Here are some photos about my first finished car, the Monogram Essex Wire 427 Shelby Cobra. The car in the box depicts the well known Ollie the Dragon, CSX#30009, which raced many years in the 60s and the early 70s in America.
The kit is an 1982 issue Monogram model (the same kit is repackaged by Revell Germany and Fujimi). The model is very detailed but not easy to build, in fact I had to leave out 1-2 parts because they did not want to go to the intended place (cooling duct for example).
I made a few improvements, wired the engine, also added an ignition transformer, replaced the tonneau cover with one made of lead sheet, replaced the windshield (made from acetate sheet and a lead foil frame), and re-chromed all chrome parts with Alclad 2. I made new coil springs out of copper wire to improve the undercarriage. I used the box tyres, I sanded off the Goodyear lettering and painted the yellow rim by hand with a calligraphy brush (there is a little groove on the tyre to lead the brush).
For the finishing I used Tamiya spray white decanted to the airbrush (no basecoat was used) and then applied a 2C automotive clear (Dynacoat). The original decals were very rigid and broke at several spots. The final urethane clear coat was then polished to high sheen with a polishing kit by a small company SteamGuitar (I bought it at a swap meet in Hungary). Other paints I used were Vallejo Air and Citadel.
I am planning to add a little diorama to it, depicting Sebring, however it is not ready yet.
I made the photos with my Samsung telephone, unfortunately I am not very good at taking photos but I hope you still like the result.
Any comments welcome!
