AJ Foyt earned Legend status in 1977, becoming the first person to win the Indianapolis 500 four times. This incredible achievement was done at the wheel of his own car, manufactured by his own team in its Texas workshop, the iconic “Coyote IV” with the wide flat nose and raised hip radiators.
The car was powered by a turbocharged V8 Ford-based engine that Foyt branded as his own. In some circles the car is referred to as a Coyote-Ford, others a Coyote-Foyt.
The backstory of the Coyote IV race cars is interesting. Several were constructed and the chassis photographed here that won the ‘500 in 1977 was built in 1975. Foyt raced it at Indy in ’75 (qualified pole), ’76 and ’77, then another driver (George Snider) raced it in 1978. Read more about the history of the 1973-1978 Coyote IV chassis on OldRacingCars.com.
29 May 1977, Foyt in Victory Lane for a record 4th time. Interestingly, this was the last time the winning car (both chassis and engine) was built entirely within the United States.
The Kit
This is a 1:43 scale white metal kit from English manufacturer SMTS (Scale Model Technical Services). It has photo-etch, plated parts, rubber tyres, plastic card, clear windshield and decals.
All the pieces that make up SMTS kit RL65. The plastic sheet (lower right) is for the side skirts that run along the lower edge of the chassis.
Below is the unboxing video showing all the tiny pieces as they were supplied in the kit.
The Build
First step was to clean up all the parts, drill out all the mounting holes, check everything fits and basically build the model unpainted to ensure it would actually go together.
The overall dimensions of the main monocoque casting looked ok, but there was a lot of crud hanging off it, such as around the front wheel deflectors and front flanks of the tub.
Flash around the inside of the tub (and engine bay) was removed with a file.
It’s hard to see because the casting is messy, but “F.O.R.D.” is cast into the valve covers – in 1:43 scale!
See the gap? The upper cockpit surround casting did not fit down flush on the chassis.
The front tip of the cockpit should not be stepped up like seen here, but flush with the top surface of the nose.
After filing the (unseen) lower part of the casting, plus the mounting hole it fits in, the upper body now sits flush. Tape holds the upper and lower parts of the chassis together to allow dry fitting and adjustment of the engine and suspension pieces. Two screws are provided to hold all this together, but the long screw was almost too short and the short screw was too long!
The lower wishbones at each end are cast as one piece (visible in the exploded parts pic earlier), thus giving some strength to the suspension. A straight solid metal axle is used for the rear drive shafts. The rear uprights and gearbox had to be drilled for the axle to fit through and I drilled these a little oversize to allow some free play and scope for adjustment. The front upright/rocker arm/steering arm/brake disc assembly is cast and plated as one piece (per side). Holes had to be drilled in the chassis so their locating pins would… locate.
Holes were drilled in a grey MDF plinth to line up with locations that were already identified in the base plate casting, though they too had to be drilled out.
The ride-height and rake I wanted to achieve was set with small washers between the model and the plinth.
Unfortunately, my ride-height target was too ambitious. When the front wheels were offered up, there was not enough clearance to have tyres fitted to the rims. The front ride-height as manufactured into the kit was, I believe, excessive, giving the model a nose-up attitude (of which I forgot to take a pic). In this pic, tape, screws and some dabs of glue are precariously holding all the parts together.
The model was then taken apart, the pieces sanded to remove corrosion then mounted for a hit of primer (Tamiya Fine Grey).
It’s far easier to see faults once the primer is on, and there were many imperfections. Tamiya Surface Primer was applied to fill porosities, sinks and scratches in the casting. It takes quite a while to dry and shrinks a lot.
Filler in the bottom edge of the cockpit surround. It was also required on the top of the engine cover, sides of the nose and rear flanks. This was carefully sanded down to give a smooth finish, ready for more primer.
Once the faults were cleaned up, all the body parts that were to be painted orange were hit with Tamiya Pink Primer
The Foyt Coyotes were painted “Poppy Red” – whatever that is. Australian hobby paint manufacturer SMS make “Vermillion Fire”, a red/orange official Ford colour. Vermillion fire looked a little too orange to my eye (extreme right of my test shot), so a tad of Salamanca Red (sprayed on the ‘643’ of the sprue above) was added to achieve a colour I was happy with (the bit in the middle).
All the body parts painted, unfortunately a bit orange-peely.
The wheels are plated to simulate the polished aluminium look of the real thing. The car ran a couple of wheel designs, and the ones supplied in the kit required the addition of black into the recess of the spoke castings (Tamiya Semi-Gloss black). Tyres had the tread surface filed to remove the mould line, then cleaned and mounted onto the rims.
Masks were cut to fit over the rim so the sidewall could be sprayed gloss clear (SMS) to improve adhesion for the tyre decals.
I could not believe what I saw when I wet the Goodyear tyre decals – the letters started floating apart across the backing paper! Every decal broke into multiple pieces that had to be carefully re-assembled into a logo once on the tyre sidewall.
I was able to restore the rears reasonably well, but the smaller fronts were a disaster, especially when some of the individual letters started breaking up as well. Once the decals had dried, the tyres were sprayed with Tamiya Smoke Clear that had a drop of Flat Base added to it.
Desperate call out to a local modelling mate for his Liquid Decal Film once again saved the day (thanks Graham!). Just like a previous old Indy kit (the 1956 winner – see build blog HERE), this solution is brushed on and quickly dries a thin film over the decal. It means each decal has to be cut out individually, but it magically keeps them in once piece.
The two side cooling towers were fixed to the main chassis with 2-part epoxy glue.
Even though it’s hard to see once assembled, I hand painted the inside of the cockpit surround with aluminium/silver
Same with the inner flanks of the tub (the seat hides the bit that’s still orange)
No issues with the rest of the decal application, other than some softener needed to help the small decals on the curved surfaces of the rear cooling towers. Registration of the decals is very poor – note the varying thickness of the white key line around the blue ‘g’ on the nose. A number of the smaller decals are unreadable.
