Well folks, it's time to turn our dreams into reality, just a bit smaller than we always wanted perhaps!

This is campaign to allow people to build the motor vehicle of their dreams. This should be anything with wheels that you would just love to have sitting in your driveway or garage at home! Car, truck, motorbike, bus, tractor, ride-on mower, whatever!

Rules and Regs and Enlistment page is HERE

Lead-up discussion thread is HERE

We won't be putting completed photos into a gallery, instead we will create a photo feature at the completion of the event.

A big thank you to Michael (Cosimodo) for taking on the leader role here, this promises to be another great Group Build and I'm sure we will see a wide variety of makes and models hitting the benches.

Don't forget to add in your theme song to go with your build!

You know the drill, lot's of photos, lots of updates, lots of support and encouragement for your fellow autophiles in the difficult times that we are all facing right now. This forum is especially important in these times of social isolation, so let's turn it into a positive! Please stay safe, and best of luck to everybody with all of your Dream Rides!

As always, I will keep a Group Build summary rolling as we go.

Running update on builds
2 weeks in, 3 pages, 60 replies, almost 700 views
13 enlisted
6 builds in progress

Aussiereg (Damian) - 1957 Chev Nomad -1/24 Monogram Kit - Major parts primed, engine painted and assembled, interior paint started
rv1963 (Robert) - 60's Pontiac rebuild
Szmann (Gabriel) - VW Beetle Mk1, Suzuki Jimny, Mercedes 300SL Gullwing
Joel_W (Joel) - Shelby 427 Cobra - 1/24 Monogram Kit - Body painted, glossed and polished
Dixon66 (David) - 2005 Ford GT - 1/25 Polar Lights kit - Body primed and paint started, sub assemblies under way
md72 (Mark - Ferrari Testarossa - 1/24 Monogram kit - Primer coat down
Stickframe (Nick) - Ferrari, Porsche 959
Cosimodo (Michael) - 1915 LGOC London Bus - 1/35 MiniArt Kit
PasiAhopelto (Pasi) - KITT Trans-Am
Dixon66 (David) - Mad Max 1973 XB Ford GT Coupe
Hwa-Rang (Jesper) - The Persuaders Ferrari Dino 246GT
SpeedyJ (Robert) - Mercedes Benz 170V Cabriolet B - 1/35 MiniArt Kit
tinbanger (Richard) - Model A Delivery Van (1931) - 1/16 MiniArt Kit - Box unloaded for inspection
IronHide (Arnel) -
North4003
JockTheCat (Bartosz) - Honda NSX - 1/24 Tamiya Kit - Box unloaded for inspection


If anybody has changed or firmed up their proposed builds, or spotted anything wrong in the list, please let me know.

Cheers, D

Well, as D said, a few of you that live in the southern hemisphere on the Pacific side, have already reached Oct 1st, the official start of the our latest AutoModeler GB, so let the fun begin. For me, I have to still wait one more day looking at the Monogram Cobra box dead center on my Tamiya Work mat.

But for those of you starting today, enjoy the ride, and post often.

I've re-read the rules and noticed that one of the requirements is what music would have tuned the radio to while driving our magical ride. For me it's easy: Beach Boys, and Jan & Dean.

Joel

Welcome all to the Dreams Are Free group build. I am your host for this event though I must admit I am still stuck in the workshop trying to get the entry for the last campaign over the line.
Hope to see some inspired dreams and don't forget to bring your playlist with you. Great to know what you would listen to driving that dream machine down the road.

cheers
Michael

Thanks for taking this on. I gotta get my Ferrari out of the stash and start asking silly questions about primers and engine detailing.

Oh, there's a music question too. I gave up on terrestrial radio in my car a few years ago. I got tired of hearing idiots babble on about trivial BS and the constant ad blocks were ruining the drive (as if Seattle traffic made it better). I finally set up my iPod (I know old school, but it was cheap) and mostly filled with the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and a few big band tunes for variety. Crank the volume to 11 and I'm on my way.

Tally-Ho good folks!

Tunes lined up:

Status Quo - The Wanderer
Allman Brothers - Ramblin' Man
Golden Earring - Radar Love
Cold Chisel - Bow River

Kit lined up:





And made a start tonight on some random stages of the build to see what I'm up against:





Open-backed front seats. Why Monogram, WHY?







Cheers, D

Well, Oct 1st finally got to Long Island New York, and it's time to start my dream build kit. Honestly, I use to dream about a 289ci Cobra just about every night for quite some time as once I got to drive a 427ci Cobra on the street, it was way to much car for this 20ish year old to handle in timed events. But for the Dreams are Free GB, I'm going with the Monogram 427 Cobra Essex Wire kit as I got it 2nd hand and opened, rather then the S/C kit version: Street/Competition that I wanted





Differences are that the S/C version has the regular windshield while the Essex version just has the home made plastic wind screen. I was fortunate to have a friend send me a full frame but no glass, so I'll be making one myself. Just not sure which will be on the car. Actually, my MGB had both as I removed the windshield all the time for solo and timed events. Other differences are the wheels and exhausts, but I'll work through each issue as I go through the build.

I just took a quick look into the box, and just like D's Nomad build, the Monogram seats have no backing. Same question as D: Why would they do that for a model that's just two seats and a convertible to boot? Beats me.

I'll be starting my build today, and posting tonight or tomorrow for.

As I said in my previous post, any song by the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean from the 1960s car, beach, or girl wise would have been what I always preferred on my AM car radio. Yep, no FM radios offered by MG back then, and after math ones were way out of my price range. All extra cash went into parts for the MGB or needed for dates with my girl.

And a special thanks to Michael for becoming our Group Leader.

Joel

Great stuff Joel, I've always loved the Cobra body style and have a couple in the stash waiting patiently!

I spent some time tonight with the "Cut/Scrape/Sand" tool kit getting rid of the nasty little seam and mould lines on the body, and test fitting the bonnet and floor pan to see if any nasty surprises could be avoided. All looking good so far!


I will clean up and test fit the chrome parts next prior to hitting the body with a primer coat.

Cheers, D

Great to see a couple of dreamers out of the blocks already.
Joel, the Cobra looks a classic. Are you going for the Shelby blue or some other choice?

Damian, I don't know how you can handle that red plastic, man it's bright, so I would hurry with that primer coat

cheers
Michael

I'm on it mate! Funny thing is, I'm going to primer over the shiny red plastic, then paint it shiny and red

Some more prep work tonight, cleaning up and test fitting parts and sub-assembling the sub-assemblies. I remembered to take my own advice and test fit the chrome parts prior to painting the body, and so far they seem to fit very nicely. Only some minor adjustments were required, and in general the chrome is quite nice. This biggest problem is the sprue gates on the visible edges of the chrome parts, and quite large, so some touch-up will be in order.


Cheers, D

D,
Wow are you fast out of the blocks. That Red is really bright. A good primer is really going to be needed for sure.

The seat backs are looking real good at this point.

Joel

Well, the Dreams are Free GB is officially underway, and as I posted originally in the pre-GB thread, the Ford Shelby Cobras were a real dream of mine.

Basically back in my High School days I wasn't much into drag racing, but got hooked on road racing both here in the states and in Europe when I bought my 1st copies of Road & Track, and Car & Driver magazines in 1963. Each had a section on road racing, so I got to follow F1 and Sport cars racing even though they were usually a good 3 months behind the actual event. Still, it was better then nothing.

By 1965 the 427ci Cobras were the kings of the Endurance Racing and Sport Car circuits. More then once I concocted all sorts of schemes to convince my father to let me buy a Cobra with my life savings. And more then once Dad just said NO!!. So I never did get one, but I still dreamed of driving one at the Bridgehampton time trials, and SCCA Solo events like I did with my MGB.

I managed to get a job working part time at Rascal Racing and being on their pit crew when needed, which wasn't very often. But the retail part of the shop often got in some pretty exocytic sports cars, and the owner of Port Washington Motor shop owned a 1965 427 Cobra. While I never got to actually drive the car, Peter would take me for rides every so often. Let me tell you when he drove the Cobra Flat out, it was like nothing I've ever experienced. And thus I had the actual car of my dreams to ride in. Way better then just staring at pictures in a magazine.

So my 1st build for our GB is the old Monogram 1/24 scale Essex Wire 427 kit, rather then their S/C kit as that's the kit I have in my stash.



Yesterday I spent several hours focusing my attention on the body shell and hood, which will be able to open & close to see the big block Ford 427 engine. There's quite a bit of flash that needed to be dealt with, and some major mold seams line on both sides of the body.







The carb intake scoop also seemed rather thick:



So out came the files and sand paper, and I thinned it down. Final clean up is still needed in this close up picture.




Next up was priming both the hood and the body with Gunze #1500 light Gray primer thinner 2:3 with their #400 Leveler Thinner.





Today I rubbed out the primer with Tamiya #3000 sponge and it's super smooth. I was going to air brush on the color coat, but it decided to rain today. I really don't like air brushing when it's raining unless the A/C is on, which it's not this time of year. So it will have to wait for another day.

The paint of choice is Gravity's GC-215 Ford Guardsman Blue, which was one of the factory color options for 1965.



Joel

You've hit the track quickly here as well Joel, great progress getting the shell tidied up and primed already!

I picked up the Zero Paints "Cobra Guardsman Blue" a while back, it's a beautiful rich tone for sure.

Cheers, D

Wow, you two are really moving on these builds. Looking great the both of you.

