1/24 model factory fia cobra.

[Brudda]

Hello. I should not build this right now. With so many other big kits going on. But I need a rest on them. Need to build something with less than a 1000 parts count. And I can build in a few months ,  guess they are called palet cleaners. This and my ferrari Lusso are going to be built. These are my favorite scales 1/24-25. So here is the start on the cobra. Just mock ups but on the way to build. Working on the 289 and trans now. Painting the block black and sand blasting the intake , oil pan , bell housing and transmission. With a badger sand blaster. Here goes. No stoping on this one. Even my big Gullwing is on hold for now. There is a motive . A local contest is comming soon and need something to enter. Painted her blue. The color is a bmw color systems paint. Which explains the vivid color. With a urethane clear coat. Sprayed with a lph 400 iwatta spray gun. Here goes……

[LaughingIndian]

NICE! … but cobras always are! 
I’ll be watching … but Bruce, I’m surprised this is your favorite scale. I took you as a 1/8 scale guru … I’m not a fan of the smaller scale after seeing so many 1 inch scale spark cable wires and 4 inch thick scale body panels and quarter inch metal flakes in the paint and on and on… why do you like it?

[Brudda]

2 hours ago, LaughingIndian said:

NICE! … but cobras always are! 
I’ll be watching … but Bruce, I’m surprised this is your favorite scale. I took you as a 1/8 scale guru … I’m not a fan of the smaller scale after seeing so many 1 inch scale spark cable wires and 4 inch thick scale body panels and quarter inch metal flakes in the paint and on and on… why do you like it?

Thank you , just grew up with 1/25-24. I kind of fell into luck with the big ones. Years ago, my favorite thing was to take a $5 kit from a swap meet and win a IPMS show. I won quite a few shows and a guy named Mark noticed. He was part of the DeAgostini groupe. He gave me a Toyota 2000 GT and it went crazy on the. Internet. So DeAgostini called and I started to build for them. I still have a few unbuilt kits from them in the shed. Matter of fact I have a lot of big unbuilt kits in the shed.  A guy named Liam from DeAgostini quit and started Agora models. I won the special awards for the Shelby cars at the Las Vegas IPMS nationals. Liam noticed and he started sending me models from Agora to build. I do not get to pick the cars I would like to build. I wanted to build the jag but did not , wanted to built the corvette but did not. Cannot complain as I have over 10 1/8 kits. So this is why I build big kits because I receive them for free and do the build on their forum for other builders. If someone has a question or problem I try to answer it for agora. So I kind of fell into this big scale . But my true love is 1/24-25 scale. 1/12 is pretty cool also. I like that scale. I will have to complete the big Gullwing soon, but I’m going to try to build the cobra first. Honestly  im kind of getting burned out on the big scale kits. Need to get back to my roots. 

[Brudda]

Hood , doors and deck lid hinges are installed. . I have not seen kit hinges work this good. Nice, tight and smooth. Engine next. 
 

 

 

 

[Zippi]

Looking pretty nice there Bruce.  Love that blue and those hinges are doing their thing just fine.

[Nacho Z]

What a gorgeous color!!!  And the fact that you laid it down so smoothly sure doesn’t hurt!

[Brudda]

3 hours ago, Zippi said:

Looking pretty nice there Bruce.  Love that blue and those hinges are doing their thing just fine.

Thank you Zippi here is another look at the hinges in action

[Brudda]

2 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

What a gorgeous color!!!  And the fact that you laid it down so smoothly sure doesn’t hurt!

Thank you Nacho Z. I put decals on the tires. Something I do not like to do. For me they just do not come out right, but I tried it and it turned out acceptable. I’ll look at the tires during the build and  I might change my mind and take them off. Here is a pic of a mock up with the lettered tires. 

[lordairgtar]

On 7/14/2024 at 4:45 PM, Brudda said:

Hello. I should not build this right now. With so many other big kits going on. But I need a rest on them. Need to build something with less than a 1000 parts count. And I can build in a few months ,  guess they are called palet cleaners. This and my ferrari Lusso are going to be built. These are my favorite scales 1/24-25. So here is the start on the cobra. Just mock ups but on the way to build. Working on the 289 and trans now. Painting the block black and sand blasting the intake , oil pan , bell housing and transmission. With a badger sand blaster. Here goes. No stoping on this one. Even my big Gullwing is on hold for now. There is a motive . A local contest is comming soon and need something to enter. Painted her blue. The color is a bmw color systems paint. Which explains the vivid color. With a urethane clear coat. Sprayed with a lph 400 iwatta spray gun. Here goes……

 

 

That intake for the Weber set up is rougher than a cob. Any alternative out there that would look better? Scratch build maybe or sourced from another kit in plastic?

[Brudda]

1 hour ago, lordairgtar said:

That intake for the Weber set up is rougher than a cob. Any alternative out there that would look better? Scratch build maybe or sourced from another kit in plastic?

Yes lotdairgtar it is. I’m going to try to sand and use my dremel to smooth it out a little then sand blast it with my badger sand blaster. I used it on my 1/12 mfh cobra on different parts and it looked real. But if not I have plenty of plastic cobra kits around to help. I even thought of putting a 4 bbl on her but that’s if all else fails. The distributor is really bad and not in scale. I’m going to have to use a plastic one or aftermarket one. There are some things that are not correct, and yes I know, for the price you should not have to find parts that work but that’s just the way it is, 

[djmcguire]

What about some high-build primer on the intake...a few coats and some sanding and I would think it would smooth it out nicely.

[Brudda]

Drilling out the holes in the transmission and engine. Need more bits as you break some on these kits. The engine is pretty good so far. The distributor is far from great. Need to make or buy a distributor. But overall it’s pretty good. 

[Brudda]

Things starting to look good. The intake was sanded with a dremel and sand blasted with a badger sand blaster. Well it’s not sand exactly but it’s a very fine abrasive. But I think it’s going to work out. Off to harbor freight to get more drill bits. Mfh kits need a lot of drilling in their white metal. Painted the frame. The frame needs a lot of drilling also. 

[Brudda]

Always checking for fit on a model factory hiro kit. There are always suprises on these kits. 

[Brudda]

Checking for clearance. Thought the carb stacks would interfere with the hood. So far I’ve been lucky. Was worried about that so I modified the motor mounts to sit a little lower in the frame. So far happy with the results. The build is not perfect but it’s sure fun. 

[Bainford]

Oh man, that's looking good! Very nice, Bruce. You're cooking up one cool Cobra. 

[Pierre Rivard]

Gorgeous build so far Bruce. Your paint is always so good and the color on this one really pops. happy about the Lusso making a comeback. These two will look great side by side.

[Brudda]

13 hours ago, Bainford said:

Oh man, that's looking good! Very nice, Bruce. You're cooking up one cool Cobra. 

Thank you Bainford. Have to readjust my eyes. I could not build 1/43 . Having a hard enough time with 1/24. I really like 1/24-25. I hope my eyes hold up do 1/24 for awhile. 

[Brudda]

5 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Gorgeous build so far Bruce. Your paint is always so good and the color on this one really pops. happy about the Lusso making a comeback. These two will look great side by side.

Hello Pierre. Thank you sir. The Lusso will be the next 1/24 on the table. The 60’s had some beautiful designs. 

[Brudda]

Hello, this is where I fail or I need improvement on car models. I can paint but suspensions, engine’s are my weak spots. My interior’s are ok but engines and suspensions I struggle on. First of all I must be losing my sight. It was hard for me to install the venturis in the stacks. Had to make a few more as they turned into flying projectiles when the tweezers hit them. All of you guys amaze me at the level of detail you guys put on a model. Here is a pic of my struggle. 

[Brudda]

Well tried to put fuel lines on the carbs. They just turned out bad. So I took them off. My old hands cannot do these 1/24-25 cars anymore. There are some problems on the kit I’m going to ignore. The shelves on the firewall should have a slant to them. I want to fix that but may open up a can of worms. Also the headers hit the firewall. That one I have to fix. Might put some wiring on the firewall. But if it turns out as bad as the fuel lines well there will not be any, I have spent so much time on big kits that I believe I lost a little skill on 1/24-25. Bummer. I’ll just keep plugging away at the cobra and hope it turns out nice. So far the fit is good. I keep putting the car in a mock up stage so I do not get any surprises. . But it’s a mfh kit so I’m expecting something weird. 

[Brudda]

On 7/28/2024 at 8:16 PM, Brudda said:

Well tried to put fuel lines on the carbs. They just turned out bad. So I took them off. My old hands cannot do these 1/24-25 cars anymore. There are some problems on the kit I’m going to ignore. The shelves on the firewall should have a slant to them. I want to fix that but may open up a can of worms. Also the headers hit the firewall. That one I have to fix. Might put some wiring on the firewall. But if it turns out as bad as the fuel lines well there will not be any, I have spent so much time on big kits that I believe I lost a little skill on 1/24-25. Bummer. I’ll just keep plugging away at the cobra and hope it turns out nice. So far the fit is good. I keep putting the car in a mock up stage so I do not get any surprises. . But it’s a mfh kit so I’m expecting something weird. 

 

[Brudda]

You need plenty of drill bits. A lot of drilling in mfh kits. They have the location mark but you have to finish drilling. A mfh kit IS NOT a shake and bake. Just because they are expensive you have to model the BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH out of them. Each piece needs a lot of modeling. Meaning sanding, fitting and sanding again. They make you work for it. But the results are fantastic when finished. 

[Brudda]

Mock up of the suspension. Filing , sanding , fitting parts and drilling. 

[Brudda]

Installed the suspension. Have to paint. It’s pretty nice fitting. Kind of surprised on a mfh kit. I am very pleased with this build so far. I am still figuring out the fuel line situation. But overall I like this kit. Brakes and other frame parts have to be installed. It’s out of box so far and it looks really good box stock. The stance is perfect.