1965 Ford Galaxie Street Machine

[beeRS]

This kit has always had a special place in my memories. I built a Barris 'Cruisin USA' kit when I was a kid - it was one of my first models I ever build. It came out pretty well (by my standard of the day). I wish I had kept it, but many years down the line I have no idea what happened to that model (but I a few of the parts have turned up in my spare parts box!).

I found a more recent re-issue of the Galaxie on eBay. It has been started and is missing the engine. I thought it would be great to do this kit again - only this time, I'd like to think I have a better set of building skills.

My intention is to build a 'tough as nails' street machine with modern day 'real-world' upgrades. I'm thinking lowered suspension and monster V8, standard bodywork with simple de-badging and plenty of detail.

If anyone can suggest a good kit source for a Ford V8 I would be grateful. I know the standard engine would have been a FE 427, but I'm thinking of a monster crate motor.

The first area needing attention is the floor/chassis...

Although the exhaust could be made to look good with careful painting, I want to replace it with a 'performance' exhaust and I do want to up the level of detail as best I can.

...after an hour or so of scraping, filing and cutting one exhaust is gone.

With both exhausts removed, this has left two holes where the silencers were - now filled.

Any suggestions for a V8 would be welcome, as would your comments.

[jsc]

Love this car!

[Gluhead]

I've always thought the molded-in exhaust was kinda funny on this one, considering the rest of the kit.

As for which engine, I'd imagine any one of the plethora of late-model Mustang engines would be perfect...but I'm sure someone will chime in with which of those has a really nice one to use.

[Monty]

Sonny, you've got a number of options for engines here. IIRC, the AMT '66 Galaxie and '68 Shelby offer 427 Cammer engine options, so you can have something a little more exotic, although hood clearace may be an issue. Also, some say these aren't the most accurate Cammer engines (Ford guys, feel free to chime in.)

Revell has a nice Shelby Cobra with a 427. If memory serves, it's 1/24, but that may not be too noticeable inside the Galaxie's fenders.

The engine in Revell's '69 Mustang is a nicely detailed stock 428 (still in the FE engine family) that could be dressed up with stuff from your parts box.

This is a bit of a stretch, but I think the the 390 in the '60 Starliner kit has a multi-carb intake setup that really looks sharp when detailed. 390s were part of the FE engine family and available in the '65 Galaxie.

HTH

Edited July 27, 2013 by Monty

[gman]

Try the 427 from one of these:

^^ probably a nicer match than one sourced from a Revell Thunderbolt kit

You could also use the 390 from it's cousin:

[Custom Mike]

If you can find the Revell Parts Pack 427 you should be set, they show up on E-Bay all the time for a decent price. I just picked up a pair of these, one for a NASCAR build, and one done my way!

EDIT: the 390 these guys mentioned from the Fairlane is a great engine, get one of those if you want a really well done engine. I haven't built the 427 from the Fairlane kit yet, but if it's as good as the 390, it would be great in the Galaxie! Here's a link to one of the Parts Pack 427's for $5!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Revell-Parts-Pack-Hot-Rod-1-25-Scale-Kit-Ford-427-CI-V8-Engine-/310710407902?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4857c892de

Edited July 27, 2013 by Custom Mike

[Sixties Sam]

Great job on grinding out that exhaust! It must have been a lot of tedious work.

Sam

[scaleauto]

Good job on taking out the exhaust system!

[slusher]

What did you use to cut the exhaust off.? Very nice work..

[DPink]

I think a 429 from a BOSS or a 427 Cobra would be nice in it.

[tooltas]

how about a blown 5.4 out of the revellsf150 truck or the blown 4.6 out ss mustang kit

[modelguy45]

try building it this way

[beeRS]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. The Ford Cammer V8 and the 428 Boss really appeal, but then again the 427 out of AMT's Fairlane kit is a great engine too.

What did you use to cut the exhaust off.? Very nice work..

The exhaust was mostly cut off using a flat ended blade in my craft knife. It works like a mini chisel. I think it is referred to as number 17 - and there is a wider one available as number 18.

try building it this way

Mmmmmm. That does look good!