"Dreaming" to get a start in the next day or too between final detailing on the semi truck.

Going to be starting with the 05 GT first then the Stang.

D & David,
Thanks for checking out my Cobra build. Still doing research as to the range of paint options with or without racing stripes offered from your local Ford dealer back in 1965.

Joel

OK, here's my start pictures:



Now the silly questions begin. There's acres if screaming yellow plastic, that has to be prepared for Italian red enamel. Should I go with a standard white primer or start with something like Vallejo's Red Oxide primer?

Nice looking kit there Mark, looking forward to seeing it come together!

A good white primer should have plenty of opacity to cover that yellow, and provide a solid base for the Italian Red enamel. I would just build it up with 2 or 3 light coats to get good coverage.

Cheers, D

Mark,
One of my favorite late model Ferraris. Looking forward to following your build. Are you planning on staying with the Yellow color? Certainly an eye catcher from the standard Ferrari Red colors.

Joel

Apparently screaming yellow is an official Ferrari color. But it's the only one in the stash so it's gotta be red.

Mark,
Yep, from the little I actually know about Ferrari's, Yellow, Black, Silver are other popular colors these days.

Just as a side note, have you decided on a ribbon as yet for the GB?

Joel

Opened the bags and laid everything out for the start picture.



The body in this iteration came pre-painted. It wasn't too bad, but there are mold seams and the color is wrong anyway.

I let it sit in 91% Iso overnight and most of it came off okay, but not all. It is now in a bath of Purple Power/Superclean. If that doesn't remove the rest it will get the Ovencleaner when the chrome gets stripped.

Ford is releasing a new Heritage Edition GT, this time of Ken Miles' 24Hr Daytona winning White with Black hood and the red patches. I only found out about it a few days ago when I was searching as I was going to be doing this to mine for the paint job.

David, great to see build #4 hit the bench here, excellent choice! Hopefully the paint comes away without too much more trouble and you can get stuck in properly.




I don't think we've had any suggestions yet, I will trawl back through the lead-up thread and check. Definitely open to ideas!

Cheers, D

David,
Looking forward to following along with your build. The highlight for me will be your Ken Miles paint scheme. So a little more work now, and a way better paint job that will have just that much more meaning.

Joel

Michael & D,
I'll start to really give the ribbon some thought and see what comes to mind. Of course I totally forgot how to resize what I come up with to work as a ribbon.

Joel

With the primer on and lightly rubbed out with a piece of Tamiya #3,000 Sponge, I air brushed on the Gravity GS 215 Ford Shelby Guardsman Blue @ 15 psi. Two tack coats, 2 color coats, and 2 wet coats. Then right into the drying bin. Totally forgot to take a few grab pictures the next day.

The next step was to mask out the Shelby double White Stripes that all 1965 Shelby 427 Cobras came with. I thought about using decals, but there's just no way to get a generic decal to lay down correctly over the engine hood scoop, so I opted to paint the stripes on. The center line was easy as I cut a piece of Tamiya tape 2mm wide, then starting with the hood emblem as one point, and the trunk emblem as the other marker. To ensure that the tape was still straight to the bottom of both clips, I just laid down a piece of tape along edge of the 2mm tape as a guide. The really hard part was going to be getting both white stripes the same exact width, and both have the exact width for the full length. Using a ruler didn't work, so I cut a piece of Tamiya tape the proper width of the stripes and then laid it down in sections along the center 2mm piece. I used this as a guide to lay down the outer edge tape. Worked like a charm. The hardest part of the masking was the front radiator opening and the chin section below it. I had to eye ball it, and it's not exactly perfect, but as close to it as I can get it. Finally I taped and covered the rest of the body with paper towel.





As you can tell, I opted to paint the stripes on after the main color, rather then before which goes against the usual preferred method of lighter to darker. The reason for this is to duplicate exactly how the paint lip would have looked on the real car with the White edge higher then the Blue paint. I spent considerable time burnishing down the Tamiya tape but still had concerns about paint bleeding under it. I've seen many a paint job that had clean up issues, so I came up with a plan that hopefully would work. I primed with Tamiya White primer thinned 1:1. 2 tack coats to seal the tape edges, and two color coats. Gave it 30 min to cure. I opted not to use Gravity White but rather Tamiya XF-2 Flat white thinned 1:1 not my usual 2:3 ratio. 2 tack coats, 4 light color coats and called it a day. Cleaned out my Grex Air Brush, and then it was time for the moment of truth. Off came tape.

To my amazement, not a drop of bleed through, and the color is consistent from front to end. Here's what the body shell now looks like. None of the paint has been rubbed out or prepared in any way as yet. That's the next step. I'm thinking of adding white number circles by the front of the doors since this is a time trail car, not meant for the street.





Joel

Nice. I really like how crisp that line is, great work.