Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

1968 Shelby Green Hornet-----Update! 8/4/18


MrObsessive

Recommended Posts

Still plugging away trying to get as accurate a shape as possible with the notchback's roofline. I used some Tamiya spot putty in spots as there were some divots and whatnot that needed to be filled in. Tamiya's putty is nice in that there's some aluminum in its makeup and it shrinks very little as opposed to Squadron's Green Putty which I avoid like the plague!

Getting this roof right to me is important as rooflines are what define a lot of the "character" that goes into certain cars, especially those of the '50's/'60's.

I'm look at building the roof up as a kit in itself which is a lot of the reason I'm spending so much time on it.

57:495838857101
54:495838854430

Getting that rear slightly recessed window has shown to be a challenge! It's interesting that Ford didn't go the "tunnelback" route yet with the Mustang as at the time that was all the rage particularly with the intermediates from GM and Chrysler.

Just the same, I wanted to try and get this shape as close as possible as it's another one of those character signatures that's important to me. I'll get rid of the molded in drip rail on the passenger side here, and replace it with Plastruct styrene strip so that it's symmetrical with the driver's side.

One challenge I'll have to deal with is making a more positive location for the backlight when it comes time. I want to be able to just slide the glass in (clear stencil sheet) and have it held it place with just slight grooves on the inside of the roof, and also there will be a headliner I'll fabricate which will help hold things in place.

Whenever there's a build underway, I like to take each aspect of the model as a kit in itself. Definitely this roof section has been a kit as to date, none of the kit manufacturers have tackled this 1967-68 Mustang notchback body style.

After everything's said and done, I'll add the vinyl roof trim as well as the seams that belong on the roof as this car had that.

09:495837489484

Driver's side profile.................Will be putting on the drip rail on this side next with Plastruct's Stryene.

11495837491813-vi.jpg

Passenger's side profile........hardest thing is making sure both sides are as symmetrical as possible. 

Hopefully, I can get the last of the roof work done over the weekend, and then it's time to dive into the doors and all its workings. During that time, I think I'll try and get one window working on the driver's side since I'll be building up the door jamb on the door itself, and working on hinges too.

Just for grins, I got a new tripod for my iPhone the other day. I tried it out today and shot this video which pretty much sums up what I've done here so far..........it turned out not too bad for my first try at using it! B)

Thanks for following along folks...........hope I'm not boring you with these subtle details, but this is kinda like an online diary for me, as I do save the pages on my hard disc for later reference believe it or not. ;)

Edited by MrObsessive
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mike, that looks really good!

At least you got the rear fenders on the fastback to look much better on your notchback conversion than the attempt I did in '96. It took a while of brainstorming to figure out just what was the difference between the two body styles in that area to suit my "eyesight engineering". ;)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's always great to see Bill's work and this one is no exception. The subject is very interesting and the Shelby looks much better with that new top than it did before. Great job on the conversion overall, it looks like it came from the box that way. Nice work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice video, I definitely appreciate the details, keep it up!

Well I've been to the Fotki site and looked at vids as well.  What a great builder.  And what good information is just in the pictures for reference.  I'll be watching this one come to life as well.

 

I'll be doing this a bit more often...........might as well get some use out of my YouTube Channel! :P

Also, I think it's easier for me at times to speak about what I've done/am doing, than for me to express it in typed words.

So far, I'm working on the door jambs on the body, and next will be the doors themselves. While I'm at it on the doors, I'll start getting the mechanism together for the roll up windows. The fronts hopefully won't be too much trouble------it's the rear quarter windows that will be the challenge because of the confined space they'll have to wind up and down.

If time warrants it, I'll put up another video update over the weekend, as well as pics to show here and elsewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It's time to get started and finish up on building up the door jambs for the body. I have a bunch of pics on my hard disc of how the inside of the door openings appear when the door is opened, so I tried to copy the stamping as best I could.

Once again, I try to strive for symmetry on both sides.......not an always easy thing to do.

photo3-vi.jpg
photo24.jpg

Instead of forcing straight plastic to take on a curved corner, I like to take large diameter plastic tubing and section cut it to make the radii that I'll need. 

Saves the headache of trying to make the straight plastic behave to take on the curve, and everything will be blended in eventually anyway.

photo5-vi.jpg
photo26.jpg

Once I got the bottom door sills done, I figure it's time to start making the supports for the hinges. Since the leading edge of the doors will swivel or turn in towards the inside of the fenders, this will be for a different hinge than using a gooseneck hinge which would be used to make doors that would swing outside of the body.

photo6-vi.jpg

One thing that's VERY important when making your supports is to make sure they are as straight as possible! If the top part of the support is leaning towards the inside of the body, the doors will appear to be angling up in the air when opened. 

