68 Mustang 2+0 Short Wheelbase - DONE!

[Harpo]

My inspiration for this one is the 1963 Mustang III Concept Car, a rather drastically shortened 2-seater.  They hacked 18" from the wheelbase and 22.5" from the body, mine will be much less, about 12" overall.  

I'm starting with the Revell '68 Mustang GT 2n1 because I love those concave taillights (but sadly the kit doesn't represent them very well!).   

I've already started slicing but haven't edited the pics yet, so stay tuned for Part 2!

 

 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Harpo

[MrObsessive]

I'll be definitely following this one as this another of my dream projects!

Very interesting car, and I just learned of it a few months ago.

[Harpo]

I'm only removing about 12" overall, and since the doors on this car are the size of billboards this is the logical place to do it.  I started by finding the highest point of the roof:

12" at 1/25 scale is 12/25 = 0.48", so I moved forward half of this distance (0.24") and marked the spot:

Back under the dial indicator, this shows a drop of .005":

Since the goal is to have the roof cuts meet at an identical height, I then moved rear of center to the identical drop, 0.005":

This gave me a .406" section which amounts to 10.15" (.406 * 25), which is fairly close to my target of 12" 

I cut a length of masking tape to 0.406", and applied this in one long piece to both roof and doors, centered on the roof center mark.  This hit the doors in an opportune spot, avoiding the handles and most of the sculpting.  I then added 3M fine-line tape on each side, with just a tiny gap for easy visual alignment:

      

Removing the masking tape shows cut lines (inner edges of 3M tape) to be 10.825 scale inches apart, close enough for me! 

After rough cuts with the hot knife and some careful filing and sanding, we're left with two halves of a Mustang!

Now I just have to put it back together!

 

 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Harpo

[mustang1989]

I've been a big Mustang fanatic for decades and have never heard of this car. Very interesting. Will be watching your build.

[Rider]

Very interesting subject and a cool way to section it. I am intrigued how this will turn out, best of luck. 

[Harpo]

Carefully sanded to fit, joined with liquid cement:

Seams gently welded with hot knife, extra reinforcement styrene panels glued on sides:

Puttied and primed:

Now it's time to shorten the interior and chassis, working on ideas but I'll figure it out!

 

 

[retroguy]

great cutting work,looks like it came right out of the mold...

[jasoncamaro]

Nice clean and methodical work has really paid off looks awesome 

[Hoffman]

Interesting concept. I remember seeing the shortened earlier Mustang. The top looks similar to a '67 Charger. On your version, by shortening the are you did, the proportions remind me of a Ferrari GTO, at least from the A pillar back. If you lengthened the front of the body, behind the front wheel opening, it would look like the picture below. What do you think?

[Hoffman]

Of course, if the top were lowered slightly, and the door moved back, it would look even more like a GTO....

[Hoffman]

Or, so as not to offend, a Cobra Daytona Coupe?

[Rider]

3 hours ago, Hoffman said:

Of course, if the top were lowered slightly, and the door moved back, it would look even more like a GTO....

The last pic looks real cool.

[Ralph Henderson]

This is a great start to an interesting concept, and all of Hoffman's ideas also got me cooking up a little somethin'...  now where did I leave that AWB 66 Must.....

 

[cobraman]

Nice slice job.

[Harpo]

Great mods, Tim!  The long hood is a great look, but needs a flatter roof to go with it imo.

Got a bit more done today:

The easiest place to shorten the interior tub was right behind the seats:

The locating pins make getting it right rather easy.  Reinforced with styrene strips:

Chassis gets the same treatment, in a slightly different location:

Chassis cut, then trued up with a 3m sanding block:

Kit also has locating pins between tub and chassis, so this fit is also pretty simple, just a matter of careful sanding.  Here's tub and chassis in the body, fits good!

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Harpo

[alan barton]

I'm no Photoshop guy, but looking at the side views, maybe flattening out the top of the door window opening would add a bit of sleekness (is that a word?) to your design.

