1/12th scale 1965 Mustang

[black2002ls]

Its been quite some time since I've posted anything here. I have a lengthy thread regarding my 1/12th scale 69 Camaro running around here somewhere. This is something I picked up when I was working on my Camaro all of the time. Its an old Revell release. I got it as a basket case on e-bay, the body was in fairly decent shape however, and made for a pretty solid starting point.

[black2002ls]

Here you can see the re-construction of the cowl. I didn't originally plan to shave the cowl, however it was severely warped and beyond "fixing"

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5776.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5775.jpg

I was disappointed in the bracing under the hood and the trunk, so, I made my own.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5771.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5772.jpg

The front fascia also needed some work. It was damaged and had globs of glue that had to be taken care of.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5773.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5774.jpg

[black2002ls]

Here it is in primer

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/12%201965%20Mustang/DSCF4909.jpg

Finally, now that the body work is all done, its time for an eye popping paint scheme right?!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/12%201965%20Mustang/DSCF4909.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5837.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5835.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF5836.jpg

It has since been cleared with omni urethane clear. wet sanded, and is waiting to be shot again for a deep shine.

I plan to get the work bench constructed in the next week. The 2010 will be here next week as well. Hopefully I can get some progress done here pretty soon!

[black2002ls]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Mustang. These are quick shots, It may not be sitting level, the tires are shoved under the chassis just to see what they will look like. Whether I use the kit chassis tub or the GT500, they will both require a good deal of modification to work.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0046.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0045.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0044.jpg

[black2002ls]

I got a little bit done on the '65 so far. I started modifying the kit chassis from the GT500. I have removed part of the chassis tray from the fuel tank back, narrowed the wheel wells a little and "dove tailed" the chassis tray. It appears at this point, that the wheel base is the same on both kits, which means after removing some of the chassis tray it lines up quite perfectly with the '65 body molded some 34 years ago. This is going to make this a LOT easier than I had anticipated. I was afraid I was going to have to section the chassis and re-build details. The two issues right now are the rear wheels/tires, and the engine. The rear wheel wells are too narrow now to accommodate the wide rear wheels and tires. I picked up a 1/12th scale spare parts lot on ebay that included some additional wheels for this kit. So I have the option of using the front wheels/tires on both ends of this kit. Not sure if that will happen or if I will open up the wheel wells to accommodate the wider rear wheels.

These pictures are a bit out of focus, but it gives you an idea of how well the chassis tub fits the '65 body.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0056.jpg

Here you can see how well the wheel base matches

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0057.jpg

Finally an overview with the engine set in place

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0058.jpg

[black2002ls]

Another quick little update. I did some work on the rear of the chassis. I had to open up the wheel wells QUITE a bit for the tires to fit between the body and the chassis. In doing that, I had to remove a large section of the molded frame rails on the chassis. With most of the frame rails and suspension mounting points gone, I am going to have to re-construct them. I removed the rear part of the chassis tray, essentially, the trunk floor. With all of the material removal, It also means that the frame rails under the trunk will need to be modified and moved. I have sectioned the underside of the trunk to move the frame rails where they will sit right along side the fuel tank. I intend to keep the fuel "factory" fuel tank, and plumb it with an external pump and filter, etc.

Here is a reference pic of what I want the underside to look like. Pretty much like I took a 1965 mustang shell and set it down on top of a 2010 GT500 chassis, a la sn65.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/08-2013-laguna-seca-black.jpg

An overview of the chassis tray in its current state

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0059.jpg

A close up of the underside of the "trunk floor"

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0060.jpg

Finally, you can see the beginning of the modified frame rail additions. These will be molded in to match the "factory" frame rails and should mate up to the rail sections from the "trunk floor"

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0061.jpg

I apologize again for the blurry pictures, I'll get the batteries in the camera changed tomorrow

[black2002ls]

I got a little more done this morning. The rear section of the frame is re-attached. I cut some styrene card to create a new "trunk floor". Since the trunk will open, this serves two purposes. It allowed me to square up the rear frame rails, keep them that way while re-attaching them to the main chassis tray. Also, it keeps what will become the trunk floor flat and smooth as it should be. The kit fuel tank will be separated from the surrounding material and attached to the new styrene card. I need to pick up some super glue and putty to finish blending the frame rails so they don't look like hacked up junk.

over view

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0063.jpg

Close up of added styrene

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0064.jpg

And another shot of whats left with the bottom of the fuel tank

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0065.jpg

[black2002ls]

I have had a few people ask me about my scratch building, how I do it and what I use. I photographed the steps I went through to create the driver's side frame rail. Excuse the pictures, I'm having to re-learn how to take pictures with my camera, its been a few years since I've photographed model cars. Keep in mind, I had already created the passenger side rail before I started the drives side.

Masking tape used to create a template

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0081.jpg

Template transferred to plastic card stock and traced

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0087.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0089.jpg

Next, I roughly cut the shape with scissors. A little note about scissors, I don't normally use them, I typically scribe the lines with the back of a hobby knife to separate the parts. The problem with scissors is that they tend to "pull" as they cut and it is hard to keep them cutting in a straight line. However, since I was over sizing the part and tweaking to fit, it was fast and easy.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0093.jpg

Once I had the general shape cut out, I tweaked the part and clamped it in place to be glued

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0094.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0095.jpg

Finally, you can see the near finished product on both sides, again, the pictures are blurry, but hopefully you can still see the seams from the different pieces of styrene that were used. Once I get all of my modifications done, I will use some putty to fill the seams and sand them down, follow with primer, and repeat until I'm happy with the end result.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0096.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0097.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0104.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/black2002ls/65%20mustang%2012/DSCF0107.jpg

[black2002ls]

Sorry for the flood of messages. That is everything up to this point. The fun, flip side of this is, that I was left with a 2010 gt500 body which is getting a full tube chassis and drag race treatment. should be interesting.