[W-409]

For the engine, I'd possibly go with the 427 from AMT Fairlane. But I hope that you will keep this with 15" tires and wheels, big wheels and low profile tires turn nice car into ugly one IMO. Personally I'd go with very high profile tires and 15" body colored Steel Wheels and Dog Dish Hubcaps and high stance. That would be really nice looking car.

Nice start you have there!

[Nova-ss]

• Good work on getting rid of those molded in exhaust....I always thought that was a dumb I idea for that kit sense they were producting kits already with separate exhaust systems.keep us updated I want to see more.by the way when I was a kid I also built one and it took awhile for me to find the kit I had as a kid of 13 the kit..meaning box art.I wanted was this one
• http://images108.fotki.com/v1623/photos/6/1250606/12273110/photo-vi.jpg

Edited July 28, 2013 by Nova-ss

[PappyD340]

Very NICE job on the plastic surgery, can't wait to see more!!

[beeRS]

Some more progress...

Removing the trans support bracket will allow access to correcting the floor and I may need to change it for the engine swap anyway.

Looking at a few reference pics I see that the inner fenders on the AMT kit are not really very accurate. I decided to remove the kit parts so that I can either correct the shape at a later stage or I may leave them off all together. I don't know if they would be a structural part on the 1:1 car?

I guess the inner fenders are not a structural part as the 65 Galaxie has a separate chassis. I may also need the clearance for the bigger engine and the accompanying tubular headers. Looking at pics of the 1:1 chassis the kit looks OK.

[beeRS]

Looking at the bulkhead; I don't think the details here are correct either.

I have decided to scratch build a new bulkhead.

Here you can see the new bonnet slam panel fitted too. The panel shape in the kit is wrong.

I am also adding a inner lip to the front fenders and so I have had to leave a gap at the edges of the slam panel.

My reference pics show that the fenders have a lip that runs the length of the inner fenders (as I guess they do on most cars of this era).

That's enough works for now.

[Steven Zimmerman]

My second car was a really nice 65 Galaxie 500, with a 352 4 bbl dual exhaust and auto trans. I have fond memories of that car.

[Ford guy]

Sonny, great job on removing the exhaust, it looks good! You're going to rebuild the engine compartment correctly, Awesome, can't wait to see that done!

If you want something modern, try one of the newer Shelby Mustang kits. The 5.4 supercharged engine will look so cool in there. The 1:1 cars have more than enough power to push a Galaxie around. Some big modern chrome 5-spoke wheels with low profile tires will fill up those big fender wells nicely too.

That's just my 2 cents. You're doing a great job, keep going, I want to see this one bad!

[Custom Mike]

Great work on the added details under the hood Sonny, that's gonna look great when it's finished!

[slusher]

Nice work adding detail..

[Dr. Cranky]

Wonderful work on that chassis. It's going to pay of big time.

[beeRS]

Here's some of the work on the interior...

I've never been a big fan of the one-piece interior tubs (luckily the kit manufacturers don't do it so much with newer tooling). The problem in, my opinion, is with the depth of engraving - or lack of it. The newer kits with separate door panels are so much better.

The second problem with one piece tubs is that the door panels always seem to be on a slight angle - never quite vertical. I guess this is due to the restrictions of the moulding process. I have decided to cut off the door panels on this project and I will be scratch building some new ones.

The third reason - and probably the most important one - is that the kit interior's door panels seem to depict the ones for a convertible (at the rear). Looking at some of the reference pics it should look like this (above). Did AMT ever make a 65 Galaxie convertible?

Because of the inclined door panels I have had to widen the interior floor. I have also removed the moulded in foot pedals as I will be replacing these later on.

Before I can progress much further I have a couple of questions and I'm sure someone on this forum will be able to help me...

1) Are the inner fender on the Galaxie structural - can I leave them out?

2) Is the kit interior actually for a convertible?

[421gto]

I remember building & ruining this one as a kid. I remember there was a red one built in the 'small talk' pages of the now defunct 'street machine' mag.

They did do a convertible kit of this, pretty sure that the tub for the kit is the conv one & wouldnt be correct for yours.

It looks like its a full frame car, if it is I'd think you can leave the inner fenders out.

cheers

Si