Maindrian Pace

Super clean build, excellent decaling work too.

Wow, that's quite a first post.

Thanks Don! They were in an Uncertain-T box.

This part came in a box from another kit, it looks like a roadster width pan with separate license plate surround. It's not from the XR6, but looks similar. Does anyone recognize it?

Great body work, and that Bel Air (or is it the Moebius Ventura) roof is an absolute natural on the Cadillac body.

One fine kitty, that engine bay is a stunner. The added bail wire on the master cylinder is a nice, almost always overlooked touch.

Yes, the tool is used to make the trim concave to match the shape of the original moldings. I ground the blade to a curved shape to fit in the recessed area, then scraped light layers away until the desired depth was reached. You can make trim look stepped or cut a recess in the middle of the trim, like in the side trim on '70s GM and Ford pickups, which have a painted recess. Any shape can be made by grinding the blade to whatever shape you need.

That actually works! Never in a million years would I have come up with such a combination, but it's cool that someone did.

I can't count the number of times that people have asked me how I profile (add shape to) side trim. Actually no one has ever asked me that, but here's how to do it. Restoring a glue bomb '61 Falcon and the rear 1/4 panel trim on both sides, as well as the 1/4s themselves, have an obvious problem: AMT didn't do such a good job aligning the sliding die components, so there is a misalignment of the trim that can't be repaired because it is at two different levels. The first step is to remove the trim and sand the 1/4 panel smooth, being careful not to nick the door trim. Replace the trim with Evergreen strip of the appropriate width, the thickness doesn't matter as much. Run an Exacto blade over the whole trim at a right angle to scrape it down to the correct height. This trim is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, so the blade was held at an angle to rough it in. Note that the trim looks pretty close, and wouldn't be that noticeable when foiled, but we can do better. Make a custom profiling tool out of a piece of Exacto blade glued into a piece of Evergreen rectangle stock. The end of the rectangle will act as the guide that you will run under the trim to scrape it evenly. The blade has to be trimmed and rounded to match the contour of the trim. I do that with a sharpening stone, holding the little piece with pliers. Some experimentation told me to add a little CA glue to the plastic guide to center the curve of the blade in the trim. Hold the tool and scrape the length of the trim thusly: Play with the angle that you hold the tool to get the cutting edge right where you want it. The angle shown above worked the best here. Take many light cuts rather than digging in hard to work it to shape. Finished, with a comparison to a second body.

Not at all what I was picturing, very nicely done and what a cool concept.

Actually, that's the way it arrived off the roll back. Those wheels are just rollers.

Nailed it!

Yesterday morning at my local tire/repair shop.

Very nice, really clean and correct job on the conversion.

I've got a short shot if you feel like a little body work.

Might want to joint the FB group Deal or No Deal parts. A built no paint rebuilder just sold there for $75. Rare, but they come up periodically.

Amazing! The display really captures the feeling of the original ad, great job to both of you for such an impressive display.

Sharp! Great body work.

I love it, as I too am a thick-headed cheapskate! And to more or less the same extreme. Combining spare parts into something presentable is a favorite thing for me, and when this is done, it will present as nicely as it would with the original full-boogie chassis - if not better.

Thanks for the nice words, everyone.

The bed and rear section are spot-on, it's coming out very well indeed. One suggestion if I may: you might want to smooth over the XLT front wheel opening moldings, just like you did the rear, before painting the cab. Great job overall.

This is a rebuild of a car that I did when the kit and the car were both new. The back story is in the build thread. Taurus SHO converted to a 2 door coupe by rescribing the door lines, moving the B pillars, and moving the rear portion of the roof forward to shorten the roof and lengthen the trunk. Basically, the bondo shrunk, I stripped it to redo it, and eventually did - 34 years later. Better late than never? In my defense, it came out a little better this time. Paint is Scalefinishes 2F Currant Red, a factory color on the SHO. The black strip on the bumpers and side trim is black Bare Metal Foil - hateful stuff to work with - the chrome is far easier - but it worked well here. These models sit high when built out of the box, so I lowered the front and rear suspension to a stock ride height. Interior tub is shortened to match the new shorter roof, with door panels altered to a 2 door configuration. Headliner and 1/4 windows added, these were never in the original build. The interior was one shade of primer grey, so I added a couple more shades and gloss here and there, and did the carpet in gray flocking to liven it up a bit. The intake tube from air box to throttle body was lost over the years, so I made a new one from heat bent sprue. Engine bay decals added. The rest is out of the box. Thanks for lookin'.

I agree, but the Taurus was only offered in 4 door form, and they probably thought it would take sales from the T bird Super Coupe. Still, it would have been nice to have a 2 door Taurus in any trim level.

I don't think I've ever heard of that swap before. It would be nuts, a cozy little wild thing for two. What part of AZ are you moving to?

Thanks very much for the nice words. I've always said that eventually, I get around to everything. In this case, very eventually.