Cobra Daytona Coupe

[Greg Myers]

Can't find anything in 'search', but I know a new release was talked about from , maybe a Japanese company?

[Greg Myers]

Thanks Mark. That was the one I was thinking about.

[Zoom Zoom]

I recently was in contact with Ed Sexton, I asked about the Cobra Daytona and he says the model is in good hands with the Academy team and the model is still in the design stage.

As mentioned previously, the basic theme is essentially a Revell-like model in design/detail at a competitive price.

Sounds good to me; hope to see it sometime next year.

[MonoPed]

I am seriously hoping this kit actually makes it. After the Accurate Miniatures "leaf spring Cobra" debacle, I don't believe any announcement until I see it for sale.

[Zoom Zoom]

I am seriously hoping this kit actually makes it. After the Accurate Miniatures "leaf spring Cobra" debacle, I don't believe any announcement until I see it for sale.

I completely understand how you feel, especially in terms of that company and that model. It's still very disappointing to remember them telling us, to our faces, a whole bunch of fictional tales...

Add to that the myriad of other subjects "run up the flagpole" by marketing long before engineering lifts a finger, well...I completely understand why you don't trust any of them. My excitement is always tempered by the realization that a lot of kits announced never hit the shelves for a variety of reasons.

[Brett Barrow]

I completely understand how you feel, especially in terms of that company and that model. It's still very disappointing to remember them telling us, to our faces, a whole bunch of fictional tales...

Add to that the myriad of other subjects "run up the flagpole" by marketing long before engineering lifts a finger, well...I completely understand why you don't trust any of them. My excitement is always tempered by the realization that a lot of kits announced never hit the shelves for a variety of reasons.

I've worked in the hobby industry for almost 10 years now, I tell everyone the same thing when they ask about rumored kits: "I'll believe it when I see it". Doesn't matter, even if it's in a catalog, on a website, in a trade show booth, etc... it doesn't exist until production kits are on the shelves.

I have a fairly regular customer who still asks about that AccMin 289 Cobra everytime I see him, now he's bugging me about the Cobra Daytona. I just tell him the same thing, "Don't believe it until you see it!!!"

[Len Woodruff]

Keep us posted on this subject. Even though I have both the HRM Cobra Daytona & Gunze kit too I would like one of these.

[Greg Myers]

Has any one tried a kit bash with an AMT Roadster and a KB slot car body ? I've got the parts waiting on the to build list.

[Chuck Most]

I still think American SATCO was the absolute WORST offender in that regard. They promised the moon on a silver platter and delivered NONE of it.

AMT, under Racing Champs Chumps and RC2 was pretty bad, too. I think there are a lot of modelers STILL smarting from the '49 Olds-'53 Stude debacle.

Yeah... I was still just a grade school rugrat in the early '90's, and I remeber reading about all the cool stuff Satco was going to release, and I also remember wishing I was a grown up with a job so I could afford it all!

Now that I am a 'grown up' with a job to afford stuff, I realize a LOT of that stuff never actually made it to the shelves. Sure, I've snapped up quite a few of their tire sets, but there's still a huge void in my heart because of their not following up! (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating the 'huge void in my heart'... but, well, you know... )

RC2/Learning Curve sucked at it too, but now that the modeling end of the business is in the hands of Round 2 I'm not so worried.

As has been stated by others, I'm also in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp, but this would be a very cool kit to have, and I'd really like to see it available. I'm kind of shocked there's never been a Cobra Daytona Coupe kitted in plastic before- even the Olds Aurora powered Series 1 made it into a plastic kit, and it was pretty much a huge failure as a 1:1!

[element]

There actually has been one ... the Gunze Sangyo Enthusiast Series kit, which is made of unobtanium these days ...

Oh it is obtainable, you just have to come up with $125 + shipping from Japan. I have the ever rare Indian Scout by them. I paid way too much, but it was on my " must have list " and was worth living like a pauper for a month. IMO anyway.

[250 Testa Rossa]

Your best bet is the Historic Racing Miniatures resin kit. It is fairly identical to the Gunze-Sangyo kit, but with engine detail. The kits go for about $185.

[ZIL 111V]

Gunze Sangyo astonished the scale car modeler world back in the late 80's early 90's with their "High Tech" 1/24th scale:"multi media" kit series... still remember when I first saw the boxes: 250 GTO, XKE Conv...& the very rare Cobra Daytona Coupe (CDC)....priced at $65 each! in LHS back in early 90's, at those prices took me a few months to save $$$ to get my hands on the ultra rare CDC!

My model is long gone but remember was a very, very nice kit, but oddly for such a pricey "high class multi media" kit: plastic/ white metal/brass/photoetched parts...NO opening hood....no engine was in box (lower oil pan/trans cubrside type) ...the "toughest" curbside I ever made anyway a real museum piece.

...HRM kit nice but so pricey for resin

[Len Woodruff]

Not as pricey at the Model Factory Hiro kit of the Cobra Daytona @ $250.

[Brett Barrow]

Anyone have an opinion on the Scale Motorsport resin kit? Seems like the bargain basement winner at MSRP $150.

[Zoom Zoom]

I wonder what, if any, effect the release of the Academy kit will have on the sales and/or prices of the HRM, MFH and SM kits?

