1965 Mercury Comet Cyclone (update 1/4/19) Finished!

[JTalmage]

I picked up a few myself. I really like it. It reminds me of the AMT '66 Fairlane/'67 Comet kit. Which is a good thing in my opinion as I really enjoy those kits. Can't wait to build one.

[RancheroSteve]

A little more done. Now that I've got the roof to where I can live with it, I made a few other body modifications. This isn't going to be a replica stock build - more of a resto-mod I believe - so I'm at liberty to make a few changes. I've never cared for faux vents and the port holes on the Comet's fenders have always puzzled me a little (this isn't a Buick, right?), so off they went:

Likewise, the fake vents behind the back window:

 

[espo]

I have to agree with the cleaner look. Sometimes designers used to just put to much glitter on an otherwise good design.  

[afx]

I like the cleaner look as well Steve - good choice.

[mk11]

Sure looks good, Steve. On mine, I also shaved that inner ledge on the top of the rear window opening as it could be seen from outside. 

Just looking at another angle on the issue, note the light-catch along the roof ...

 

...notice the margin above the drip rail on the '64 Comet and Falcon... carefully blending the edge on the '65 into the roof crown, thereby dropping the margin and straightening the line, may make a noticeable improvement.

 

mike

Edited March 18, 2018 by mk11

[RancheroSteve]

Just a small update here: One other small thing that needs fixing on the body is that the door line doesn't extend all the way on the horizontal top surface. Here it is scribed in:

I'm also thinking that top step of the door is a little too pronounced. It's tough to get a file in there, so I'm going to try to ease it just a little with some sandpaper and call it good.

On to the chassis and running gear next.

[Erik Smith]

Nice work so far, Steve. Small changes that will make a big difference.

I noticed yours has similar problem as mine with the trim around the front wheel well opening - a small 1/8-1/4 inch section is kind of serrated edge.

[RancheroSteve]

I noticed yours has similar problem as mine with the trim around the front wheel well opening - a small 1/8-1/4 inch section is kind of serrated edge.

Yes, it does - gotta see if I can fix that, too.

[John Goschke]

Very interesting thread even though this car isn't on my build list for this lifetime!  Nice work on the refinements, Steve!

[RancheroSteve]

OK, so this next series of modifications is a little more drastic and maybe not for everyone. I'm not suggesting in any way that this an essential thing to do - in fact, I'm sure a lot of perfectly nice Comets will be built right out of the box, but I decided I was up for a challenge.

Let's begin by comparing the Moebius Comet chassis (in white) to the AMT '67 Mustang chassis (in black):

The trans tunnel issues have been discussed in another build thread, but we can also see that the Comet has the lower suspension components molded in, while the Mustang has separate lower suspension, but has the upper a-arms molded to the frame (we'll deal with those later).

I began by making a template that I could use later to maintain the correct wheelbase:

I then removed the desired section from the Mustang chassis:

And then the corresponding section from the Comet chassis:

After a lot of test fitting - along with using the template to duplicate the wheelbase - I was able to glue them together:

I had to fill a few gaps with small strips of plastic. I'll let the whole thing set up for a while and putty a few seams. Next up will be getting the firewall fitted.

[afx]

I think you can handle this Steve.  I'm taking notes.

[Reeves Racing]

That's really ambitious Steve, I used the lower A arm piece from the Revell 66 Mustang and deleted the molded on lower A arm (not really an A more of an I beam) and strut rods retaining the Moebius torque box and "frame" rails. Your solution address the front half of the transmission tunnel though where as mine does not. I had to scratch in some engine mounts too and the AMT piece has them already.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Reeves Racing

[espo]

That is quite an ambitious change to the chassis. The Black Mustang transmission tunnel looks narrower than the White Comet chassis ?  This may not be a problem with the drive train you're using. Is the front suspension on the Mustang that much better looking than the Comet ?? The Toe Board to the Firewall might be the biggest problem with this conversion . This is a model that I intend to build this year so I'll be watching to see how you overcome any problems in your build.    

[mk11]

Great inspiration Steve. While Moebius did a fairly decent job of reworking the surface features of the adopted '66 comet chassis, they left the newer style tunnel (made for accommodating big blocks with C6 transmissions) alone. Like you say, it builds up just fine and few will notice the things a real Ford nut will want to tweak.

