Tasca and Bob Ford Thunderbolts. Now a dual build

[gtx6970]

Having seen this actual car in person many many years ago. I knew someday I needed to build one in scale.   And that day has finally arrived. After doing a little research a couple years ago I found out that Tamiya makes the colors that gets me extremely close if not dead on to the 1/1 . TS11 for the maroon and TS21 for the gold .

Having built the  Gas Ronda and Hubert Platt cars in the past . So I'm somewhat familiar with the  kit itself. And IMO , its one of Revells best in 1/25th scale . Nothing special really, its just going to be a simple box stock build to fill a hole in my display case .

Painted it earlier this week, did all the decals a couple days ago. and while the house was all quite this morning, I cleared it.

All the emblems were covered in bare metal foil before any paint or primer went on , then wiped off with a Tamiya Q tip and lacquer thinner once painted , but prior to clear coats.

Interior tub is just Testors champagne gold . I masked off the door panels with bare metal foil and painted the white accents. ( still undecided if I want to attempt fate and do the darker upper portion of them or leave well enough alone and call it good ,,,my gut says stop now before I screw something up)  Tub was masked off so I could paint the floor in a satin black to look like the rubber mat in the 1/1 .

 

I'm a big boy so comments or criticisms more then welcome

 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by gtx6970

[Snake45]

Beautiful paint and finish! When I contemplate doing a job like that, it makes me want to take a nap.

Were the engines on these Ford Blue in 1964? For some reason I have it in my head that that color didn't come in till '66. But maybe that was just for the small blocks. (Then again, I had a friend who had a restored '65 T-bird and that engine was black with gold valve covers and air cleaner.)

[gtx6970]

Beautiful paint and finish! When I contemplate doing a job like that, it makes me want to take a nap.

Were the engines on these Ford Blue in 1964? For some reason I have it in my head that that color didn't come in till '66. But maybe that was just for the small blocks. (Then again, I had a friend who had a restored '65 T-bird and that engine was black with gold valve covers and air cleaner.)

Thanks, I want to think the actual car when I saw it the long block was blue,,,,but that was over 20 years ago now I guess. Not to mention I looked at  A LOT of vintage super stock cars that day. On top of the fact  my memory isn't what it used to be.

That trip  was a very last minute idea and forgot to pack my camera ( cell phones didn't exist in my world back then )  But now you got me thinking I may need to change the color .  Oh well best change it now if need be ,,,,,,back to Google images if I can find it .

 

Edit, the only under hood  pics I can find of this car are of  the 1/18th scale diecast. And its blue. 100% accurate or not. I " think "  I'll leave it as is . On a positive note I did find a nice article on the 1st Thunderbolt. The Dick Brannon / Romy Hammes car. And it has a black engine in it  .

Edited February 24, 2017 by gtx6970

[mr68gts]

It may not be correct (and Im a stickler for the details) but I think the FoMoCo blue sets it off nicely. And quite frankly there is no telling what was done to the car day to day or race to race. Could have had a replacement longblock as a back up engine. 

I would brave it though and paint the accent on the panels as you metioned. Imo I think it would complete it an already beautiful model.

Nice work!

Paul

[Reeves Racing]

Nice work. Very clean. I have the model too. I built it a few years back and it got damaged when we moved from Kansas to Kentucky. Broken windshield and the drivers seat came loose. I put door glass on it so I couldn't fix the seat without taking the body back off. I have a windshield coming from a parts trade here on MCM and will be restoring mine soon.

Sorry for the rant. I painted the engine in mine blue too. Here's mine after it was first built click here

 

 

[MAGIC MUFFLER]

Great job so far!!  I have worked on a few real T-Bolts and absolutely drool over these cars.  Sat in them and toodled along in them while running and they are truly awesome race cars. 

I'm watching this build as you got my attention!  And Reeves Racing .. that's an outstanding build as well..!!  Thanks for sharing that one too.

I'll post mine when I dig it out from storage.  All white and built as the #90 car that I used to work on and maintain.

[gtx6970]

One with it assembled dry to ck stance and overall how it looks. Out in the sun this color comes alive . Thank you Tamiya .

I cant decide if I like the black rear steel wheels or go with the Radar that match the front. Ive found pictures of it both ways

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by gtx6970

[gtx6970]

Great job so far!!  I have worked on a few real T-Bolts and absolutely drool over these cars.  Sat in them and toodled along in them while running and they are truly awesome race cars. 

You lucky dog , best I got is  I stood next to this very car with it at idle and man it sounds gooooooood . And just a few yards away the Hubert Platt Thunderbolt sat quietly waiting . I had some serious cars all around me that day.  The Dyno Don AFX Coment , near by the Sox and Martin pro stock Thunderbird was warming up for a few exhibition runs . Needless to say I was in serious drool mode.

I even got to meet Shirley Shahan the same day ,,super nice lady btw . The more I think about it , WOW that was a good trip.

Sadly that was the last time I saw Jake King before he passed some time later. Regrettably I didnt get his autograph with Ronne and Buddys signed my program ( which I still have btw )

[10thumbs]

Bill it's looking awesome.  Gotta love those Thunderbolts, there was one in my area too back in the day. 

Since you just mentioned above the names of Hubert Platt and Dyno Don's Comet, along with S&M's Match Race cars, I saw them all back then while they were on the Southern Circuit.  Dyno Don was always strong and as far as I can remember him and Sox were always a tossup in the best of 5 schedules, but always close.  I'm not really a Ford fan, but the cars were just tough, period, and very competitive.

I like the paint scheme and its high quality, good stuff.

[gtx6970]

While browsing my local auto parts store, I stumbled on some Duplicolor gold that I think passes pretty close for the color " I think "  the Bob Ford car was.  And per the can its a Ford color.

So I grabbed another body and hood out of the stash and quickly got to work.   Sanded all the mold lines off and washed it down. Primer on Friday morning, sanded it down with 600 , then taped off the roof and painted the gold yesterday morning, taped it back up and then the black this morning.  Dug out my Cady decal sheet this afternoon. And I have to say Ive never in my life had so  much trouble getting decals on a model car.  Seems like every one I pulled out of the water it came off the sheet in pieces. Or once it  hit the body it absolutely didn't want to move no matter how wet I had the area.  I was so frustrated I nearly stuffed it back in a box for some other day.  But with some serious effort on my part after nearly 3 hours of work .  I  managed to get everything on and lined up as best  I could .  I'll get the  chassis - power train assembled this evening then carry one with my 1st ever dual build. For now its just a dry fit to the Tasca Ford cars chassis/interior to see how it looks. This build will get the steel wheels only I'll try to the chrome pen thing on them and see how well they work . Otherwise  I'll let it dry overnight then clear it  tomorrow morning.

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by gtx6970

[dungeonracer]

I like what you're doing here!

As to your earlier question about black steel wheels or ones that match the front, I vote for the steel wheels. Just feel it looks more period correct (could be wrong though)

[vintagercr]

Looking good!

[maltsr]

Both cars look great, Bill.  Once you start, it's difficult to stop - I've built six versions of the Thunderbolt (so far).

[gtx6970]

Final wheel choice has been decided on the Tasca car. ( my wife made the final decision. As I just couldn't decided one wheel over the other)

 

Steel wheels on the Bob Ford car are the chrome pens , same goes the chrome around the door frames .  I'll stick with BMF for the FT/RR window trim and side moldings on both cars.

Decals on the Bob Ford car have fought me tooth and nail from the word go.

 

Ive got decals to do 5 more cars. The Conner Ford car, Al Means / Phil Bonner car, 2 versions of  a Butch Leal car, and the Reynolds Ford car. Problem is I'm not sure Ive got enough  kits on hand to do all 5

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by gtx6970

[62rebel]

You're not foiling and painting the side trim? Photos seem to predominately show T-bolts had the side trim intact, so I was wondering.

[afxmustang]

Here is a photo of the actual Bob Ford car. I believe the correct color is Champaine Gold.

[AC Norton]

Final wheel choice has been decided on the Tasca car. ( my wife made the final decision. As I just couldn't decided one wheel over the other)

 

Steel wheels on the Bob Ford car are the chrome pens , same goes the chrome around the door frames .  I'll stick with BMF for the FT/RR window trim and side moldings on both cars.

Decals on the Bob Ford car have fought me tooth and nail from the word go.

 

Ive got decals to do 5 more cars. The Conner Ford car, Al Means / Phil Bonner car, 2 versions of  a Butch Leal car, and the Reynolds Ford car. Problem is I'm not sure Ive got enough  kits on hand to do all 5

 

 

 

these look great, and are going to be very nice addition's to your collection. terrific work there. Bill.....the Ace....

[gtx6970]

You're not foiling and painting the side trim? Photos seem to predominately show T-bolts had the side trim intact, so I was wondering.

Yes, just haven't got to it yet.

[gtx6970]

Here is a photo of the actual Bob Ford car. I believe the correct color is Champaine Gold.

Thats the restored car ( notice the color of the name on the door ? )

 I try to use period photos for references as much as I can , as an example in all the pictures I have of this car none show it with the 5 spoke wheels  on the front like the restored car does  .

And In person the model isn't as gold as it appears ( at least not on my monitor )

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2017 by gtx6970

[62rebel]

I notice the restored car is missing the upper windshield corner trim piece, at least on the passenger side...  picture also shows the bit of forward quarter panel cut away to clear the slicks; something Revell missed when mastering the body. Still, it's one of their best kits and I won't speak ill  of it. 

[10thumbs]

Looking good Bill, I like 'em.

[gtx6970]

Thanks all. Got the bodies done with all the chrome work / Bare Metal Foil work  on both cars . Working on the interiors now,, getting colors  ( at least  in my eye )  right . Found a duplicolor paint called Arizona Beige that looks pretty close to the painted upper portion of the doors

(pics tomorrow maybe )

 

[gtx6970]

2 interiors are now done (due to all the similarities  I now have 4 different Thunderbolts in process) . Tub and Seats are Tamiya Champagne Gold, with testors flat clear over the lower doors and back seat of the tub and satin clear on the seats themselves. Tops of the doors and dash frame are sprayed with duplicolor Arizona beige to get me close to the 2 tone door frame I was after. Its not dead on,,,but close enough for me . It definitely has a little bit  more of a gold tint to it in person than my camera/monitor depicts here . 

I picked out some trim on the dash and the horn ring on the steering wheel with a 1mm chrome pen.

Body is essentially  done on the Tasca Ford car. Front and rear window trim , as well as the body side moldings are BMF.  But the door + 1/4 window  frames are done with a 1mm chrome pen

 

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by gtx6970

[gtx6970]

Only the body side moldings are done with BMF on the Bob Ford car. All the window trim ( front, rear and side ) is done with a chrome pen

 

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by gtx6970

[gtx6970]

Well, finished the Tasca Ford car last night after dinner. headed to under glass and in my case to join the others