Survivor Resto--Original AMT 260 Cobra

[Snake45]

I built this AMT 260 Cobra (from the original issue box) in late 1966 or possibly early 1967. It is one of my first—possibly my very first—spray can paint jobs (Pactra Lemon Yellow). First or not, it is my oldest surviving original paint job. I think this might be my oldest surviving model in its original build form (I have a few older, but they’ve been paint-stripped and are awaiting rebuild).

Not much “restoration” was needed on this one, mainly just cleaning with dish soap & water and a soft brush. The left wind wing is missing, but I’ll make a much thinner, more accurate one sometime. The custom roof rear window is also missing. If it doesn’t turn up sooner or later, I’ll just pirate one out of a reissue of the kit (I have several on hand).

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For some reason I only have the race number on the right side. At this point I don’t remember if I ever put it on the left, or if it fell off, or if I scraped it off sometime over the decades.

As this is still a very common kit today, I’ll never rebuild this one, as it’s a genuine relic of my youth.  I have built another one, about 20 years ago, and hope to do another one or two before I kick it. It’s still a nice kit to this very day!

[Jmaracing]

Wow! Looks great ?

[Ron Hamilton]

Coooooolllll!1!!!

[D. Battista]

Pretty cool.....! 

[donb]

How cool is that! You have models you built from the 60's? Very very impressive. And the Cobra is pretty darn nice too. 

[Erik Smith]

Cool model...but how in the world did you keep it all these years? Most of mine either got the BB gun or smoke bomb burnout. 

Edited December 23, 2016 by Erik Smith

[PARTSMARTY]

A real survivor-wow !!!

[afx]

Nice.  I love AMT's Cobra kit.

[TooOld]

Very cool , another survivor gets dusted off !  And you can't beat a Cobra ! 

[disabled modeler]

very nice...its great to see these old survivors still out there somewhere hiding. 

[bbowser]

it's very cool you still have these from your past.  I wish I still had some of mine from the sixties but they're all long gone.

[PorkChopPaws]

I envy you guys who still have your childhood builds. When I went in the Marine Corps in 1967 my mom pitched all of my cars in the trash.Nice build BTW.

[Snake45]

Cool model...but how in the world did you keep it all these years? Most of mine either got the BB gun or smoke bomb burnout. 

I've never deliberately destroyed a model. We had a fire in the basement around Christmastime of 1968 that destroyed most of my early ones, but this one (and a few others) were in a different part of the house at the time. I still have the instruction sheet and maybe what's left of the decal sheet from this one. I wish I still had the cool original box (and a bunch of other things, too).

[Johnt671]

Love to see the old builds. Nice job saving it through the years.

I envy you guys who still have your childhood builds. When I went in the Marine Corps in 1967 my mom pitched all of my cars in the trash.Nice build BTW.

Mine did the same to mine plus threw out my baseball card collection that went back to the late50's. I was not happy when I came home.

[gtx6970]

That is so very cool.

Ive got a few from many many years ago.....but nuttin that far back

[vintagercr]

That's cool!

[PorkChopPaws]

Love to see the old builds. Nice job saving it through the years.

Mine did the same to mine plus threw out my baseball card collection that went back to the late50's. I was not happy when I came home.

I had baseball cards too! I had the entire 1959 set which is supposed to be very valuable.They were all gone too.What cracked me up was the old man bought a new power mower and a power edger when I went in the service.The push mower and hand clippers retired when he lost his slave...LOL 

[slusher]

Very nice Snake..

[Snake45]

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. Looks like I'm not the only one who likes to take an occasional stroll down Memory Lane. Good Times....

[STYRENE-SURFER]

Wow, nice to see an old build like this. 

You did good work, myself I was around six years old and building ship models to light on fire and sink in our pool.

Memory lane 

 

 

[tbill]

that's cool that you have builds from your youth, and are 'lightly restoring' them. like many others, mine are all gone, and probably in a landfill somewhere. upside of my story is, i have been able to repurchase unbuilt kits of all the stuff i remember building, and as i slowly build them, it takes me right back to when i did them the first time

[vamach1]

I have extra parts if you need them.  I have about six of these unbuilt from the various versions issued over the years.

[landman]

This is great! It lasted all those years. i wish I knew where mine went to.

[Snake45]

I have extra parts if you need them.  I have about six of these unbuilt from the various versions issued over the years.

So do I, but I appreciate the offer.