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1967 Ford Mustang GT Update.............Making a pretty face prettier! 8/22/15


MrObsessive

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Since I'm stuck on the glass area of my '59 Chevy build (more on that later), I want to do something that won't be as crazy making, and won't have as many bells and whistles as the Impala. I looked around my stash and came across this..............

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AMT's 1994 release of the '67 Mustang GT. I figured it's kind of a Mustang year, so why not do something related to the 50th anniversary of this car? I originally thought about doing a '66 and backdating it to a '65, but that would take some work albeit somewhat minor, and I want to make this build as painless as possible...........or so I thought as you'll see!

One of the first things I do per any "normal" build is the bodywork. Getting rid of mold lines, sink marks, and other maladies is Modeling 101. Your paint jobs will come out much, much better if the basics are done first. So, I started with what looks like a design issue with the body itself...........the roof vents.

In this pic here, the roof vents were mounting too far into the body giving them a "tunneled" look. According to my many 1:1 pics of this car, the louvers should stick out ever so slightly beyond the bodywork, so I added these plastic tabs on the inside of the louvers to push them out slightly.

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Ahhhh......that's much better! No more tunneled look, and after everything's all painted, I'll position them in the cavity for the best appearance. I'll epoxy these in as I don't want the regular cement to distort these in any way.

I don't know why AMT does this, but why aren't there positive locations on either the front end, or the rear section to be joined on the body?? It makes it difficult if not downright frustrating to get them to line up properly without some kind of positive location pin or whatever. I've decided to add my own positive locaters by cementing in these tabs. These were not only glued in with liquid cement, but after the glue was dry, I also used super glue to make sure there was no later movement when the front end was being glued on.

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I know, I've got to cut my nails! I didn't have time to get to the manicurist before making this post! :P

Now this is looking like it should! I'll fine tune the lower edges ever so slightly to line up the lower valance with the leading edge of the fenders-------this was much better than trying to glue this on without going through that extra step.

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BTW, color will be the same as the box art car--------black with the red stripe above the rocker trim. Tires will be redlines---although I don't know if these would be totally correct for a '67. I just don't care for the plain-jane blackwalls, and if I were buying this car new in '67, that's what I'd want.

I'll have more so stay tuned!

Edited by MrObsessive
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One of the mysteries of this kit is that it's missing certain things that were very common, if not universal for all 1967-68 Mustangs. That is, the trim is conspicuous by its absence in certain places on the body.

I don't know what car AMT used to model this particular kit, but every '67 Mustang I've ever seen (I saw a lot of them growing up in the '60's and '70's), has had the hood and grille surround chrome trim.

Well, it's time to break out the plastic stock and add my own trim first to the hood. Using some .020 plastic stock, I first sanded away the very faint if not non-existent chrome trim that was on the hood. I then added the plastic sheet that was cut at an angle to match the contours of the hood.

When it was dry, I sanded everything as smooth as possible, and as you'll see in a later pic, it's a lot smoother than what the pic is showing here.

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Also missing was the chrome trim that should surround the taillight area. I used .010x.020 plastic strip (Plastruct) to replicate this.

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The same needed to be done to the trunk. Some careful bending was needed------Plastruct styrene has come to be my favorite for detail like this as their plastic is a lot more dense than Evergreen, and holds up better for bending around a tight radius.

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After the body is painted and polished, I'll BMF these areas.

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There! That's the '67 Mustang back end I've come to know!

OK...........the body's looking rather naked here. Seems as though AMT left some important details off here as well. Missing are the rocker panel chrome trim sections, as well as the wheelwell chrome trim.

I have seen Mustangs of this vintage without wheelwell trim------if a Mustang expert out there could chime in-----was this exclusive to the GT's or could this be ordered on the garden variety Mustangs as well?

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Just the same, I want to add this trim as I think the car will look so much better with them. As you can see here, I used (Evergreen this time) .010x.040 plastic strip surrounding the perimeter of the wheelwell.

I let this sit for a while before I started to sand things down.

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You can see the result here.............after everything's said and done, I'll BMF these as well. This has been done to all four wheelwells.

But wait there's more! ;)

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Now on to the rocker panels. Using some .020 plastic sheet, I simply cut a slice of it to match the depth of the rockers, and starting gluing. The little "rib" on the top of the rocker trim is a piece of .015" round rod from Plastruct.

Some final tweaking and sanding will be done before any painting is attempted. Of course, this will be BMF'd after everything's painted.

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Looking at the grille, something seemed kooky about it and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then it hit me........it's too upright! Mustang's of this vintage always has a slight rake to their grilles. Well, I've remedied that as of a couple days ago, I ordered a PE set from Model Car Garage which has the grille, emblems, and other things needed to make this one stand out. You can see here that I did add the chrome surround trim to the outer parts of the grille opening.

Later on, I'll cut the grille out of the front end, and then sand the opening to the correct angle, and make a provision for the PE grille to drop right in when it's time.

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As I mentioned in the beginning of this thread, I stopped work on the '59 Impala due to not being able to make satisfactory glass from my own doing with either polishing the glass to get rid of the distortion, or using clear stencil sheet to form the glass.

Well today I ordered Micro-Mark's vacuformer machine and when it comes in (hopefully the end of next week), I'll play around with it to see what it'll do. When I can get a windshield molded successfully, I may do a tutorial here on the board to let everyone know the pros and cons of molding your own windshields and backlites.

Speaking of glass, that's next on the agenda for the Mustang-------making window channels for the glass as I'm not crazy about the kit glass either, and then when the bodywork's all done, moving on to the engine and chassis. I plan to use either clear stencil sheet, or if the vacuformer is working the way I want it, making the windshield and rear window from that.

