Maindrian Pace

Very impressive, as a modeller and a former R/C enthusiast in realistically detailed machines, this build is pushing all the right buttons. -MJS

It's not a current diecast, it was sold when the cars were new, so ebay is the only way. Keep an eye there, sometimes they sell pretty cheap. -MJS

Well, I don't have one that I'm currently working on, but if I decide to start one, I have plenty of these things to choose from. They somehow multiplied. -MJS

The Maisto 1:24 diecast '94 GT convertible has the 16" SN wheels, and they look like they will scale well to a 1:25 car. Swipe 'em, put kit 17s back on it, and gift it to the kiddos. -MJS

Sure thing, Jason. Does this help? Bradley, maybe I misunderstood. Wouldn't be the first time. I thought you meant using one of the Cobra kits to scratch build a coupe body, and a few items in it could help there. I agree that a GT convertible would have better parts for a donor to a coupe resin body. Still, there are enough Cobras out there from the three different issues that I don't think it would be a problem to use them as donors or to build variations, it'll take a long time to make a dent in the supply. Thanks for the compliment on the coupe, I also own a '93 Cobra (bought new) and an '80 Fairmont Futura. Major Fox fan here too. MJS

Why not kill a '93 Cobra kit? It's a horrible, incorrect, out of proportion kit and IMO, it's parts and no more. Harsh? Yes, but it's frustrating to me that in over 20 years, Revellogram never got the proportions right on any of their BoxFox kits, but they were able to get them right 30+ years ago with the '79s. It's also vexing that none of the resin coupe master builders, including that latest "dead on balls accurate" guy a couple of years ago, corrected the too-high belt line, exemplified in the aforementioned Cobra kit, that makes the doors too tall and the windows too short, giving the car the characteristic "pregnant hippo on roller skates" look. Actual Fox coupes are lithe and lean looking, none of the resin coupes are. But the kit/resin companies are not alone in the chubby coupe hall of shame, the exact same problems plague both the 1:43 White Rose coupes and the 1:18 GMP coupes. Could it be that hard a car to scale accurately? Let's hope that Revell proves that it isn't with their new (we all hope!) coupe kit. If anyone needs reference photos (like they aren't all over the internet) I've owned this '92 for over ten years, and it's in my daily driver rotation. -MJS

I restored a really nasty one around 20 years ago, I didn't know who made it. -MJS

I missed the early part of the thread where the Fox 4s came up. But the title of the thread is Fox chassis, not Fox body, which is an incorrect but commonly used term. Because of all the other non-Mustangs here, as well as Mustang race cars with non-Fox chassis, it looked like all Fox variants were included. If not, no problem. I'm all for a Fox 4 CBP, the only concern is would it get more than three guys? If not, it will be a stillborn little thing that gets forgotten several pages back in no time. If enough builders indicate an interest, I wonder if a mod can split the topic, moving the SN content to the new page? I'm a moderator on a phpBB board, and we can do that there, but I'm not familiar with the IP.Board software. -MJS

I like the idea of the Grabber Orange, I'd like to keep this one a single color because this body style doesn't break up very naturally into a two tone below the upper body line. The spoiler delete has possibilities: The car has a high trunk line, and the upswept body line suggests a spoiler. But the eye seems to expect something back there to counter the flares and scoops, so tough to say at this point. Maybe a Terminator style lip? Thanks for the words of encouragement. Getting back into a 16 year old project isn't easy, especially when I have to build my skills back up so I don't screw up something important. A few other things will come first so that doesn't happen. I hate redoing stuff. All the Monogram and AMT SNs were 1:25 scale, the Tamiya '94 GT convertible and 95 Cobra R were 1:24. As for the SN CBP, I don't see anyone else planning one, so there doesn't seem to be enough interest in doing one separate from this thread. The SN-95 is a Fox chassis, after all, with almost everything mechanical compatible with earlier Foxes, and is also referred to as the Fox-4. And since this thread includes T-Birds, Fairmonts, a Lincoln MK VII, etc, I think that bulking it up a bit with SNs is well within the spirit. What year is your 1:1 car? I have some ideas about kitbashing a replica. -MJS

Oh heck, yes. The BBS RSII is one of my favorite wheels of all time, they look great on most any modern performance car. If these become available, I'll have to do some budget adjusting. -MJS

The masking tape mockup: The rear spoiler is a Saleen whale tail, popular then but not so much now. In a way, I think it goes with the styling, but also it may be a little too much. To my now older eyes, the stock spoiler looks like a better fit: Opinions welcome here too. -MJS

