I’ll be finishing up with my 56 Ford F-100 in the coming 30 days (hopefully it’ll be before the show on 10 October) and was pondering my next project. I’ve been really itchin’ to do an aircraft build but this Barracuda keeps calling my name so I’m going to go for it after my F-100. I thought I’d go ahead and lock myself into a build thread so that I’ll commit myself to building this cool a$$ car.
A pic of the 1:1 version…
and a pic of the kit…
Make no mistake. This kit SUCKS ROYALLY but with a little TLC it can be brought around to a decent looking build. I’ve got a complete “correct” AM decal sheet to replace the whole two decals that come with the kit and have just ordered a Ross Gibson 426 Race Hemi (which is like the coolest of cool for AM engines) and I was lucky to get it because all Ross Gibson engines are disappearing from all vendors due to the fact that Ross died last year. I’m also looking for the correct size drag slicks for the back which is proving to be a pain in tha… !! Any ways, gimme a few weeks and I’ll be on this one.
Looking forward to it. Was not aware Ross died. Too bad, his engines rocked. Would be great if someone could get his molds and do them. We badly need a new tool stock version of a 66 Barracuda.
Ok folks. I found a set of slicks I can live with from the Revell 68 Hemi Dart boxing. Looks like I’ll have to shave a little from the rear wheel openings but it’s all good. I also robbed a set of rear wheels from that kit. The front wheels came from AMT’s 37 Chevy Gasser kit and I’m still working on finding a shorter and more narrow front tire. I’ll get there though.
Oh Man Joe, this is going to be way cool. The '66 'cuda is a sweet subject. Very nice you were able to find the AM decals and hemi. I have complete faith in the fact that you will have this model wowing us to no end.
Make shure you do your research though, because this car went through many changes over the years.
If you are doing the “modern” resto of the car, then the Cragers are riight, but if you are doing an earlier version then you will need a correct set of Hurst mags.
I have a LARGE file on this car, if you need anything including the mags, P.M. me.
I can hook you up with the Hurst mags if you need them, I have a mold.
Also sorry to hear about Ross…
Good luck, I will be watching this one!
Tom “PANZERJAGER” Foerster / IPMS Northwoods Scale Model Phanatics
Well I’ve reached that point with the '56 Ford to where I’m now sitting at the bench with little left to do but stare at the rest of the parts. Everything on it has an order it goes in and I can’t skip a step and move on until I get the next small task in front of me done. Unfortunately it isn’t a shake and bake time at the bench with it right now.
I had to move to something that I could actually get my hands into in regards to building again so I laid everything out from the Ross Gibson engine and my AM Hillborn Fuel Injection set to display what I’ve actually got to deal with. I must say that so far I’m impressed. I’ll be heading to the sink to wash all these parts up tomorrow morning.
One of the neat things that the Gibson engine comes with is a little strip for the drive belt/ belts. Check it out:
I’m really looking forward to building again. Hopefully this one doesn’t take 9+ months to build.
If I remember right that Cuda was a wheel-stand demo car, but did the quarter in 10s. There was also a Hurst Olds in a similar paint scheme. I think the Olds was Mid-engined. This was the period when “funny cars” were evolving. Is there any info out there on the paint colors, that is the gold? What about the engine color, Hemi-orange, or red? I saw these cars back in the day, but do not remember the details. I think they are still around and doing “nostalgia” events. This is going to be a neat build to watch and I am looking forward to it.
Still working with this one here. The more I look at this kit the more I become frustrated with its inaccuracy. I’m going to have to do a lot of work to get this thing up to par. First off the front suspension on the real car is of A-frame type :
The one in the kit is…leaf spring design???
I can get past this as there aint just a whole lot I can do with this unless I start graphing in a suspension from another car. However I can’t get past the fact that the wheels are set back in the wheel opening as shown here in a completed model I found on another forum. The rear wheels are positioned wrong in the wheel opening as well. Man…I’ve got my work cut out for me here…
These pics are from another builder that I found on the internet. He managed to pull off a decent paint job and decaling out of it but the quality of the kit shows through
I’ve already begun taking steps to correct that issue. Then there’s the motor that’s like WAY too far forward and set in too low!! Again…completed pictures from another builder…
Motor’s gotta come back to the rear AND up!!!
Then there’s the interior…good LORD! A person would have to be a contortionist to get in this thing in real life if it were set up like this. Fire wall has to be located more to the rear and seats tossed out. I have good seat from another kit (this car kit comes with…two??? ).
Check it out:
This is going to be a slow process with this build folks.
I’m quite interested to see where this takes you. I have built the HUG cuda kit, but i threw out all the chassis and stuff and used the internals from a 69 Plymouth kit.
Now that… is freekin’ cool!! I would just love to build one of these but it’s gonna take alot of work and planning to pull it off to where it’ll look half decent.
).
