Cobra Coupe - Le Mans - Model Factory Hiro 1/12

[KevinM]

Nice Rob and good save to pretty of a car to bin.

[DocRob]

8 hours ago, KevinM said:

Nice Rob and good save to pretty of a car to bin.

Thanks Kevin and you are right, before binning the Cobra, I have to run out of options, but let´s see what the future brings.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I used the curing time of the body parts to prepare the firewall. I installed all the components except for some electrical wiring and tubing and test fitted the whole thing into the body as well as onto the chassis. I hope, joining everything together later will work out. It becomes harder and harder to test fit and every test results in color abrasion or in knocking off some parts.







Cheers Rob

[FullArmor]

Nice details!

[DocRob]

I assembled some more sub assemblies, before mounting the body onto the chassis. Foremost, I finished the dashboard. The dashboard got painted with Tamiya LP-5 semi gloss black and the instruments got decals into their tubs and a pre cut round clear acetate cover, which I glued in with Revell Contacta Clear and had no fogging issues. The instruments received tiny pieces of yellow Kabuki for identification.



...and where built into the dashboard later, accompanied with some toggle switches and rivets.



Cheers Rob

[FullArmor]

14 minutes ago, DocRob said:

I assembled some more sub assemblies, before mounting the body onto the chassis. Foremost, I finished the dashboard. The dashboard got painted with Tamiya LP-5 semi gloss black and the instruments got decals into their tubs and a pre cut round clear acetate cover, which I glued in with Revell Contacta Clear and had no fogging issues. The instruments received tiny pieces of yellow Kabuki for identification.



...and where built into the dashboard later, accompanied with some toggle switches and rivets.



Cheers Rob

Cool!🧐

[CANicoll]

Beautiful!!!  And I see what you mean by the paint abrasion on the test fitting.  But all good!  Just fantastic work, Rob. The gauges and the Cobra Dash Placard look like the real thing. Such a pleasure to follow along.

[DocRob]

5 hours ago, FullArmor said:

Cool!🧐

 

1 hour ago, CANicoll said:

Beautiful!!!  And I see what you mean by the paint abrasion on the test fitting.  But all good!  Just fantastic work, Rob. The gauges and the Cobra Dash Placard look like the real thing. Such a pleasure to follow along.

Thank you FA and Chris. You want to test fit enough, but as little as possible with this kit at this stage. It pays to have planned everything possible in advance, but something, I always forget . The next steps will decide about the fate of the Cobra. Everything has to fit together somehow, when the body meets the chassis.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I´m not very experienced, when it comes to finishing car bodies and for a while, I debated with myself about leaving the clearcoat as it is. It looked very good and had a high sheen, but it was not perfect.
Out with the sandpaper and polishing compounds. I started to wet sand the whole body with 4000 grit sandpaper, which made the surface nice and even, but also dull.



Of course, I tested my approach first on a lower body part, than on the roof, using 6000 grit sandpaper next, followed by 8000 grit. Then I rubbed in the Tamiya polishing compounds from coarse to finish and added some Tamiya polishing wax last.
Yep, looks good, not the slightest orange peel effect left and a high shine polish. When ready, I will take some outside pics in the sunlight, which show the effect better.



Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Some stunning progress there Rob. The instrument panel looks very convincing and the polish you've achieved on the paint is spectacular.  

[DocRob]

13 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Some stunning progress there Rob. The instrument panel looks very convincing and the polish you've achieved on the paint is spectacular.

Thank you Carl, it´s not done yet. I still have to fine sand and polish the rest of the body, but I have high hopes for a good finish.

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow Rob, the details on this kit are incredible.  Am really loving the finish.  This is turning out to be quite the stunner, incredible job!

[DocRob]

Thank you Mike, the level of detail is really high with this kit, but this has it´s price when it comes to mounting everything. The complexity of the tasks sometimes let my head spin .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I am really happy now. Since about two month, I´ve been working on the Cobra´s body and now, the shell is ready so far. I put in a lot of elbow grease to achieve the finish, but like I said, it paid off and now, I have a squeaking mirror shine finish, only faltering the bright sunlight outside, to let it really shine.
After the first and most intense 4000 grit wet sanding round, I let follow the 6000 grit and the 8000 grit wet sanding job, followed by the three Tamiya polishing compounds coarse, fine and finish. For now, I left out the final waxing, because I have to permanently handle the body and will apply it last.
And now out onto the terrace, shaking some cocktails for my wife and me, to loosen the arms  
Cheers (litertrally) Rob

[GusMac]

Shiny! Looks great Rob

[belugawhaleman]

Beautifully done Rob....outstanding finish!