SN95s, eh? Yep, I started one in 1994 when the first kit was released. Some history: When the '94 Mustang appeared, I didn't like it at all. I was a Fox guy and had just bought a new '93 Cobra, and the '94 was all cute, round and cuddly looking, not aggressive enough, and pretty slow to boot. The local Ford dealer had a white GT convertible on the showroom floor with the top down, and I thought it looked like a big tennis shoe. Time changes most things, and now they look good to me, plus it's far more rare to see a clean '94-'95 5.0 GT on the road than a clean Fox, so they catch the eye. A friend bought a new white '94 GT coupe with an AODE (pig) and we promptly installed a 6lb Kenne Bell supercharger with GT40 lower, SVO aluminum heads, short tube headers, and a shift reprogramming kit in the trans. It wasn't a pig after that. I bought this Monogram GT (which was and is a very nice kit) with the intention of making it what the real one was wasn't in my eye - sleek, racy, and aggressive. Back then, they didn't call me Mr. fender flare for nothing. I thought everything looked better with big flares and bigger meats. Filled grille, front bumper cover reconfigured to Cobra with round fogs, Tamiya RX-7 sunroof because I was happy with it in the '87, lower side rocker pontoons deleted, taillights vertically narrowed to the two upper segments and kept all red, side coves reshaped to fit '68 Shelby scoops, and the hood - a heavily modded MPC '71 Mach 1 hood made to fit. Blown 4.6 engine, seats, and other items from the Mach III concept car, Parks meg exhaust tips, and that's as far as I got. The wheels and tires are Japanese parts pack, Fujimi I think, and the rear end is a parts box combo nine inch. I will finish this car one day, hopefully soon. I never did come up with a color combo for it, other than a light exterior color. Any suggestions? -MJS

Another choice for building this Ranchero would be to do standard or deluxe trim. As supplied, it has deluxe trim on the body and the deluxe interior with full dash chrome and fancier door panels. For a standard version, the side trim can be removed, delete the hood ornament, and the window frames and bed surround trim stay body color. They were pretty plain-jane. The dash would be a bit tricky, involving removing the trim panels except for the instrument surround piece. Door panels can come pretty close with paint, cut the horn ring down to a horn button. It would all come together very nicely with the dog dish caps, body color wheels, and black wall tires. There were tons of Rancheros running around like that in the day. On the deluxe, the window frames get bright stainless trim, the bed gets bright trim consisting of chrome and stainless, and any wheel cover was offered. On both versions, the rear window did not have bright trim, just the black rubber gasket was visible. -MJS

Man, you guys would have really gone nuts if he stuck a 2JZ in there. -MJS

Thanks Bradley, The kit was a stinker! I was excited when it came out, as the first Aerofox on the market, and was encouraged/fooled by the box art photo of a real car (with cheesy airbrushed BFG tires to represent the kit junk) but the excitement went away when I took stock of the parts. It was supposed to be a nice stock two tone gray GT like the box art, but it was bad enough that hot rod was the way it had to go. I've never seen one of these built nicely stock, maybe that's the reason. If anyone ever did that, they have my respect! -MJS

Thanks Tony, I really like your SVO too, it looks like something that RoboCop would have driven if they gave him something cooler than a Taurus. -MJS

-MJS

Emerging through a black hole from the end of the big hair decade is this '87 GT that I built in 1989. It's an MPC 1988 GT kit with a few alterations. I don't remember all of the body mods, but the partial list is fender flares, shaved handles and emblems, NACA ducts in the stock hood, deepened front spoiler and ground effects, Testarossa style side strakes, (it was 1989, alright?!) and a sliding moonroof from a Tamiya RX7 body. I hated the MPC chrome headlights, so the buckets and lenses are cut down Monogram parts. MPC didn't supply the correct flush mount 1/4 windows, so I made these from an old '80s smoke tinted rear glass from some MPC kit. Remember when they did that? I'm glad they don't any more! Seats are Monogram '85 Corvette, rest of the interior is stock but for the monster tach. Anyone recall the old Otaki BFG tire and wheel sets? Here's a set of the "Modulars" on full Monogram front and rear suspension and rear end, because the MPC stuff was too spindly looking. Paint is Testors' Model Master somethingoranother blue over aircraft gray, front screen is fine brass mesh from an automatic transmission filter. Engine is a Monogram 5.0 (So in 1:25th scale, I'm calling it a 351) with twin Paxton superchargers and dual quads. Basically, when the Otaki wheel and tire sets came out, I got all happy and built several hot rods around them, and this was one of them. -MJS

Maybe they are on the same tree as the teardrop hood? -MJS

From what I can see in the fotki album, the body is pretty well proportioned, with only one (minor) problem: It looks like they molded a gas cap on each side; it's on the left only so the right has to be filled in. Grille looks nice, taillight buckets look to be molded to the body, can't tell if the proper cris-cross chrome detail is molded into the lens or not... if they are too far off, a good substitute may be the ones from the AMT '65 Falcon AWB drag kits. I like that the seat is separate, easier to switch to buckets and console which was an option. Dash trim, door panels, and seat upholstery is correct for 1965. -MJS

It's got a much more balanced look it than others I've seen which have attempted the mid engine configuration. Looking great, like a car that can actually be driven when finished. -MJS

Actually, that does look like an Arizona vinyl top that's seen a little too much sun! Very nice rebuild on the Toro. -MJS

I though that the main flap with the Shelby owners was that the 2010s came with the unpainted axle, while the 2011s came painted, ruffling up some very fragile feathers. After that, I'd think that Ford painted all of the axles, but I don't know for sure. For this build of a 2010 model, natural steel tubes and cast finish center section is correct, and a tiny bit of flash rust, as pictured above, represents a new car on the lot and would be a nice touch. -MJS

Very nice, love the Calypso green. -MJS

2012 Boss 302. Others are similar. -MJS