Fox Chassis (Ford) community build anyone?

[GTMust]

It's about -10c here(don't know what that is in farenheit - about 12?). Anyway, there was no wind and the sun was shining, so I heated a can of Testor's gray primer (in the can), and shot a couple of guide coats across the plastic to see where it would need more filler. I don't have anywhere to spray during the winter so most of my builds have to wait until the spring when the weather warms up, to get completed. I just work on the interiors and chassis, etc, until then.

I also have started work on the engine and tranny. Funny.... I always thught the engine would be Ford blue, but both my 1:1 cars are original and they're painted black. So that's what I painted the plastic one.

[whale392]

You are getting more work done than I am Tony! I too shoot outside, I am too lazy to build up a spray booth for inside the house....although I am SERIOUSLY considering it.

As to the engine block color, both my 1986 and my 1991 blocks were Gray, and the block in my 1983 and 84 were Black.

[GTMust]

My 100+ year old small house has only a tiny basement (cellar) big enough to fit the FA gas furnace and no windows. If I spray down there without ventilation, the fumes spread throughout the house when the furnace fan turns on! Not a good scenario.

I thought about setting up an insulated, ventilated spray booth to exhaust through the window of my upstairs hobby room, something like a window airconditioner set up, but the overspray would discolor the bug screen (very noticeable from outside!). My wife shot down that idea! So, for now, I'm stuck, unless I get a better idea.

[gregbbear]

Hello guys, I hope all of you had a great Christmas.

I am at a holding point till I can paint the headers, and the body. Here is a shot of the dash. I like how it came out.

Cheers,

Greg

[GTMust]

Looking good. I just love progress photos!

[whale392]

Tony, your T-Top conversion looks great! And I can relate to your house. Mine may not be as old, but it is tiny (640sqft) so I have to innovate when it comes to doing an indoor spray booth.

Greg, the dash came out looking fantastic. If the rest of your build turns out this nice, I might not want to show my junk in here!

Thanks for the support and FOX love guys.

[GTMust]

How about some progress pics of your build Brad (even if it's just the parts in the box.... hehehehe!)

Seriously, though, is anyone else actually building their Foxes beside the three of us? Come on guys... how about some progress pics! Or did the extended deadline slow everyone down?

(Disclaimer: Just kidding. No offence intended!)

[Eric Stone]

I haven't been building much lately, as in the past couple of months, and I haven't been home in two weeks- been staying at my gf's house across town for the holidays since she lives much closer to my parents than I do. I can't wait to get back home and get back to building.

[whale392]

No offense taken here. I will get back to work on these shortly; as soon as the 32 Ford 5 window I am working on for Januarys club meeting is done (I have over 1,100 kits with 400+ started. The club has never seen a finished kit from me and I want to shock them....and myself....by finishing this one up).

I have 2 builds going for this CBP, my 1983 GLX convertible and my 1991GT Hatchback. The hatch is the long project.

[highway]

Seriously, though, is anyone else actually building their Foxes beside the three of us? Come on guys... how about some progress pics! Or did the extended deadline slow everyone down?

(Disclaimer: Just kidding. No offence intended!)

No offense taken here, either! The extended deadline didn't slow me down, I was slow way before that!

[GTMust]

Brad: We have so many pages on this build that I had to flip back to page one to remind myself what and who was building! I think the CB Project started with about 25 builders and who knows how many cars. After looking at the detail you were putting into the suspension, I have to comment on the quality of your build. And yours as well highway! Not forgetting the great starts by the other builders.

I'm really hopped up on seeing some more work on all those projects. Meanwhile, I'll keep plugging away at mine even though I'm keeping the underside pretty simple compared to you guys! Too often I started off in the past with great intentions of super detailing, and run out of steam somewhere along the way. That's why I try to keep my builds pretty much OOB, unless I have to modify something like the T-tops on this build.

[whale392]

Unfortunately, the superdetailing is what is taking the time. Besides the 1991GT conversion I have going here, I have a 1987 Thunderbird TurboCoupe that is being built as a full-detail Pro-Tourer with the 2.3T Ford 4cylinder getting a completely scratchbuilt Volvo DOHC conversion (like my real 1984 Mustang GT Turbo is getting). I started a build thread on that one too, but have yet to update it as I wanted to get that 32 done first.

Thanks for the compliment, but I do not think I am that good. On the 1991, being it started life as a 1993 Cobra, I have had to change some of the detail. I am building this as a scale interpretation of my real 1991GT, and as that car evolves, so does this build. I have the Cervinis 1993 Cobra rear bumper cover on my real car, so the kits bumper (even though it is a Cobra) cover got modified to properly resemble the real piece. I am working on the Watts Link/3Link rear suspension set-up for it now, taking measurements from my real car. Lots of work into it.

The 1983 is a mimic of my real 1983 GLX convertible. I had to cut the V8 back into a V6 and make the headers for it. Pics coming soon.

Edited December 31, 2010 by whale392

[GTMust]

First of all, I hope everyone had a great holiday and the hangovers and swollen stomachs are settling back to normal!

Backyard Billy (AKA GTMust) has being working while we've been playing. The plastic blobs have been replaced with real springs at front and rear. Front and rear shocks still have to be added.

(Compare to the stock kit parts)

The engine has been installed (minus it's accessories). The motor came from the wrecking yard without an oil pan. Unfortunately Billy didn't realise that the 5.0 Mustang should have a double sump oil pan until after the engine was installed, and he had used one from another 302. He figured it would work just as well so he left it.

Work has started on the steering. The completed shaft can't be installed until the body and chassis are finally joined together and painted.