[CANicoll]

That is stunning!!!

 

[DocRob]

16 hours ago, GusMac said:

Shiny! Looks great Rob

 

13 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

Beautifully done Rob....outstanding finish!

 

10 hours ago, CANicoll said:

That is stunning!!!

Thank you Gus, Paul and Chris. Today, I rubbed on the Tamiya polishing wax and the shine became another bit brighter. I´m happy with the finish, but now I have to deal with doors and windows, another daunting act.

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Really fantastic work on the Cobra Rob. Lots of work but the results have been well worth it. 

[DocRob]

19 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Really fantastic work on the Cobra Rob. Lots of work but the results have been well worth it. 

Thank you Carl, the Cobra is a demanding project for sure. I can´t understand anymore, why I shied away from rigging my Duchess of Kingston wooden sailing boat .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

This build is like a rollercoaster ride sometimes. After checking my building sequence again (very important), I decided, it´s time to add the doors, which means, I have to deal with the side windows, a task, I really feared and I was right to do so.

This is, how it should be done. After drilling all the holes for the rivets with a 0,7 mm drill bit, you cut all the window panes and fairings for the sliding window from a luckily pre printed clear acetate sheet. This proved to be not so easy, it was hard, to have all the strips look equal. I tried first to use my DSPIAE profile cutter, where the blade bet slightly with the long cuts and rendered the parts unusable. I moved on to use a steel ruler and a new scalpel blade then.
But how to glue everything together and align the parts perfectly, for fitting in the rivets.



I decided to improvise a bit. I skipped the spacers (CS5) and used 1mm wide double sided clear adhesive tape instead. To reach the sufficient thickness, I had to apply two strips onto each other. These strips with the CS4 parts were then glued onto the window pane, trying to fit the pre drilled holes. With the second strip in place, I re-drilled the holes again, now with a 0,6 mm drill bit through the adhesive tape and then inserted the rivets. Luckily the residues of adhesive tape in the holes fixed the rivets.
Unfortunately, cutting and assembling must be made on a relatively hard surface and that lead to scratches. The result looks horrible, but I think, I have to live with that, re doing the strips would result in more scratches on the window panes and I don´t have spare acetate.
The only upside, the windows actually slide .

 

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Wow, not an easy thing to assemble there Rob. Nice problem solving using the tape instead of the spacer. 

It's really like building an actual car. On my MFH Porsche 956, the brakes have separate pads for the calipers along with the spring clip that holds them in place. 

[DocRob]

20 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Wow, not an easy thing to assemble there Rob. Nice problem solving using the tape instead of the spacer. 

It's really like building an actual car. On my MFH Porsche 956, the brakes have separate pads for the calipers along with the spring clip that holds them in place. 

Thank you Carl, when my wife was in Berlin some weeks ago, I let her bring different types of double sided adhesive tape back. Some transparent, some black widths spreading from 1mm up to 19 mm. Very helpful with this build and not to get sent to my island.
Like you mention, the level of detail can be demanding with these kits, specially finishing the body with all the sub assemblies and mounting everything onto the chassis are steps, which need to be well planned ahead. 
Did you finish your Porsche? I´d like to see more of it.

Cheers Rob
 

[BlrwestSiR]

Rob, my Porsche is still in the box. I haven't started it yet. I haven't had the courage yet to start it. 

[DocRob]

The picture may looks like pure happiness, but it isn´t. I feel overwhelmed by the Cobra right now. Test fitting results in damages and abrasion and when I glue the parts in place, they don´t fit like planned. To add to the miserable situation, I have lots of paint lifts and fogging on the paint from CA glue. I have two spots on the body, where I fingerprinted CA glue onto the body paint and lifted or distorted the finish. I´m more than a bit frustrated. This is the sequence of building where everything is supposed to fit but doesn´t. I have to grind resin away, to get a halfway decent fit for the doors. Most of the problems occur during fitting the inner body fairings. Nonetheless, the rear hatch and the doors with windows got installed. I´m now down to maybe 80% of my achieved look and my border of tolerance is nearing quickly. I hate to make corrections for flaws, but with the Cobra, it is necessary. Don´t get me wrong, the design of the kit is fantastic, I´m just not up to it.



Cheers Rob