Sebring 12 Hours 1964 Proposed group build thread

[Phildaupho]

  On 9/16/2023 at 7:37 PM, Scooter757 said:

 

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Scott - Very impressive Grand Sport build especially all the added detail. I am away until mid October so the completion of my GS is still a ways off.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Phildaupho

[Misha]

It has been just over a year since I first posted my planned MGB build for the 64 Sebring 12 Hour anniversary in March. Travels and health have kept me away from the workbench until this past week! During the downtime I did research the car and race finding a number of sources on the web. Auction sites also provided a wealth of information with detailed photos. Yet one needs to be aware of changes made to vehicles to conform to current vintage race regs that would not have been in place back in the 60s.

In building the blue #48 from the trio entered at Sebring I began with prepping the body for primer. To deepen the panel lines I used the Tamiya scriber with the fine edged inserts that has become my go to tool for this. Checking my photo references I made the cutout for the gas filler cap and closed off the stock opening. 

The exhaust pipe also required an alteration to have it exit in front of the rear wheel. 

The grill is finely cast with open spaces between the vertical bars making it easy to alter to fit the driving lights. Being a curbside there isn’t an engine bay to speak of, so I scratch built an assembly to fit behind the grill to attach the lights and to install the prominent oil cooler. 

The biggest challenge so far was converting the MG to left hand drive as the three cars were North American versions. Using the same scriber the cut out the gauge cluster and installed it on the other side. A thin sheet of plastic was cut to fit the passenger side and detailed with the glovebox. 

MG wanted the cars to appear as stock as possible and made few changes to the interior. Stock seats remained with the white car only being fitted with a race seat. Carpeting was removed as was the rear cushion behind the seats. This required the removal of the molded in cushion in the kit. By flipping the cutout cushion over and reattaching it I had a decent representation of the revealed metal work. This still required a lot of fiddling around to get the interior tub to fit the chassis plate. 

Next up will be priming the body to get it ready for paint. Will also be mocking up the assembly to determine the stance. The kit does require a bit of lowering all the way around as it does sit high. 

 

Glad to be back working on this project, even with the other WIPs on the bench! 

Cheers Misha. 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Misha
Spellin’

[absmiami]

Yup

[Phildaupho]

Great progress Misha

[MarkJ]

Misha, what a great departure from the behemoth sports cars that got all the attention. This is one of the cars kids my age back then wanted to get for high school but mostly we ended up with 55 Chevy's. Looking forward to watching this one to completion.

[Misha]

I was able to get back to the workbench over the weekend to get a bit further with the MGB build. I had a quick look at the body before priming it to discover I had missed openings in the front and rear valances. Referring to photos and using two small drill sizes they were added and two existing openings in front were modified to be rectangular.  

 

 

In assembling the stock bucket seats a rather unsightly seam in the back was covered with piping as well as around the seat cushion. The seats required a lot of attention due to prominent mold seams. Additional sanding was needed to soften hard ridges along the seat back. Small details that help the overall scale look. 

While looking at the photos and comparing the kit chassis I couldn’t help to notice some omissions on an otherwise great curbside chassis. 

The most obvious were the two cage structures on either side of the rear end. The one housing the battery is a square blob and on the other side it is absent save for a slice of plastic. I decided to do a minimal fixup without attempting a complete rebuild. Using Plastistruct lengths of angle iron the blob has been outlined with greater definition. Not sure if I’ll tackle the empty cage on the other side. 

The other item is the void between the block and the bottom of the rad. 

Searching thru the parts department I assembled the parts that will fill the gap and offer a refinement to the curbside look. The cut down rad from another project fits perfectly while the pulley/fanbelt assembly needed to be pulled in tighter to fit. Fortunately the generator will fit right into the stock position filling in a gap. The fan also needed a trim to fit the engine bay. 

To finish off I primered the body after a through wet sanding with a  600 sponge, dry time and a dusting with an anti-static brush. Quite happy with the result so tempted to move onto the colour coats. 

I’ve switched the the LP Tamiya paints for most of my air brushing, yet I will need to mix up a colour match as a light shade of blue isn’t available. Going to begin with a small batch while noting the paint ratios before mixing a larger amount. 

Thanks to Andrew, Gary, JC, Phil and Mark for checking in on the build. Getting back the bench, cheers Misha

 

 

Whoops, some extra photos…

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Misha
Extra pics!

[absmiami]

Great stuff

[Rattlecan Dan]

I am currently in the process of turning a 1970 Corvette into a custom Cheetah. Would you allow such a build? Perhaps #70. Or are the rules for LeMans entrants strictly.

[MarkJ]

Donato, I hope you don't stop on the Cheetah if it's not allowed. I would have never thought you could make one from a Corvette but there it is. Do you have any photos of the Cheetah you are doing from the race?  Misha, the MGB is coming along very nicely. I especially like the seat work you have done.

[Pierre Rivard]

  On 9/25/2023 at 10:17 PM, Misha said:

I was able to get back to the workbench over the weekend to get a bit further with the MGB build. I had a quick look at the body before priming it to discover I had missed openings in the front and rear valances. Referring to photos and using two small drill sizes they were added and two existing openings in front were modified to be rectangular.  

 

 

In assembling the stock bucket seats a rather unsightly seam in the back was covered with piping as well as around the seat cushion. The seats required a lot of attention due to prominent mold seams. Additional sanding was needed to soften hard ridges along the seat back. Small details that help the overall scale look. 

While looking at the photos and comparing the kit chassis I couldn’t help to notice some omissions on an otherwise great curbside chassis. 

The most obvious were the two cage structures on either side of the rear end. The one housing the battery is a square blob and on the other side it is absent save for a slice of plastic. I decided to do a minimal fixup without attempting a complete rebuild. Using Plastistruct lengths of angle iron the blob has been outlined with greater definition. Not sure if I’ll tackle the empty cage on the other side. 

The other item is the void between the block and the bottom of the rad. 

Searching thru the parts department I assembled the parts that will fill the gap and offer a refinement to the curbside look. The cut down rad from another project fits perfectly while the pulley/fanbelt assembly needed to be pulled in tighter to fit. Fortunately the generator will fit right into the stock position filling in a gap. The fan also needed a trim to fit the engine bay. 

To finish off I primered the body after a through wet sanding with a  600 sponge, dry time and a dusting with an anti-static brush. Quite happy with the result so tempted to move onto the colour coats. 

I’ve switched the the LP Tamiya paints for most of my air brushing, yet I will need to mix up a colour match as a light shade of blue isn’t available. Going to begin with a small batch while noting the paint ratios before mixing a larger amount. 

Thanks to Andrew, Gary, JC, Phil and Mark for checking in on the build. Getting back the bench, cheers Misha

 

 

Whoops, some extra photos…

 

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Beautiful work Misha. This car looks cool and I love the the content you are adding to replicate the racing car as it was then. A most worthy entry to the 64 Sebring field. Thanks for sharing.

[absmiami]

so I got an idea - there were a number of fascinating entries that were no shows - 

such as the early Ford GT40's - they weren't quite baked in March of 64 - so they were not entered

so we'll just pretend that said Cheeta was an entry - so it's in

looks great anyway ...

by the way - give it a race number NOT used by the starters ..

 

 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Thanks for the kind response. The #8 was a Corvette no show according to the list. Perhaps I could use that # ?

[MarkJ]

Donato, Do you have some history on the Cheetah. Was it actually a cut down version of the Corvette? I always thought they were way cool looking.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Enter Bill Thomas Cheetah in your search. Wikipedia has great info on the origin and history.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Andrew, I apologize for typing in LeMans instead of Sebring in my earlier message. I am waiting for you to confirm that I may use the #8. Thank You.

[absmiami]

Why not - 8 is yours - 

[MarkJ]

  On 9/26/2023 at 10:37 PM, Rattlecan Dan said:

Enter Bill Thomas Cheetah in your search. Wikipedia has great info on the origin and history.

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I will definitely do that.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Thanks Andrew.

[MarkJ]

Donato, too bad they changed the homologation rules which made Chevy pull its support for the Cheetah. That would have been cool if it could have been fully developed into a viable race car. It sure was racy looking. Looking forward to your finished build.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Mark, Something for you. Check it out. 

 

[MarkJ]

Thanks, Donato. That was a very exhilarating you tube video. Makes you wonder what happened behind the scenes that caused the scca to change the homologation rules from 100 to 1000? Can you say FOMOCO had something to do with it. 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Little update. Coming along...slowly. Much fun. 

[MarkJ]

Donato, what you are doing here is truly amazing. Turning a corvette into this creation is modeling in its highest form.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Those camera pics sure show all the flaws and things that need attention, don't they? Lol. Can't believe I didn't notice the dent in the nose, etc. Thanks for viewing.

[Scooter757]

  On 9/16/2023 at 7:18 PM, Gramps46 said:

FWIW - CSX 2127 1964 Sebring

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Can Gramps46 or anyone help shed some light on the area behind the front fenders that flair out. Was this required for a reason or a rule?