Unfortunately Billy broke the windshield header when he removed the original windshield, so additional bodywork will be required in this area.

[Jordan White]

Finished my '93 Cobra, and have been waiting to post it.

[GTMust]

I like it!!! Nice detailing in the engine bay, Jordan. You've established a standard for the rest of us to work up to.

Tony

[Jordan White]

Haha I'm sure I'll easily be surpassed by some of the other guys here!

[GTMust]

The interior door panaels on all the Monogram Fox Mustang kits are pretty simplistic and bear little resemblance to the real door panel. The door panel design did change over the years, the earliest being represented (kinda) in the cafe racer kit and almost unchanged in the '93 Cobra kit. Backyard Billy was trying to update his '81 to look like the '85 style...... so the door panel design had to change, especially as the panels can be easily seen though the open T-tops. Here's what the '85 should look like:

To update the look of the interior, the inner door panels were removed and the molded detail scraped off. Then 3M auto body filler was laid over the door and the surrounding interior and left to dry. Later I will try(?) to carve some more accurate detail into them.

While that was drying, the chassis was given a weathering wash and some aging added to the exhaust sytem. It seems that the 4 cyl, turbo exhaust is the same as the '85 GT except for the Y pipe, at least my 1:1 '85 is. So this was a simple swap. Dual exhausts were perhaps added in late '85 or in '86?

Still have the rear shocks and front struts to add. Struts are not included in the kit so I will pirate some from the parts boxes.

[GTMust]

HELP!!!

When I received this glue bomb Cafe Racer, one of the chrome headlight inserts was missing, the other was badly damaged and the lenses were useless from overgluing. They are almost impossible to scratchbuild and the one I have isn't suitable for casting.

Has anyone got a spare set(or even one) of these, that I could buy or even trade for something?

Thanks.

[GTMust]

Another quick update.

I have the door panels filled and sanded and pretty much ready for primer. I carved the panels to closely match the photo of the 1:1 door panel and added some solder (dry fit for now) to represent the chrome trim. I have made two armrests, one is shown here and added them to the panel.

I've been struggling with what kind of wheels to use. I originally intended to use 5 spoke chrome Cragars, but couldn't find a match in my parts boxes between the rims and suitable tires. I didn't want to use the typical Monogram/Revell no-names, and the only decent looking other tires I had were 14". Then I found a set of Goodyear L60-15's, but they wouldn't fit the Cragars.

So I asked Backyard Billy what he used. It appears that Billy still has the car and has been updating it from time to time as cash and his searches through the junyards would allow. But he could never afford to do a five bolt changeover to his brakes so the Cragars were out. Back in the late 80's he found a set of turbine rims from a wrecked '88 GT, thought they looked neat, so he bought them and added them to his car. He also picked up a few more goodies and added those as well. We'll see some of those in future posts.

I was able to use the turbine rims from the New Monkees kit, but had to modify them to fit the L-60 tires. I cut them down and attached the rear drum brake to the rim with the tire sandwhiched between.

For the front brakes, I dug through my parts box and found some trim rings for the rear of the wheels that were deep enough to work with the cut down turbines. There are round "things" that hold the wheels onto the chassis in the kit, but they didn't work with my new set up, so I cut them up and used the large ring piece as a spacer for the rear wheels... and the tube piece as the spacer for the front wheels. I don't have a picture of this, but it seems to have given me the correct wheel stance that I was lookin for..... basically as a stock Mustang looks with the four bolt turbines. Here's a pic of the car dry fitted to check.

[Jeff Johnston]

OK Guys I'm doing another one. 1979 Monogram Pace Car

love the chassis weathering,,,just enough to look real.

[GTMust]

The 5.0 has been plumbed and wired and installed in the chassis. I'll add heater hoses and finish the wiring after the body is added.

[whale392]

Looks good Jordan!

Progress is coming along nicely on yours Tony; looks like Backyard Billy has been busy!

Jeff; there is no limit to the FOX Love one can show here. Build as many as you want, I will be watching and loving it!

[GTMust]

I'm usually an OOB type builder, but for some reason, this build has taken on a life of it's own. So I had to add some detail to the bare Monogram front suspension (or lack of)! Especially as it can be seen through the open spokes of the turbines.

I started by robbing an AMT Chevy van glue bomb of it's shocks and adapting them to act as front struts. Then I added upper control arms to the existing chassis. Front disc brakes came from the Revell 26 Ford T sedan delivery which I am building in another thread and modified to fit. The idea here was to get an indication of the front suspension without going overboard, as most of it will be hidden by the body.

Here's some build shots:

I still have to extend the front sway bar and add the end links (the kit has the center part of the sway bar but it's not attached to anything.

While that was all drying, I test fitted the GT tailight lenses (another of Billy's visual upgrades in the late 80's). Good job I did as they didn't fit! After much cutting, filing and sanding, now they do. Here's a picture of the mods I had to make to the driver's side, before doing the same to the passenger side.

With that completed, it's time to turn my attention back to the interior. Stay tooooned.......

[GTMust]

Hey Jeff...... thanks for the comment.

Which of the pace cars are you doing... the Monogram or the MPC? I tried to score both these off Ebay last week, but they went over my budget. I'll keep looking though.

Look forward to seeing your build pictures.

Tony

[Eric Stone]

They always go over budget... If you're not dead set on having one of the kits, box art, etc, but want to build a Pace Car, you can get the MPC Snake Bite Cobra kit and a set of Pace Car decals and build one. Buying those two items will probably be cheaper than most Pace Car kits you can find.