1989 Ford Mustang GT ‘Vert in Light Gray (Smoke) 1/24 Monogram

[polybius]

It has been nearly a year since I finished a build, but it’s nice to finally have another lump of styrene for the display shelf.  This ‘89 Mustang GT was started early last year and after making quick progress on the drivetrain and interior the work stalled for a while as other builds and shiny objects grabbed my attention.

The body was prepped and primed, then doused with some vintage DupliColor Ford Light Gray that I’d spotted for 99 cents at Ollie’s about 10 years ago.  It was a color I remembered from the 70s and 80s and just needed a build to suit it.  After the color and clear coats, it was sanded and polished before mating it with the interior and chassis.  

These 80s and 90s Fox platform Monogram kits are rather simple yet I prefer them to the MPC/AMT variants of the same era.  I remember buying the first version of these when it was released in ‘87 as The New Monkee’s Mustang.  That kit incorrectly had the pre-‘87 interior, engine, and chassis but the body seemed more accurate for the ‘87+ than the MPC version of the GT Hatch that was also just hitting the KMart shelves.  Later releases of the Monogram ‘Vert like this one corrected the interior and included a reasonably accurate updated 5.0 HO with F/I.  This later version also had an accurate decklid luggage rack that the Monkee’s version lacked.  

It went together relatively easily without much fuss.  The most challenging aspect of these kits has always been the simulated louvered taillights.  If Monogram hadn’t penny pinched, they could have molded the tails as two or three piece units with separate lenses and louvered covers.  As they are, however, it makes for a tricky and stressful bit of work to get them reasonably accurate.  It could be worse, though, as the MPC/AMT kits had the entire lens/louver units molded into the body.

There’s a great low mileage example of this car and color combo that a quick web search located, so it became the reference for the build and its details.  

[Bucky]

WOW!! That is a nice pony car! Great color scheme!

[vamach1]

Super nice factory stock build.  Thanks for the info on the previous issues shortcomings.  Yours turned out great.

[cobraman]

That is one very sharp Mustang.

[Zippi]

Hey now....that's a sharp car in my books.

[polybius]

Thanks so much! I wouldn’t mind parking a real one in the stable, but until I hit the lottery this will do. 

Here’s its stablemate, “The New Monkees” version but there was no way I could replicate the weird marbled paint scheme for that.  The kit’s plastic was a strange marbled light blue, so the easier route was some traditional dark gray metallic for a stock appearance.  I didn’t mind the wrong interior and motor since it was a pleasant enough build out of the box.  There’s also a later Monogram ‘92 version that’s in the box waiting to be built, but I’m waiting for the right color idea to come to mind.  That version has the updated 5-spoke wheels as well.  

[charger74]

It looks very good 

[jefropas]

They both look great!!

Jeff

 

 

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[grodudulle77]

Very nice build !!??

[StanGlover]

What did you use to paint the headlight buckets? I’ve not had much luck getting 80’s/90’s aero headlights to look realistic but yours look very good!

[Plowboy]

That's a really nice looking little Mustang! The color combo is perfect for it! Nice work!

[Zen]

Very nice builds! Love building the Monogram Fox body's.

I'm curious to your technique on the tail lights, paint body color then fill in with the red?

[Venom]

That Mustang turned out great!

[Hi-Po]

Looking good!!  Nice build, clean and neat.

[e30lover]

Fantastic work on both foxbody. Detail paints and camera angle really add to the realism!

[webestang]

Scotty like......!!!!!  Very interesting color choice. 

 

I still want to use that kit with the notch kit to make a replica of my 88 5.0 LX vert. 

[polybius]

Thanks!!  

Yes, the aero headlights are pretty tricky but at least Monogram/Revell gives you clear lenses to start with.  I found some good closeup shots online to reference.  If you look closely at the 1/1 units, while the headlight bucket is reflective like chrome, the bottom (floor) of the bucket is slightly off-white.  The clear portion of the sidemarker reflects some of the amber from the corner section of the sidemarker lens.  The parking light has a slightly frosty clear lens.  

With that in mind, I chromed the reflector buckets with chrome tape and Molotow and then some flat white for the floor of the reflector bucket.  From there, a small dot of clear amber simulates the parking light bulb.  The sidemarker was masked for the amber section and left clear for the forward portion.  The parking light lens then got a light dry-brush of pearl white to give it a slightly frosty yet clear look.  Some black vinyl tape was trimmed into thin slices for the vertical separations, and then the whole lens got a thin line of black Sharpie to simulate the gasket and shadows.

It was all rather tricky and I wasn’t sure if it’d work, but I was pleased with the results.  

For the tails, since they’re molded in clear red, the housing molded into the body got a strip of chrome tape and the reflector section (under the backup lights) got an additional chrome strip stuck directly to the backside of the clear red unit.  The louvers were then hand-painted with primer and the lacquer Light Gray.  There was a lot of swearing at this point.  After drying, the backup slots were filled with Vallejo white acrylic which made tidying them up a bit easier, and any slipups in the red slots were fixed with a dab here and there of Tamiya clear red.  Once finished, the units were clearcoated to match the rest of the body color parts.

I appreciate the comments and questions!! Thanks again!! 

[vamach1]

Great details (no pun intended) on how you painted the headlight covers and taillights.  Anytime it is necessary to have to paint a clear red part a light body color it’s a challenge.

[bogger44]

Wow what a wonderful build!  Those headlights & tails look amazing and were well worth the effort.  

[espo]

Both beautiful looking builds and I like the way you strived to make them as accurate as possible.  The finish of both interiors look dead on.  

[av405]

Outstanding job! That is a beautiful paint job.

[StanGlover]

Thanks @polybius for your headlight process! I did a ‘92 Monogram convertible a while back and just painted the buckets flat aluminum, done before I had tried out Molotow chrome. I used Swarovski crystals to simulate bulbs which I think would look amazing with your method. My body clear coat ended up cracking so I’ll have to redo the paint at some point anyway, I’ll definitely try out your method then!

[bisc63]

Great looking Mustang! Your detailing touches make a remarkable difference (love the engine bay). Well done!

[Dominik]

On 9/22/2021 at 11:37 PM, Bucky said:

WOW!! That is a nice pony car! Great color scheme!

...and first i thought it is a reference from a showroom-car. Wow!