FIA 289 Cobra

[Rich Chernosky]

My collection of Cobra's would not have been complete without a FIA Cobra. I was so pleased when Revell released this kit. I had considered converting AMT's kit to one of these but Revell saved me the trouble.  Color is Testors 1804 Pearl metallic with 2K clear. I left the body mostly stock and concentrated on the details, in particular the engine and the steering. This model is my version of a restored car.  And yes...I took a few liberties. The rest of the details are in the picture captions.

Much work was needed to get the wheels to steer prototypically. 

  The front uprights required the most modification  with the addition of several hinge points. 

 

Lots of love went into the detail of this engine with wiring, fuel lines and carb linkage, and of course detail painting. 

 

 Finished car up on its wheels. The white roundel was cut from white plastic tape and the numbers came out of archives.  Attaching the wing windows to the window  took special care. 

 

The exhaust was fist painted Alcad chrome then a light spray of Tamiya X-19 semi black. the wire holdiung it to the rear of the body was a necessity.

 

 Front view shows the agressive stance of this car.  I cut the oil cooler open and added a radiator. the opening was way too small and the molded in radiator just didn't look right. 

 

[cobraman]

Looks fantastic !  Great work, love it !

[vamach1]

Very nice job on a kit that has its roots back over 55 years.  The paint color looks great.

Edited June 16, 2021 by vamach1

[oldscool]

Very nice cobra.

[kruleworld]

awesome build. love the engine detail

[Dave B]

Hi Rich, that's a nice build but it leaves me confused. It looks like a 427 body but with 289 font suspension and wheels from the Sunny kit.

Dave B

[ChrisR]

Nice!

[Steamboat]

Beautiful!

[afx]

Nice work.  The kit isn't perfect but with effort it can build a nice replica.

[Gramps46]

Impressive attention to the details especially your signature posable steering.  Your engine could be a stand alone model, right down to carb linkage, fuel lines, etc.

[Rich Chernosky]

12 hours ago, cobraman said:

Looks fantastic !  Great work, love it !

Thanks Ray..I thought you would. 

11 hours ago, vamach1 said:

Very nice job on a kit that has its roots back over 55 years.

You are correct Rex, I built one when it first came out. It was like re-visiting an old friend.

11 hours ago, oldscool said:

Very nice cobra.

Thank you

 

10 hours ago, kruleworld said:

awesome build. love the engine detail

Thanks, I wanted that engine to be special. 

 

4 hours ago, Dave B said:

Hi Rich, that's a nice build but it leaves me confused. It looks like a 427 body but with 289 font suspension and wheels from the Sunny kit.

Dave B

You are not wrong Dave.....Revell borrowed the body from Sunny, chassis from AMT, and bits and pieces from other kits.  Saved me the trouble though.  Thanks

 

3 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Nice!

 

Thanks you

1 hour ago, Steamboat said:

Beautiful!

Thank you

 

1 hour ago, afx said:

Nice work.  The kit isn't perfect but with effort it can build a nice replica.

Thanks JC...I agree the kit was far from perfect but it was what I wanted to build at this time. 

 

26 minutes ago, Gramps46 said:

Impressive attention to the details especially your signature posable steering.  Your engine could be a stand alone model, right down to carb linkage, fuel lines, etc.

As always Gary, really appreciate the compliments. 

 

[Rich Chernosky]

Forgot to add this shot of the interior. Special attention was paid to the steering wheel. the seat belts are photo  etch items that came from the Fujimi 427 Cobra kit.   I suppose that was fitting. 

[Turbo95187]

Beautiful as always Rich.  Will have to come up and see this beauty in person!

[Rich Chernosky]

1 minute ago, Turbo95187 said:

Beautiful as always Rich.  Will have to come up and see this beauty in person!

You are certainly welcome to, as always. 

[vamach1]

1 hour ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Forgot to add this shot of the interior. Special attention was paid to the steering wheel. the seat belts are photo  etch items that came from the Fujimi 427 Cobra kit.   I suppose that was fitting. 

Looks fantastic and I can read the numbers on the guages.

[papajohn97]

Very impressive job Rich on the front end mechanicals, interior and all of the engine detailing. On the Webber carb inlet screens, are those decals or actual metal screen or PE? If $$$ was no object and I could have any 1:1 Cobra I wanted, it would be one of these earlier small block cars (without the wide flared fender 427 look).

 

[Scalper]

Nice work... like the paint job 

[Rich Chernosky]

1 minute ago, papajohn97 said:

Very impressive job Rich on the front end mechanicals, interior and all of the engine detailing. On the Webber carb inlet screens, are those decals or actual metal screen or PE? If $$$ was no object and I could have any 1:1 Cobra I wanted, it would be one of these earlier small block cars (without the wide flared fender 427 look).

 

John...those are decals and they came with the kit. I had originally intended to machine new trumpets and add the center tube but it was more work than I wanted and the decal screens looked almost as good.  The restored car I modeled this after is up for grabs BTW....just in case you are actually serious. 

[Rich Chernosky]

10 minutes ago, vamach1 said:

Looks fantastic and I can read the numbers on the guages.

You have good eyes Rex, that's how good the Cartograf decals that came in the kit are. I covered them with several layers of clear BTW.

 

6 minutes ago, papajohn97 said:

Very impressive job Rich on the front end mechanicals, interior and all of the engine detailing. On the Webber carb inlet screens, are those decals or actual metal screen or PE? If $$$ was no object and I could have any 1:1 Cobra I wanted, it would be one of these earlier small block cars (without the wide flared fender 427 look).

 

 

Just now, Scalper said:

Nice work... like the paint job 

Thank you

 

[vamach1]

35 minutes ago, papajohn97 said:

Very impressive job Rich on the front end mechanicals, interior and all of the engine detailing. On the Webber carb inlet screens, are those decals or actual metal screen or PE? If $$$ was no object and I could have any 1:1 Cobra I wanted, it would be one of these earlier small block cars (without the wide flared fender 427 look).

 

Hard to decide unless you have your own museum.

[Rich Chernosky]

20 hours ago, vamach1 said:

Hard to decide unless you have your own museum.

Rex........whose collection is this?? . I remember a Shelby reunion at Watkins Glen some years back and most of these cars were there. At least the same numbers. The owner of the Cobra GT that won the manufacturers championship let me sit in his car and told me all about while I took pictures. It was one of those memorable moments. My Gunze Cobra GT was modeled after the pictures. 

[vamach1]

1 hour ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Rex........whose collection is this?? . I remember a Shelby reunion at Watkins Glen some years back and most of these cars were there. At least the same numbers. The owner of the Cobra GT that won the manufacturers championship let me sit in his car and told me all about while I took pictures. It was one of those memorable moments. My Gunze Cobra GT was modeled after the pictures. 

It’s is the Miller family Shelby American Collection in Boulder Colorado.  I visited there in January this year.

[David G.]

Impressive detailing, everything looks spot-on!

David G.

[cobraman]

Drool worthy photos.

[Rich Chernosky]

Rex...thank you for all the pictures.  I believe this was the group at the glen.  That must have been quite the visit.