You clinical surgery on the section job is sensational - you have certainly raised the bar as far as that goes!

Cheers

Alan

[Sledsel]

8 minutes ago, alan barton said:

I'm no Photoshop guy, but looking at the side views, maybe flattening out the top of the door window opening would add a bit of sleekness (is that a word?) to your design.

You clinical surgery on the section job is sensational - you have certainly raised the bar as far as that goes!

Cheers

Alan

Calipers, dial indicator.... WOW... I eyeball and cut! LOL

I agree, the slice job is fantastic, but the roof looks like a bubble and would look better flattened a bit (IMO). Then again, I have questioned others that in the end just came together, so I will stay tuned.

[MrObsessive]

You're a braver man than I........cutting the body totally in two!  

Just the same, a very clean job and there's just a teeny suggestion I'd make-------I'd make the doors a bit longer, and lessen the distance between the trailing edge of the doors, and the leading edge of the rear wheelwells.

That's just me though as I like 'sports cars' like this to have the rear wheels as close to the doors as possible.

Think Corvette.  

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

You're a braver man than I........cutting the body totally in two!  

Just the same, a very clean job and there's just a teeny suggestion I'd make-------I'd make the doors a bit longer, and lessen the distance between the trailing edge of the doors, and the leading edge of the rear wheelwells.

That's just me though as I like 'sports cars' like this to have the rear wheels as close to the doors as possible.

Think Corvette.  

I think MrObsessive is on to something here. 

If it were mine at this point, I'd move the door line back to just ahead of the rear fender "hump." Then I'd lengthen the side windows a like amount, which I think would also be an improvement. This would mean losing the fake vents on the C-pillars, but that might be a good thing too. Maybe someone can do a photoshop of this so we can see if I'm crazy. 

Of course, it's YOUR model, not mine, and YOU are the only one who has to be satisfied with the result, so, drive on! 

[Harpo]

40 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I think MrObsessive is on to something here. 

If it were mine at this point, I'd move the door line back to just ahead of the rear fender "hump." Then I'd lengthen the side windows a like amount, which I think would also be an improvement. This would mean losing the fake vents on the C-pillars, but that might be a good thing too. Maybe someone can do a photoshop of this so we can see if I'm crazy. 

Of course, it's YOUR model, not mine, and YOU are the only one who has to be satisfied with the result, so, drive on! 

These are some great ideas, but major mods are something I've never done before. This build and the one prior (Pirhana LSR) are my first efforts in learning to "think it/build it".  I may yet change the roof line on this one, but my goal here is to learn and hopefully get a little better with each build.

 

[Ich_Will]

Looks great to me. A very ambitious undertaking. 

[vamach1]

6 hours ago, Ich_Will said:

Looks great to me. A very ambitious undertaking. 

That's for sure.  To achieve what others have suggested (which would look cool) it would probably mean cutting up two bodies or slicing the roof separate from the door.  Sometimes you just do not know what the outcome will look like until the sawing and gluing are done.  I'll be following.

[Harpo]

Top revisited...  On careful examination, it's a bit too "peaked".  Wanting to ease this without a major rework, here's what I did:

Knowing things might get a bit thin, a strip of styrene is glued over the seam on the inside:

Aggressive application of the sanding block (150 grit), followed by 320 and 400 gives a smoother profile:

The difference is subtle in profile, but perceptible:

Before:

After:

It's much more noticeable in reflected light, and this should give a big improvement when the final gloss is on:

Before:

After:

 

My dad owned a body shop when I was young and all our family cars were rebuilt from totals, so I'm no stranger to getting contours correct.  But doing body work on a car 1/25 the normal size is challenging, I think I need scale tools!  

Edited October 5, 2018 by Harpo

[Snake45]

That looks a lot better. 

[Harpo]

Making progress; shortened the interior panels, did some painting: