mustang1989

Good lookin' car. Got any engine shots?

That was another reason I even got this model to begin with was the fact that there just aren't that many of them being built.

Thanks Craig! I was contemplating a black paint job but I already do enough black paint jobs as it is. Needed something different but definitely not silver or white.

Ask anyone who really knows me and they'll laugh themselves silly about the idea of me building a simple OOB model. It just never seems to happen. My projects will take anywhere from 4-6 if not 8+ months to complete because I simply cannot leave the OOB kits alone. With that being said, I've been wanting to build a late 90's / early 2000's Trans Am for a while now. I was working in a Pontiac Dealership as an auto tech when the 1998 Trans Am equipped with the new LS1 engine were being freshly delivered and I instantly fell in love with these cars. I mean the 93-97 T/A's were nice but these...….these were fast right from the factory. No factory American built car had given me the "butterflies in the stomach" feeling under hard acceleration before my first test drive in one of these things had. Beautiful and fast cars these were and even though I never actually owned one of these, I got several chances to drive pre-sold and the used offerings that were there on that lot (I was NOT one of those techs who went out joyriding in owners vehicles-just a wrong thing to do to another mans car) and I loved every minute of it. Anyways I'm going to build this car pretty much OOB. I just need something that I can actually make some worthwhile progress on. I will take the liberty of dropping it a scale inch or so but I do like these in stock form so there won't be much at all in the way of "extras". I owe the fact that I got this kit at all from BigTallDad as a gift so a BIG shout out goes to Ray for it. Thanks bud.....you are da MAN!!! We'll be going with red for it:

Very nice paint work. That looks totally awesome!!!

Just checkin' in Dann. It's been a while since I've been in here.

This looks really good. Nice n' clean resto.

I was noticing that as well. I don't think he forgets much. lol.

Thanks for the comments Francis. Yeah Tamiya Rattle can primer is what I use for autos as well as aircraft builds. Just can't go wrong with the stuff. Well I got some more done on her this week. I cut the rear and two side windows out of thin clear styrene and decaled the side windows up with racing stickers. Just waiting on those to dry so I can dunk 'em in some Future so I should be going in with those tomorrow it looks like. Then came the moment I've been waiting for at the rear of the car. Upon close inspection of the deck lid you can see some lock studs, quick release pins and cables at the rear most corners of the lid. I received my lock pin set two days ago so I was able to get some progress done on that. Reference shot: Progress so far. Still have to dot the 4 spots on each plate to simulate screws with some Molotow and add the cables later but here we are for now:

I really can't wait to see this beaut start taking on some shape Francis.

Very well built Wayne. Wow!!!!!!

That's a really good job on this Pat. You've got my vote!

Nicely done! Love all the detail.

Good lookin' Willys Mike! That turned out really good dude.

Lookin' good so far Wayne. I'll be watchin' for updates on this one.

Thanks for the comments you guys. Misting the white was key. The roof was harder than the hood really because I used white enamel on the roof and had to do one helluva lot of sanding and all to get it smooth. Once that was done the decaling and gloss coats went well. The hood....I used Tamiya White primer over and got by with that because the red is a Tamiya paint. Again misting was key. I didn't have to smooth anything out on the hood as the primer laid down as smooth as silk. Just decaled it and glossed it and it was done. After a weekend I've made some more progress on this bad boy. After robbing the foot pedal assemblies from the AMT Mustang kit I cut the grossly over scale swing levers from the back of each pedal Then I formed up the levers and made some mounts on the back side of the dash in which to "swing" the pedals with... I finished this part up this morning by painting the swing levers and pedals. I also darkened the steering wheel wood just a tad...

Un.…..believable!

This is just too much! All these models being built with more metal are just sensational and this one here is no exception to my opinion of it. Very good work on this Mike!

I'm definitely impressed. Man that looks good!!!

Ya know....I'd seen this project under way and meant to stop in and comment at numerous points of this build and then I'd get tied up with something in the real world and would have to close the window. BUT.....I'm here now and would like to tell you what a great job that you've done on this build throughout the various stages of it. She turned out to be a very fine completion Ray. Awesome work buddy.

Lotsa nice details on this one. I do think it's cool that you have one of the original slicks to this car from waaay back. Nice touch......and I couldn't tell which slick was the older one.

Can't help BUT to drop in. This is some of the best auto modeling I've seen yet.

Thanks Mike! I'm getting pretty close to being done with the dash. I took a couple of liberties with it just to have at least a little fun. I still have the foot pedals to construct and put under it and to install a tachometer on the dash but it's pretty much where I want it. I took Macro shots against my better judgement. With that being said, the blems that show up in this pic won't be seen by the naked eye.

That turned out pretty dang good Roger! Wow!!!