AMT's 1971 Ford Thunderbird: Finished

[David G.]

This is my version of AMT's 1971 Ford Thunderbird. It's one of the cars I remember fondly from my childhood. My Aunt and Uncle owned one and I had occasion to ride in it many times. It was fast and powerful. The body styling was almost as cool as any Batmobile and the interior followed suit. The high-back bucket seats and center console gave the interior a feeling of performance, rather like the cockpit of a fighter jet, while wrap-around rear seat gave the car a custom feel. Overall a very cool car and if I had my own "Jay Leno Garage", I would definitely have one of these in it.

For those who may be interested in the gritty details. here is a link to the build thread.

This was a difficult color to capture well on my phone camera but I think I got it. 

(Please pardon the dust)

 

I scrounged the rear view and side view mirrors from my parts box- AMT often doesn't provide mirrors in their kits.

 

 

The hood is a little popped up in the front. This was fixed with a little downward pressure.

 

 

Classic profile.

 

 

 

I just need to figure out what state I want to register it in.

 

 

 

Of course, I don't need t put plates on it but I probably will.

 

 

 

 

 

You've probably where I scratched the paint while trimming above the belt-line at the front of the right fender.  I fixed that with a brown fine point Sharpie.

 

Here is a close up of the repaired area.

 

Yeah, the dust is still there on this one but these pics come from the first test set that I took. They were actually the best of the three or four photo sessions so, as I was beginning to lose patience, I just used them.

 

I call this one the "dealer promo" angle. It's one of the few good ones from one of the other sessions.

 

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

Edited June 19, 2021 by David G.
typo

[Scalper]

Nice work.. looks right out of the 70's 

[grodudulle77]

Nice look !!??

[Tom99]

Nice!

[tmb727]

Nice job on that side trim - funny, I had the same issues on the right fender that you did.  And kudos to you  for getting that nice, thin line around the wheel openings.  That's not easy on this kit.

Oh, and love the color choice.

Well done!

[shoopdog]

Excellent work!

[espo]

Great looking Thunderbird. I enjoyed watching you over come several problems and doubts about the color for trim on this build. I like the Brown Mt. paint also. 

[ChrisR]

Nice!!

[PappyD340]

Nice T-bird

[David G.]

Thank you all for the kind comments. It was a fun and fairly easy build.

11 hours ago, tmb727 said:

Nice job on that side trim - funny, I had the same issues on the right fender that you did.  And kudos to you  for getting that nice, thin line around the wheel openings.  That's not easy on this kit.

Oh, and love the color choice.

Well done!

Thanks Tom, I used a Molotow 2mm pen for the wheel arcs. I practiced a bit on some scrap bodies until I got the feel of it was going to lay. Then it was just a swoop with the side of the applicator on each of the wheel arcs and boom! Done.

Thanks 

David G.

[charger74]

Very nice

[Classicgas]

Nice.

[Dann Tier]

LOVE IT!!!, but my favorite bits are the front, and rear ends -FANTASTIC, Bud!!!!

[David G.]

Thanks again to everyone for your kind comments. I do enjoy reading them.

Here's a picture of the Thunderbird resting proudly in my display case.

Looks like I need to push that hood down again!

Now on to the next one.

David G.

[polybius]

Great looking T-Bird!  Well done!

[David G.]

Thank you Jessiothan

David G.

[Plowboy]

That's a nice looking T--Bird David! You don't see these built very often. I've thought about buying that kit. But, never have. Yours has convinced me that I need one. A suggestion for your photos: try taking them outside on an overcast day or in the shade and see if you like them better.

[Bronzekeg]

looks good in brown

[slusher]

Very nice Thunderbird!

[ATHU]

Looking good, nice job!!

[David G.]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I appreciate the feedback.

 

On 5/8/2020 at 6:30 AM, Plowboy said:

That's a nice looking T--Bird David! You don't see these built very often. I've thought about buying that kit. But, never have. Yours has convinced me that I need one. A suggestion for your photos: try taking them outside on an overcast day or in the shade and see if you like them better.

Thank you Roger. It's a good kit, rather simple but with sufficient detail where it matters. You should pick one up.

As far as the photo issue, I did do exactly as you suggest. I took about sixty photos under those various conditions using two different cell phone cameras. My old phone, which is in the process of dying, used to take excellent photos, the quality of which decreased with each update. My current phone has never had the level of photo quality that the old one had at its worst and it's been updated (downgraded) twice already. Most of the photos I ended up using came from the old phone, which is still a decent camera when I can get it to boot up.

I just need to invest in an actual camera and accept the fact that cell phone cameras will never again be as good as they once were.

Please don't get me wrong Roger, I do appreciate your suggestions and I thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

Just for grins and giggles, here are some of the throwbacks from the various sessions.

 

Indoors with the "new" cell camera.

 

Outdoors, direct light with the "new" cell camera.

 

Outdoors in shade with the "new" cell camera

 

Outdoors, direct light with "old" cell camera

 

Indoors with "old" cell camera. This is the set that I used. In my opinion it has the best color balance, contrast and image quality.

 

Again, thank you all for your interest in this topic, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

David G.