Hard to say. I would bet it won't lower their prices, but their sales will fall off a cliff. Honestly, they've been available for so long I doubt they sell in any serious numbers anymore regardless. I would think most people that had to have them already got theirs.

The Gunze kit was overpriced when it was new and even though "high tech" it was weirdly over complex in some areas, but under-detailed in others.

If the Academy kit comes in with the Revell-like detail, and they do it right, and they sell it at the expected $30 pricepoint that was mentioned, I'd say it's game over for the expensive resin kits. Then the aftermarket can offer detail-up kits for the Academy kit. Of course this all is just hot air until the Academy kit is on the streets, and then it has to prove its mettle with the buying public.

[Len Woodruff]

Anyone have an opinion on the Scale Motorsport resin kit? Seems like the bargain basement winner at MSRP $150.

It is a curbside kit and more expensive than the Gunze kit.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Len Woodruff

[Brett Barrow]

It is a curbside kit and more expensive than the Gunze kit.

Gunze kit is also curbside, a very finicky curbside at that, and folks should be able to find the SM kit for less than MSRP, I know I can at least. If the Gunze kit goes upward of $125+shipping then the SM kit is probably going to be cheaper at street price, plus the SM kit has race decals, so factor in the cost of a decal sheet. I've read David Thibodeau's review of the SM kit was looking for other opinions from folks who own or have built the kit.

BTW, there's a Gunze CDC on that famous auction site right now, $50 starting bid + $20 shipping, 0 bids.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Brett Barrow

[Plasticfanatic]

Ah, the Gunze S. Daytona coupe, I have one in my "some day will be built" closet. I remember that got this kit from the bigest Hobby Store in my area about 12 years ago, it sat in the model car kit area of the store for almost TWO years and because of the price, remember a LOT of customer asking the store owner "is this price is a typo?"....he had almost the full line of Tamiyas,Fujimis,Italeri,Revell,Monogram,AMT etc.etc. and the most expensive kit of those at the time where the Fujimi "Enthusiast series" Ferraris,Porsches and BMW, followed by Tamiya...and the cost of those where in the $25/30 dollars(and I found those extreamly expensive for my little hobby budget), so you can imagine the $69.00 price tag and the reaction it got from customers (price in my area) of the Gunze Daytona. I got mine the last day of business of that store and because I got other goodies that day and was a regular customer, got a discount....$65.00 ......no wonder this store went out of business when the internet made finding almost anything in the world more easy and cheap....some of the time of course!!

Hope the Academy model becomes a reality, this is a beautiful car indeed and would like to do several of them.

[torinobradley]

Am I correct that it will be a 1/24th? Another thing to think about, other than you can build a model of each of the CDCs for the price of one of those resin pops, is that the chassis will be a monoleaf 289 chassis and a correct chassis for all those resin FIA roadster bodies... That is, if I am thinking correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong, just don't flame me...

[Darin Bastedo]

From what I understand this is a done deal. Unless there are severe economic problems with minicraft that would delay production, it has passed initial licencing and they had already measured and photographed the 1:1 over two years ago. I had first heard of this project as a rumor back then when a friend of mine witnessed the photo shoot.

[Zoom Zoom]

Am I correct that it will be a 1/24th? Another thing to think about, other than you can build a model of each of the CDCs for the price of one of those resin pops, is that the chassis will be a monoleaf 289 chassis and a correct chassis for all those resin FIA roadster bodies... That is, if I am thinking correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong, just don't flame me...

Yes, 1/24. If it ends up 1/25, I'm going to quit the hobby

[Chuck Most]

There actually has been one ... the Gunze Sangyo Enthusiast Series kit, which is made of unobtanium these days ...

Well, I'll be! I'd normally say I'd go look for one... but not for the prices I'm seeing hurled about on this thread!

[jbwelda]

>wanted mint sealed examples

wow mint sealed examples? and i assume since he is collecting them they will remain sealed?

that means theres hope for me yet. i got an empty box, some plastic sprue and a shrink wrap sealer.

woo hoo, three hundret clams here i come!

interested parties who promise not to break the seal are hereby invited to apply. i will even give a MCM forum discount!

[jbwelda]

ps: i could be wrong about this but memory tells me ive never seen an actual "factory sealed" gunze hitech kits...from when they were pretty common on hobby shop shelves all i remember were small "marco polo" (the then-distributer of the kits in the USA) round seals on each end. if thats true its funny how collectors fall for the "shrink wrap" seal if indeed that was what was meant above. im pretty sure...in japan kits are not sealed though of course the contents are sealed inside plastic bags.

[Brett Barrow]

ps: i could be wrong about this but memory tells me ive never seen an actual "factory sealed" gunze hitech kits...from when they were pretty common on hobby shop shelves all i remember were small "marco polo" (the then-distributer of the kits in the USA) round seals on each end. if thats true its funny how collectors fall for the "shrink wrap" seal if indeed that was what was meant above. im pretty sure...in japan kits are not sealed though of course the contents are sealed inside plastic bags.

Japanese kits are not usually wrapped, unless it's by their importer. I've always heard that Japanese modelers will not buy a kit without opening it at the shop and making sure everything's in the box and correct. Everything I've ever bought straight out of Japan was unwrapped.