Ace-Garageguy

That's more lawyer-speak CYA than anything else. The odds are that the concentrations of flammable vapors would never reach an explosive level during the painting of a model, but in the event some idiot overcomes the almost idiot-proof nature of these things and incinerates his cat, the sellers don't want to be held liable. If you want to be REALLY SURE though, make sure you use a sealed "explosion proof" motor of some sort...or as Brian suggested " a fan that keeps the fumes and motor separate from each other". Much has been discussed about this topic on this forum. Maybe Casey can steer you in the right direction.

Nice work on the axle, springs, and shackles...

1) Painting over what's there without knowing exactly WHAT it is is nothing but a recipe for disaster. 2) Whoever "painted" the poor thing didn't bother to remove the mold parting lines from the fenders. Painting over that is just sloppy and childish. Trying to sand out the parting lines with the thing still painted yellow is just begging for wrinkling and lifting on the feather-edges. 3) Different "strippers" work on different paints. Easy Off works great on rattle can enamel. Like the man said, wear disposable gloves. You should have some in stock for painting anyway, and they're only $5 for 50 or 100 at the grocery store or pharmacy. Wear eye protection too. And after you spray the model, put in in a big ziplock bag so the stuff can work without drying out. I usually put the whole bag under warm water, too. EasyOff works MUCH better warm. It often helps to spray more stuff in the bag after a while. After the paint s loose, scrub the body with a toothbrush and some abrasive cleanser like Comet. This will remove the stripper residue, and it gets into all the little nooks and crannies. It also scuffs the surface nicely for excellent primer adhesion. 91% isopropyl alcohol works on most factory and many rattlecan lacquers, but not so hot on other paints. You need enough to soak the body, sometimes for hours. Brake fluid works...sometimes...on stuff the first two won't touch. Brake fluid can also cause extreme brittleness on some plastics. I've taken parts out of brake fluid and watched them crumble while I was finish-cleaning them. ETC. 4) Experiment to see what works best on your yellow mess.

Yeah, trying to be a productive adult in the real world really cuts down on playtime.

Thanks for your interest and comment, sir. Glad you find some of my stuff of value.

JAN 5, 2020 UPDATE 1) Biggest thing accomplished was shortening and reversing the steering arms on the front spindles. 2) Front suspension got bolts in place of the shirt pins holding it together previously. Shank diameter of the plastic bolts is .030", so they're actually fairly stout. 3) Steering arms were positioned so the tie rod would just clear the split wishbones, pretty common on cars like this. Several things to measure and get dead on here. Just as on a real one with this front end setup, suspension travel is limited, clearance between the frame rails, wishbones, and tie rods is very tight. 4) Tie rod mocked in place, verifies steering arms are correct now. Clearance was also checked at the engine crank pulley, is OK. Steering linkage will be functional. The attachment of the wishbones to the axle isn't entirely prototypically correct, but I'm going to leave it pretty much as Revell made it in the interest of finishing this model before I die. 5) Last part of this job is thinning the front backing plates, so the wheel offset will be right, as well as the fit of the drums. The finned Buick drums I'm using are a little underscale to work with the '40 Ford backing plates as in real life. A little optical illusion will make everything appear about right, though. With so much of the mechanical stuff visible, I try to get everything looking like a real car built by somebody who knew what he was doing.

Thank you both. I'll order in supreme confidence now.

Yup. For some reason I always forget Studebaker's OHV V8 was that early. Nice engine too, though I don't believe I've ever turned a wrench on one (though that may not be true, as I seem to remember something about the way the intake manifold is held down causing some problem with sealing...). While we're at it, there's the big Packard OHV V8 introduced in '55 too, looking a lot like a contemporary Caddy engine.

Yeah...I knew I was forgetting somebody in the '50s. I always liked the Pontiac engines too...except for the unusual reverse-flow cooling on the early ones. I'd completely forgotten that Chevy's first V8 was that far back, and that it was an OHV engine too. Very interesting old engineering.

Yes, everybody in Detroit was working on different takes on the OHV V8 in those days. Caddy and Olds intro'd theirs in '49, Chrysler's "Firepower" hemi for 1951, the Buick "nailhead" in '53, then Ford's Y-blocks, and finally the game-changing smallblock Chebby in '55.

Yeah. Plumbing. When I moved into this house, it had been vandalized and all the copper stripped out...wiring and plumbing. I camped out for months, finally got everything reasonably livable, and the heavy drain line from the bathroom to the septic tank collapsed. That was fun, and I experienced a new frontier in stench.

The brochure cites a 279 or 317 cubic inch displacement. These are simply the truck versions of the Lincoln 317 OHV V8 introduced in 1952. It is also a generic "Y-block" style design, which refers to a very deep skirt on the lower end of the block for rigidity, but it is a different engine. The '54 Ford passenger car Y-block was a 239 cubic inch engine, and the Mercury version was 256.

Most helpful, as there are a couple more kits from HRM I'd like to get my hands on before I stop buying.

Thanks Rob. Much appreciated.

Looking for more recent info prior to ordering. Anybody?

Any more recent info? I'm fixin' to order something.

Thank you, sir. I will definitely look into that. EDIT: $55 US, apparently including shipping. Not bad.

Here's an IPMS writeup on the kit, with some potential issues to look out for. https://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/ford-3-litre-gt-starter-set

YouTube has lotsa vids on "static grass". Go to the main YT page, type "static grass for model trains" in the YT search bar, and be amazed...

Very clean. Paint and foil work look just about perfect. Nice.

Cool. Looks like she's got the painting thing down pretty good already. Glad to see you have her using a decent respirator, too. Funny...that's exactly how I paint model parts...one hand gloved, holding the part taped to a stir stick, outside. Works great.

Last AMT '67 Galaxie kit I saw went for over 300 clams, a little steep to cut up...but choo just never know...

Cool project. The model looks very good. The Ford P68/69 was a fascinating but little known car...beautiful but unsuccessful...with a very low drag body design that also proved to cause poor stability. I'm sure you'll do it justice. Sure wish somebody made one in 1/24.

Elmer's or other white PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glues will work, but you need a lot of patience because they have to be completely dry before you can handle them. I use white glues frequently for evaluating exact fits and stance prior to final gluing, but again, overnight drying is sometimes necessary. Rubber cement is another option. It handles differently and is good for different things. One of the most useful "temporary" glues I've found is actually liquid model cement itself...but only a TINY DROP, just enough to get a very light solvent joint that can be easily broken. For this method to work, the parts have to fit very well at the point of contact.