1965 Revell Shelby Cobra 427- WIP

A 'New' cobra would be great.  I've got the monogram kit in the stash - I would really like to find GTM models Ken Miles at Willow Springs kit with the broken windsheild and dented trunk just like the move.

Awesome job with the tires.  The Cobra is a super cool car.  Funny thing.  Last Saturday while driving for work in southern Maryland I heard the thunderous roar of a car engine.  In the opposite lane a blue Cobra with the white strip went flying by.  Then about an hour later I saw another one.  This one red and white.  

I've had my eye on this kit for some time. It'll be great watching you build it.

Also looking forward to your paint selection for the body.

....and what Paul said, wheels and tires look great.

I have an older boxing of the Cobra kit from Monogram. Looks like it got reboxed under Hasegawa too, wierd. I've also built the old MPC large scale Cobra, which is a great kit when you can get one. 

I am looking forward to seeing this as the Cobra is my #1 dream car on my all time cool car list.

BK

Greg

I've had my eye on this kit for some time. It'll be great watching you build it.

Also looking forward to your paint selection for the body.

....and what Paul said, wheels and tires look great.

 

wpwar11

Awesome job with the tires.  The Cobra is a super cool car.  Funny thing.  Last Saturday while driving for work in southern Maryland I heard the thunderous roar of a car engine.  In the opposite lane a blue Cobra with the white strip went flying by.  Then about an hour later I saw another one.  This one red and white.  

 

A few years ago I was at a car show and a man was showing off his "real" 1965, 427 Cobra. He had the original bill of sales from a local Ford dealership. The invoice indicated that he traded-in his Corvette for the Cobra. He also had a signed letter from Carroll Shelby thanking him for purchasing a Cobra. The Cobra had a number of minor dings in the body and the paint needed to be redone. It looked everypart its age. The man used the Cobra as a Summer daily-drive when he first purchased it. He said that the car was very crude. It had no heater, no interior upholstered panels on the doors,  no door windows and no top. He never drove it when rain was forecast. He said that the car was designed and built for only one purpose. To go as fast as Hell.

Here is an interesting article about the Cobra: https://www.topspeed.com/cars/shelby/1965-shelby-427-cobra/

Cool car and build. Will be watching this beauty come together.

This car has a very strange frame. It consists of large diameter steel tubes welded into an assembly resembling a ladder. I painted it flat black and gave it a mild weathering. I'll assemble the parts today and provide an update tomorrow.

This is the rear suspension from two different view points.

This is the front suspension.

I don't know about you guys, but these suspension systems look like something somebody made in their garage after a bunch of beers.

hi johnnyK!

     Listen to you! A man that build one of these and have it all join together with all four tires touching the tabletop, gets my Hurrah of the month!

Looking good Johnny.  Remeber these were race cars, built for speed not comfort.  I built one of the Accurate Miniatures Grand Sport Corvettes (white one) and it had a very similar chassis.

JohnnyK

 

 

wpwar11

Awesome job with the tires.  The Cobra is a super cool car.  Funny thing.  Last Saturday while driving for work in southern Maryland I heard the thunderous roar of a car engine.  In the opposite lane a blue Cobra with the white strip went flying by.  Then about an hour later I saw another one.  This one red and white.  

 

 

 

 

Thanks regarding the tires and wheels. I would guess that the cobras that you saw where "replica kits". I would doubt that an owner of a real Cobra would drive it around town for fear of getting into an accident in a $1.3 million car.

 

A few years ago I was at a car show and a man was showing off his "real" 1965, 427 Cobra. He had the original bill of sales from a local Ford dealership. The invoice indicated that he traded-in his Corvette for the Cobra. He also had a signed letter from Carroll Shelby thanking him for purchasing a Cobra. The Cobra had a number of minor dings in the body and the paint needed to be redone. It looked everypart its age. The man used the Cobra as a Summer daily-drive when he first purchased it. He said that the car was very crude. It had no heater, no interior upholstered panels on the doors,  no door windows and no top. He never drove it when rain was forecast. He said that the car was designed and built for only one purpose. To go as fast as Hell.

 

With those tubes, it looks more like a FAMO chassis than a car frame.

Clamps were required to make the sides of the engine block fit properly.

I removed the chrome finish from the intake manifold, dry-sump pan and carb. 

I purchased a pre-wired distributor from MAD. 

Now comes the $64,000 question. Was the 427 painted blue or black. I visited a number of Cobra websites and the consensus is that a 1965 427 was painted black. So be it.

The engine block is black and the transmission is a medium grey. The nasty looking seam on top of the transmission will be hidden once the model is finished. The intake manifold is painted flat aluminum. I added some "earth" colored weathering to the intake manifold. The cold air box is painted Testors' Aluminum Plate which is buffed to a nice shine. The top edge of the cold air box is painted grey to mimic the foam gasket on the 1:1 car.  The carb is painted aluminum with brass highlights on the float bowls and the choke plate. I think that most of the carb will be hidden by the air cleaner. The valve covers on the 1:1 car were cast and were painted black. After the paint dried I scrapped the paint from the cooling ribs using the back of a hobby knife. The wired distributor adds a nice look.

Coming along nicely. Keep up the good work.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

To My Knowledge!

 Our Boss at the Ford Dealer in Arkansas Had one and Yes, the engine was Black. I got the priviledge of working there in the evenings as a sales rep. My specialty? T-Birds and L.T.D.s. once in a while, a truck, to an acquaintance or something.

The engine is installed on the frame. I did a test fit of the wheels. The axels are WAY to thin and there is no way of fastening the wheels to the axels. The wheels just flop around! 

Yes, we have a solution.

And the solution involves a computer cable.

I cut short sections off of the white computer cable and pressed the insulation over the axles.

The insulation provides a nice tight fit for the wheels. No more floppy wheels.

Brilliant!

AHA!

     Now you see why I say anything in modeling is fair game!

The dash is painted Tamyia Rubber Black. The gauge decals are larger that the gauges. Decal setting solution fixed that problem. I put some Testors' Clear Cement over the decals to simulate glass. The bezels were painted with a chrome pen. I painted the floor with White glue and applied a layer of Zing Embosing Powder to simulate carpet. The seat belts are after-market products. The seats are black with a small amout of weathering to bringout the molded detail.

There isn't a lot of detail or interest to the interior.

Thats looking grreat. Fantastic idea for the cable. 

lurch

Thats looking grreat. Fantastic idea for the cable. 

 

The model was painted Tamyia Light Blue which is darker thatn the 1:1 car was painted. I never liked the 1:1 car's blue color. I thought that it looked washed-out and faded. I'll need to polosh that paint and then add the decals.

Looks like French Blue!

You're off to a great start Johnny

Man you are SMOKIN through this build Johnny!!! Love all the details too. Those M.A.D distributors are the bee's knees!! I've got half a dozen of 'em in the stash and they work PERFECT. I used to take the time to drill holes in OOB distributors but the heck with that!!! 

Looking forward to more on this beauty.