89 Thunderbird SC

[Just Jim]

Been working on this for a few weeks now. Mostly OOB but I am going to lower the front end as far as I can without doing any major body mods (i.e. not planning on cutting out the wheel wells). The gaps in the seats are driving me crazy. Looks like going forward I'm gong to have to become one of "those" guys who bondo's over the unnecessary lines. The peer pressure of looking at all the professionally built models on the forum is causing me work to up my game.? More to come, thanks for looking.

  

 

After receiving some inspiration from another thread here on the forum, decided to try my hand at making the exhaust look a little more realistic. ?

Painted the interior portion of the body. Did a quick mock-up to ensure everything was fitting like it's supposed to. So far so good. Would have put the wheels on but the paint on the suspension is currently drying. 

[Captain Spaulding]

Nice looking T-Bird, looking forward to the finished product.

[Just Jim]

So not much love out there for the old Thunderbird ? but here's some updated pictures for the Captain and anyone else who may be silently following. Just about ready to call this one finished. All that's left is to put the bottom, middle and top together. Maybe one more picture here later this week and then it's under glass by this time next week...I hope!

[SSNJim]

I'm here too. Love these Revell SC cars. Converted one into a notch back, working on a bagged 93 LX, a convertible, and a fastback Cougar with a Sable style rear window. Picked up one this weekend to probably replicate my old 92 SC. 

Nice job. I'm following along too. 

Edited March 30, 2021 by SSNJim

[Just Jim]

Thanks neighbor, I appreciate the reply and encouragement. Are the models you mentioned above on the forum? I looked through your profile but didn't see any pictures of them. It is possible I wasn't looking in the right spot.

[SSNJim]

No, no pictures yet. The notchback has a Cougar body. I had to modify the Cougar trunk to make the top edge of the TBird taillights match, and used the Cougar interior tub. Everything else is TBird. That's one thing I love about these SC/Cougars - everything swaps nice and clean. That's the only one I have completed other than a stock SC with the aero wheels.

The 93 LX is one I modified the rocker panels to remove the aero skirts, and used half round to make the body side molding. For the rocker panels, I glued sheet styrene to the lower inside of the body, and started filing. As I progressed, I rescribed the door lines and lowest character line to maintain the depth, then when I had the outside shaped as I wanted them, I contoured the inside of the rocker panel to give it a stock appearance. I also had to slightly narrow the chassis. This will definitely be a curbside - I did a lot of horrible things to the wheel wells and chassis to get the ride height I wanted. It's almost ready for final assembly, but I'm having trouble painting the roof and window trim. This is what I am shooting for, and yes, I have these wheels.

The others are in the very early stages. The convertible is just a Cougar body with the roof removed, and will be similar to the notchback. The fastback Cougar is a TBird with the C-pillars removed, and they will be replaced with a more straight C-pillar. I will use the Cougar front and rear fascias. This is the look I'm going for without the pillar at the rear edge of the rear door.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Sable#/media/File:Ford_Taurus_1990_Mex.JPG 

I should have some pictures of the notchback and the 93 LX this weekend. 

[SSNJim]

Here are the pictures I promised. The white one is the 93 LX, stiil a WIP. It needs a repaint for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is I seem to have lost my ability to brush paint trim. The gray one is the notchback. It seems to have lost the mirrors, and needs some coat hanger wire to hold the exhaust up. I'll fix them after I move.

Edited April 4, 2021 by SSNJim

[Just Jim]

Thanks for the pictures. Both cars look good. Are the rear wheels on the white one glued in place or mocked-up? Once they are permanently in place can you post a picture of how you lowered the rear-end?  I wanted to lower the front and back of mine but the intricate rear suspension proved to be more of a challenge than I was ready to take on. Would like to see how you handled it.

[Just Jim]

Final 3 WIP pictures. Now it's Under Glass.

[SSNJim]

Yes, the white car is completely mocked up, and nothing is permanently attached except for the interior to the chassis. I sidestepped the whole trying to figure out how to lower the kit suspension thing by simply not using it. That is one of the horrible things I did to the suspension and chassis, along with some Dremel clearancing to get it to sit like the car in the my earlier post. Like I said, it's a curbside.

The rear wheels use a metal axle which sits on the frame rails. I'm considering notching the frame rails in the rear to get the car a bit lower and more level. In the front, the metal axle sits between the notched on top frame rail and fender wells. 

Nice work on yours.