28 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

Many months ago I purchased two Cox bodies and one chassis on eBay.

The first one turned out pretty okay. Front tires were dry but useable. Rears.... not so much but I ordered a new set by Orttman's through Electric Dreams. Had a bit of troubles getting them to fit so I sent them back. The rep at the E.D. was not very helpful but then he was really young. However since then I learned that they were actually CORRECT so I apologize for the previous rant. Al Penrose at BWA explained to me that the Ferrari tires ARE hard to install for some reason.
You see, I have purchased Orttman tires for the Ford GT 40 and they were tight but slipped on with little effort. Same with Monogram tires and Revell. I just could not understand why the Cox Ferrari tires had to be so difficult!

So anyway, now I pick up this Spyder project again months later. Body sanded smooth, mold lines cleaned up, almost ready for primer.


Still some assembly work left to do on the chassis.



Tire on the left is a correct stock and very dry, cracked original #17011.
Tire on the right is a Orttman product.
The rim in the middle is a correct stock 1/24th scale Ferrari Dino NOS rear taperlock rim.
As you can see it will take some effort to get it onto the rim. As Al explained, take a rim and bolt it up to an axle. Put the assembly into a vice where you can get the leverage of both hands and "work it on"!

I just wonder why this is not explained by Orttman or is this a commonly known thing?

Onward.

[68Caddy]

Jairus why did you buy that one for? Looking at it, its not that good looking to start out with maybe you got stuck with, that is a Cox Ferrari?
Either way, you will make it look good but that is a boring Ferrari.


Nesta

[spudboy]

Nesta,

Sorry, on this I must disagree. ANY Ferrari from the 1960s is just plain sweet.

Jairus,

Thanks for sharing. Sano work as usual.

[bradblohm]

Hey Jairus,

The Ortmann tires labelled as being for the Cox Ferrari Dino are absolutely correct, and frankly, you owe everyone you've ripped an apology. I'm sure you confused them as they assume you know what you are asking for. The Dino wheels are a smaller diameter, and it looks like you're using the Ferrari F1 wheels. Correct wheels are hard to find, and original tires are even harder.

[Jairus]

Hey Brad, thanks for the info. Correction made, happy Monday!

[bradblohm]

For the record, I agree that they are a pain in the a$$!

[Jean-Michel Piot]

Still some assembly work left to do on the chassis.

The wheels are the correct one.

Those of the F1 Ferrari are "blind" so the axles do not go throughout the rims.

Here I can see that this is not the correct motor. It is a Cox though, and even better as it is the Nascar version that is used with the IFC chassis. So one (if not a purist) would qualify it as an improvement.

I have several Dino to build and will follow this thread.

By the way, about the transparent parts: excellent quality repro ones can easily be found on ebay for a very reasonable price. Jairus, if I were you...

[Jairus]

Thank you Jean-Michel.
The glass I have above is vacuum formed and very clear. Fairly thick too, almost approaching the actual cast versions so I think I will stay with that. In fact this car will get some modifications to make it more realistic like rear vent screens, opening up the radiator vent etc.

So, as you correctly noted the motor is not correct. In fact this whole chassis project was purchased in blistercard packages. The ebay find had one chassis and two bodies so the coupe got finished with all the stock parts with exception of the dash panel, exhaust pipes and roll bar. Those had to be scratchbuilt to finish. But this Spyder needed a full chassis so it has been a many month search for the parts and as you may have noticed... the rear axle is not correct either! Got a tapered axle coming soon.

But, I do need a couple of knock off's if anyone has a pair. So far all I have are two knock off's and two acorn nuts. The plan so far is to put two like on one side and two on the other....

[TSR]

The Dunlop tires made by Cox for use on the smaller Dino wheels were indeed very small and required some effort to put them over the wheels, especially the harder front ones. The same issue is found on the Cox 1/32 scale Ford GT and Cheetah.
And the only way to set them satisfactorily is to put a wheel on an axle (making it a bit more difficult since the front wheels are free-wheeling, so that it is difficult to block them from rotating while one is desperately trying to install the tire), and place a bit of motor oil on the inside of the tire. Then the tire must be fitted and set.
A great tool to hold the axle besides a vise is a set of Maun parallel-jaws pliers, the best friend a slot car racer ever had.
Michael Ortmann tires are perfectly sized reproductions of the Cox tires, so getting mad at him or at a retailer for something they have done right is not fair. Complaining to the Cox company may also be a bit difficult nowadays, and the person responsible has died of old age about 20 years ago.

[Jairus]

Okay, before priming and painting I thought I would show some of the modifications made to the body.
First off is the cutting open of the bonnet radiator vent. A deflection plate is present on the 1/1 car so I added a bit of styrene which will ultimately be painted aluminum.


Note the stock length mounting posts. Well, I wanted to shorten them by 1/16th inch to lower the body down over the wheels. Chris Clark does this all the time but just one look at those threaded inserts made me skip that idea. Those puppies are set for life and it would take a whole day to remove them and re-install new ones provided I didn't completely destroy the posts in the process.

So, stock height it shall remain!

Rear vents cut out too...



During disassembly some of the glue used by the first owner was very difficult to break loose which resulted in damage that had to be fixed.
First damage was the front seat by removal of a well glued driver's butt in a very thinly cast seat. The second the mounting posts for the interior bucket had to be repaired and re-sculpted.


Lastly the dash panel on one edge had to be replaced with styrene. (sorry about the blurry photo)


Not nearly as many modifications Jean-Michel does to his Chaparral's to be sure, but better than stock. Anyway, I guess now it is time to start painting!

[TSR]

Jairus,
To get the inserts out without any damage is simple:

1/ get a long 4/40 screw and screw it in the brass insert.
2/ heat the screw with a soldering iron, this will heat the brass insert and the plastic. Pull the screw out, the brass insert will follow with no damage to the plastic.
3/ let things cool down, shorten the posts and place the brass inserts on top of the posts. Gently heat the inserts with the iron and push down with a small blade, then hold until cool.
Works great for me...

PS: practice on a junker body first!

[gascarnut]

Nice build and cool photos, thanks!

Back in the day, we used to heat those brass inserts with a soldering iron and just push them deeper into the posts, until the top surface was flush with the plastic. It was a pretty successful technique for lowering the body a bit.

[Jairus]

Nice build and cool photos, thanks!

Back in the day, we used to heat those brass inserts with a soldering iron and just push them deeper into the posts, until the top surface was flush with the plastic. It was a pretty successful technique for lowering the body a bit.

Holy Mackerel - What a great idea!!!
(Jairus happy now, sorry Dokk)

[Jairus]

Not much to update. Just 7 coats of base color (lightly sanded) followed by 3 coats of clear (so far). Note the slightly mushroomed mounting posts which denote the lowering tips implemented! Cannot wait to put this one together!

[68Caddy]

Jairus its looking good but I would have not expected any thing else from you, you got to admit its fun to make a ugly thing's pretty? I'm a bit surprised about you not knowing the trick with the inserts?
I have been doing it for the last 25 years but how did Philippe know about that?
Maybe I should ask what does not know?
Nice work so far and I'm keeping a eye on it because you will teach me a thing or two.


Nesta

[Jairus]

"I've got blisters on my fingers...."

[68Caddy]

Jairus its SWEET, can you do my 68Caddy with no orange peel?


Nesta

[Jairus]

Nesta, you are looking at 3 days of labor in that paint. That is the reason I DO NOT DO hard body cars for other people. Who could afford to pay $300 for a model car paint job?
Why do you think Chris Clark charges so much for his cars? The labor alone makes it not really worth it in my opinion.

Anyway, got some decals on the body and did some cutting and fitment done with respect to the window glass.
But.... ran into some concerns.


(Sharp eyes will notice some minute scratches on the rear deck. The wax will take care of those eventually, but I want to make sure the paint has time to gas-out first.)


This is my concern. The vacuum formed window glass is nice and clear but - not - quite - right. Gaps appear on the left side at both the front and the back when trimmed at the lines. And it is not like they gave me any extra material that I "accidentally cut too much". There are clear demarkations on this piece that did not allow over-cutting. One has but one choice and that is to cut along the line and hope that it fits. It doesn't!



Note: at the back I have not even completely trimmed the rear edge!


So, the alternative is to buy the overpriced piece on Professor Motor or maybe someone here can point me to a better quality re-pop at a more reasonable price.
Or... I could take the original glass and make my own mold. (An aspect I find time consuming but quality assurance is assured)
Suggestions?

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

I am not in your class and, of course I only do my stuff. I have done well with aircraft in IPMS regionals.

The really short version is that I learned a long time ago that the only way to get what you want is to do it yourself. So, make your own mold!

But if you consider "time is money" then even the expensive repops are cheap!

Fate

[Jean-Michel Piot]

Jairus, I just answered your PM.

If I remember well I got several sets of Dino clear parts from Roger Schmitt. Bought through ebay where they appear from time to time.

Of course, you may directly order...

If I remember well, PdL explained that Roger Schmitt used the genuine Cox tooling.

One thing for sure, those I got are simply PERFECT!

[Jairus]

Final pictures of the Cox Dino Ferrari.




The rear pipes were once again constructed from brass bits painted flat white. The interior of the body however was painted red to point out the fact that this is a very nice original Cox body that is not being covered up with flat black paint in an attempt to hide badly done body work.






The window glass came from Roger at Chicagoland Raceway and two wheel spinner nuts were provided by Michael on Slot Forum (Mirrorman), thanks Michael!

Fin

[TSR]

Jairus,
Very nice. The story about the Dino windows for the roadster and the coupe is that Bill Selzer gave to Bob Haines at REH, the surviving window tools left over from the Cox bankruptcy in 1982. I saw some of these while visiting the reconstituted Cox company in Corona, CA. Bob Haines had the molds re-polished and new parts were produced. Roger and other REH retailers have carried them ever since and fortunately there are still some available. The good thing is that the mold also contained the headlight covers, and the coupe windows are the later "IFC", meaning the one-piece job instead of the original 2-piece that caused so many coupe bodies immense glue damage.

[Don Wedding]

Jairus, Beautiful restoration build, you are the Master of detail , I have always liked the Cox Spyder and Finished 2 of the IFC cars that way.

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[Martin]

I have been using your post here Jairus as inspiration to finish my Cox Ferrari Dino stable.

 

I have finished the repairs and issues and primed with Tamiya fine white surface primer.

 

My question now is what is the best red paint  to best replicate Ferrari red?

 

I want to use a rattle can. There are many reds out there, any help will be appreciated.

[Jairus]

Model Master Italian Red enamel.