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1/8 Cunningham E Type Revell conversion


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Hopefully this will be of interest to the 'biggie' builders, as well as anyone thinking about doing something different with the brilliant (but flawed) Revell 1/8 E Type Jaguar kit.

I'm making a model of one of the Cunningham race cars in its current state, as I have occasional access to the real car for plenty of pics etc.

It will involve the following:

Chopping the roof off the kit parts

Cutting the screen frame off

Removing the rear upper body completely

Cutting the front screen scuttle free from everything else

Fabricating a race roadster rear deck (already sorted)

Fabricating a roadster hard top and screens (already sorted)

Fabricating the whole interior of the boot/trunk. (race fuel tanks, wheel support, pumps, wiring and lines etc.)

Altering the kit interior to look like the race car interior.

Altering the kit engine to make the race version with triple Webers etc.

Re-building the kit front engine/chassis frame in brass - the kit parts are completely wrong...

Dunlop race wheels/tyres

Wider rear arches for wider tyres.

Umpteen small details that will no doubt become apparent as time goes on...

Hopefully some of you will ask questions, particularly if you are contemplating something similar.

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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Some work done chopping the main parts to size and shape.

Winscreen scuttle and lower screen frame cut free - the rest of the roof/rear section is bin fodder.

I've started building up the boot/trunk interior which will be seen - the lid will be opening.

I've made up the air vent support that surrounds the boot opening as the race cars had boot lids that don't close as in the road cars.

So far, it's all plasticard and odd scrap bits.

Also added a small 'lip' around the outer edge of the lower rear section which will replicate the welded join that is visible on the car as there are no bumpers to cover it.

Fuel tanks are made up and in.

To get the surface effect of rough 60's fibreglass that the upper race fuel tanks has, I covered the surface with a tumble dryer softener sheet and painted it silver.

Looks pretty good and easier than trying to actually glass the tank with ultra-fine mesh.

Lots of wiring and pipework etc still to add, then a few grubby washes to make it all look old and used.

Roy.

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Most likely this; 10" inboard rotors, a giant Salisbury and four Konis.

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True, but if they'd taken the tank back a few inches they could have dropped it to the boot floor height past the IRS? Having said that, I know some of them had diff oil coolers and all kinds off gubbins by the diff housing, so maybe it would cause an access problem for the backend?

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True, but if they'd taken the tank back a few inches they could have dropped it to the boot floor height past the IRS? Having said that, I know some of them had diff oil coolers and all kinds off gubbins by the diff housing, so maybe it would cause an access problem for the backend?

Very true. My replica Cobra's gas tank was aft of the IRS and on the same plane. No diff cooler or brake air ducts though:

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I think the high second tank was due to racing regs back in the day, when cars had to carry a spare wheel.

You can see the original curve-sided fuel tank in the bottom/left of the well, with the spare wheel support just next to it.

With the spare in the space left, there is nowhere left to put the second tank.

I've mocked-up a pic of the boot with a spare wire wheel (correct will be Dunlop steel) to show what I mean.

Roy.

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Nice to see some good old 'chat' going on.

I've done some more in the rear end innards - fuel tank connector pipe, pump, filter, fuel lines and electrics.

There isn't much more in the back of this car other than the filler cap and breather pipe yet to add.

Then it will be grubby it down with some washes.

Next up, boot lid hinges on the upper body part so that the upper and lower can be fixed together.

Onward and upwards...

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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Most likely this; 10" inboard rotors, a giant Salisbury and four Konis.

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That assembly is absurdly heavy and doesn't help with the handling of these cars anyway.

I have been taken round Silverstone in a top running fia spec e-type and let's just say the handling was EXCITING :D.

I wonder what Red Bull have done to improve Christian Horner's e-type ......

........ whilst of course keeping it to 'fia' spec :rolleyes:.

Roy, how much of this build is going to be a 'prototype' for what I hope may eventually be your transkit?

Edited by elderly
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My hope is for all the major 'different' parts from the Revell kit to eventually be available.

