The Newly Tooled Revell 1971 Boss 351 Mustang

[baycolony]

I have been waiting for this one for a long time and finally have it on my bench.  I plan to paint this with paint from MCW in factory Ford color "Medium Yellow Gold."  In my opinion older Mustangs don't look good in yellow but these are the exception.  I originally was going to go with a black interior but I am now leaning toward "ginger."  Finally, I am considering doing something a little different and using the standard Ford hub caps and chrome rings. 

 

[baycolony]

As usual, the body gets initial attention. Very little flash and the customary mold lines that have to be removed. I then sanded the whole body with a 2500 grit sanding sponge in preparation for primer. Notice the "knockout" marks on the underside of the hood which require filling. There are also a few on the headliner but I am not filling those since you basically have to turn the model upside down and tilt your head to see them. After washing and a final check, the body was primed with Tamiya fine white primer (because of the brightness of the color). Finally, I painted the body and mirrors with the MCW lacquer at 18psi after adding some "slow" drying lacquer thinner. The pic shows the starting point before light polishing. I plan to forego using clear coat as these period cars did not have it.  It should also be noted that it appears the instructions call out the lower rear valence as "body color."  This appears to be wrong since all my reference photos show it as matte black.

 

[stavanzer]

Looks Great in that Colour!

I'll be watching for more progress.

[Ceaser_Salad]

Nice!

[stinkybritches]

Looking good so far. I have the same color set aside for one of my Boss 351 kits 

[vamach1]

Found this nice example online of the factory color.

[baycolony]

Thanks for the replies.  Obviously the hue of the picture of my painted model was affected by the light under which it was taken.  It is actually more like the reference pics

[mrmike]

Looking great, Gil!  Watching for more!

[ea0863]

Enjoying watching your build, and interested in your insights on this new model

[kelson]

Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[baycolony]

Well I have the latest update to the build. Below I have polished the body and painted the black accents along the lower areas as well as the hood. One issue that concerned me is that the decals for the pin-striping, especially around the hood blackout, contains a border of black in addition to the pinstripe. I was debating whether to totally paint the black and cut out the border on the decal, but it occurred to me that there would be no room for error if I didn't get the paint mask just right, so I opted to go with the full decal on the hood and use the included paint mask in the instructions. After applying the pinstripe decal I will attempt to match the sheen of both. For the rest of the lower black accents I am definitely painting them and just adding the pinstripe decal. When I prepared the hood, I cut out the paper paint mask and cut around it on masking tape. I then taped it to the hood and applied the pre-cut mask around this. For the black, I used a lacquer based paint from "Gravity Colors" called "Tire black" which I had in my stash. It turned out to be a good mask for the matte finish.

 

[Monty]

Can someone please recommend a hobby paint that matches the engine blue in the picture vamach1 posted?

I’ve heard all the stories about how the color could change day to day, depending on what was available, but I want that specific shade.  And no, don’t suggest the Testors stuff.

 

 

 

[vamach1]

3 hours ago, Monty said:

Can someone please recommend a hobby paint that matches the engine blue in the picture vamach1 posted?

I’ve heard all the stories about how the color could change day to day, depending on what was available, but I want that specific shade.  And no, don’t suggest the Testors stuff.

 

 

 

You might be best to mix your own.  I used Testors Model Masters Ford/GM engine blue but i is too dark so I may try the smaller bottles or just add gloss white until it gets lighter for the next build.  The build I am working on I’m considering a test case to get an idea of how far I want to go with detailing.  While were on the subject of the engine compartment - the underside of the hood should be body color except for the “molded in” ram air plenum which should be flat black as seen in the photo below.

[baycolony]

Rex,

I just use engine paint in spray form found in an auto parts store.  Scale finishes and MCW also has a line of engine colors if you wish to choose that route.

