vamach1

Thanks. I saw this picture online and maybe I’ll do a barn find version after finishing the first build. It would be an interesting take on this fantastic kit.

I thought about posting this in the Work In Progress section but it’s just a bunch of painted parts at his point with no decals applied yet. Speaking of decals I have never seen a kit with such an extensive amount. There are decals for the valve covers, dash, coil, voltage regulator, door panels, dash, wheels, door locks, fan belts, VIN on the dash, etc, and of course the hood and lower body. If you are looking for a quick build with all the parts and decals this kit has it might take longer than usual. To no ones surprise I’ll go with the main body in Grabber Yellow and paint the lower body gloss black and hood semi-gloss black. To do this kit justice I am treating each part as a separate assembly and trying to use the combination of paint and decals to replicate the car as close to either one that was in a dealer showroom or was restored to a concours level.

Looks like you nailed it on the color. Nice build.

Those older Turbo kits must have set you back some change.

Great job and attention to detail on the grille and tail light panel. The kit has some very small decals and I wonder how many will really adhere (e.g. on the horse in the grille and gas cap).

Here is the Revelll grille I just finished painting and also the real panel. The headlights look “normal” and I did not try to replicate the stainless steel retaining ring. The tail lights are hard to detail given the size. The red clear piece glues in from behind. The rest of the tail light “assembly” is molded into the kit rear panel so the purist will try to paint the thin chrome trim around each “light” then the flat black and finally the outer chrome portion. The black portion on the outside of the outer chrome is a gasket which is not seen on the actual car. Get out those magnifying glasses. I found dry brushing gave me the best result.

Nice color and build. Reminds me of the first Cobra Shelby repainted a few times so the magazines and public would think there was more than one, and the Allen Grant one. https://bre2.net/who-built-the-first-cobra-and-where/ https://www.americanmusclecarmuseum.com/shelby-vehicles/285-1963-shelby-cobra-csx-2703-allen-grant-car.html

I recently moved but it was within town and “only” have three display cases for models but another four for hotwheels cars so packing and moving them was no fun. We moved two years ago and I packed all my built models and put them in my car and they survived the 1,000 trip for the most part. I packed all the larger diecasts as best I could but they have been in storage for two years. I get to do this all over again when we move (permanently I hope) to a house in Scottsdale AZ. You would think I would stop buying kits but it is an obsession as we know. I did set aside my box of 1/43 unbuilt kits so given the limited space I have know I will try to get some of those kits finished in the next year. Trying to match the Linden Green color is probably why I never tried to build the Targa Florio version. Good luck on your move.

Looking forward to seeing this one built.

You might be best to mix your own. I used Testors Model Masters Ford/GM engine blue but i is too dark so I may try the smaller bottles or just add gloss white until it gets lighter for the next build. The build I am working on I’m considering a test case to get an idea of how far I want to go with detailing. While were on the subject of the engine compartment - the underside of the hood should be body color except for the “molded in” ram air plenum which should be flat black as seen in the photo below.

If you turn the cake 180 degrees you are still the same age. Oh well I tried. Happy Birthday and wished for many more.

Found this nice example online of the factory color.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/1902-most-original-1971-boss-351-in-the-world/ Everyone references the hood paint as Argent yet I cannot find a Ford paint code. The Argent paint on the hood in these pictures looks much lighter that the Ford color of Light Pewter Poly as see on the Mach1. As for model paint I would go with the closest silver that matches the kit decals.

My recollection from the move is there was a scene of a Superformance MKII that was supposed to “look” like the J car that crashed with Miles driving when he was killed.

The headlight has a very thin metal round retaining ring and a much wider headlight door that should be painted black. A little tricky to replicate in 1/25 scale but this is how it should look.

Great job reviving this old build up and making the modifications to represent the test car. As you know this kit is a better representation than the IMC kit. I sure wish MENG would make a MKIV or perhaps Fujumi but since there so many variations of the MKI and MKII they sold (mostly just different decals and a few extra parts) that tooling up a new MKIV would be limited to a handful of variations. The Renaissance and Lemans Miniatures kits as you know are expensive and curbside kit but are more accurate than the MPC and IMC/Testors/Union kits.

Very nice work on a creative livery.

Good catch. The first thing I look at is if the rear spoiler is facing the right way.

Yes. It would be nearly impossible to make the MPC kit look that accurate.

The 71 Mustang Mach1 gas cap was a one year option only and is designed to fit with the honeycomb panel. Any other Mustang that has one would have been added later. It “pops” open by pushing on it. While it might resemble a “racing” gas cap, it was undoubtably more expensive than the standard gas cap and thus was not available from the factory in 72-73.

No. Also keep in mind the resin part could fit better meaning despite it not fitting as flush as I would like it the hood still closes without any problems.

Nice work on the conversion. Cars were so stylistic back then but of course probably not very practical and would have been a lot more expensive than a 260/289 Cobra.

I put the engine together and did more test fitting. My conclusion there would be no problem with a property designed ram-air plenum part fitting underneath the hood and on top of the air cleaner. The resin part I’ve been using is by no means a perfect fit but despite that it has shown that with a recessed area for the top of the air cleaner and indentation or hold for the vacuum motor that sits on top of the air cleaner snorkel there is adequate clearance. A better fitting part would be ideal especially the parts that connect to the twin scoops. This area is far enough of the engine that for the part I used this test fit did not create any problems. I made one modification assuming it would help “lower” the completed engine if clearance was going to be an issue. I cut off about half of the mounting pin as noted in the picture. Whether this helped or not I cannot say for sure but that locating pin just looked long to me. Since Revell appears to be pretty flexible in creating parts for future versions of the kit, it is my hope that a ram-air plenum part be reconsidered. Thanks for looking.

Thanks for the backstory and yes I will let you know how it goes.

Yes they (Miami HL) had some enamel bottles for 97 cents each too.