Marko Nykänen

Thank you everyone! This was actually quite nice kit to build, I don't remember any major fitment issues, only the wheels and tires because they are way wider than the ones with the kit(s). I didn't even test fit the interior to the body, just glued it in place and dropped in. And because there is no engine, there is and was a possibility for me to finish this in time. I started this roughly two months ago, built mainly at weekends and not full days even then.

Thank you everyone! Color is basically Alclad aluminum mixed with red, blue and if I remember right little bit black basecoat. I hoped little bit darker tone, but at the end I didn't know any more what to add. It is what it is. And still the silver particles look quite big for the scale. Here is the mirror with vinyl I cut. Tried to get some Datsun logo feel to it. Those two magnets allow me to flip the whole thing upside down (carefully of course) but with some sudden moves the model of course comes off. There's also possibility to add more magnets for more firm grip.

Quite straight forward build. Purchased two different Hasegawa's kits, Safari Rally and "Mr. K" -versions. Other had fender flares and other had LHD dash. Don't remember any more which way it was. Wheels and tires are propably from Tamiya's 2000 GT'R Skyline. I just went through different kits for suitable wheels/tires. Underside has no added detail, just paint. So not much to see there. Interior almost stock, steering wheel is equipped with photoetch center from HME-011 set. Also added lenses to the gauges. Now the smaller gauges are unreadable, but you wouldn't see them anyway, so... Front grille is scratch built, came up ok but I managed to glue it just little bit off-angle. It looked ok until I glued the front bumper to it's place. Oh well. Head light lenses are also swapped to some aftermarket ones, don't remember the manufacturer anymore. Windshield wipers are also photoetch, but I'm not too happy for the outcome. Haven't assembled them before, so this was the first time. Now I know how to NOT assemble and install those. This is a birthday gift to my brother in law, so I glued two magnets under the seats. I'm going to place this on a little mirror where I'm planning to glue some metal or additional magnets to hold the model on it. But it's also easily removable if needed. I will post here how it goes.

Thank you! Only weathering that I'm partially satisfied is the oil stain on the oil tank. That was first time I used MIG pigments on anything and the result is not what I was looking for. But I didn't have any more interest to modify the weathering on the tires. I maybe should have added some weathering to the bottom of the tanks too.

Might be and even if not, that gave me an idea with routing the exhaust pipe. I just googled and it is done in real world just the same way I was planning. It might still require the bottom plate modifications. Here's the other way, but if the subframe connectors are used, that's not gonna work. Looks better though.

Yeah, I found your earlier post(s) about those and they look just what they should. I tried to find Steve's facebook page but couldn't. I might not have requested those but would have been nice to browse through, if there are pictures of his work.

I didn't post the pic of the rear wheel modification I did before anything else. Originally rear wheels had smooth lip(?), so I made sharp corner to the bottom, so it is better looking and matches the front wheels. Also it's lot easier to mask when painting. Left is the modified rim. Now I have all four wheels "re-slotted", knock-offs are also ready for first layer of paint. I have to make the lug nuts before I paint the wheels, hopefully I have suitable material on stock... In the last pic you can see the difference in depth with the front and rear wheels.

Don't pay too much attention, this can go sideways in so many ways at any time For example here; As I was not happy with either of the wheels, I decided that I can try to modify Cobra's wheels. I will loose the elevated edge from the other openings, but it's not so noticeable at the reference either. On the right is the wheel with modified openings. I did also a quick mock up with both the wheels/tires. It's not too bad with the originals but I like still more of the Cobra/Mach 1 combination. Seems to have more attitude. Even though the rear wheels are quite tight fit. And as you can see, I have optimistically opened the side exhaust exits and the bottom plate is clearly visible behind. That might cause some head scratching...

Yep, I have read that too, so I'm replicating the 351 but I'm not going to put too much effort to that. And because of that second reason too, that we don't actually know what was under the hood. So have to go with what is written in the internet and what is seen in different pictures. There's just too much "Eleanor's" in the internet nowadays and probably 99 % of the pictures/videos are from later replicas which have nothing to do with the movie cars. Halicki's Eleanor was so much easier to research. I don't know if anyone has built replica's of that movie car.

