Steve Osbourne Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 I remember "trying" to build this kit many years ago, and never actually finished it. I recently bought another one off eBay and hope to do a better job this time. I remember having issues during final assembly in the way that the chassis, interior and body come together. I've seen a few great builds on this forum and I'm hoping I can get some insight and ideas from others who have built this kit. I don't plan on building it as a stock Shelby but more as a standard GT fastback with a few upgrades, including Shelby parts. I'm looking at perhaps attaching the interior section to the body before painting and then attach that entire assembly to the chassis during final. Has anyone attempted that? Obviously, all interior details will have to be installed through the door openings but it appears to be possible. I've had success doing this on other large scale projects, including the 1:8 scale Big Deuce. I look forward to any comments or suggestions and I will track my progress here. Thanks in advance to all. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 See add Here’s a photo of the underside of the interior section. The arrows point to the mounting pegs that locate the interior to the chassis. My plan is to use remove these pegs and then drill 1/16” holes in the same locations. The interior will be glued to the body and later affixed to the chassis through these holes during final assembly using 0-80 hex head stainless steel bolts and nuts. The bolt head will be on the chassis (under) side with the nut in the interior, hidden by a false floor. The false floor sections will be individually ‘carpeted’ using adhesive backed material. The kit interior floor will be removed and replaced with styrene sheet, retaining the seat mounts and floor mats for use on the new floor sections. The transmission and drive shaft hump will stay in place and be carpeted also. The molded-in pedals will also be removed and replaced with something more believable from the spare parts bin. I’ll have to figure out a way to mount the dashboard without using glue. The dashboard will be painted and detailed separately and attached during final assembly with the other interior parts. I’ve also attached a couple of photos showing the transition points between the interior and body. These locations in the door sill and jamb were the main reason I decided to join the body and interior first and then join to the chassis later. They just aren’t very positive joints and would be difficult – although not impossible – to join without gap or alignment issues. I’m currently building a 4-point rollbar from plastic tube that will fit through the open doors. I’m also going to replace the rear seat and deck with a full length deck which will also be carpeted. I will also fill in the hole in the rear section of the interior that the spare tire mounts through. The spare will go in the trunk or won’t be used at all. I appreciate any comments or suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 You're putting a lot of serious work into this Steve and your plans sound good. But I will point out that there are serious flaws in the accuracy of the body - typical Revell stuff they've been doing for decades.In particular, the cowl and windshield base area and the too thick A pillars. The fall into the rear deck isn't right and of course, the stock ride height is wrong. There may be others, I'm no early Mustang expert; but I've seen plenty of them in 1:1 and this one's off in very noticeable ways. There's a ton of reference out there to see what I pointed out.Best luck if you continue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawk312 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 You're putting a lot of serious work into this Steve and your plans sound good. But I will point out that there are serious flaws in the accuracy of the body - typical Revell stuff they've been doing for decades. In particular, the cowl and windshield base area and the too thick A pillars. The fall into the rear deck isn't right and of course, the stock ride height is wrong. There may be others, I'm no early Mustang expert; but I've seen plenty of them in 1:1 and this one's off in very noticeable ways. There's a ton of reference out there to see what I pointed out. Best luck if you continue. I`ll second everything said here. I built one for someone a while back, and I will never build another. I actually recreated the coves in the sides (they are too straight and rectangular) and modified the shape of the lower portion of the rear quarter panels (too flat and "long"). Also, Im not sure if you tried fitting the doors in place, but there was no way I could leave them as-is without building them up around the edges to get realistic, not toy-like, door gaps. I ended up gluing the doors shut. Here is mine, but this is after *a lot* of work: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vamach1 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 I am curious what your plan is for the dash. Why a decal is not provided for the gauges and speedometer is beyond me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Thanks Cato. I did notice some of the flaws you pointed out. That's one reason why I decided not to build it as a Shelby or even as 100% Ford (I'll be using many parts from the ol' parts bin and some folks will notice that they aren't correct for this model). To my knowledge, the tooling for this kit was originally for a stock GT fastback and was later adapted to a Shelby - probably for marketing reasons. While I have seen some really good builds as a stock Shelby, and building an accurate Shelby would be an entirely different challenge - my issues were with the way the kit itself was constructed. The way the sub-assemblies connect to each other, the lack of detail, etc. My hope is that if I can make it all come together better with many detail upgrades that results will be something I could be proud of. If I can overcome the issues I've brought up that may lead to a Shelby build down the road. I hope this makes sense.You mentioned the cowl area...I thought the way the firewall assembly seemed like an after thought to the design engineers so I'm working on a way to attach it that will allow easier construction, more detailing and also allow me to open up the vents on the cowl. I've been working late unto the night jumping around from assembly to assembly as an idea comes up. So far I haven't seen any roadblocks but I know I have a long way to go. