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‘66 Shelby Mustang


CabDriver

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I never really was crazy about Mustangs.  They’re cool I guess, but I never wanted to build one.  Then, I bought a 1:1, and suddenly I’m buying Mustang kits every time I see them.  ??

Anyhoo, I figured I’d like to build a little collection of matching color Mustangs and see if I can start clearing down the stack of a dozen or so that I’ve got in the queue right now.  First up, the Revell ‘66 Shelby:

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My idea was to do some subtle modifications to each, but nothing too period-incorrect or too crazy…just make it my own like I might if I had the resources to do it for real.

First up, and almost breaking my own rule already, I really liked these retro-inspired Boyd wheels so I printed a set of them - I’m keeping the kit front tires, but used some Model Car Garage (I think?) resin rears:

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Those wider rear tires will require a little more space in the rear, so I sliced out the existing wheel arches…

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…and reassembled:

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Whilst the printer was printing the wheels, I ran off some seats that I’d been wanting to use on a build too - retro-looking enough to fit the car but a little different too:

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Next job was fixing the interior tub now that I made it not fit anymore - removed the little rear bench seat (because who drives a Shelby Mustang with three passengers in it?) and smoothed it all out and got enough clearance for everything to fit back together:

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Next jobs will be figuring out the suspension and getting the stance right - but I like the look already with my quick paper clip mock-up ? 

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Local model show in October has a Mustang theme this year, so I need to not let this one drift off into the part-built-project-pile…more soon, soon as I’ve done more!  Thanks for looking!

Edited by CabDriver
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On 8/25/2022 at 8:08 AM, Just Jim said:

Killer stance, love the seats

On 8/25/2022 at 10:04 PM, slusher said:

I really like your wheels and tires ? Jim!   Really nice seats too!

Thanks fellas!  I think the stance will change a LITTLE (so you’d actually be able to steer the thing…) but close as I can get it anyway…

A little more progress…got the front and rear valances on the body.  Took some fine tuning to get them to fit nicely, but there was no way I was gonna mess with gluing them on once painted like the directions show…

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Removed the emblems and door handles (which I’ll replace later, after paint) and started scribing the panel lines to add some depth to them.  Ended up shooting some primer on the body so I could see what I was doing with the clean-up…much easier to spot where you’re coming up short with a coat of gray on there:

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Removed the molded in mesh detail from the core support, and opened up the grill too - will use a fine wire mesh in both of these after paint:

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And what I was MEANT to be doing today was getting the ride height set and adjusting whatever I needed to there to make it all work…but I got distracted by making some aluminum rims for the wheels:

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Ended up reprinting the wheels - but just the center sections as you can see above - they should look pretty sharp when they’re assembled, hopefully:

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I’m thinking a satin gunmetal for the centers to contrast against the polished rims.

Oh, and whilst the printer was running, took a shot at some 3D licensed plates - I’ve been trying to master a technique for making these.  The challenges are getting them scale thickness whilst still being printable and also having the copy and border sit proud enough that there’s a way to actually paint the things.  This one isn’t perfect, but I’m getting closer…

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Thanks for looking - more soon!

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21 hours ago, slusher said:

l really like your wheels Jim and great stance!

Thanks brother!

 

Todays project-snowball was getting this thing up on it’s wheels, now that I finished messing with the wheels.

The front end wasn’t too hard - sliced off the stubs, and relocated them upwards a little to bring the wheels up in the arches:

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I actually moved them up even a touch more after this pic was taken - there’s a BUNCH of room above the tire to play with and they already sit kinda high…

The rear was a little more work, because I also wanted to replace the kit axle which is molded open on top and has fairly soft detail…

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A look through my parts stash later and I found the 9” (I think?) from the Foose pickup kit, and it was an easy swap-in once I made some lowering blocks and notched the floor and frame a little so that the axle would actually be able to move up and down if this were a real build:

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Took a bunch more work to get this thing sitting how I imagined…main problem was that I wanted a taller tire in the rear to fill the aches some AND I wanted it much lower, so…but after an afternoon of messing with it I’ve got it almost where I want it now:

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I need to remove some material from the front stubs so that the front wheels would actually clear, and be able to steer, plus shave a little off the inside of the body at the rear (which, if scaled up would be made of 3” thick steel ?) so the tires wouldn’t rub, but I like how it sits now…just how I imagined!

Not a very productive day, but worth the effort to get the look I had in mind - more soon!

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Thanks fellas!

I’ve been focused on prepping the body mostly this week - I’d like to get at least the base color down this coming long weekend…but got a couple more little bits done in the meantime.

First up, designed some inner hood structure in CAD:

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I printed it a little thicker than I needed so I can hand-shape it to match the inner curves of the kit hood:

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Still need to sand it down - it’ll lose probably half it’s thickness one it’s fitted but it’ll sit on the underside of the hood like this and add a little realism there:

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Tweaked the design of my ‘stamped’ license plate design and got a couple of good prints of those:

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And whilst I’ve had the printer busy, I drew a period correct Autolite Sta-ful battery to replace the molded in part - came out pretty good I think!

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Almost done with prepping the body - and my paint order came today, so I’m about ready to turn this thing a pretty color!

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Thanks for looking - more soon!

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Thanks everyone!  Some more progress over the weekend (and a bonus day tomorrow - sweet!).

Got the body in color:

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My favorite blue (and the color I’d paint my 1:1 if I could); Createx Pearl Blue.  Looks ok in the pic above, but really comes into it’s own under a little light:

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Next up, the stripes.  Masked ready for paint:

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Then I shot the stripes with Tamiya flat white which is really opaque, airbrushes nicely and doesn’t build too much.  Some careful painting and de-masking later…

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Couple of little touch-ups required but nothing major - can smooth out the edges tomorrow and start laying down clear.  Couldn’t resist a quick mock-up to see how the satin gunmetal wheels with polished rims will look with the body - was originally thinking of a tan interior for this but now I’m thinking classic black with chrome accents:

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Thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

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Thanks fellas!  

I’m kinda stuck in a cycle of priming, painting and clearcoating bits right now….but, got a couple of bits done…

Added the rare underchassis stripes that weren’t really an option…plus, shot some on the dash:

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Unfortunately, seeing as I’m in progress clewrcoating all these bits I can’t get much assembly started on ANYTHING, although the engine will be first in line…in the meantime keeping myself busy working thru some of the little bits and pieces like the opening up the holes on the steering wheel and prepping the washer fluid bag:

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Engine parts are in the strip tank getting dechromed so I can Alclad them and start work on the engine this coming week - but I am taking the opportunity to upgrade the kit carb a little with one of these 3D printed Holleys:

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Not a major update, but it’ll all start coming together once I’ve finished laying down clear on everything blue and can start actually assembling some stuff…more soon!

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Thanks fellas!

 

Didnt have a decent update for a while there, because all I was doing was clear-coating stuff or waiting for clear to dry.  Done with that stage now, so onto some more interesting work…

Got the body in clear, and mostly polished out: 6DAE95BF-3F07-4999-A911-4127878F830D.thumb.jpeg.b0928fcaced75d8856306ec9a894c103.jpeg

It’s gonna look cool with those stripes running underneath (not that you’ll see them, unless I display it on a mirror, which I may have to…

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With started some assembly on the frame:

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As you can see, painted the brake calipers to match the body - I stole those disks from a Revell 32 kit…also gave the tires some layered washes of thinned-down gray acrylic and then hit them with some dullcoat and got the wheels assembled - got some detailing to do on the wheels still…

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Started assembly of the engine - I like to start with the wiring and plumbing so nothing gets knocked off or damaged whilst you’re having the block a lot.  Used a 3D printed Holley Dominator and added photoetch throttle linkages and a home-made return spring:

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Flocked the floor - mixed up a custom black/silver-speckled embossing powder blend to add a little interest, and added some simple lapbelts.  Not going crazy on the interior of this one…

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And finally, cut a mask for the radiator so I could airbrush a little Mustang logo on there that will be visible thru the front grille if you look up in there - just a dumb idea I had because I can’t leave well enough alone.  I always wondered why the vertical stripes on the badge don’t match the traditional  two stripes on the body…

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Plenty to do still, but enough progress for an update anyway - thanks for looking everyone! ?

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