1965 Comet 202 Sedan hobby bracket racer

[Reeves Racing]

This build has been 6 years in the making. It is a model of the drag car I built with my dad and son.
I sold the real car a couple of years ago after moving to Kentucky. I will always have a soft spot for that old Comet.

I like to build models of the cars I have owned and this one was no different but I could not find a 65 Comet kit anywhere back in 2010. I found a resin body and tried to use it but it was from what looked like a very worn out mold and was not very good. I had not worked with resin much either so it was going to take more skill than I had to make it look as good as I wanted it to. Then I found out in 2014 that Moebius was releasing a 65 Cyclone kit. I pre ordered one and waited, I waited a year and still no release, I preordered 2 more and I waited, I waited another year and finally I have my kits in styrene! During that time period I was able to collect all the detail parts I wanted in order to copy my real car as much as possible.

The kit is a hardtop and my car was a sedan post so I had to change that but other than that I have a kit that will be based off of the Comet. Well, while I am extremely grateful that Moebius modeled the 65 Comet, they didn't model the stock car.

The box gives all the indications that it is a bone stock 65 Cyclone. It's not. Moebius will be soon releasing an AFX drag car based off of this kit and that is what this kit is. The engine compartment is not stock Comet it is the factory AFX conversion with the Fairlane shock towers and the front end is jacked way up. The lower control arms are molded in their full extended position. The rear wheel houses are huge (already prepped for big slicks). Very disappointing for Comet head like me. In fact it looks like they copied a lot of the engineering of the AMT 66 Fairlane on the chassis and interior kit design.

Still this kit gives me a starting point I never would have had.
I started off by cutting the top off of a Revell 64 Fairlane Thunderbolt to give me the basic shape of the sedan top I needed. The Cyclone top looks to be just a fuzz too short compared to the real car.

I have started carving up the front end to move the lower control arms up and change to more stock shaped shock towers. I also cut up the rear of the car chassis pretty much the same way I did the real car in order to make room for a narrowed 9" and 11.5 slicks.

I scratched up a Funnel Web intake and am using a resin C4 transmission with the Moebuis kit small block ford. I scratched up the electric water pump and changed the angle of the oil filter. I am using the excellently molded HEI distributor from the brand new 83 Hurst Olds kit.

I will be posting pictures of my real car along with the model wip for comparison.

If you suffered through that ramble, here are the pictures.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Reeves Racing
grammer

[Snake45]

Wow. I'm not often tempted to use the word "awesome" here (or anywhere else, for that matter), but it might be appropriate in this case. Drive on!

[droogie]

I don't have much interest in drag racing vehicles, but this looks like a fascinating project. To my eyes the 65 Comet sedan body has much more pleasing proportions than the hardtop. Model on!

[vintagedragcrazy]

Wow pretty nice real car and great job at building it I'll be watching love them old comets and cyclones and that intake looks real good!

vince

[geemoney]

I just scored a Parker Funnel Web for my 1:1 falcon!

[Reeves Racing]

Thanks guys, I am having almost as much fun building the model as I did the real car.

 

I hope someone can move this to On The Work Bench because it looks like I put it under glass by mistake....Sorry.

[cobraman]

Wow, what a project !  I will be looking in.

[hedotwo]

Following along on this!   Should be a good one!

[afx]

Your project is off the great start Mitch, I'll be following for sure.

[dublin boy]

Great to see you doing the car in scale Mitch, looking good!

[Reeves Racing]

Thanks for moving this.

Thanks so much guys!, Here are some more pictures.

Some of the body work sanded and a resin hood I found in the parts box that I am going to use on one of the other Comet Cyclone kits I bought. The mock up of the engine with the intake and distributor. 

I am going to have a tight fit with the headers (just like the real car) after putting in the stock spring towers. 

Here are some custom decals I had printed and a couple more of the real car. I got them from Thomas at Speedway Decals (his email is speedwaydecals@yahoo)

[espo]

I really like the switch to a sedan with the B pillar. Great back ground story on this build. Since I just picked up this model to build I'll watch your build also. I also noticed the lower A arms looked a little off as you mentioned.

[Ron Hamilton]

Mitch,

I am so happy for you that you are finally going to build a replica of your '65. I knew I was not going crazy when I mocked up my '65 build, and it had the stance of a race car. You hit it right on the head, It is an AFX chassis, and not a Factory Stock '65 Comet Chassis. I am not as familiar with the car as you are, so I have to cheat the ride height by adjusting the spindles in the front end, and making up lowering blocks for the rear.

 Can I make one small suggestion? I am looking at the side window profile you are doing. From the pictures, you did a pie cut on the "c" pillars to represent the side windows for the post sedan. To me, the roof still looks too upright. The Comet roof had quite a bit more slant than the Fairlane roof. If I were doing it, I would have worked it from the side window, then the pillars. At this point, you do not have to do any more major work, just make it about 1/8" shorter, and lean the back window forward some more. That would get it closer to what the real one looks like.

The other work you are doing is fantastic. I love the intake manifold and the chassis mods you are doing.

I love this one!!!!!

[ChrisBcritter]

 Well, while I am extremely grateful that Moebius modeled the 65 Comet, they didn't model the stock car.

The box gives all the indications that it is a bone stock 65 Cyclone. It's not. Moebius will be soon releasing an AFX drag car based off of this kit and that is what this kit is. The engine compartment is not stock Comet it is the factory AFX conversion with the Fairlane shock towers and the front end is jacked way up. The lower control arms are molded in their full extended position. The rear wheel houses are huge (already prepped for big slicks). Very disappointing for Comet head like me.

