra head pops up! Part of the text reads, "In 1968, Torino Cobra scored the Grand Slam - stock car racing's triple crown - the championships in all three major racing circuits: NASCAR, USAC and ARCA."
When introduced for 1968, it was considered a sub-series of the Fairlane. Calling it just Cobra in conversation was causing confusion with the Ace-based Cobra sold by Shelby. Obviously if someone were to see the cars side-by-side, there would be no confusion. I think it's now usually referred to as a Torino Cobra to differentiate it from the Shelby Cobra. Shelby sued Ford over Ford's use of the Cobra name without his permission. I don't recall what the outcome of that was."
Correct, the car was officially a 1969 Torino Cobra. I bought a brand new one in 1969, Lime Gold with a 428 CJ Ram Air and a C6 automatic. It had the optional bucket seats, black interior and an 8 track player. Fun car and a good highway cruiser. I remember it cost about $4200 with 3 year payments around $125. Those were good times. Never heard of a law suit with Shelbly, I think I recall Ford buying the name from Shelby since he was done making the little Cobra we all love. The badges on my car said Cobra below the beautiful snake. Pretty common for people to steal the badges, they had a sticky back and just stuck on the car. I got tired of replacing them and took the last one off and stuck it on my tool box. The rear badge stayed, the badge was curved to fit the rear panel and no one bothered to steal one from me. I may still have one of the fender badges, haven't looked lately. I recall that all Torino Cobras had the 428 CJ in 1969 and the 429 CJ wedge in 1970-71. I test drove a 70 and decided I'd keep my 69. I seem to remember the Torino Cobra being released in the spring of 69, after the new car releases of the 69 model year cars were debuted in the fall of 68.
Kit wise, the annual was a 69 Torino GT, the grille is different and they probably reworked the GT molds, so the GT grille is a rare item. I would like to see the 68 Torino GT kit reissued, better side striping and the grille was unique to the 68 also,
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Nice project and looking good so far. I hope you have the add on number sheet with the correct numbers. None of Smokey Yunick's Pontiacs had foil numbers. There is a replica 62 around with foil numbers though. Here's a few pics to help.
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Very nice work on the painting. I am amazed you mixed up paints to hit Guardsman Blue, and you nailed it! very impressive Sir! Again, thank you for sharing all the tips and your creativity on this build. I know it will help me if I ever decide to take on my HRM Daytona Coupe. I used to think if I owned a bunch of watches I would never run out of time, it has worked so far but can I really count on that? Enjoy each day
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More fine work! Where does one acquire the necessary "cat hair"? Gotta love thise critters
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That is a real beauty Jason, super nice work on the Poncho
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Josh I really enjoy following along on the Cobra. Your work is outstanding, looking great, I apreciate the kevel of detail work you are sharing, shows what needs to be done to make a great model of a very significant race car.
Your follow along will sure be a help to me, I have been sitting on one of the HRM kits for at least 12 years. Super nice kit.
So thank you for all
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Amazing work on the Porsche! Really a work of art. The MFH kits are awesome but I have to say that seeing the work and attention it takes to build one, kind of makes me glad I can't afford a MFH kit
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Nice save on the Ferrari. Yes, there is only one Magnum and I cannot believe that the current version lasted more than a few episodes. Sick!
When my son was about 12 or so I gave him one of these kits. He is very meticulus and spent many hours painting and assembling the little 308. He left it at his Grand Mother's house and one day his 3 year old Nephew was over and Grand Ma grabbed the little red Ferrari and handed it to the 3 year old. Within a few minutes the car was in pieces and crushed. My son was very mad and said words to Grand Ma that she was surprised he knew. My boy never built another model, can't blame him.
As far as Ferrari's go, the 308 is a classic. I always liked the 328 more, a little cleaner and more power with the same lines as the 308. One of my work associates has a 328 GTSi and brought it to the office occasionally. Red, of course. Hasagawa made very nice 328 GT and GTS kits, still have a GTS to build one day. Maybe I will put it in a nice display case and give it to my son, he is 48 now and remembers his Ferrari model well
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Great looking Chevy
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Looks great Gerald! Another fine Dodge
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Looking great Gerald :)
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Looks great so far Gerald. I have every confidence that you'll make a great Montego for us mere mortals
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I would love a new tool 65/66 Mustang 2+2. Like Dave said, they could do the GT 350 versions and all would be big sellsers in 1/25 scale. THE orignal pony car!!