Decals done (no time for clear coat), parts ready and painted.
Various metallic colours used here. The rear springs were painted SMS silver then acrylic semi-gloss black, which was wiped off to expose the silver underneath. The FORD lettering in the cam covers has been scraped with hobby knife to expose the metal, but it’s hard to read. Lower suspension arms are epoxy glued to the floor and gearbox.
Rear uprights and top links CA glued in place with the axle used to locate everything.
Significant step when the body fits on the chassis plate. Lower front wishbones get sandwiched between the two. Monocoque top and seat are separate pieces, epoxy glued in place. Re-fuelling connectors are painted Metallic Grey. Coolers in the side towers are photo etch pieces.
Now with the plated intake plenum, turbo and rear wing supports sitting in place. If nothing else, this photo shows how little protection the driver had in those days. The cockpit surround (not yet fitted) was just flimsy bodywork and the monocoque is very shallow.
The rear wing support structure was manufactured with a twist in it. I began to try bending it straight, but felt it was going to break. An option was to scratch build something out of brass rod, but that presented two problems: (1) I’ve never worked with brass rod, and (2) I was out of time.
The kit did not include seat belts, so I made some tiny ones from strips of paper painted flat black, then stuck to the seat. No buckles for this build.
One of the two screws that hold this model together. I had to replace the kit supplied screw with a longer one. That screw taps into the base of the engine cover, thus sandwiching everything between it and the base plate. Chassis base plate had been sprayed SMS Aluminium.
White metal insert for the radiator inlet mesh, ready to glue in place. Front uprights, brake callipers and discs were brush painted various metallic colours to provide some contrast to the detail. All suspension arms are plated.
To try and bring the front ride height down a little, I flat spotted the front tyres (hard to see here) using a sanding stick and drilled the inside mounting holes oversize for extra clearance on the axle. I reckon these tweaks allowed the nose to drop close to a full millimetre.
Now mounted to the base, it was time to fit the wheels. Using 2-part epoxy gives a few minutes of work time so there’s no rush to get the wheels pointing straight.
Wheels fitted. The radiator ‘mesh’ across the front was not painted. Instead, Tamiya Panel Line Wash (black) was applied directly to the metal prior to fitting.
A thin aluminium strip ran across the bottom of the nose on the real car. SMTS provide an etched part for this, but it has to be bent, so into the photo etch bender it goes. There was a much thinner piece provided for the Gurney Flap across the top of the rear wing, but it was so narrow I was not able to mount it in this special holding tool to turn it into an ‘L’ shape. So I left it off the model.
Then fitted in place with Kristal Klear (white glue) which dries totally clear.
The rear wing is a cast piece and the end plates are photo etch. Once these were all painted and decaled (no time for clear coating this build!), the endplates were carefully attached with CA glue. The clear part is the vac-formed windshield. This had to be carefully cut and trimmed down to fit the top edge of the cockpit. A lot of time was spent trimming, scraping and filing before it was fixed in place with a few dabs of Kristal Klear.
This is what the wing would have looked like if glued true to the mounting bars…
So the wing was held level until the glue had dried.
The model (and figurine!) as they went on the club display at Model Expo.
Turbo charger and intake plenum is one piece and plated.
The Animal
Our club’s Expo theme was “Animal Instinct” – the model could be of anything, as long as some type of animal was part of its name. Wile E. Coyote has nothing to do with Coyote race cars, but everyone my age knows who he is! I purchased the 3D files from the Cults website for AUD$2.19 and forwarded them to fellow club member Max for printing (thanks Max!)
The 3D printed parts that make up Wile E. Coyote.
CA glue fixes them together. The base and the figure were then hit with a single coat of grey primer.
My collection of paint colours does not extend to figures! Mixing a little colour with Flat White created this light shade that was sprayed on the front of the Coyote. Paints are Tamiya acrylics.
A mix of Flat Brown with some Flat Earth was brushed on the rest. His nose is an extra blob of plastic glued on and painted semi-gloss black. Base was sprayed German Grey, then CA glued to the Coyote’s feet.
And from the back. It’s a pity nobody entered a Plymouth Road Runner into Expo…
Coyote in the front-centre of the Pakenham Modellers Group “Animal Instinct” display at Model Expo 2025.
The Conclusion
Overall, this is a bit of a fiddly kit not suitable for a beginner. I think it captures the essence of the real car very well.
With patience it can build up to a decent representation of the ’77 Indy 500 winner. I ended up rushing much of this build. It was required for a club display at the Australian Model Expo, but unscheduled life commitments took over the time I had planned to use for this build.
I didn’t achieve the finish I was hoping for, and there’s no clear coat to protect the decals. I believe SMTS can supply replacements, but let’s see how they age first.
I had to go three washers thick between the model and plinth, which I feel is too high.
If you’re familiar with the kit, you might notice the side skirts are not fitted. On the real car, they bolt to the lower sides of the tub, but to fit them like that to the model would require gluing them to the side decal – that’s a recipe for disaster. I then tried to slide the material into the gap between the chassis plate and body on the underside of the model, but they would not fit.
The extra supports for the rear wing are also missing. I couldn’t get the support rods to reach their location holes, and since they looked overly thick anyway, decided to leave them off.
I believe the front ride height is a design/manufacture issue, not an assembly mistake. While I was able to correct it somewhat, there is little scope to take it further without compromising other aspects of the model.
Despite this, it’s still going to look fine in the display cabinet with a bunch of other Indianapolis 500 winners.
Obligatory closing shot – the completed model with the box art (non existent in this case!), 14 June 2025.