108 replies to this topic

[dc-65x]

For me, the fun of scratchbuilding is building my cars the way I like them. Not everyone would build theirs the same way I do and of course every scratchbuilder should build to their personal taste.

[dc-65x]

I searched and searched for wheel inserts with 6 "spokes" similar to these:
 

 

Mark got me thinking in the right direction when he was discussing the King Cobra's designer:
 

Len Terry was the"MAN". Surprised it's not mentioned in his book...................
PS: Len also designed the F-1/Indy eagle.

Russkit Eagle F-1 wheel inserts were right under my nose all the time. Below on the left is the Russkit insert, center is a BWA resin repop and on the right is the repop detailed a bit:
 

 
The inserts sat too deep into the wheels and need to look more like this:
 

 
To space them I got these plastic washers from McMaster Carr:
 

 

Here they are on my roller: 
 

 

 

[Larry Horner]

Stunning, simply stunning! 

[Pablo]

[Regis4446]

I always admire the work.

 

And I agree with you Rick, the added details make the vacuum bodies a lot better.

 

But it takes time, you have to make a choice.

 

[Mark Onofri]

Glad to have been of help. The devil is in the details.

[dc-65x]

Thanks guys for your support.  

 

I've been working on painting all the detail pieces hoping for a break in the weather. I've gone as far as I can go. Everything is done and ready to be assembled into the body when it's painted:

 

 

But this is definitely winter. I don't have a basement and my garage is not heated so I paint outside. I've tried to paint bodies outside when it's under 40 degrees with the wind blowing. It's like painting in a walk in refrigerator.     The body quickly gets cold and even with the spray can heated the enamel paint lays down thick and nasty.

 

So with everything finished except spraying the body yellow...........

 

 

...........I'm going to be patient and wait for the right time to paint.

 

In the mean time I'll just have to start another project !  

[don.siegel]

Good for you Rick! I don't think I'd have the patience, but I wouldn't have the patience to do all those detail parts either, so it's a moot point... 

 

And we're all for a new DC65X project! 

 

Don 

[Larry Horner]

Maybe a Honker?   

Man, those intakes look amazing!

[dc-65x]

Hi Don,

 

Thanks for following along and keeping me company with my projects!  

 

The Honker is on my short list Larry.  

[SpeedyNH]

back in the 60's the Honker was one of the worst-handling slotcar bodies  around. LOL 

i remember that Mario even said the real thing was unmanageable. 

but since you're not going to club-race it, it does look pretty cool. 

[dc-65x]

"back in the 60's the Honker was one of the worst-handling slotcar bodies  around. LOL"

 

 I bet that's why there are still a few NOS bodies showing up today Steve......like the King Cobras and Cheetahs   

 

And I agree that they do look cool!       I built this "low and wide" version years ago:

 

[SpeedyNH]

nice. 

[dc-65x]

Maybe a Honker?   

 

And the Honker is my build Larry.  

 

Here's a link to it:

 

Lancer Honker build 2.0

[dc-65x]

We had an unusual 70 degree warm spell for February and I got a chance to paint the King Cobra.  

 

I wonder if more than the label is different on that spray can of Testors, now owned by Rest-Oleum? The spray action seemed way better, the coverage was also better and the gloss seems higher:

 

 

Even though I liked the way the paint went on there is one thing it couldn't do, get into the tall narrow spoiler. It was hard to even get water to flow into it:        

 

 

 

You can see how narrow the spoiler is:

 

 

It was an amazing feat for the Lancer company to create that tall and super thin spoiler. But I have this to say about it:

 

 

Lancer corrected this with their later release of the Super Competition low and wide version.....thank goodness.

 

I knew this would be a problem and I'd already decided on how I was going to deal with it before I started spraying. 

 

I masked around the outside of the spoiler and bagged up the rest of the body:

 

 

 

I used an airbrush to spray on flat yellow as thin as possible and finished it off with a light coat of Testors gloss coat.

 

 

 

I'm happy with it     

 

 

[Pablo]

Bingo       

[Bill from NH]

Enamel on the outside of a body should have as much shine as it does on the inside. I would have handled it the same way you did. Nice job! If the body had been one of my race bodies, I'd have just left the spoiler clean & ran it the way the spray can covered it.  This problem happens a lot with bodies that have high side dams or wing ends.

[dc-65x]

Hi Pablo.  

 

Thanks Bill. This experience has just opened up possibilities for my Kirby M8D. It's "fins" are so close together the sides actually touch.  

 

But it's such a cool body and now I think I can do it some justice painting it:

 

 

All the black details are done:

 

 

 

With the black detail painting done it's time to start hanging on the detail parts.

[Larry Horner]

Wow, the black detailing on bright yellow really pops! Can hardly wait to see it with the intake stacks.

[Tim Wilkins]

Short video on the King cobra

 

https://www.google.c...IGtxigaB2Y,st:0

 

 

[dc-65x]

Cool video Tim, thanks.   

 

I especially liked all the black and white photos of the King Cobra's development.   

[Dave Crevie]

Some early King Cobra video. Still mostly Cooper.

 

https://youtu.be/I4U...nbnyhcXQGSy8Y1B

 

https://youtu.be/B1b...5Xurvp-j5g8y1PR

 

And some Genie footage for me.

[John Luongo]

excellent race footage, dave. thank you! a whos who of champion race drivers and cars all with different driving styles. hmm, i wonder if any of those body styles are irra legal.

[dc-65x]

I started my build thread of the Dave McDonald early King Cobra with this video........man was he having fun:

 

 

 

 

Link to the build:

 

1963 Shelby Cooper Monaco King Cobra

[dc-65x]

The body details are all assembled and the decals will finish it off":