That would be:

Rear roadster upper body/boot lid

Roadster hard top and windows

Dunlop 15" wheels and tyres

Weber carbs and manifold

Leather seat kit

A complete 'stand alone' engine kit - if required. (I have the separate resin engine kit including Webers ready now - pm if you want to know more)

I'm keeping fingers crossed with a contact at present but don't count the proverbial chickens just yet.

Roy.

Edited by roymattblack
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You never cease to amaze me Roy, it's been 3-4 days and you have already made more progress on this conversion than most of us would in 3 weeks. This shows what planning in doing a build can accomplish. You're going to do for 1/8 scale Revell Jags what you did for the Citroen. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this one comes along. I really like the rear diffuser behind the trunk lid with the holes in it. I think that is sort of a unique feature of this car. Just out of curiosity sake what are the three colored lights on the roof for? When I was looking at the MFH Ferarri 250 GTO Le Mans version with the different roof line, it had a red and a green pair of lights on the roof. On the pictures of this one it appears the lights are blue. What is the significance of the lights and colors? Sorry for the dumb question but, it's not something I've seen here in the U.S.

Edited by larchiefeng
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The roof lights - tbh, I'm not too sure and it's a question I'm investigating myself.

Regarding the rear deck, It's from a project I started about a year ago with a friend, to get a roadster transkit made up for the Revell kit.

I also have a roadster hard top and screens made.

He subsequently dropped out of the model business and I'm still trying to get the idea up and running.

It seems as if I've done a lot in 2-3 days but I actually started work on this one before Christmas.

The pics show about 3 weeks work.

Roy.

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I think they were mainly as a means of identifying individual cars as they past the pits at night. Teams still use different colours, especially sun visor strips and/or wing mirrors, to do the same.

Astons from Le Mans in 2013. Near car is in LMGTE Am, and the rear car in LMGTE Pro. To distinguish between classes the organisers (WEC) attribute different colour backgrounds for the numbers - orange and green respectively. Within the team to distinguish between cars they assign different colour sun strips and lights in the wing mirrors.

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Rich

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That makes sense, I've often wondered why a beautiful green Aston had fluorescent red strips on the mirrors etc. now I know. I also noticed this year and last that Rosberg had a yellow stripe on his top camera and Hamilton didn't and between that and the color of gloves each wore it was about the only way to tell who was who in those silver arrows. I too was going to ask how you got that rear section of the car so clean after removing the roof as it seems removing the roof would have left a much larger hole to fill and scratch build back there. I've seen a conversion on eBay for the whole rear end of the Jag that is essentially a Trans kit to convert it to the convertible. I've almost bought it a few times but, I didn't have the kit to go with it. And, frankly a 1/8 Revell kit was pretty devoid of detail and somewhat toy like. Now that you are taking it on and showing what can be done I might give it another look. As much as I like the big Pocher kits I like other racing subjects a bit more and this kit is really more in my wheelhouse. One last thing; when I first saw this car I wasn't really a fan of it mostly because of the somewhat strange looking roof but, the more I look at it the more I find that I like it. It is a Briggs-Cunningham car and is an iconic car like most of his designs. Too bad they don't make a 1/8 scale 1960 Corvette to partner with the Jag in the Le Mans GT class.

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Larch, you could always use the Jag kit and make the Briggs Cunningham '62 car as he ran a coupe...have this one on yet another backburner!

Regarding the lights; it's commonplace at Le Mans these days to use triple lights to indicate class position (first to third) at night.

They seem to come up with different lighting ideas each year. A while back they used vertical pulsing led strips to show the positions at night. A single light bar could read the relevant number as they sped past. I thought it worked really well, but it was not in use at the 2015 race!

Edited by vontrips
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Interesting that you refer to "current condition" Roy.

A small piece of cross referencing shows that when they raced in 1963 at Le Mans only #15 carried a single central roof light. All three of the Cunningham cars had a shorter boot lid extension, approx half the boot lid rather than full depth.

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However, at Sebring earlier the same year #20 carried 1 light, #21 2 lights and #22 3:

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http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1963-03-23.html

Rich

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Just what I need more kits on the back burner. I really need to get better at prioritization get rid of some of the clutter. Sorry for the side track Roy. I envy you guys in the U.K. because you have access to so many great tracks, races and cars that we just don't have here in the states.

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