Well, that's a shame. I guess we won't be seeing an accurate stock version after all. Saves me some bucks, at least, but I really wanted to use that chassis for some other builds.

I like what you're doing with it, Mitch! What kit did you use the shock towers from?

[MeatMan]

Wow! Nice work on that chassis! I ordered the Moebius kit last week. I was planning on going BFX with the small block. I'll be keeping an eye on yours.

[DrKerry]

Very kool!!!!!

[RancheroSteve]

Glad to see you tearing into this and building it your way, Mitch! Might those be the shock towers from the AMT '69 Falcon Modified? There's not much I like about that kit, but it still has about the best Falcon shock towers in kit form.

I've noticed the front suspension/lower arm issue as well (for those not familiar, the lower arms on a stock Comet have only a slight downward angle). I wish Moebius had put a little more effort into making something closer to stock - from my vantage point it would have made more sense to model the lower front suspension as a separate piece, then they could have done another part for the A/FX car and satisfied both markets. But I just buy 'em & build 'em - I'm not in the business.

Edited January 5, 2017 by RancheroSteve

[Reeves Racing]

Mitch,

I am so happy for you that you are finally going to build a replica of your '65. I knew I was not going crazy when I mocked up my '65 build, and it had the stance of a race car. You hit it right on the head, It is an AFX chassis, and not a Factory Stock '65 Comet Chassis. I am not as familiar with the car as you are, so I have to cheat the ride height by adjusting the spindles in the front end, and making up lowering blocks for the rear.

 Can I make one small suggestion? I am looking at the side window profile you are doing. From the pictures, you did a pie cut on the "c" pillars to represent the side windows for the post sedan. To me, the roof still looks too upright. The Comet roof had quite a bit more slant than the Fairlane roof. If I were doing it, I would have worked it from the side window, then the pillars. At this point, you do not have to do any more major work, just make it about 1/8" shorter, and lean the back window forward some more. That would get it closer to what the real one looks like.

The other work you are doing is fantastic. I love the intake manifold and the chassis mods you are doing.

I love this one!!!!!

I see it too Ron, I purposely haven't worked too much on the body work at the top edge of the back of the roof because I am debating whether to try and tackle that adjustment to the C pillar. Not only does it need to tilt more towards the front of the car at the top, it could stand to be a fuzz thinner too. I'm just not sure of a good way to do it.

[Reeves Racing]

Glad to see you tearing into this and building it your way, Mitch! Might those be the shock towers from the AMT '69 Falcon Modified? There's not much I like about that kit, but it still has about the best Falcon shock towers in kit form.

I've noticed the front suspension/lower arm issue as well (for those not familiar, the lower arms on a stock Comet have only a slight downward angle). I wish Moebius had put a little more effort into making something closer to stock - from my vantage point it would have made more sense to model the lower front suspension as a separate piece, then they could have done another part for the A/FX car and satisfied both markets. But I just buy 'em & build 'em - I'm not in the business.

Steve, I think you're right on about where I sourced the stock shaped spring towers. I couldn't remember but I do have a started 69 Falcon modified stocker kit. Im sure thats where they came from.

[Daddyfink]

This build is just too cool! 

[6bblbird]

You are putting a tremendous effort into this build! Keep it up! Personal builds are the best kind.

WF

[Reeves Racing]

As Ron pointed out the top just wasn't quite right. I wasn't satisfied with shape and angle of the C pillar so I did a little more trimming and shaping. I think this looks a little better. Its not perfect but it's close enough for me. I am going to move forward with the rest of the body work now.

I also played around with my new "Chrome Pens", They are amazing. I did some testing on another piece of plastic so I can see how durable they are. This may be an answer to places that are really too small for BMF.

Its snowing today so I plan on staying in this weekend and hope to have all the basic modifications done so I can get to painting and building. I am very anxious to use my custom decals.

Here is a mock up of the stance, I think I need to use a slick with just a bit lower profile.

[caine440]

Outstanding work.

[Reeves Racing]

Well, that's a shame. I guess we won't be seeing an accurate stock version after all. Saves me some bucks, at least, but I really wanted to use that chassis for some other builds.

I like what you're doing with it, Mitch! What kit did you use the shock towers from?

I used the towers from the AMT 69 Falcon modified stocker kit

I looked at the pictures of the upcoming kit of the AFX version that Moebius is releasing and the inner fender aprons are completely a different part. The spring towers on the AFX car are completely eliminated to make room for the supper wide cammer engine and the tops of the springs are held by cup brackets located outside of the engine compartment between the fender and the apron. So this makes it EVEN more frustrating that Moebius copied the AMT Fairlane fender aprons and spring towers instead of making the correct Comet towers that are tapered toward the top. The kit also does not have the welded in place shock tower braces but only a very skinny Mustang-esque bolt on export brace that was a dealer option not a factory option...

The engine compartment of the Comets and Falcons of this vintage may look very much like a Mustang but they are narrower by 1 1/2 inches which is why you can't use 65 Mustang SBF headers on a 65 Comet or Falcon. Unless you beat the hell out of them and the fender apron that is...

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Reeves Racing

[espo]

Wow . You can really see how banged up the #2 cylinder header is. I see you used a turn buckle on the motor mount. I like how you're fixing the top on this build.