RancheroSteve

Really excellent, Curt! This is one you don't see every day. I'd like to see Atlantis re-pop some more of these kits - the originals are just way too pricey.

"MCW does not answer their e-mails when trying to find out if they have a car in stock." That hasn't been my individual experience - a few weeks ago I emailed asking if a kit was in stock, got a reply within 24 hrs. I mailed an order (with a check) that day, got an email letting me know he'd received my order and I had my kit within about a week. This was all during the holidays when things might be expected to move a little slower. Yes, it's kind of an old fashioned way to do business in this day and age, but I don't have any complaints.

I've been spending some time trying to get the trunk and rear fender areas right. Getting closer, but I'm going to have to put this one on the side burner for a bit - too many model related projects with deadlines.

Here's one I built a few years back: Rest in peace, Mr. 500.

The '65 Comet maybe?

All Falcons and Rancheros had 13" wheels until 1965. The six cylinder cars had four bolt wheels, the V8s (late '63 & up) had five bolt wheels.

Straight six (lots of info regarding this if you read back in the thread). Decent looking new wheels and backs form what i can see, but (just to be nit-picky again), they should be four bolt wheels for this vehicle. Put the hubcaps on 'em and no one will know, right?

I guess while we're at it, the other thing that isn't quite right is the inside of the tailgate: it should have the same slant as the outside (forward towards the top). I'm guessing that might have been a compromise necessitated by molding technology. Not so easily fixed, but you can throw a tonneau cover over the bed and call it good.

There's really only a couple of things wrong with the body as I see it, and they're both pretty fairly easily fixed. First, the lip above the rear window (I assume it's still there in the current re-issue) shouldn't be there - grind it flush and re-scribe the trim line. Second, the rear cab pillar is sculpted wrong, but this can be vastly improved with some work with a sanding stick and maybe a little putty. The photo below illustrates more how things should look: Apart from that, like most AMT kits of the period, it gets the look of the car about right to my eyes.

Haha - not to get too off-topic, but the outhouse probably represented real progress at one time. Just think about how things were done previously.

Maybe (?) oddly enough, the '69 Falcon "modified stocker" has some pretty good shock towers (inner fender wells). The rest of the kit, not so much.

Good points, Mark. Like you say, the AMT Ranchero chassis isn't too far off in general (besides the lack of a gas tank), but keep in mind that in the real world, the Ranchero (and sedan delivery) were built on the two door station wagon platform, so the floor continues flat behind the bed for a bit, then there is a pretty pronounced kick-up over the rear axle where it becomes the bed floor. This flat area behind the cab is where the rear passenger foot well would be in the wagon. This is also why there's a removable panel at the front of the Ranchero bed. Good for battery re-location, or accumulating leaves and gunk which will hasten the rusting of the floor pan. If you look closely, there's actually a mold seam line on the model that sorta represents this.

That does look very close, Roger! Definitely close enough to pass for a Falcon unibody to most eyes, and certainly better than the Trumpeter. Yes, the Ranchero has a different gas tank than the Falcon - hung by straps under the bed vs. dropped in through the trunk, but it looks pretty much the same in plastic.

Interesting to know - I'll have to pull some boxes off the shelf and check that out. Keep in mind that in the "real" world, the Mustang components are a much closer match to the Falcon and Ranchero. While all are unibody cars with similar suspension design, the Mustang was directly based on the Falcon, while the Fairlane is more of a mid-sized car. Although when the Falcon got the V8, some parts came from the Fairlane line, so one could argue for some cross-pollination. So it all just depends on how crazy you want to drive yourself for the sake of scale accuracy.

The AMT '67 Shelby Mustang still has probably the best chassis and underhood area for this car (as well as a great 289), but keep in mind that V8s didn't appear in the Falcon and Ranchero until late '63, so if you want to build an accurate 1960 Ranchero you'll need to source a inline six.

(PM sent - thanks!) Great work on the King T and the Wild Dream! I'm trying to go as reasonably accurate and correct on this one as I can, but I also have another XR-6 (very cleanly started but incomplete) that came with the box. I figured one day I'll do it as a updated/custom XR-6, maybe with a modern six cylinder, wider tires and no fenders . . .

Oh, I see - fronts are four bolt, rears are five. Duh . . .

I was planning to use the Parts Pack wheels on my build - the originals have a bad case of tire melt damage. I haven't decided yet if the bolt issue is worth fixing; it's probably not a detail most people would notice or care too much about. It looks like the knock-offs are slightly different, too. Hmm, looks like the front wheels that came off the glue bomb are four bolt - what gives? And another shot of the Parts Pack wheel:

I've got the Visible Woman kit. I was getting ready to name that as my weirdest kit when I saw your post.

Also one of my favorite cars ever. Excellent build!

Roger: I'm not sure how it escaped my notice, but I didn't know about this car either until I saw it at the Petersen Museum a few years back, then of course I found out about the model and had to track one down. Mike: thanks for the encouragement. I'm going to try to correct some of the inaccuracies in the nose, and add a few details here & there, but otherwise just try to do a decent "out of the box" build. I haven't quite figured out the paint yet, although I did pick up a can of Duplicolor Red Metalflake that looks fairly close; still need to test it though. Maybe over an orange undercoat?

Thanks for the interest, guys. I don't think I'll be going quite as crazy on this one as I did with the Deora (that project took WAAY too long). It helps that it's generally a more accurate kit to begin with, although there are a few things that need fixing (more on that later). After getting the thing apart (and breaking a few parts), here's an overview of where I am so far: The frame and engine cleaned up. I made new mounts for the rear coil-overs, repaired one engine mount and the transmission tailshaft, made a radiator mount and made new axle tubes. Most of this was necessitated by the brittle plastic and excess glue, but it was also a chance to add a bit more detail. The kit tail section of the body is split in a non-prototypical way and leaves an ugly seam. Guessing here about how the real car goes together, I've separated the belly pan at the rear axle and joined it to the tail, allowing me to glue the tail section together and putty the seam. The interior tub is far too shallow and looks toy-like. I realized there's a lot of unused room between the floor and the frame rails, so I cut the floor out and I'm extending the depth of the interior. I'll make a new floor and extend the sides and console down to meet it. Some more random parts. Some of these will need upgrading or replacing. Finally, a shout-out to Bob Kremer, who sent me this bag of parts a few years ago - exactly what was missing from the glue bomb, and without which this project wouldn't be happening. More to come - thanks for watching.

Yes, a rather odd vehicle, but it has a certain period charm for me. I'm starting with this dusty specimen: I've got it dis-assembled and cleaned up - starting to figure out how it all needs to go back together (with a bit of added accuracy). I'll post some "in progress" shots tomorrow.

Update: After some time off to concentrate on the 289 HiPo, I'm getting back to this one. I've opened up the hood, cut out the radiator opening, removed the windshield, fixed the cowl and interior opening, made some new headlight buckets from brass tubing, and started building up the trunk area. Onward!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! The parts are out of my hands now and will be going off to the caster soon. I'll post more pics down the road.