mrmike

To get the interior to fit better, I removed part of the hood mounts on the interior side panels. I also deepened the grooves for the hood (highlighted in orange) with a Dremel and a small grinding bit. This is tight enough so the hood now stays up on it own. I got the Optima battery painted and now it is ready for the photoetch pieces and mounting. More to come...

I'm almost finished with the interior, I just need to make some seat belts. A mockup with the body and hood shows the interior not sitting level and the screw holes have some play in them before the are bottomed out. I need to modify the hood pin holders on the side panels to allow the interior to sit correctly. I need to address the rear edge of the hood and the edge of the cowl. This should be even all the way across from one side to the other. More to come...

The rocker trim must have been painted to reflect how Frank Bullitt would have had the car. The car had been "roughed up" with some sandpaper and dented here and there by Builder Max Balchowsky and the 390 CID engine modified.

A fantastic looking El Camino, Randy! Your detailing is spot on! Great job!

Thanks Michael!

With some careful measuring, I cut some 0.020 styrene into three squares and added them to the hole I had cut into the engine bay. All the pieces were glued with Testors Liquid Cement. I mock up the resin Optima battery and the new battery tray looks perfect. Before someone panics and says that the battery will hit the hood, there is a 1/16" gap that runs between the fender and the engine compartment that is a leftover from the diecast mold. The gap will be filled at a later date. I need to repaint the engine compartment and the new battery tray. More to come...

I took the interior apart and got out my photoetch saw and started cutting out the kit battery from the engine compartment. A mock up with the resin Optima battery shows that I need to clean up the battery and maybe remove some more material from the engine compartment and create a new battery shelf. More to come...

http://stoneyscustoms.boards.net/

A little progress on my Bullitt Mustang. The wheel spokes were painted on the wheels I plan on using for this build. I still need to do some touchups. b bAt last weeks Classic Plastic Model club meeting, I had talked about my plans for this build and Club member Joe Angers offered me his bottle of Highland Green paint from Scalefinishes. Thank you very much Joe! At our last Play Date, my friends Paul, Barry and I were looking at pictures of the "hero" Mustang and we had noticed an Optima battery in the picture of the 390 CID engine. Paul offered me this resin Optima battery. I'll cut out the regular battery, make a new battery shelf and added this resin battery once I get it painted and detailed. More to come...

Looks great ! Love the color and the finish!

Been working on the 390 CID engine. I added the headers, the fan and fan belt assembly, and a Demon carb. I choose this carb since it does have a lot of detail to it, even if it is not correct for the Bullitt Mustang. The interior is under construction. I used embossing powder for carpet, added the shifter and front bucket seats. I painted the wheel backs for the American Racing wheels and detailed the steering wheel.

Thanks Joe! I've got to finish foiling the truck first. Been fighting with foil and adhesive.

Yeah, well, it kinda like this...I have the model and I used the decal on that kit when I built it. I have a friend who draws his own and I may ask him if he can do one on mine.

As I was looking at the steering wheel and the mis-guided holes, I remembered that the Revell '68 Mustang kit 2 'n 1 kit has all the extra parts in it for the Bullitt Mustang. This time I used my magnifier and carefully, well much more carefully, drilled 12 new holes in the steering wheel spokes. Some cleanup and Bob's your uncle! More to come...

Not looking for Highland Green metallic paint anymore. A fellow Classic Plastic Model Club member has a 2 oz. jar of that paint that he is going to give me.

I've been picking away at the Bullitt Mustang. I painted the headers flat white, the distributor semi gloss black, the engine block got a second coat of paint, and I made an ignition coil since there is none in the kit. The shifter got a new shifter ball made from a piece of jewelry bead and painted flat white. Now, if I can only find a 4-speed shift pattern decal. There was a set of gauges under the dash and I cut them off since the Bullitt Mustang doesn't have them. I drilled some holes in the steering wheel spokes and I messed up on some of them. More to come...

I filled the hole in the engine block and added plug boots to the wired distributor from Parts by Parks. Part of the die-cast molds is the notches on the cowl and the hood. Unless I want to do extra bodywork, which I don't want to, these are staying. There was two raised circles for the backup lights and the Bullitt Mustang doesn't have any. Out came the sanding stick and away went the raised circles. A fellow Club member has a 2 oz. bottle of Ford Highland Green Metallic by ScaleFinishes that he is going to give me. Thanks Joe Angers! More to come...

Yes, it is. Not a really good kit. More of a 10 footer kit. Looks really good 10 feet away! Thanks guys!

My attempt last night to add decals to the Fury was a bust! So, until I get new decals from policecarmodels.com, this model is done and posted in Under Glass.

I went and added the decals to my LAPD '78 Plymouth and they were junk! After ten minutes in luke warm water, they didn't budge from the backing sheet. I searched on line at policecarmodels.com and found a set that I'll have to order. This is what I get for trying to save an old decal sheet! Until I do get a new set of decals, I'm calling this build done. I would like to thank all those who have taken the time to view and to comment on my WIP.

I have been retired for 23 months now and my building has increased. I am building more now that I have the time, but I do tend to other projects that call a priority to everything else. I also have more builds on the bench now since I like working on one thing and if that needs time to dry, I'll work on another. If I don't feel like working on anything, I don't.

Thank you Andre!

Thank you Fred! My guess about the line on the roof is this...it could be due to the thin coat of primer on the roof and the hot Dupli-Color paint I used or this is where the plastic had joined itself when the mold was being filled and not enough pressure was used to fill it or the plastic cooled faster than it should have when the mold was being filled. It could be anyone of those things or none of them and it was something else.

The way I understand it, based on what I have read, is that Robert Kiernan bought the car as family transportation. At one point, his interests turned to horses until he realized that the car need to be put back together, but by then he was very ill and passed away in 2014 and his son, Sean inherited the car and he rebuilt the Mustang and said that the car was to remain in the family and hidden away from the public, just like his father wanted it to be. The car had become part of the family and it was his intention to keep it in the family. That's why he refused to sell it. It was HIS car! Ford Motor Company found the car with help from some other people, wanted to help hide the car out of fear that it could be stolen and so it was hidden down in the archives of Ford. They felt that having the actual Bullitt car on the 50th anniversary of the movie and the introduction of the new 2019 Bullitt Mustang would be worth all the added secrecy. If Sean decided to sell the '68 Bullitt Mustang, he would command his price for the car, which would be in the millions of dollars. AFAIK, no one has place a value on the car. This car has been described as 98% original and the car found in Mexico is 98% unoriginal or rebuilt with new parts. The car from Mexico or the "jump" car would be worth some money, but IMHO, will not get the kind of money that the "hero" car would get because it was rebuilt with new parts or restored.

Looks good so far, Tulio!