Dave, the front subframe/suspension is a common design to all these cars based on the falcon platform and the amt '67 mustang chassis seems to have the best detailed parts. A builder can go either way and still have a good looking model with this kit.

 

mike 

 

[RancheroSteve]

I wanted to keep the original location and dimensions of the Comet firewall, so I glued the side and top sections of the firewall to the chassis, and then fit the Mustang firewall into the center.

Plenty of gaps here & there, and the toe boards don't line up exactly, but some scrap plastic will fix all that.

After these photos were taken, I applied a generous coat of Tamiya putty. More soon . . .

[afx]

Whats your opinion of the 289 in this kit Steve?  I haven't seen one yet. 

[RancheroSteve]

Whats your opinion of the 289 in this kit Steve?

I won't do a full detailed review here (that's probably a separate thread), but since you asked, JC: overall not bad, although it certainly doesn't set any new standards (the AMT '67 Mustang engine is still the best early 289 in my book). Dimensionally it looks right, although I haven't measured it out.

The valve covers are nice and there are two sets - plain and chromed/finned. The detail on the block, heads and transmission is a little generalized and there are several inaccuracies, especially for anyone that wants to build a replica stock Comet or even a period correct early SBF. I'm not trying to bash or nit-pick the thing here, but I'll list some of my issues:

1. The exhaust manifolds (mentioned in another thread) don't resemble anything I've seen on any SBF, stock or modified.

2. The water pump has the inlet on the wrong (driver's) side for 1965.

3. The air cleaner is too short.

4. The oil filter angle is incorrect.

5. The intake manifold is a later/aftermarket high-rise unit (The AMT has the correct low-rise manifold for a stock 4V or HiPo 289).

There are a couple of others, but I don't want to get too "rivet county" here. Some of these things won't matter to most builders and others are easily enough corrected. I'm going to be building my Comet as a "resto-rod" with some updated components anyway - more about that soon.

[RancheroSteve]

Now that the Mustang inner fender aprons/shock towers are cut to the right length, I'm removing the molded in upper a-arms. The Moebius Comet has separate upper arms, so I'll be "bolting" those the shock towers in a more prototypical fashion.

While work continues on the shock towers, I've decided on a power plant and closed in on the "theme" of this build. I'm going to be using the 5.0 small block with an AOD transmission from the Revell '32 five window kit, with the modern fuel injection and the finned valve covers. The oil pan comes from the Moebius kit, shortened a little to fit the Revell block. Here's a mock-up for fit:

The block and trans have been painted bronze/gold; the heads painted silver (to represent aluminum) and holes drilled for plug wires.The headers from the '32 kit don't look like they'll work in the Comet, so I started scrounging through my un-built parts kits and found that the shorty factory headers from the Monogram '94 Mustang looked like they'd work.

And who knew? The engine block and heads in the '32 Ford is the same casting as the Monogram '94 Mustang! Figures, I guess.

 

[RancheroSteve]

I've been spending way too much time getting the Mustang inner fender panels and shock towers to fit the Comet, but I'm almost there. A little more fine tuning and I'll be ready to drop these in:

Holes are for the upper a-arms. Top edges will get trimmed to match the Comet fenders.

[Phildaupho]

You are really going all out on this one. Doing the modifications has always been my favorite aspect of model car building also the most challenging, interesting and at times rewarding.

[chepp]

I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out. It's really nice to see a modeler doing lots of kitbashing on the chassis. It took me a while to find the photos. For those who haven't seen them, go here for the latest one, 968, then work through the others:

http://public.fotki.com/Roullier/model_cars-1/moebius-1965-comet/968-shock-towers.html

 

[RancheroSteve]

Thanks for following along. My model building has had to take a bit of a back seat to some real life stuff in the last couple of months, but I'm hoping to have a small update on this one soon.

[RancheroSteve]

Making a little progress - I've finalized the engine bay:

The shock tower brace is a combination of the Comet kit part and the Mustang, so my Comet uses Mustang upper shock mounts - a modification that actually works in the real world.

Was it all worth it? Who knows, but fun trying. On to the next steps - hopefully more straightforward from here on.

[afx]

Glad to see you haven't forgot this project Steve.

[RancheroSteve]

Got some paint on the interior parts: