Impatience was probably the driving factor with this model. It was built some little while ago now but is always in my racing box whenever I’m out. But I’m sure there are more than a few people out in slotworld who would crawl over broken glass for a mass produced version of this model!
For the more able modellers amongst us I will give a few details on its creation.
The body was a hand me down from friend Garry in return for a favour. It was ly mid metallic green and had a bit of collateral damage. The left hand ‘A’ post was missing and both ‘B’ posts were missing. The roof seam over the front screen was broken away and there was a substantial hole in the centre of the bonnet two in the boot and the left rear wheel arch was too far forward in comparison to the right! Wanting to do it in authentic livery I looked in Patto’s and there was a set of decals for a selection of Cougars, further search of the web revealed some very attractive colour pictures of a ’67 Cougar as raced by Dan Gurney. So that was to be it.
The posts were painstakingly replaced and the clear parts were removed. The front edge of the roof was filed back and a new edge was moulded in epoxy resin. The front edge of the left rear wheel arch was filed flat and filled to move it further back and then the lip over the arch was reprofiled. The screen was subjected to a good polish with Tamiya fine paste and the ‘clip in’ front and rear bumpers were given a layer of ‘Bare Metal Foil’ next task was to decide on wheels tyres and motor. I eventually settled for the Camaro wheels and tyres as I had some spares from a body kit and a motor from an ebay scrapyard BMW F1.
The holes were repaired, and the whole body was given a coat of flat white, Minor blemishes were filled, and final profiling of the roof front was done. This was going to take some masking so I left the model for a bit while I decided on the best approach for masking.
Masking tape and shiny acrylic just don’t get on. No matter how you try, the tape will leave an impression in the glossy surface.
The solution was to mask and paint the silver, then coat the silver in a thin coat of clear. Mask the silver and paint the red. On removal of the tape there were some marks in the clear but as I hadn’t finished applying decals and the subsequent final clear coat was yet to be applied I could lightly sand the marks with 1200 and apply the last clear coat. This covered everything satisfactorily.
The body was finished by applying bare metal foil to the grille and rear light clusters. The rear lights were then coated with clear orange and red and covered by the last coat of clear.
The chassis is by now a standard copper PCB chassis. Axles mounted on “T†posts and motor soldered into place. Once again I have a Ninco sprung guide and the front wheels are independently rotating.
The chassis was tested before the body was finished so it was a forgone conclusion that it would handle well. The body is mounted by four 2 gauge in-hex screws from the local aero modeller store and the wheels were painted as per the . The driver was courtesy of a Fly 917 and the head was from the scrap box
As a model it is a little on the narrow side but as the picture shows it is not much smaller than the Camaro. It drives well but I haven’t pushed it hard as yet. All my cars are set up for craftwood tracks so I don’t have needs of a magnet. The final model is a delight to me and it’s my view that this would be a fine car for one of the commercial manufacturers to produce.
Specs. Weight 76 gms Front wheel load 33 gms Rear wheel load 43 gms Wheelbase 84 mm Front axle width 48 mm Rear axle width 50 mm Motor Mabuchi 'S' can (Scalextric)
