futurattraction

Thanks Tyrone. So far it's has gone together pretty well. As with the Fairmont, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop and discover I messed something up that I won't know about 'til well after the fact... Hey thanks Kerry! It really is starting to look like what it's supposed to. I have yet to figure out how I'm going to bulge the hood. Chris - Thanks bro. It is a bit unnerving to take a $25 kit and start hacking on it within only a day or so after getting it home... LOL Hey, get with it Al! I want to see more of your stuff! LOL Thanks for the kind words, Joe. Hoping to see some more of your handiwork before too long (unless I've missed it!). Edward - Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it. Dave (comp1839) - Thanks for the pics you sent me. They do help to put a bit different perspective on the rear window of these cars. I'm pretty much committed to what I've going with the new roof. I glued everything in tight last night. I have also made up my mind regarding how to address the rear window. I've added a .060x.040 strip on each side to narrow the opening back down to what matches with the trunk lines on the body, which is the way the 1:1s appear to be. I kept the new rear window shape that naturally occurred when I tipped the pillar sections in. I knew this was going to happen, but it's interesting to see it in reality - by tipping the pillars in at the top, it also effectively laid the windshield back at a flatter angle, which is another aero aspect of the 1:1 cars.

The stance you've got going on there is perfect! You've done a super job on it so far, Eric...

I can't wait to see whatever you come up with Tyrone... What about a dark charcoal metalic with silver stripes?

Okay - I'd appreciate people's feedback. In the picture of the Mustang, below, are the rear window sides (adjacent to the C-pillars) parallel to each other or do they widen as the window approaches the deck lid? Thanks for your input!

Your heads look flawless, Chris. I'm glad things are going well with your bud... You are correct, our pets can become just as close in their own right as a lot of human.

Things are looking really good so far, James. Paint and detailing are both really nice!

Thanks for the kinds words, Jeff. I appreciate it. Joe - Thanks for your encouragement! Thanks, too, for bringing the brownies. I hear they're a big hit! LOL Hey thanks Paul. Brownies always draw a crowd... Thank you, Jeremy John. Much appreciated! You're welcome to partake of a brownie, if there's anything left. LOL Brett - So far I haven't messed things up. Hopefully I can stay on the straight and narrow and keep this baby moving along. Thanks a bunch, Leonard! How are you doing with Camaro project??? I'm looking forward to seeing you send through an update one of these days! I could try talking you into scaling down, Dave, but I know it wouldn't work. Besides that, I love seeing the detail you put into your 1/8 builds... Thanks Ira... So far things are going fairly smoothly. Hopefully they'll keep going that way. Hey, I appreciate your encouragement, Dave R. You're right, Bill. This was a pretty ambitious undertaking. There's not a panel on the car that hasn't had at least one intrusion into it, if not several. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out so far. There are a couple of nuance-y sort of things I'm not sure if I want to try, or leave well enough alone. On some P/S Mustang pics, it appears the quarters mildly flare out in behind the doors. That may be do-able. I'm not sure whether there is more front end "droop" on the 1:1s than what is possible with the 1/25th version. IF there is, I don't think there's much I can do to enhance the front of the car. By the time the hood is bulged, that will, for sure, help create more of the appearance of a drooped nose, or so I'd think. Thanks for the encouragement, Jason! I truly appreciate it. Dirk - Thanks for the kind words. They'll help keep me going on this.

She's coming along really nicely, Tyrone. I really like this version of the body. Looking super!

I made significant progress today. Better than what I expected. I got the driver side pillars cut off last night before going to bed. I got the passenger side done today. Tried to get them evened up so they're as close to identical as I could make them. Both were trimmed so they set down nicely on the quarters. Wonder of wonders, I actually got both sides reattached late this afternoon. I measured the distance between the two pillar sides, did the math to figure out how much I need to remove from the roof section I removed yesterday, transferred those marks to it and actually got it trimmed tonight, so the remainder of the pics tonight are mockups of what it looks like at the moment. ...and the requisite side-by-side comparison with the '06 Mustang.

Thanks for the new drawings Dale.

Thanks again, Dave. I should've thought to look at the Goodyear site and it didn't even occur to me. Those dimensions should be more than good enough to do.

Thanks Dave! Do you know what the real world dimensions of the tires are? OD, section width and tread?

Dale, Where is the 1.25 rear wheel well opening you referenced being measured at? Most of my other dimensions are spot on or are at least within what I believe are allowable tolerances. What is the prescribed/standard rear tire diameter for this class these days?

Thanks Tyrone. Coming from you, it means a lot... If worse comes to worst, I can always turn it into a roadster! LOL

Thanks Dale! I'd appreciate any more info you care to share...

I'll start this entry by posting a couple pictures of what has provided much of the inspiration for this project, Cale Aronson's car: There was a lot of rework I had to do to get the front air dam to look similar to the 1:1s. I messed my first effort up and have something that looks a whole lot closer now. It still needs a bit more massaging, but at least it's getting there. I’m to the point where it’s make-or-break time. There are three major changes I want to make to the body to accurately replicate the 1:1 cars: narrow/taper from front to rear, bulge the hood to reduce frontal area and narrow the roof and taper the upper the windshield and B-pillars out into the upper body sides. This direct overhead shot shows what the body looks like in its current configuration - soon to change! As you see, I’ve taken the first, no-going-back-now step. I removed the roof panel as one piece, from door to door. I laid out the centerline of the body and measured outboard the appropriate amount to allow the the narrowing and tapering I'm going for. Results from this round of surgery, LOL Here is a revealing shot of how the altered body compares to a stone stock 2006 'Stang. Nose-to-nose comparison... More later... Comments welcome.

I began this project sometime back to give myself a break from my Fairmont and business stuff. This is going to be a full throttle effort to capture as many details as possible of a contemporary Mustang pro stock body. So far I havent messed it up, but theres no guarantee itll be anything but a pile o plastic if things dont go according to plan. As can be seen, the stock body has been removed from the beltline down and replaced with flat panels made out of .040 sheet styrene. Lower door lines have been scribed into the panels and a narrow lip added down at the "rocker panels". Another alteration has been lengthening and tapering the rear deck along with adding new panels behind the rear wheel well openings. I successfully pieced together the hood and lengthened it to correctly match up with the lengthened nose. From the centerline of the front wheel well openings to the nose is a scale 45 inches. Rear wheel wells were opened up and were very recently fitted with much wider lips. More work still needs to be done to get the proper radius on the wheel well openings and match the lips up more with the 1:1s. Accordingly, the front wheel well openingss have been drastically reduced in size, fore and aft, and the upper arch of the opening lowered. Will call this set of pics good. Will post more later.

Looks great Jeff! Don't spend so much time away...

Phenomenal work, Dave. I can't wait to see more!

I have a HL less than a five minute drive from my house. My wife and I go there probably on average two or three trips a month, with coupon. I think their selection is pretty decent and with the discount it's the easiest way for me to save money. I buy a lot of my small business supplies there, too, since I can go through bags and K&S tubing pretty quickly at times. I was able to order a couple '57 Ford tudors when they came out and was able to use a 40% off coupon, to pay for each of those.

Works of art, Dave. That's all I can say...

Welcome aboard Pete (from one Iowan to another)! I live in The Iowa City/Coralville area.

Wow! I've got nothin' more to say... Lol

SprueBrothers.com is where I got it. They were in stock and they were the best price I had seen one - $278.99 and free shipping. I ordered it Wed and arrived Thu. I couldn't believe it! Scott

Super job, Dave! Looking forward to more...