[Monty]

2 hours ago, baycolony said:

Rex,

I just use engine paint in spray form found in an auto parts store.  Scale finishes and MCW also has a line of engine colors if you wish to choose that route.

I considered that but didn't know if it would be too hot for styrene.

[baycolony]

It is a bit hot, but priming and light coats overcome ?

[randyc]

On 8/15/2023 at 7:41 PM, Monty said:

I considered that but didn't know if it would be too hot for styrene.

If you decant and airbrush, the engine colors can come out very nice.  They also make good body paints.  Definitely need primer though. 

BTW, There are 2 testors Ford engine blue colors.  The one that is Ford/GM is a darker color, which could be correct for some applications.  The other is Ford Engine Light Blue.  I like to airbrush those as well.  Some people have kit stashes, I have a pretty good paint stash from owning a hobby shop back in the 00s. So I use them

[slusher]

Tamiya has two blue colors that are very close to ford light blue engine paint. It might be french blue spayed over grey primer. You can get ford blue engine paint with primer under it is safer too use..

[slusher]

On 8/14/2023 at 1:10 PM, baycolony said:

Well I have the latest update to the build. Below I have polished the body and painted the black accents along the lower areas as well as the hood. One issue that concerned me is that the decals for the pin-striping, especially around the hood blackout, contains a border of black in addition to the pinstripe. I was debating whether to totally paint the black and cut out the border on the decal, but it occurred to me that there would be no room for error if I didn't get the paint mask just right, so I opted to go with the full decal on the hood and use the included paint mask in the instructions. After applying the pinstripe decal I will attempt to match the sheen of both. For the rest of the lower black accents I am definitely painting them and just adding the pinstripe decal. When I prepared the hood, I cut out the paper paint mask and cut around it on masking tape. I then taped it to the hood and applied the pre-cut mask around this. For the black, I used a lacquer based paint from "Gravity Colors" called "Tire black" which I had in my stash. It turned out to be a good mask for the matte finish.

 

Beautiful paint and great color choice!

[baycolony]

Ok, a small update here. I have completed the front and rear grills and fascia respectively. With regards to the front grill, if you would note that the surrounding bezels of the headlights are semi gloss black with the trim immediately surrounding the headlights themselves are picked out in chrome. This was a topic brought up in the modelcarsmag forum when it was noticed on some recent builds that the builders were painting the bezels chrome. This is in error and results in the headlights looking too large. The Chrome trim on the grill surround was hand painted with MOLOTOW ink and I highlighted the grill with a gray colored pencil. A note on the rear fascia and taillights: These are really well rendered if you look at some 1:1 pics. the bezels are black with chrome trim. These were also picked out with MOLOTOW ink. One has to be careful but when neatly done, it really pops. Finally, I included a picture of my intentions with the wheels. These are the standard Ford hub caps with trim rings in resin I had obtained from Fireball Modelworks. I also found some old "Firestone Wide Oval" dry transfers by SHABO.

 

[vamach1]

Great job and attention to detail on the grille and tail light panel.   The kit has some very small decals and I wonder how many will really adhere (e.g. on the horse in the grille and gas cap).

Edited August 22, 2023 by vamach1

[Kenmojr]

Looking good. Love these era Mustangs as convertibles. I think they make better looking ragtops than the earlier Mustangs.

[slusher]

Grill and tail light panel look excellent!

[randyc]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:22 PM, vamach1 said:

Great job and attention to detail on the grille and tail light panel.   The kit has some very small decals and I wonder how many will really adhere (e.g. on the horse in the grille and gas cap).

I meant to put that in my other mustang post.  These are also some of the best decals ever as well as the plastic.  They are ready quick, very thin, conform well.  They will fold over easily as well.  Bee on your best when you decal.  And registration on mine is slightly off which makes a huge difference in scale.  

[baycolony]

Yes, the decals are thin and are easy to work with.  The one thing I found though is that the black panel decals aren't as opaque as I would have expected.  Luckily I was painting the black