Essex Wire Cobra

[Ben269]

I started this with the hope that it will be a quick build.   Time will tell.  Does anyone know if this car had a black (carpeted) interior, or a stripped down aluminum one?  Also, which valve covers would it have?  Most pictures of competition cars show them with the chrome ones, but this kit comes with the finned aluminum ones.  I can't find any good pictures of this car from back in the day.  There are pictures of the car in its current iteration, but it seems to have modern changes and equipment.  

[Ben269]

I am struggling to upload photos now.  I am dragging them into the spot, it starts downloading, and then says "upload failed."  Any ideas?

[afx]

No carpet, aluminum valve covers.  Right click to copy the picture/ right click to paste.

 

I used the smooth valve covers from the Fujimi kit on my 427 Cobra build.

Edited November 29, 2017 by afx

[Gramps46]

This picture may not help a whole lot but it is original, I took it myself at Mid Ohio, August 1965.

[vamach1]

[250 Testa Rossa]

Telling by the photos, this car original ran with six-slot Halibrand mags and Firestone tires. The mags are available from Historic Racing Miniatures. 

[Ben269]

Wow, thanks for the reference pics, guys.  I can tell from Gary's picture that the car did have a wood wheel, and the red knockoffs from Rex's.  

Maxx, I'll check out those wheels.  JC, I looked through your #6 427 build for some ideas yesterday.   That car turned out very nice.   

 

[Jhedir6]

2 hours ago, Ben269 said:

Wow, thanks for the reference pics, guys.  I can tell from Gary's picture that the car did have a wood wheel, and the red knockoffs from Rex's.  

Maxx, I'll check out those wheels.  JC, I looked through your #6 427 build for some ideas yesterday.   That car turned out very nice.   

 

Cool project Ben. You had me at Shelby tho....

For the HRM stuff, contact Randy at https://www.modelbuilderswh.com/  he's a distributor for HRM stuff. And he's in Colorado too, should be a short shipping window.

Keep us updated.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Jhedir6

[65slotcar]

from my cobra world registry book,   competition cobra's like  (csx3009  essex  wire) ran smooth  chrome valve covers ,single 4 barrel and no air cleaner.   an  aircraft battery behind passenger seat and some used a different drivers seat.  about an hour drive from my house is the Cobra Experience Museum Martinez California . here are a few pics of csx3022  competition cobra.

[Gramps46]

One of the differences from stock on CSX3009 was the lip on the rear fenders was smoothed out as you can see in the photos.  I built mine before the Monogram Essex Wire kit was released so the decals are kind of funky now.  Dry rub-on lettering on clear decal which has now yellowed. 

[afx]

8 hours ago, Ben269 said:

JC, I looked through your #6 427 build for some ideas yesterday.   That car turned out very nice.   

 

Thanks Ben.  My build is based on the Sunny kit in 1/25 scale.  If you have any questions about what I did just ask.

[vamach1]

Great to see one of the old pictures from the 90's that I am guessing you scanned.  Feel free to post up more.  Not everyone was online 25 years ago.

[Ben269]

[65slotcar]

i found those gauge faces hard to cut out , so i used  gauge  decals  from this street burner cobra kit.  painted the gauge part all silver, applied decals and finished off  with  a dab of clear 5 minute opoxy to make it look like glass.  maybe hard to tell from picture

[Gramps46]

I like what you have done Ben, and William with the dash gauges.

What is ironic is both Monogram kits, the Essex Wire (1965) and the Street Burner (#2 Feinstein 1974) kits are based upon chassis CSX3009, just different periods in its lifespan.

[afx]

The later iteration of CSX3009 Gary mentions.

[Phildaupho]

Your dash & gauges look great. One thing lacking in the Rev/Mom 427 kits and subsequent builds are the front inner fender/engine compartment side panels. I am not sure if these are available after-market but the Fujimi 427 has them which could be used as templates.

[Racersonly]

Many years ago, already, I did a wheel alignment on the actual Feinstein Cobra for a vintage event at Road America. I had no idea that it was the Essex Wire car too. Lots-o-history there.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Racersonly

[Ben269]

So I'm back to not being able to post pictures again.  It seems they work if they are 2.0 mb or smaller, but not any larger than that. Is there a way to make them smaller? 

[Ben269]

I picked up those wheels from Historic Racing Miniatures.  They look great.  I'll post a pic of them when I figure out what the issue is.   From Gary and Rex's photos, they look like they should be magnesium, right?  I think ill try mixing a little black in with some aluminum and see if that looks right.

[Gramps46]

8 hours ago, Ben269 said:

I picked up those wheels from Historic Racing Miniatures.  They look great.  I'll post a pic of them when I figure out what the issue is.   From Gary and Rex's photos, they look like they should be magnesium, right?  I think ill try mixing a little black in with some aluminum and see if that looks right.

Ben,

The outer rims were shinny because they were machined I am thinking but the centers are as cast and would be darker as you suggest.

I use an app called Paint to reduce the size of my photos.

[Randy D]

Hi Ben,

  Looks like you are off to a good start with this one!!

Look forward to more progress,

Randy

[Ben269]

This car was a pure white, right, not a off white or Wimbledon white?

[Ben269]

[Ben269]