AMT's 1971 Ford Thunderbird: WIP

[David G.]

20 hours ago, charlie8575 said:

Nice job on the Al-Clad.

Consider getting a dehydrator, they seem to help considerably with enamel dry-time.

Charlie Larkin

Thank you Charlie!

We actually have an old food dehydrator that I thought of appropriating and converting but I'm such a low-volume builder that I didn't feel it was worth the sacrifice of a good appliance. Additionally, I live in Phoenix and the warm dry climate is naturally conducive to drying paint. This works well with the lacquers and acrylics that I favor using.

In the past few years I've been working on phasing the enamels out of my inventory and usage and the Alclad black base coat was the last one. Now that I've found a good substitute, there's no need to go back.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, I do value all the input that I receive.

David G.

[David G.]

Detail painting complete!

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

David G.

[David G.]

 

Here is another update. 

This is what I occupied most my model building time this week.

While prepping the wheel covers for their final polish and detail I noticed that the original "chrome" coating on three out of four wheels had lumpy looking drips on them. Here they can be seen on the lower right part of the disc edge near the "spokes". So I guess I'll strip all four of them and refinish them like I did the grille and bumpers. 

 

 

Well here they are. It took me two different strippers, Super Clean for the chrome coating and oven cleaner underlying lacquer base. Luckily, all the flaws seemed to be in the base coat and all the wheels are smooth and pretty. Yes, there were five provided in the kit. There seems to be no good reason for it as there are only four stock tires. Also no provision for a spare, which wouldn't have a wheel cover anyway.

 

 

Here they are all re-chromed, detail painted and ready to install. I noticed that that strange saw-tooth looking distortion in the spokes is also resolved. I'm glad I took the time to do this.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment. 

David G.

Edited April 18, 2020 by David G.
typo

[David G.]

I'm very close to completion on this one. I just did some Molotow marker  touch-up to the door handles and I want to give it a day to cure before I do the final assembly.

In spite of the extra time it took, I'm really glad I made the effort to repaint the wheels.

Before

 

After

Well worth the extra time it took.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

David G.

[Dann Tier]

That rootbeer looks great on there!!!, and i LOVE how your shiny parts turned out!!!.....Tamiyas gloss black spray paint is what i use for a great base coat, but i use Spaz Stix Ultimate Mirror Chrome over it, since its waaay tougher than Alclad. These wheels were shot-up with Tamiya matte black...then gloss black(which they just call black), and then two light coats of The Spaz Stix.

[David G.]

Thanks Dann, I'm glad you like it.

Those wheels look great Dann!

I've been keeping an eye out for Spax Stix at my LHSs but so far no luck.

I like that it comes in a can. It sometimes feels like too much of a pain to fire up my airbrush for two bumpers and a handful of hubcaps. Having the chromie stuff in a can sure would increase the convenience factor.

Thanks

David G.

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by David G.

[David G.]

This one is completed and has been moved to the Under Glass section.

Thanks to all of you who offered your pointers, tips and support.

Regards,

David G.

[Dann Tier]

On 5/1/2020 at 8:30 AM, David G. said:

This one is completed and has been moved to the Under Glass section.

Thanks to all of you who offered your pointers, tips and support.

Regards,

David G.

LOVE this photo, Bud!!!!!

 

[Dann Tier]

On 4/24/2020 at 8:31 PM, David G. said:

Thanks Dann, I'm glad you like it.

Those wheels look great Dann!

I've been keeping an eye out for Spax Stix at my LHSs but so far no luck.

I like that it comes in a can. It sometimes feels like too much of a pain to fire up my airbrush for two bumpers and a handful of hubcaps. Having the chromie stuff in a can sure would increase the convenience factor.

Thanks

David G.

 

You can also mask over it WITHOUT affecting the finish!!!

[David G.]

On 5/4/2020 at 5:13 AM, Dann Tier said:

You can also mask over it WITHOUT affecting the finish!!!

Thanks again.

My LHS opens back up again today, I'll see if the owner is willing to order some for me. If not, I'll try Micro Mark.

David G. 

[rickcaps55]

On 1/27/2020 at 9:08 AM, Can-Con said:

It's not actually part of the bumper, it's just a sheetmetal pan.  

On the '70 cars they're painted body color but, yes, on the '71s they seem to be either plated or painted bright silver.

This is a '70.

Hi if you go to brochures or old car manual project you will find all the car brochures from the dealers the 70 T-Bird had the pan painted and in 71 the only big change Ford did to the car was the pan now was chrome and part of the bumper I am 68 I had an uncle that was a T-bird guy that's all he drove every 3 years he got a new one and I remember he got the 70 and when the 71's came out he was glad he got the 70 at the time the thin looking bumper was better looking to people because all the car companys were had gone to the big bumpers starting in 70 well most of them did in 73 when the gas crunch hit I get ride of my 69 Buick Wildcat for a 73 Pinto and that was the last year the pinto had the thin bumper in 74 the bumper was bigger then the car.!!!

[Can-Con]

1 hour ago, rickcaps55 said:

Hi if you go to brochures or old car manual project you will find all the car brochures from the dealers the 70 T-Bird had the pan painted and in 71 the only big change Ford did to the car was the pan now was chrome and part of the bumper I am 68 I had an uncle that was a T-bird guy that's all he drove every 3 years he got a new one and I remember he got the 70 and when the 71's came out he was glad he got the 70 at the time the thin looking bumper was better looking to people because all the car companys were had gone to the big bumpers starting in 70 well most of them did in 73 when the gas crunch hit I get ride of my 69 Buick Wildcat for a 73 Pinto and that was the last year the pinto had the thin bumper in 74 the bumper was bigger then the car.!!!

I guess you didn't read all the posts.  

Here's the last one I did again ,,,

"Well, all I know is when I do a Google image search for "1971 Ford Thunderbird" all the pics of them have the bright front pan 

and when I do a google image search for "1970 Ford Thunderbird" all the pics show then with a body color pan.

So, I'd say David is %100 correct with the bright pan on his build."

[yellowsportwagon]

On 1/27/2020 at 4:57 PM, DukeE said:

Big thread here about various builds. 

 

Steve pointed out the chrome, not I. 

David crushed it with the Protouring. 

The Landau is in the thread too, pics may be gone, but it's a 67-69 Roof transplant onto a 70-71. 

I really think the chrome was an option on the roll pan.

It started with the Neiman-Marcus edition 70's. 

Neiman Marcus offered Thunderbirds in 1970. The pair retailed for $25,000 and included gender-specific paraphernalia in each. For her: a sewing kit a telescoping fluorescent mirror and a complete tape center with French and Italian language lessons. For him: an electric razor, a dictating machine and locking safety box, along with Spanish and German language lessons. Each Thunderbird also came equipped with a mobile telephone system.

 

That grille is absolutely horrible. 

[rickcaps55]

21 hours ago, Can-Con said:

I guess you didn't read all the posts.  

Here's the last one I did again ,,,

"Well, all I know is when I do a Google image search for "1971 Ford Thunderbird" all the pics of them have the bright front pan 

and when I do a google image search for "1970 Ford Thunderbird" all the pics show then with a body color pan.

So, I'd say David is %100 correct with the bright pan on his build."

Sorry I did miss that .

[Can-Con]

6 hours ago, rickcaps55 said:

Sorry I did miss that .

No worries,  I miss stuff all the time. ?

[David G.]

Thanks again to everybody who offered their feedback during this build. I can always count on this community for helpful, supportive information.

David G.