Shelby Cobra Coupe by DocRob - Model Factory Hiro - 1/12 - multi-media - Le Mans

[CDW]

Looks magnificently precise, just like the real thing. 

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, CDW said:

Looks magnificently precise, just like the real thing. 

Thank you Craig, when all is forced into it´s place, it start to look good . You can´t imagine the touch up work, I don´t know, how often, I resprayed or brushed some damaged black areas.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Well, it was about time, to see how the body, hood and doors will fit to the chassis. 
I cleaned the excellent casted body parts and drilled all the needed holes and joined the hood to the chassis. There are cast metal hinges and the hood will be openable. When adding the body, which is not screwed on for now, I got what I feared, a gap, the hood being to high, because the air funnels don´t have enough room under the hood. I was prepared, as Pooh described the same problem in his YouTube build video. It looks a bit worse on the pics than it is in reality, because, I can lift the back of the body slightly.
I inserted the doors on their metal hinges and found the right one fitting too low and the left one was ok.
I´m close to the body painting stage and the fit issues have to be solved thorough and now, so next is analyzing, what to do best.





Cheers Rob

[Canute]

I have faith that you will solve this problem, Rob.

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

I have faith that you will solve this problem, Rob.

Thank you Ken, I will take my time and add more internal components for further evaluation. This is a make or break issue and I will not rush here.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

... meanwhile, the Cobra Coupe isn´t vegan anymore. I bought some self adhesive leather from MFH lately and decided, I give the seats a try with this. What looks better than the real thing . The seats were primed and sprayed semi matte black and then, I cut the leather patches roughly to contour. The shape of the seats is a bit difficult to cover, but the leather is luckily very thin and flexible and adheres very well. I think, with the seat belts applied and some final trimming, they will look good.



Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I worked on the interior of the Cobra Coupe, lately, installing and decaling the switchboard first, then matte clear sprayed over the decals. Last were the switches, which are glued from the backside.
Next was the shifting lever, which was not easy to install cleanly, with the tiny rivets to add.
Last for these steps was the fire extinguisher, which is fantastically detailed. The chrome band is made from chrome adhesive tape, instead of the kit´s springy PE part.
Then the tub was installed onto the chassis, followed by the seats and seatbelts. I love MFH seatbelts, as they provide double sided adhesive tape for mounting and installing them. No risk of CA blotches, smart.
 

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

Seeing your beautiful work on this MFH kit convinced me to acquire one and give it a go. I bought the 1:12 1960 Corvette kit as my first MFH kit. It will be a while before I start it. Bought the magnetic tumbler, too. I can't see myself hand cleaning and polishing all those metal parts. You are doing their company a huge favor showing your build of their kit.

[yvesvidal]

Craig, how much did you pay for the Corvette kit? I was lusting their Auto Union kit (1/12th) but I am afraid to ask for the price in US dollar. I may simply go with the Portuguese kit of Fernando Pinto Portugal.....in 1/24th.

 

And sorry for hijacking this beautiful thread with mundane questions 🙂

 

Yves

[CDW]

22 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

Craig, how much did you pay for the Corvette kit? I was lusting their Auto Union kit (1/12th) but I am afraid to ask for the price in US dollar. I may simply go with the Portuguese kit of Fernando Pinto Portugal.....in 1/24th.

 

And sorry for hijacking this beautiful thread with mundane questions 🙂

 

Yves

I bought it for $680 from Spraygunner dot com. It was discounted due to a box that was scuffed up in shipping but contents perfect. Their regular price is $800. Most of their MFH kits are already sold out. Not a large selection of MFH kits in the USA and when they get new stock, it goes fast.

[DocRob]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

Seeing your beautiful work on this MFH kit convinced me to acquire one and give it a go. I bought the 1:12 1960 Corvette kit as my first MFH kit. It will be a while before I start it. Bought the magnetic tumbler, too. I can't see myself hand cleaning and polishing all those metal parts. You are doing their company a huge favor showing your build of their kit.

Guilty as charged, Craig, but I share the same fate, as I bought the Cobra as my second MFH kit, after working on the Crocker. These kits can be addictive, somehow.
You´ll like the tumbler, but don´t use the needle diameter too big. I choose 0,3 mm and that doesn´t soft the sharpness of the cast and gets into the crevices. With the Corvette, there will be the need of some polishing as well, despite the tumbler cleaning.
If I would buy the Corvette directly from MFH, I would pay more or less the same, like you did and they ship within a week, even to my remote island. The Cobra was about 630 $ including shipping and somehow went through customs unharmed, somehow.

@yvesvidal: I thought about the Auto Union as well, what a beautiful beast. Maybe, when I can lay my hands on one of these...

Cheers Rob

[king derelict]

The fire extinguisher is exquisite.

Alan

[DocRob]

The Cobra Coupe is not forgotten and got some love lately. There is not a lot to show, but a lot of work has been done in advance to painting the body. Numerous sub assemblies has to be finished and you have to browse through the entire manual, to see, what connects to what and with which diameter the what´s need to be drilled. Alignment of doors, bonnet and rear hatch has to be taken in consideration, as well as fitting everything to the chassis.
I think, this is the most critical sequence in the build and I want to do it properly. I also think about adding some 2 mm magnets to hold the closed doors and hatches secure in place.



Cheers Rob

[CDW]

I think the idea of using magnets to help keep doors, bonnet, and hatch closed is right on.

Experienced modelers I've been following who build MFH kits often temporarily fit and assemble the entire kit, then disassemble and permanently assemble it all back together again. These are truly kits for modelers only. Assemblers will need some schooling (in a good way). 🙂

[DocRob]

17 hours ago, CDW said:

I think the idea of using magnets to help keep doors, bonnet, and hatch closed is right on.

Experienced modelers I've been following who build MFH kits often temporarily fit and assemble the entire kit, then disassemble and permanently assemble it all back together again. These are truly kits for modelers only. Assemblers will need some schooling (in a good way). 🙂

 

I hope the magnets will keep the doors and bonnet closed and aligned when finished, Craig. I will build up all the doors and hatches before painting and evaluate the fit on the chassis. There are tiny 1,4 mm screws, keeping all the hinges in place and I don´t know, how much strain to continuous disassembling they can take, as are only screwed into the resin body parts.
Anyway, I permanently find places, which needs my attention during this process.

Cheers Rob 

[mtaylor]

A little inspiration for you.....

 

 

[DocRob]

Happy New Year to everyone, may it be a good one. 

In my sparse hours of bench time, I continued with the body preparation of the Cobra Coupe. Dozens of holes got drilled, often not through the body, which is rather difficult. The dreaded hinges for doors and rear hatch were screwed into place. For the doors, I had to refill the holes with CA and re drill for better fit. There are only tiny 1,4 mm screws, holding in the resin body, how long, I don´t know. The doors and hatch need to be removed for painting and further assembly and I hob the threads hold up. There is a lot of sanding involved as well and every adjoined part needs to be checked and prepared. Mynext goal is to partly paint the interior and then add the body parts to the chassis, to finally check the fit.









Cheers Rob

[CDW]

It's a beautiful model of an iconic race car, very well worth the time and effort you are putting into it. Where else could one turn to build a 1:12 scale model of this car? Only alternative might be from scratch and that would be a monumental task IMO.

[CDW]

I distinctly recall going to the Ford dealership in late 1963 to look at new 1964 model Fords. In the showroom was a brand-new Cobra surrounded by stanchions and rope so that customers could not walk close enough to touch the car. I saw no reason my father shouldn't buy one as it looked so tempting. He just laughed at me and shook his head. I have no idea what it cost but even back then it was very expensive, thus the precautions the dealer took to keep roaming hands off the car.

[DocRob]

On 12/29/2024 at 6:29 PM, mtaylor said:

A little inspiration for you.....

Nice little video. These sounds, I usually connect with surfing, one of my other hobbies. Unfortunately it´s the wrong type of Cobra, mine is a bit larger beast, but very inspiring anyway.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

It's a beautiful model of an iconic race car, very well worth the time and effort you are putting into it. Where else could one turn to build a 1:12 scale model of this car? Only alternative might be from scratch and that would be a monumental task IMO.

I think, MFH kits, specially of full bodied road cars take some effort to put together. The alignment of all the body pars is critical and rushing this part of the build could be fatal. Like you said Craig, MFH often offers kits of subjects, not covered by other companies and then it´s them or bust.
I found a 1/8 replica from the Cobra Coupe, but it´s not a kit, but well detail and allegedly very pricey.

