Revell '68 Mustang GT 2'n1 Problems

[Photo-mack]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and new to model car building after having built about 15 flying model rockets. I'm finishing a Revell '68 Mustang GT 2'n1 and want to see if anyone else has experienced two problems. 1) The hood scrapes against the rear engine compartment cowling, which grinds through the paint. I should have noticed this earlier and fixed it by sanding the hood or the cowling, but since I'm so far along in the build, the only option seems to be to sand the hood mounting posts and the mounting post supports within the body. This is a less than perfect solution, but it allows for enough play to wiggle the hood open without marring the paint. 2) Final assembly of the body, interior assembly, and chassis assembly seems ridiculously difficult. The interior assembly mounts into the body, and then the chassis assembly clips into the front of the body and swivels into the body, but the engine (attached to the chassis assembly) scrapes against the engine compartment (part of the interior assembly), and the 4 mounting posts on the chassis assembly don't quite line up with the corresponding mounting inserts on the interior assembly. I've spent over 8 hours on the final assembly and ended up  dislodging the front end twice, chipping paint on the wheel wells, seriously soiling the windows, and disturbing the bare metal foil trim. Has anyone else experienced these issues, and, if so, how did you overcome them?

[vamach1]

Marcos Cruz might have some tips as he built a really nice Bullitt from the Revell kit.  I'm guessing he did a lot of test fitting so there would not be a lot of surprises at final assembly.  I do not remember any particular issues with either the 67 or the diecast based 68 but sometimes it is best to install the engine last if possible.  If you have a second kit I'd glue the body parts together and check the fit and decide what the best mods would be before you put on layers of paint.  I have not built the 68 plastic kit (only the diecast version) so perhaps the conversion to plastic did not work as well as Revell and hoped.

Edited November 8, 2018 by vamach1

[Chuck Kourouklis]

I have things to say about this kit, but they're extremely unkind; what it is about Revell and certain vintage Mustangs I can't fathom, but it'll start a stream of invective from me that'll actually justify a few torches and pitchforks around here and won't help you any, Brian. 

This might: there was a run of these kits that had the wrong interior tub, and as a result, included useless locating channels for the hood hinges that ALSO interfered with positioning the interior correctly between body and chassis.  Trust me, when the standard-pattern '68 Mustang interior is supplied instead of the deluxe interior from the considerably better Revell '67 GT500, the hood works as it should.  Is it possible you have this mixup?

As I recall, I think it was also considerably less of a headache to join the interior to the chassis first and finesse the hood as you brought the whole works inside the body (or at least, leave the interior loose as you put the three together).  That was the sequence for the American Dreams '68 diecast, if I remember it right.

 

 

[Casey]

8 hours ago, Chuck Kourouklis said:

I have things to say about this kit, but they're extremely unkind; what it is about Revell and certain vintage Mustangs I can't fathom, but it'll start a stream of invective from me that'll actually justify a few torches and pitchforks around here and won't help you any, Brian. 

This might: there was a run of these kits that had the wrong interior tub, and as a result, included useless locating channels for the hood hinges that ALSO interfered with positioning the interior correctly between body and chassis.  Trust me, when the standard-pattern '68 Mustang interior is supplied instead of the deluxe interior from the considerably better Revell '67 GT500, the hood works as it should.  Is it possible you have this mixup?

Here's the topic Chuck mentioned, though I'm not sure if it helps with the hood issue Brian mentioned having:

 

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Yeah, probably not. 

Brian, if you have the '67 interior and no other recourse, your best bet is to carve off any of the hinge positioning channels molded to the forward portion of each interior side panel (the Shelby hood hinges followed a different geometric arc than the '68 hood).  Think that was how I solved both the hood positioning and the interior fit in the end for the review model I did years back.

Had to restrain a little venom for that particular article.

[vamach1]

Thanks for the reminder.  I ordered the replacement parts years ago but have not tackled this kit yet.

[unclescott58]

I'm still please with the one I built a couple months ago. I had no major problems building mine. It turned out pretty nice. 

[Dave G.]

Not sure on the 68 GT but on the 69 Cobrajet you get all the chassis and engine in the body, then mount the front grill/headlight surround piece. And taillight piece as well is glued in after.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

On 11/9/2018 at 4:59 PM, vamach1 said:

Thanks for the reminder.  I ordered the replacement parts years ago but have not tackled this kit yet.

Yup, if you've got the right interior, it should go together without much trouble.