Thanks for tuning in, and hopefully I'll have another update by the end of next weekend. ;)

Edited by MrObsessive
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Now on to the rocker panels. Using some .020 plastic sheet, I simply cut a slice of it to match the depth of the rockers, and starting gluing. The little "rib" on the top of the rocker trim is a piece of .015" round rod from Plastruct.

Some final tweaking and sanding will be done before any painting is attempted. Of course, this will be BMF'd after everything's painted.

photo-vi.jpg

photo-vi.jpg

photo1-vi.jpg

Looking at the grille, something seemed kooky about it and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Then it hit me........it's too upright! Mustang's of this vintage always has a slight rake to their grilles. Well, I've remedied that as of a couple days ago, I ordered a PE set from Model Car Garage which has the grille, emblems, and other things needed to make this one stand out. You can see here that I did add the chrome surround trim to the outer parts of the grille opening.

Later on, I'll cut the grille out of the front end, and then sand the opening to the correct angle, and make a provision for the PE grille to drop right in when it's time.

photo2-vi.jpg

As I mentioned in the beginning of this thread, I stopped work on the '59 Impala due to not being able to make satisfactory glass from my own doing with either polishing the glass to get rid of the distortion, or using clear stencil sheet to form the glass. '

Well today I ordered Micro-Mark's vacuformer machine and when it comes in (hopefully the end of next week), I'll play around with it to see what it'll do. When I can get a windshield molded successfully, I may do a tutorial here on the board to let everyone know the pros and cons of molding your own windshields and backlites.

Speaking of glass, that's next on the agenda for the Mustang-------making window channels for the glass as I'm not crazy about the kit glass either, and then when the bodywork's all done, moving on to the engine and chassis. I plan to use either clear stencil sheet, or if the vacuformer is working the way I want it, making the windshield and rear window from that.

Thanks for tuning in, and hopefully I'll have another update by the end of next weekend. ;)

It looks great so far what for glue do you use for your body mods?

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John, my glue of choice is Ambroid Pro Weld.............

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Unfortunately, Ambroid is becoming a rare commodity to find as it comes and goes. Last time I checked, it was not available in the U.S. again, so my second choice is Tamiya's liquid glue. Tamiya's tends to take a little longer to dry, but it has a very handy-dandy applicator built into the cap which IMO rivals the Touch-N-Flow applicator which I have.

Third choice among liquid glues is something called Bondene. This isn't bad stuff at all, but I don't recommend the applicator for using it as it tends to clog it up very easily for some reason.

From time to time in the building process, I'll use various and sundry 5 min. epoxies, super glues, etc. For general body work though, those are my choices for joining styrene and getting a good bond.

Thanks for asking!

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One thing I can say about you Bill, You do not miss a trick. I am going in a similar direction with my '67 Mustang Build,

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Mine is going to be the reverse color of yours. I am considering doing it as a "High Zoot" base fastback instead of a GT. My boy scouit master had a red '67 coupe with the decor package on the exterior, and the 6 cylinder engine. You are right about the sail panel louvers, as I have to add them to mine. I may change the wheels and tires to whitewalls and full wheel covers, and pull the V8 and install a 6, just to be a little different.

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Bill, a substitute for Ambroid Pro Weld is Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). It is the active ingredient in Pro Weld and works great for bonding plastics. You can find it in most hardware stores. Just don't throw out the Pro Weld bottle as the MEK only comes in quart or gallon containers and it is easier to transfer some into the old bottle for use.

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Bill, a substitute for Ambroid Pro Weld is Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). It is the active ingredient in Pro Weld and works great for bonding plastics. You can find it in most hardware stores. Just don't throw out the Pro Weld bottle as the MEK only comes in quart or gallon containers and it is easier to transfer some into the old bottle for use.

Hmmm........I'll have to give that a shot! I do see Ambroid on the 'Bay, but it's an overseas seller that has it. This would be much more cost effective as I don't go through a lot of it at any one time. I'll definitely look into it!

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Mike is right. I got some MEK from a place I worked at, worked fine, but it does work and evaporate quickly. I got a gallon and a half of acrylic cement from where I am working now, very close to liquid model cement. I used some yesterday, worked great, so I am set for some time on liquid cement.

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I also use MEK rather than Ambroid or Tenax. Not much discernible difference in performance, but a quart of MEK sells for a little more than a benchtop bottle of the hobby-rebranded stuff.

PS: Great start, Bill. Amazing how much visual difference the little details make!

Edited by Danno
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"albeit somewhat minor" .... yeah, ya got that nailed down, Bill! lol

Nonetheless, even though your somewhat minor work is more than a lot of us bother to do, I am really looking forward to seeing this come together. What other mods do you have planned?

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What other mods do you have planned?

Nothing extra special Dave. I'm going to detail the chassis with fuel/brake lines, but there won't be any poseable steering. The chassis rear wheel wells could use some filling in as I can see through to the interior. Some surgery will be needed there. ;) Yesterday, I was able to fashion a back window using clear stencil sheet. I was out of town all day, and I'm just getting home a bit ago. I'll try to post pics of what that looks like tomorrow sometime. The engine will get full detail with wires, hoses, linkage, etc.

I've got some very good pics of the engine, and also a parts manual to sort out the throttle linkage.

In the meantime, I'll also be working on the windshield. That'll be a little tricky as there is no side "lip" on the A pillars that can hold the glass. I may have to fold the edges on the stencil sheet so that they lay against the A pillars when it's epoxied. Of course, I want the glass to be as flush as possible without that "tunneling" which is all too common with kits out there.

Actually though, the kit glass doesn't fit too badly, it's just too distorted for my tastes. Something I've long hated in model building!

Edited by MrObsessive
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