Michel Stassart Creation - CSX 2299

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

I distinctly recall going to the Ford dealership in late 1963 to look at new 1964 model Fords. In the showroom was a brand-new Cobra surrounded by stanchions and rope so that customers could not walk close enough to touch the car. I saw no reason my father shouldn't buy one as it looked so tempting. He just laughed at me and shook his head. I have no idea what it cost but even back then it was very expensive, thus the precautions the dealer took to keep roaming hands off the car.

Beautiful memories, Craig. One reason, I chose the Cobra Coupe was, it´s from the year, I was born and mine (CSX 2286 #9) raced more or less on my birthday. By the time, I was a kid, everything in West Berlin was about Volkswagen Golf or equally boring cars. My father was a taxi driver and always had a Mercedes, which I usually liked. I also own a 36 year old Mercedes, which is still in Berlin as our sons ride. A perfectly robust cruiser. Here on my island, I own a Jeep, which is perfectly handy for our off road pistas.

Cheers Rob

[Jack12477]

21 hours ago, CDW said:

I distinctly recall going to the Ford dealership in late 1963 to look at new 1964 model Fords. In the showroom was a brand-new Cobra surrounded by stanchions and rope so that customers could not walk close enough to touch the car. I saw no reason my father shouldn't buy one as it looked so tempting. He just laughed at me and shook his head. I have no idea what it cost but even back then it was very expensive, thus the precautions the dealer took to keep roaming hands off the car.

I almost bought one! 

Fresh out of college my younger brother (by 18 months) and I were looking to buy a new car. Our interests leaned toward the new 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang but we decided to wait for the full year 1965 models to arrive. In the dealers showroom next to a beautiful green 1965 Mustang convertible was a shiney dark blue street legal 1964 or 1965 (?) Cobra, 2 seater (i.e., 2 person) with 3 point racing harness seatbelts, , 4-on-the-floor manual, don't remember which engine probably 8 cyl. Sticker price was somewhere around $8,000. The sticker price on the 65 Mustang, 3-on-the-floor manual, 6 cyl engine, 4 seater, was around $3,000-$3,200. (For reference starting salaries for newly graduated Accounting majors was about $6,000). The dealer let us take the Cobra for a test driver with a salesman along to "supervise". It handled beautifully 😍.  But we both decided on Mustang convertibles; the Cobra was just impractical for two single guys, only 1 female passenger, very limited luggage space vs 3 (maybe 4) passengers in Mustang, ample luggage space.  We ended up getting the Mustangs for around $2,500 each.  

 

 

Edited Saturday at 05:30 PM by Jack12477

[mtaylor]

Back around '67, one of our pilots bought a Cobra.  Was an amazing car for the time.   I crewed for him fairly often and while talking one day, he let me drive it.   All I can say is "what a ride".   

[DocRob]

20 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

I almost bought one! 

Fresh out of college my younger brother (by 18 months) and I were looking to buy a new car. Our interests leaned toward the new 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang but we decided to wait for the full year 1965 models to arrive. In the dealers showroom next to a beautiful green 1965 Mustang convertible was a shiney dark blue street legal 1964 or 1965 (?) Cobra, 2 seater (i.e., 2 person) with 3 point racing harness seatbelts, , 4-on-the-floor manual, don't remember which engine probably 8 cyl. Sticker price was somewhere around $8,000. The sticker price on the 65 Mustang, 3-on-the-floor manual, 6 cyl engine, 4 seater, was around $3,000-$3,200. (For reference starting salaries for newly graduated Accounting majors was about $6,000). The dealer let us take the Cobra for a test driver with a salesman along to "supervise". It handled beautifully 😍.  But we both decided on Mustang convertibles; the Cobra was just impractical for two single guys, only 1 female passenger, very limited luggage space vs 3 (maybe 4) passengers in Mustang, ample luggage space.  We ended up getting the Mustangs for around $2,500 each.  

Very interesting story, Jack and not an easy decision, I guess. On the other hand, as a young guy, it´s easier to invite some chicas for a ride, if there is a back seat .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

11 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Back around '67, one of our pilots bought a Cobra.  Was an amazing car for the time.   I crewed for him fairly often and while talking one day, he let me drive it.   All I can say is "what a ride".   

Must have been great, Mark, sitting nearly on asphalt level and having enormous power resources sounds like fun.

Cheers Rob