Leaning too much the opposite way, and the doors will appear to be hitting the curb as they're opened. You'll have to take into account body flex when putting in the chassis-------if the chassis is making the body flare out slightly when you put it in, then you'll need to adjust the supports accordingly.

photo4-vi.jpg

Take note how I did thin out the inside of the trailing edge of the fenders. As the door is turning in, there will need to be some clearance so there's no scraping or binding of the doors as they're opening and closing.

photo3-vi.jpg

Here I'm trying to narrow the shut lines on the doors as cutting them open leaves quite a large gap to my view. Some folks will buy a second kit to cut the doors open a bit larger than the opened door body------but with kits costing upwards of $30 (or more) to me this isn't very cost effective. Then there's the issue of parting out the kit as the body is pretty much toast.

What I've done here is simply add some .020 sheet plastic around the perimeter of the door. I used liquid cement to get it all glued on, and then let it sit overnight before I started to sand everything back to an acceptable gap space.

photo6-vi.jpg
photo31.jpg

When I was satisfied how the doors appeared in the body, I used my Dremel Moto-Tool to thin out the leading and trailing edges of the door somewhat.

You don't want to leave thick edges as this is woefully out of scale as 1:1 cars have quite thin metal in this area. Of course, you don't want this area paper thin either as it'll cause grief down the road when it comes time to paint and polish. 

As you can see here, I began to build up the door jamb on the door itself mirroring pretty much what I did on the body.

photo7-vi.jpg

Stay tuned...........there's more to come! ;)

Edited by MrObsessive
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright! The door is lookin' pretty good for my satisfaction............

photo8-vi.jpg

Much better! The shut lines are definitely tighter, and once everything's painted and polished, there should be no scraping of the paint as the doors are opening and closing. 

I didn't take a pic of it here, but one method to check for proper shut line thickness is to slip a 3x5 card in and out of the gap. If the card moves in and out without catching/snagging, then you should be good to go as far as paint.


photo8-vi.jpg

I'm not going to go for super scale accuracy as far as the door hinges. I want something that's going to be sturdy as the door will be opening and closing many, many times once the model is complete, and I take it to shows and whatnot.

I have here some 1/16" plastic rod and some .020 brass rod which will serve as the swivel hinges for the door.

photo9-vi.jpg

Here's a shot of the door as it sits in the body after all the sanding and fitting.

photo9-vi.jpg

And here's how the hinge looks once it's inside its support. When it comes to final assembly, I'll simply epoxy the brass rod inside the support, and then cut off the excess length flush with the support when the epoxy is fully dry.

photo10-vi.jpg

Just checking the fit of the door as it turns inside the fender.........

photo10-vi.jpg

A shot of the plastic rod glued onto the door jamb. I'll add a little bit of super glue around the hinge retainers on the door which will ensure that they stay put for practically..........well forever! :)

photo5-vi.jpg

That's all for now folks! Here's a list of things I need to do yet in the coming days and weeks as far as the body is concerned......

Make the rocker panel trim.
Make the stainless for the wheelwells.
Take the Shelby rear fender caps off the '68 body and graft them on the '66 fenders------same with the rear deck spoiler.
Put in the Shelby taillight panel.
Fix that front end!
Get all four windows hopefully working, but not fully installed till near the end.

As you can see, this will take quite a bit before I'm done just on the body. The next big hurdle will be those windows, and since I've got the passenger side pretty much done and hinged 'cept for some minor details, may as well start on that one first. ;)

Finally, here's a video which is a quick sum-up of what's been done. I have it on my channel in a playlist, and I'll add to it as time goes on.

Thanks for checkin' in and as always if there's questions, ask away!

Edited by MrObsessive
Video Checking, Grammar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Richard and Mike! The body alone (at least to me) is a kit in itself.

However, there's something I have to bring up regarding the format of the board, and it's this one.........

Somehow, someway, sometime I really really wish the preview button could be re-into'd back on this board! The format in which this is laid out is somewhat annoying, particularly when I have a lot of pics I need to post. The "squished" area of the text box I'm not a big fan of, and of course there's a limit to how large it can be. I'd like to be able to see how the post will appear just before I hit the save button (as it would appear on the board), so that I'm not constantly going back and editing misspelled words, incorrect punctuation, etc. :blink:

I'm not making a big deal out of this, I just like to see the return of the preview option as sometimes what I composed is not fully seen until it's posted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...