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1 hour ago, 1930fordpickup said:
Is there a school out your way to learn to use the lathe? We have a good community college here that you could take a class.
I need to look into that. There is a community college a mile from me. I think all the schools are still closed for the virus though. All the kids in elementary and high schools are doing virtual classes this year.
You are right, I shall look into the CC having some classes. Probably only need some basics.
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10 hours ago, Pete J. said:
Bill, what kind of lathe is it. Sometimes it can be converted back to manual. Using manual to start is a good way to learn how the machine works. Later you can get into the CNC stuff.
Pete the one i have is a manual lathe. My buddy had bought it, used, to try some machining and ended up buying a CNC machine. Since he was not using the manual lathe he gave it to me. I sure can't complain but I need to find way to learn how to use it.
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I wish I knew more about machining. I made something in metal shop in high school over 50 years ago, don't remember any of the processes. I bought a small lathe with a mill attachment and it sat for years and I traded it for a computer part. Always regretted that. A few years ago a friend asked me if I wanted a mini lathe that he was not going to use, he has a nice CNC machine. So I took this little lathe and once again I have not used it. It came with some tools and stuff, all of which are alien to me.
Not planning of letting this one go but I also have no idea when I will ever learn to use the thing. My friend with the CNC machine is not a machinist either and all he uses his CNC for is all programmed out and all he does is secure some material into it and press GO. Pretty amazing actually.
The crazy part is that when I was 19 I worked in a machine shop. I started sweeping and maybe cutting off stock on a large band saw. They were just beginning to train me to set up some actual machine work when I got a draft notice. It was 1966 after all.
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Maybe relevant to this discussion, most new muscle cars are priced out of the range of most of the buyers that they are meant to attract. What I mean by that is back in say 1969 a new Camaro Z-28 or Mustang Mach 1 was just a bit over $4000. A young person with most any job could buy one, or nearly any other muscle car they desired. Today, the top muscle cars are nearly all above $50K and most potential buyers cannot buy one, even with creative financing.
For that matter a new Jeep is priced out of the range of many who would like to own one. I know that for a hard fact because I have a 2012 Wrangler and a 2021 is about $15K more for an equally equipped model.
Any way, the cars you mention as not having kits are just not as popular in 1:1 either, in terms of sales. A nice new Corvette is very cool but so impractical and not a very sound investment either. I live in a large city with good weather and good streets and see a lot of cars. I have seen exactly 2 C7 Corvettes in all their years and not a single mid-engine 'vette. Cars are continuously pricing themselves out of existence.
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I know what Greg is saying. Cars were much more interesting and unique back in those days. They did not all look the same and they did not share power trains either. Today when you see a classic they are real head turners. However, there are fewer of us that remember the cars from when they were new. Unfortunately not everyone achieves some of our ages. Young people today are unlikely to identify with most cars of that early era.
From a model kit perspective, I would imagine the costs involved with tooling up a new kit and producing it in this volatile market would perhaps scare off the bean counters at most of the model making companies. I would imagine that Moebius, although having done well with their Hudson kits, under new ownership seem to be less interested in old orphaned car brands.
I have always wanted a model of a late '40's to early '50's Packard, which is much like the Hudsons of that time. I know it will never happen. Perhaps one of the reasons that the Hudson kit sold well was the movie connection from "Cars" and/or the NASCAR connection from the days when they raced real cars. I have to say, that every time I see "Back to The Future" I really enjoy seeing the old cars and particularly Doc Brown's yellow Packard convertible.
Yes, the subject is still very interesting to many of us but perhaps not enough to motivate the model companies to help us relive the past, sadly.
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Super job on the Cobra!
Gunze Sanyo Cobra Daytona Question
in Model Building Questions and Answers
Posted · Edited by Bill J
For sure the HRM kit is the kit to have. Amazing what is included and the craftsmanship is second to none. I have one of the HRM kits as well as one of the upgrade kits for the Gunze and a Gunze-Sanyo kits as well. Not enough time to build all these awesome cars