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Here's how I'm going to attached the dash. I used Evergreen square tube on the interior section and smaller square strip on the dash. The dash just slides into the tube. I've also attached a photo of the new floor sections. Later I'll post photos of the false floor. That should explain what my plan a little better. Remember, all the interior parts will be installed after the body/interior has been painted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 False floor. Each side is 3 pieces, held together with masking tape from behind. The carpet material will be applied in one piece to each side, with enough excess to fold the edges under and hide the seams. The small pieces of tube are the roll bar "brackets", required to have a positive locating device without the use of adhesives. The rear deck section is two-piece, also with roll bar brackets. You may also see that I've filled in the escape hatch at the rear of the interior tub. Roll bar is made from Plastruct tubing. I did practice installing the roll bar through t he open door and it works fine, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 And here's the firewall. Molded in details were removed and wiring details will be added later. The plan is for the firewall to be inserted through the engine bay and attached with 2 screws to the interior tub. I've also attached photos of the new pedals, '57 Chevy parts from the parts bin. A major improvement over the molded-in kit versions. Floor mats will be attached to carpet with 2-sided tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Again, your doing a lot of really cool engineering work here. But you should listen to David's critique more than me - he builds masterpiece big scale pony cars all day long. His Shelby may be the best you can hope for. I get that you're not replicating a Shelby but the base Mustang from which it came. But this kit mutilates that base car, not just the Shelby features. Unless you work at it, you'll still be stuck with those A pillars, headlights, body coves, rear render and all else David has corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 I agree with the points you guys have made and David's build is in a word - stunning. But like I mentioned earlier, my overall goal is just trying to fix few of the design features in the way the kit was meant to be built as that was my biggest hurdle when I made my feeble attempt at building it years ago. I've looked at the door fit and it is definitely going to take some work but opening doors is really what this (my) build is all about. Without opening doors the fit issues (body to interior) would not be as noticeable so the need to marry the body to the interior prior to paint would not be as important. Personally, I think the operable windows feature was a mistake and won't be included on my build As far as the gauges issues brought up by Rex, I agree. There's not much you can do with the stock dash. For starters I painted the glove box and other parts of the dash in matt black. I want to add some other minor details too. You can do more with the gauge pod that sits on top of the dash. I removed the molded in gauges with the back of a chisel blade and made a new panel out of Evergreen sheet, drilled out to accept two bezels made from K & S Aluminum tubing. I'll find a tach & oil pressure gauge from the parts bin or print them myself. I really do appreciate all the comments and suggestions. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumpyDan Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Looking good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55pete351 Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Steve, keep up the great work on this kit ! I have one I bought years ago plus was given the yellow GT model from a fellow modeler who wasn't interested, It may be disproportionate in a lot of ways but it is still a cool model. I think all you have done really adds to this kit so keep going!! I know I will be watching to see what you do next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Hey, thanks for the comments guys. Today I mocked up the rear end, having previously modified, painted and detailed these parts. Everything seen here attaches with miniature hardware through the chassis assembly where the screw heads will be hidden, including the gas tank and exhaust pipes. It sure makes things easier and cleaner during final assembly. I didn't care for the kit traction bars, especially that they didn't have a defined location to attach to the frame. So I made some new versions out of plastic tube and then cut a couple of rectangular holes in the chassis assembly for them to insert in to. The gas tank and exhaust pipes were. The pictures should show how everything was modified. The shackles were drilled out to accept 0-80 screws as were the shocks - which were treated with a Koni decal from the parts bin. The driveshaft was cut in two and then inserted into an aluminum tube. Thanks again for viewing and for your comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Osbourne Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 And here are the aforementioned shocks in place and a photo of how everything mounts through the chassis. The shock screws will be trimmed down once they are permanently installed. Until then they are easier to handle with the screws kept longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vamach1 Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 (edited) Did you make any more progress on this one? The kit is far from perfect and I hope to build it someday. You have some great improvements already. Edited October 15, 2017 by vamach1 111 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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