Snake45

Started this AWB '66 Mustang at least four years ago, maybe more. The kit's a bit of a disappointment as none of the real '65 A/FX Mustangs had a wheelbase this short, and most of the '66s had long noses. The body is closest in proportion to the “Pyscho,” which was a Mustang body on a former Fiat Altered chassis. It was never a legal A/FX but ran as a match racer (and maybe an Altered in formal competition). The kit's chassis isn't very good, and puts the front wheels too far back instead of as far forward as possible. The rear wheel openings are far too big, making almost any tire look too small in them. And so on. Not quite sure how this one will end up; it could go one of three ways: A (non-factory) '65-'66 match racer; a late '60s-early '70s Altered made from an obsolete A/FX or a bracket racer; or perhaps a present day “gasser tribute” street freak. I plan to build a completely new front half of the chassis. I know exactly how I want the model to look, I just don't know yet what it will best represent. So far I've removed the windshield wipers and started filling in the roof vents. I've also started filling in the giant hole in the T-Bolt teardrop. To do this I Vacuformed the teardrop hood from an AMT '66 Galaxie, cut out the teardrop, put it on top of the Mustang hood, marked the hole from the underside, then carefully cut out a plug to fit tightly in the hole to minimize necessary filler. I glued it in place by hitting the seam with liquid cement. Then I puttied up the joint on the topside. And then I realized how hard it was gonna be to blend the whole rear part of the plug into the hood, and sentenced the whole mess to a long stay on the Shelf of Doom. Last week I finally got the urge to try sanding the evil thing, so started on that nasty job. (On the plus size, after four years, the putty was VERY cured and isn't going to shrink any more!) Here's where I am at the moment. Imagine trying to sand the rear of that teardrop and keep everything looking the way it should. Yeah, it's just that difficult. I've ALMOST got it to where I can lay a coat of primer on it and see where I'm really at. Wish me luck—if I can't get the teardrop right, it's back to the Shelf of Doom for the whole thing. I'm only driving on IF I can get the hood right.

I'm not thinking so. I went to the U2be original and read lots of the comments. Several mention DvD. Which proves nothing, of course, but he looks more like Dick Van Dyke to me. But one thing is clear: Game, set, and match to Vickie Lawrence!

Agree, and I have an even better idea. Put a hard cover on the bed and declare loudly and often that it's not a pickup bed anymore, IT'S NOW A FUEL TANK. This will keep your model from getting moved--either now, or when it goes Under Glass--down to the Truck section, where most of the car modelers will never see it.

I don't know if Alphonso is a "real person" or if it's an actor WAY overplaying the part. Either way, he creeps me out worse than the creepy giant-headed Burger King! Another annoying drug commercial is the woman who's the director of a high school or college marching band. It's obvious from watching this commercial that neither that actress nor the commercial's director has ANY experience in school band or playing an instrument of any kind.

Agree completely. You have to look at this kit as a box of POTENTIAL. I'm going to "un-alter" the wheelbase on one about halfway (more like the real ones) and put it on a new chassis. Another one I'm gonna take the wheelbase all the way back to stock and make a Pro Street or street freak out of it using the '66 Nova PS chassis.

Yeah, I have a couple nice sets of files I've bought at (of all places) gun shows, which often have nice tool selections. One set is very small, the other set is "rifflers" (bent). BOTH sets are just the thing when common files and other things just won't work.

Not only did I not complain about it, I never even saw it. I believe you owe me an apology.

Very cool!

Got one or two at Ollies for $10, and one or two at the local toy show for $10 or $15. Cheapest "parts mines" I've bought in years.

Where's Mr. Mulligan?

Ain't it truth! And the big/little tires. That stuff is the main reason I bought three or four of them.

I'm pretty sure you didn't read the story. The frame, engine, and everything but the body is from a first-issue '32 Vicky that I was restoring at the time. I set the '34 body on it, just to see what it would look like. The '34 body, as described in the text, is the slightly undersized Revell '34 Ford.

Kinda reminded me of one of the old "Debbie Downer" bits on SNL...or the classic "More Cowbell." Half the fun of that one was watching Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz try to hold it together during Will Ferrell's big speech...and not quite manage to.

Oh I have no interest in building it. I thought maybe you'd like to, though. Here's my kid's friend showing him another one of his rare old toys, some kind of steam car or something.

That's what I thought, but am not 100% certain.

Very clean build, great candy paint! Model on!

Chassis's together, along with the basic engine. It need some detail/touchup painting, but the chassis is basically finished. Looks like I'll need to either lower or chop (or both) the '32 grille to match the body's cowl line, but I won't be able to tell how much until I work out the actual mounting of the body on the frame. (It's just "set together" here.) Everything in these pics except the body is from the reissued MPC '32 Ford sedan delivery.

Here's the other one I'm hoping to maybe get done this round, AMT AWB '66 Mustang I started in either 2014 or a couple years earlier. So far all I've done is fill the roof vents (superglue gel on the left side, common body putty on the right side), remove the windshield wipers, and start filling the hole in the teardrop hood. Getting that hood right is a difficult task, and what sentenced this one to the Shelf of Doom.

I think it's most like your second pic.

There's one I'd actually prefer to drop down to 1/144. Or even a Revell-ish "box scale." Would be cool to have one in the same scale as the Mariner.

Thanks for the kind words! Thanks Gary. High praise coming from you. I bought it at a MAMA meeting in the early 90s, so you might have seen it then. Heck, you might have sold it to me! Thanks! And yes it WAS an effort. Thanks! At some points during construction, the white rear seats against the flaky dark blue body reminded me for some reason of dark blue Cobras. Thanks! Thanks! That's a high compliment! And I know how much you love the beach stuff, so this comment is especially meaningful. Thanks! I'm not gonna stand it up vertical, but I might remount it so it matches the angle of the sides of the hood. Actually, been thinking about putting a Manx hard top on it. It mates up surprisingly close at the rear (around the back seats). If I do, its front edge will govern where the windshield ends up. Thanks old friend. I used as much of the original as I could, but had to outsource a few things. Thanks! Thanks, Thanks, and Thanks!

I seem to recall at some point the mods asking us NOT to run ad blockers, so the site could get its ad views up, which would help with site expenses. This is why I don't run one, not "arrogance." Or did I just imagine this?

Very cool! A friend of my kid's has this thing sitting around. Would make a cool model display.

Very cool! The headlights on that Burago '57 look suspiciously like the oddball headlights on my Welly.

Stretch the chassis of a Revell '65-'66 Impala?