1963 Super Torque Ford

[Pierre Rivard]

6 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Thanks, Bob. I'm pretty stoked about working on this one. This is what I consider fun modeling. the last two next gen Camaros I built were more like aggravation and just wanted to get them done.

Absolutely agree. You're making something here. These old NASCAR are very interesting subjects providing you want to put the work in, and you obviously are my friend.

[MarkJ]

1 hour ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Absolutely agree. You're making something here. These old NASCAR are very interesting subjects providing you want to put the work in, and you obviously are my friend.

So true, Pierre, So true.

[MarkJ]

Started working on the rear panel between the taillights. I need to dechrome it and make it smooth sheet metal instead of having the ornate stainless or chrome panel that comes on the car. I will retain the tailights . They were still on the car even late into the season.

[Force]

8 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Started working on the rear panel between the taillights. I need to dechrome it and make it smooth sheet metal instead of having the ornate stainless or chrome panel that comes on the car. I will retain the tailights . They were still on the car even late into the season.

Most of the trim and brightwork on the real car is anodized aluminum except for the bumpers, cast pieces and around the windows.

While you're at it, thin down the bezels for the tail lights, the are way too thick on the model...they look like they are 1½ to 2 inches and on the real car the bezels are somewhere around 3/4 of an inch, I haven't measured but it's in that region.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Force

[MarkJ]

Håkan, come on now. I'll be lucky to get these pieces back on the model in any sort of accuracy and not damaging the chrome too much on the bumper and tailights. You're expecting way too much accuracy out of me that just isn't there anymore, if it ever was. Below is a build I did in 2017 that has the same modifications done to it except that there won't be any painted covers over the taillights on this one. They were stock taillights on this car.

[Force]

Looks nice.
Hehe I might be a little picky as I do own one of these Galaxies and I see inaccuracies everywhere on this old kit.
We need new tooled kits of the 1963 and 1964 Galaxies...based on the great 1960 Starliner tool would be great.

You say you are doing stock tail lights...they are also wrong in the kit with a strange 3 pointed chrome blob in the middle instead of the 4 pointed star with the backup light in the middle the real cars have...but you might know that allready.
I found some 3d printed tail lights that have a more correct look...I think it was from Canuck 3D parts...otherwise the Ed Roth Mysterion kit has more correct tail lights.

 Keep up the good work and don't mind my ramblings. ?

[MarkJ]

Håkan , as Led Zeppelin would say, "Ramble on". I enjoy reading everyone who takes the time to visit this thread and share ideas. I just know that we are lucky to have this kit and even luckier that it was reissued a couple of years ago or I would not be building it now. I'm also glad they reissued the 64 Ford recently even though it is basically a snap kit, and it was actually sold in Walmart, if you can believe that. Please feel free to drop by and share in the conversation. I usually don't have that many people doing that.

[MarkJ]

More work on the rear panel and I messed it up, so nothing new there. 

[MarkJ]

Got the rear panel installed so I can paint it with the rest of the body. I will add the bumper and taillights at the end. Got the top of the front fender voids mostly done and started on the wiper blade removal. Won't be long before I can prime and paint the body.

[jjsipes]

Looking good. I just modified the custom rear body panel on mine and have cut the taillight bezels and bumper from the stock piece.

[Pierre Rivard]

Looking good Mark. A lot of carving and sanding needed for these Galaxies but they look so good when you transform them into race cars. Your Fireball Galaxie was the inspiration when I tackled one of these 2 years ago.

[MarkJ]

Thanks, Jason and Pierre. It's been fun so far.

[MarkJ]

There was just a hint of a line at the tops of the fender voids so I added just a touch of putty to take care of that. i finished the wiper areas so all I need is a complete body sanding with 4000,6000 and 8000 polishing pads and then I will white primer it. 

[catpack68]

Nice work Mark! Looking forward to seeing more updates on it?

[MarkJ]

Thanks Scott. Hoping to primer it soon.

[TooOld]

Looking really good Mark , removing the wipers is a big plus and really helps the look !  I also think your rear panel looks just right . . . Thanks for the photo of your previous build !

[MarkJ]

You're welcome, Bob. I'm really glad I did that one 6 years ago. The reference really helped speed things up a little on this one. Hoping to white prime it and then put white pearl over that and hope it comes out okay. It will be brush painted.

[MarkJ]

The white pearl on the real car kind of looks like a very, very light silver but it's not silver at all. It's pearl. In other words, you think its a white car but its not. There's something going on there that's not metallic but its not opaque either. Its pearl. Could not find a color picture of the real car but black and white pictures of it tells you that its not a bright white, all though early in the year, it might have been. Pretty sure they went back to white in 1964.

[Pierre Rivard]

Looking at period pictures the car looks.... white?

But if you want do do a bit of a pearl effect, then maybe a 3/1 or 3/2 mix of off-white and metal medium.

Just an idea...

[MarkJ]

3 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Looking at period pictures the car looks.... white?

But if you want do do a bit of a pearl effect, then maybe a 3/1 or 3/2 mix of off-white and metal medium.

Just an idea...

Yes, it does, but for the race I'm doing all of the Holman & Moody Fords had pearl paint jobs. If they had them before or after that I really don't know. I will try out my idea first and if its a flop I will surely take your advise on the ideas you have suggested.

[MarkJ]

I did a search on google for "did 1963 Holman and Moody fords have Pearl paint" and this popped up. I copied and pasted it below.

Starting at the Southern 500, all the factory Fords got pearl paint, and Fireball also got a darker purple. He won the Southern 500 that year, his 32nd of 33 career victories

[MarkJ]

Here is the paint I will be using; I will thin it at 60% with distilled water like Pierre recommends and put it on with a brush using light coats till hopefully I get what I'm looking for. It looks really good in the artist paint pallet so I'm hoping I have the ability to get it on the model correctly.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Lots of work going on there. Can't wait to see the completed model.

[Pierre Rivard]

Look forward to this new experiment, I can see a similarity with my silver brush painting experiments, so high learning potential for me. Going straight to the Ford or testing with spare body first?

[MarkJ]

1 hour ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Look forward to this new experiment, I can see a similarity with my silver brush painting experiments, so high learning potential for me. Going straight to the Ford or testing with spare body first?

Pierre, I'm feeling pretty good about the outcome so I'm going straight to the Ford body I have primed. Thinning the primer 25 % with distilled water made it go on so much better this time than my last build. I've put on the second coat seen below and decide if I need a third coat after I sand it with some 4000 and 8,000 grit cloth.