ThunderCougarFalconBird

[Just Jim]

Apologies in advance to those of you out there who may not be fans of the TV show Futurama. But when I came across this glue bomb Thunderbird with no engine or hood and just a couple of tires, I knew what I had to do. I'm hoping to turn this green mess into something resembling the blue one in the picture. ? This will be my first foray into the world of cutting and adding styrene and body filler so we will see how it goes!

[Just Jim]

Found my back engines! Not much like the small cylindrical ones on the cartoon car but it's what I have on hand and I think it looks cool so I'm going with it. ?

[bisc63]

I've tossed around the idea ever since I first saw that episode; it cracked me up the way the salesman delivered the word "Thundercougarfalconbird" Will be interesting to see your interpretation.

[Mister 4x4]

SWEET!!  I LOVE It! ?

[Maindrian Pace]

Good news, everyone!

[Mark IV]

"Shut up and take my Money"  "Kiss my shiny metal ass"

[FredRPG]

Need to find some scale eagle beaks.

 

[kruleworld]

reference picture

Edited May 22, 2021 by kruleworld

[MeatMan]

Looks like its sure to be wild!!

 

[Just Jim]

A couple of photos for anyone out there who may be looking. Not much progress on this one yet as I had to travel unexpectedly for work. However, I did get some seat time this weekend. Finished the internal combustion engine, began closing up the wheel openings, and cut out the fins. Thanks for looking.

[Just Jim]

In an attempt to give a little back to this forum and the people here who have provided me so many new ideas and so much guidance, I wanted to share the process I used to close up the wheel wells. The picture shows the type of styrene and bondo I used along with my trusty sanding block (I used 400 grit sandpaper). Some of the things I learned along the way in no particular order are: 1. Apply the bondo with a moist (not wet) fingertip. 2. The best way to remove bondo is by sanding. I had a random spec fall on the passenger door and made the mistake of scraping it off with my fingernail which caused a hole in the plastic. 3. If I had it to do again, I would place layers of styrene protruding beyond the body. Although doing so leads to more sanding, it is ultimately easier than filling it. If you look from the correct angle, you can see the plastic over the wheel wells is concave. 4. I ended-up using the baby powder/superglue method to fill the really small lines. I wasn’t able to get the bondo to fill the hairline cracks where the styrene and body met. 5. Be really careful when filing in areas next to lines you want to keep. Once the filler is in a body line, it’s tough to get out. As stated above, this is my first foray into the world of adding plastic so I'm sure I still have a lot to learn. Just doing what I can to try and help the next person looking to jump into the mix.

[Just Jim]

Got the wheel wells and back end closed up and ready for paint! Attached the three fins on the trunk lid and shot some paint last night. Hoping to get updated pics online this week. Currently detailing the jet engines and fabricating the headers. More soon.

[Mr. Metallic]

For your first heavy body mods you're doing quite well. 

You're learning as you go, but yes, trying to do as much with plastic with minimal filler is the way to go. 

The one part filler you are using may shrink, so be sure to give it ample time to do so before proceeding to paint. In the future I would try using two part filler. Bondo does offer some if you want to stick with that, i use a brand called Dolphin Glaze (I know, weird name) that i bought on eBay

For filling minor scratches and imperfections I would use Tamiya grey or white filler. It is very fine and fills those small scratches very well, but they do shrink a little so apply very small amounts.

I'm a big Futurama fan, so you sucked me in with the title. Kool build!

[Just Jim]

On 6/22/2021 at 1:01 PM, Mr. Metallic said:

For your first heavy body mods you're doing quite well. 

You're learning as you go, but yes, trying to do as much with plastic with minimal filler is the way to go. 

The one part filler you are using may shrink, so be sure to give it ample time to do so before proceeding to paint. In the future I would try using two part filler. Bondo does offer some if you want to stick with that, i use a brand called Dolphin Glaze (I know, weird name) that i bought on eBay

For filling minor scratches and imperfections I would use Tamiya grey or white filler. It is very fine and fills those small scratches very well, but they do shrink a little so apply very small amounts.

I'm a big Futurama fan, so you sucked me in with the title. Kool build!

Thanks for the feedback and the tips, much appreciated!

[Just Jim]

My last WIP update for this one. I have a stand to place it on so it will look like it's hovering. I have fabricated the headers but have to figure out how to attach them. I am a little disappointed with the bug-eyed look of the headlights but with the headlight buckets and headlight plastic missing, it didn't make sense to me to paint both the headlights and the backing silver. So, since it has a yellow tint in the screen shot, I went with that.  I think the black windshield I fabricated turned out pretty good. Normally I would have painted the "glass" silver but was concerned the silver windshield would cause the mostly silver engine to become invisible. Hopefully I can get some pictures in the Under Glass section by the end of the weekend.