Yet another Eleanor build from Scale Production's conversion kit. Starting this thread might be big mistake, because my build is one big mess at the moment. I have done little bit of everything and accomplished almost nothing. At least it feels that way. And my plans tend to change during the process, so sometimes I take two steps back rather than forward. Oh well... Anyway, here are some thoughts and observations I have at the moment, regarding the conversion kit and references I have gathered from internet and the movie. Here's the link to complete gallery I have the build pics and some reference photos too. I attach some pics from there to this post. https://jva0316.1g.fi/kuvat/Ford+Mustang+Eleanor/ Engine and engine bay will be a mix of everything I have learned. Engine is basically the AMT's 289(?). Raised just little bit the cylinder heads and of course intake manifold. Distributor/ignition system will be built MSD-style, if I can manage that. Battery will be moved to trunk and windshield washer reservoir will be removed (already is). Air cleaner is still undecided. Scale Production's cleaner is nice, but I'd like it to be fraction shorter. And as many know, the valve covers are also way too long to the donor engine. So can't and won't use those. I probably combine these two pictures together: The body itself is quite nice. I am going to open the trunk lid and luckily the AMT has that one separate in the kit. The hood in the conversion kit was crooked/twisted/bad so I swapped the scoop to the AMT's hood. And yes, drilled the hood pins in the wrong place, when using the old one's as a guide. I know, I'm not the only one. Luckily. Yes, it looks bad in real life too, not just in the pic... But I like the AMT hood moore, because it has the correct shape in the nose area. Of course it is alwasy possible to make the shape but I got those "free" in the process. The Scale Production's hood has lost the shape and has basically round corners in the front. Or badly shaped anyway. I also shaved off the molded revers lights and will replace those with AMT's reverse lights. That brought the next problem with parts included in the conversion kit. The lenses were way too small. So have to fabricate those from scratch. So, what next. Yes, the wheels and tires. Those provided in the conversion kit are nice. But. I just don't like them. And I'm quite sure none of the cars in the movie had _only_ the knock off's keeping the wheels attached. As you can see in my pics, there's no way to fit any lug nuts in the wheels. Unless you add material to back of the wheel and put them there. So, after searching the web and this forum, I decided to buy Revell's Baldwin Motion Shelby Cobra, because it has similar wheels. One of my reference pics: Left is the modified Cobra wheel (rear), right is the Scale Production. Either one of those aren't correct in my opinion but at this time I like the Cobra wheels more. Tires are from AMT/ERTL 1969 Mustang Mach 1 -kit. With those I have wider in the back and slightly narrower in the front. As I believe should be. Not sure though. Might have read about it somewhere. When I got the Revell's Cobra, I noticed that it had some quite knock-off's too. Again I compared those to my references and noticed that I get better result with the Cobra's knock-off's. Actually they are spot on, or at least I think so. Just need some trimming. There's also a possibility to make wheels and tires changeable, so I can decide later (or leave undecided) which one's to use, have to only check the ground clearance with smaller ones. Interior. Mostly stock, of course I add the tacho and additional switches for nitrous. And yes, I swap the tacho to Mr. Model's version. It has readable decal at least. Steering wheel is still undecided. Too many options at this time. There's not much wrong in the conversion kit version. Only the center part is little bit different from the movie. What about the suspension and other stuff happening under the car? I have seen some very nice builds and upgrades to the steering and suspension (front and rear) and I'm not quite sure I can handle that kind of builds. It is known that the "hero car" is equipped with Total Control Products equipment. Many have built the rear suspension totally from scratch and they look lovely. But I won't. I will keep the leaf springs, which are very clearly kept in the hero car. Or at least one of those, some cars may have four links and all other cool stuff. Total Control Products has upgrade parts for leaf springs too, so I probably go with those. Or at least I try. I will add the subframe connectors too, I have one version already done but I'm not too happy with the outcome. Exhaust is somehow problematic. I would like to use the side exits, but it might be difficult or even impossible without major modifications to the bottom plate. Yes, I know, hero car didn't have side exits used for exhaust. For body color I have several possibilities. I can use the Gravity Colors Pepper Gray, go and mix my own with the actual recipe or mix some metallic gray how I like it. Because the metallic tones has usually too big particles in them, I guess that the "Extra Fine" in the recipe is still too harsh to the scale. So my plan B is to use some Alclad and tone that to my liking. But that is a thing to worry much later... I'm sorry that's there is so few pics of actual build at the moment, I have had no interest to take pics of different individual parts that are just prepared for first layer of paint.

Yes, it's basic steel. Had to use what was available. I guess it would be little faster if you could/would remove all spokes at once, clean the hub and rim, drill the holes and assemble new spokes in the jig. This "one at a time" system makes sure that hub stays where it should be. But it is time consuming, that's why this build took several breaks. I started building this December 2007... At least the date at the first picture indicates that. This was taken in April 2011... And the pic in the previous post was taken in October 2017, when I finally did finish this project.

Thank you! And thanks to all others too! I respoke normally by cutting some of the old spokes, drilling holes to new ones and glue them in place. Then cut some more old spokes away. I don't have any close up shot of the progress, but here is one bad pic... Somewhat off topic, I participated in one "knife making class" many years ago. It was meant to teach you some basic blacksmith techniques, but I did some machining too... Among other things, other than hitting hot metal with a hammer... So, I did one hub and wheel for future build, this is meant to be 21" wheel for one of the Tamiya's 1/6 H-D's. Or was it 19"... Anyway. I made the bit myself for the rim, so I could get the basic shape with one pass. Finishing is quite rough but it's better than nothing. And drilling the holes to the hub (and the wheel too) was somewhat hard. Can't remember how many 1 mm drill bits I destroyed...

It's a Kent engine, came out of F-group rally car. Unfortunately the cylinder head was cracked so had to use the basic one. Also with only one carb, I have dual carb setup too, but I don't know if I'm ever going to put it in. Too lazy... Click the pic to view one minute video, running first time in 9 years. Circuit breaker gap is way too small, so didn't fire properly, so sounds kind of rough.

There's some info, not all though:

New tires.