Building Monogram's Street and Revell's Racing Version of Shelby Cobra.

[W-409]

This is my newest project. I love these old Monogram kits, this one is looking very good, there are lots of parts and they are looking nice! Good looking parts there. Specially I like those wheels and tires. Bad thing is that this is molded to red... But that really doesn't matter too much... There are no chrome parts, those parts are looking like metal, not chrome... Good job, Monogram. This will be some kind of street machine...

It's great that this kit has very good top option, I'll be using it for sure... I painted the engine with blue, it's now painted twice, but red is still like "you can see it", must paint it one more time... I have also that Revell's new kit from this, It will be great race car, but this is going to be street machine...

But the biggest thing, I did today was tires and wheels, they were looking very good. I usually don't like BBS style spoke wheels, but these were looking very nice and that's why I'll be using them. I think, they are looking good under the Cobra too. These wheels are made very nicely, they are made from two pieces. There is the front side of the wheel, there are not so many spokes, but there is also rear side of the wheel. There are lot's of little spokes. Then of course there is some kind of brake drum/ wheel back... Rear tires are "Good Year GT Radial", you can see these tires in many kit's, for example Revell's '71 Buick GSX. There are no text but it's the same tire. Front tires are Michelin's tires. They are a little smaller... You can find those tires, for example Revell '66 El Camino.

Comments, ideas and tips etc. are very welcome!!!

Edited July 26, 2011 by W-409

[dwc43]

Rims and tires look good. Might have to track one of these down myself. I have a diecast Cobra I rebuilt to make it look more real, but I don't have any in plastic. Red molding should not make too much difference to me. A good primer will cover it up.

[W-409]

Thank you for the comments! Yes, good primer will cover it up, as you said. I'm trying to get some time to build this, but tomorrow should try starting '79 Buick after few years... But anyways, I got this kit from trade. Don't know is it in the USA, but here in Finland we have a "trade table", there are some model kits, if you have one which is not started, you can go there and say, "I trade this one to that". I traded '71 Mustang from Lindberg to this, that Mustang is awful kit, there are no any useful parts, exept the body... Engine is not looking good either, that's awful kit.

Yes, but engine is now painted three times, I must now put heads and valve covers, etc to it...

[W-409]

Little update to this one. Engine is starting to come together, now it's painted three times... Now it looks blue... Nothing special, it came together very nicely, there were no any problems. Valve covers and manifold fit perfectly! Transmission is painted by silver.

I also put plug wires to that engine, I have been using Detail Master's plug wires, stock wires, black. And red, black and yellow racing plug wire. But now I just bought Scale dreams black and red wire, there is 2 feet more material than in Detail Master's wire. It's matt coloured, detail Master's was shiney, and didn't look real. Now this is better, cheaper and so on. I use Scale Dream material!

[Cato]

Niko,

Your English is excellent and so are your building skills. Your carburetors are very well done but they can be improved. It appears you left some molding 'flash' around the linkage area and the vacuum breaks. I have removed the choke housings on mine so they look a little different than yours. Also the plug wires seem to replicate the 10mm drag racing wire not the stock original 7mm wire, A thinner set of model wires would improve it. See below:

Cheers,

[W-409]

Niko,

Your English is excellent and so are your building skills. Your carburetors are very well done but they can be improved. It appears you left some molding 'flash' around the linkage area and the vacuum breaks. I have removed the choke housings on mine so they look a little different than yours. Also the plug wires seem to replicate the 10mm drag racing wire not the stock original 7mm wire, A thinner set of model wires would improve it. See below:

Thank you! Yes, now I just understand that there are mold "flash" there, I thought before that they are something, what is in the real one... Have to remove. Plug wires are put just simplest way, and I hate that, so I leave them alone... But I have to make those carburetors better, thank you for the tip.

[W-409]

Some update to you! Today I have painted chassis parts, and the frame is also painted by silver. It looks pretty good, I think. The biggest thing, I did is the engine. Fuel lines are made from iron wire. I painted them by black. There was no fuel pump in the kit, that's why I found one from my "million box". Now I just connected those fuel lines and removed all molding flash from the carburetors. Lot better, I think. Headers are those, came with the kit now they are painted by silver, then I painted some clear blue and clear orange to them. Now they are looking like used...

Also I test fitted all of the body parts, I mean hood, top and the windscreen frame. Hood was fitting very nicely, no problem with it. But if the hood fitted very well, that top and windscreen frame didn't fit at all. Finally I got them to fit correctly with tape, but I'm a bit worried about how I can fit those painted parts... Is it possible that I put those painted parts together with tape and then using super glue, gluing those parts together from "wrong side".?

Comments welcome, thank you for looking!

[W-409]

Thank you, Cato for those two pictures, they are very good, and there I can see how to detail those carburetors. Well, now I put some detailing to the carburetors, they are looking ok. I used different types of "metal wires", like MIG welding wire and stuff like that. Engine needs just few little parts, and then it's ready to be mounted to the chassis...

Also the chassis work is pretty much done. That frame is painted by silver, and that rear end is gloss black... I also painted those chassis parts. Most of them are silver, but there is used other colours as well, of course. Front axle system was a bit tricky to install together, but after all, it looks pretty good. Those springs are painted by black, and then some red to give some realistic look. Rear end was bit tricky too, but there were less parts than in front. Rear axle is painted by silver and black, now it's looking pretty good, only tires and propeller shaft and engine are still missing from it.

Now I must start interior work also, and body must be primered, I have graved those panel lines with Trumpeter's graver. Radiator is first painted by silver, then I painted it by black and removed the black paint from it, now that looks more realistic, I can't explain better, because of my English, look from that picture.

They have made some updates to Photobucket again, so I must lear again how to use it...

But comments and tips etc. are welcome!

[crazyjim]

Looking good, Niko. Keep it going.

[oldcars]

That engine is a good looking model all by itself. I love it. Richard

[mrmike]

I built this exact same kit oh so many years ago and over the years, the chrome has faded away, particularly on the wheels and bumpers. I may just have to rebuild it and strip and Alclad II the wheels, bumpers, and other pieces. I like the detailing you are adding to this build. Keep it moving forward!

[Cato]

Niko,

The return spring for the linkage goes on the other (drivers) side of the engine. It is shorter and goes from the rear carb linkage back to a bracket bolted to the bottom corner of the carb. The thin rod is correct as you have it.

Both carbs seem to be mounted too far rearward-the rear carb is overhanging the manifold. There is an aluminum vent tube bolted to the rear of the manifold, behind the carb.

Study my photos above and you will clearly see all these things. Your workmanship is excellent, keep up the improvements.

[W-409]

Thank you for the nice words! Cato, as in your pictures, there are springs in the both sides. I must make that another one to that side also... I think, I leave that other thing just how it is right now...

But now the body is ready for primer. I sanded the body with 600 paper, then finishing with 1000 paper. Now it's ready. I used an eraser for a push. That's because there comes no any bowles to the body. Eraser is better than piece of wood, because the eraser is not so hard stuff... But anyways, there were pretty much sanding on the body, the wrong side of the hood, there were some ejector marks. I removed them with sandpaper. Now these parts are ready to primering.

Comments welcome.

[W-409]

Now Shelby Cobra is on four wheels. Tire and wheel combo fits perfectly, no problem with that. But I did little mockup, to check the ride reight and if I must make something better. No problem with that also... But when I test fitted the engine to chassis, it fits just perfectly, but when body is in place, engine system doesn't fit under the hood. Don't know, what I have to do for it but maybe I built new engine mounts or just do some modifications to those old ones... Don't know really what I have to do, I have also one hood with scoop but I really don't want to use it...

An other thing. I built that register plate frame ready to be mounted. I painted around of those textes by blue and then removed the paint off from the textes. Illinois plate is lots of better than "COBRA" what's also in the box... Next step, I must make that engine to fit and then primer the body and of course more work on the interior.

Thank you for looking, comments are welcome.

[DanielG]

GT Radials, my heart skipped a beat until I realized they are the wrong scale. Nice build anyway.

[Sport Suburban]

Don't relocate your motor. It is just fine. You mocked it up without the assembled interior tub. The body sits down to far without it. I just finished two Cobras this year and one of them is this street kit. Assemble the interior with the dash and top of the tub attached to the base and do another test fit.

[W-409]

DanielG: How those rear tires are wrong scale? I'm not sure that are they from this kit or not, but they fit fine. Those wheels fit also perfectly to them, and that's why I think that they are from this kit. But I can be wrong also.

Sport Suburban: Thank you for the info, I must build that interior right now, before I paint the body and then I'll do an other mock up. I was thinking about doing some modifications to it, but I thought that it would be better to look here first and it was really good thing!

Thank you for the comments, interior work is the next step to make this Cobra ready, I'm trying to finish this one in 2010, it would be very nice. That would be "quick build" from me, usually my builds are taking about an year...

[jaydar]

Does anyone know how this kit differs from the Revell 1/24 427 Cobra? I can tell the wheels are different but are there any other differences. I like the looks of this engine a lot.

joe.

[oldscool]

I built the last release of this kit and the differences I can see from the pics in this thread are:

1. no up top

2. different wheels

3.scoop on hood

4. only one carb with an airbox to seal it to the hood

5. tires in my kit are the well known "big and littles" that come in the 32 Ford kits

6. valve covers are the finned Cobra type

gus

Edited March 29, 2011 by GrumpyGus

[W-409]

Gerald says it all. I have Revell kit too, I like that this one is Street version, Revell is race car. This project is now waiting for interior cauges, I must print them out, but I haven't printer so I must give them to my dad, he can print them at work. Maybe I can get this one to continue pretty soon...

[Cato]

This project is now waiting for interior cauges, I must print them out, but I haven't printer so I must give them to my dad, he can print them at work.

Here are the Stewart Warner gauges in my car-some Cobras came with Smiths which are arranged the same but have different faces and bezels. Mine are arranged:

Tach then speedo are the large ones. The tach is turned sideways so the redline is up. Then water temp, oil pressure, oil temp across the top and amperes and fuel level at the bottom.

Hope this helps.

[W-409]

Yes, that helps very much! Thank you Cato, again!

[Sport Suburban]

I built the last release of this kit and the differences I can see from the pics in this thread are:

1. no up top

2. different wheels

3.scoop on hood

4. only one carb with an airbox to seal it to the hood

5. tires in my kit are the well known "big and littles" that come in the 32 Ford kits

6. valve covers are the finned Cobra type

gus

Don't forget that the dash's are different. The street kit has the same dash pictured above with a glove box. The race kit has a different dash layout and no glove box.

[W-409]

Finally I have a little update to this build. I painted some primer to the body, when the weather was good. It looks good now, no any mold seams anywhere and it's smooth. I'll be painting this body metallic blue, maybe with spray can, and white stripes. The top will be semigloss black.

And the hood must be painted with primer also from the other side.

Edited May 28, 2011 by W-409

[W-409]

Some paint to the body... It's from spray can, but needs still some clear. Paintjob looks pretty good at the moment. I post few pics also from the frame, because I mentioned that there are no any pics about the chassis without on all four wheels. I also built a top part to the distributor. This build needs now some interior work, it's getting there slowly but surely... The hood needs some primer to the otherside before I can paint it. And the top will be flat black, but I haven't any paint for it yet.