History of the 1/32 Monogram Cooper Ford mold??

[viejoronnie]

In preparation for the potential "early SCCA" proxy series I picked up a Professor Motors Monogram "King Cobra" body to convert back to a non-V8 Cooper Type 61. I was surprised to see how light and small it was. I don't recall the body of my 1964 car being so "dainty". Also, while I had opened up and radiused the rear fenders to accomodate larger tires, the modern version is molded with flared and radiused rear fenders.

The "new" body has the original 1964 Monogram mark. In looking at recent epay offerings, I saw an original 60's Monogram kit in dark blue plastic, but it too appears to have the rear fender flares.

So somewhere along the way, Monogram added these to the original mold.

[chappyman66]

Matt and others will probably correct me but as I recall:
The early Cooper has closed skirts on the rear wheel wells. The mold was later changed to have the wheel wells open and flared although those flares look larger than what I had.
There was also a Palmer kit (multi piece body) that had open but not widely flared wheel wells as I recall.

[Reegs]

The first generation car (the one pictured) came with the X-100 Mabuchi 500A type motor.
When Monogram moved up to the 500B X-110 there was the change to the brass frame to accomodate the new motor and the cosmetic change to the the rear fenders.
Unless I'm thinking of a different car altogether.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

[mattb]

I think you guys got it all covered. Your memories are better than mine.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
All I remember is where to look things up!

I do have the old car from the 1964 kit, the new RTR from a just a few years back, and the MRRC RTR. Frankly, I am thinking about getting this flared version. I like the way it looks, and you can stuff a lot of tire under a body like that.

[viejoronnie]

For those that have the original model bodies, what is the general body thickness? I and others here remember it to be rather thick. The PM replacement body is around .8mm thick.

Does anybody have an opinion regarding whether perhaps the die tool was redone to allow a thinner body?

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I just dug mine out, and on the rear deck, center, it is 1.37mm. Marking inside is "1964 Monogram Models, Inc".

[viejoronnie]

...or approximately 1/16" in thickness which I recall from back in the day. If one looks at the pic of the Gen 2/3 static model, the thickness of the edge of the pan chassis appears to be at least that. I'm thinking the latest version will make a nice light body for the proxy being discussed. Rather than using the simple Monogram driver pan, however, I plan to repurpose a old AJ's Winnwagen shallow semi-3d styrene interior which displays a full passenger seat.