Double Survivor Resto/Rescue: Two AMT Annual '66 Mustang Fastbacks

[Snake45]

Bought both of these off eBay last month. Had planned to strip and rebuild at least one of them completely, but they grew on me as survivors.

The black one might have been built using B&W photos of the real Tasca Ford '65 Mustang A/FX for refererence (the real car was burgundy, but looks black in B&W pics). It was complete including engine and has the kit custom front pan and “Shelby” grille (the horse is running the wrong way). OB had drilled a couple odd holes in the hood for some reason, and had hogged out the rear wheel openings to the rear. He then drilled new wire axle holes in the chassis to rear of the original holes. Did he misunderstand the direction in which these cars' wheelbases were altered? 

 

It wouldn't have been a huge deal to graft in new wheel openings (or even repair them with sheet styene), but by this time the decals were growing on me so I decided to press on with preservation/restoration, and hope that the black paint and black slicks would serve to hide most of that.

The GT stripes on the rocker panels were in such bad shape they couldn't be saved, so I scraped them off with a thumbnail. The rest of the decals I zapped with two treatments of Solvaset, which laid them right down and eliminated about 90% of the “silvering.” Not perfect, but acceptable enough for a survivor restoration. Had to touch up the TASCA FORD decals with some light yellow paint.

Polished the black paint on the hood, upper fenders, top, and trunk with Wright's Silver Cream. Had to leave the sides alone due to the decals, of course. Painted the grille black and Silver-Sharpied the chrome body trim. Painted the mag wheel spokes with Model Master Steel. Both these Mustangs came with solid vinyl Firestone slicks—skinny ones on this one, wider ones on the green car. I swapped on the wider slicks from the green car.

The interior got a good cleaning with soap, water, and brush, and some minor touchup on the black/white borders, but otherwise I left it alone. Aside from drilling new holes as low as possible for the rear wire axles, I did nothing else to the chassis or engine.

Not perfect, but good enough to sit proudly on my “Survivors” shelf. Someday I will probably come up with a cool Thunderbolt teardrop hood for it—black should be easy to match. “Black is black.”

 

The green one, advertised as a “funny car” (the wire axles had been jury-mounted under the chassis), hit me very close to home. The AMT '66 Mustang fastback was one of my very first model cars back in the day (somewhere between the third and the sixth, near as I can remember), and I had brush-painted it with Pactra Leaf Green, which is exactly the same way this one appears to be painted. And I had cut out the roof vents, just as had been done on this one! It is definitely NOT my old one, as I repainted and rebuilt it around 1969 and still have it in that form (and it's due for a restoration soon), but this model looks so much like my original that it's absolutely eerie. (It also looked MUCH better than the pics on eBay had led me to believe, but more on that later.)

 

So I took it apart and cleaned it all up, and gave the hand-brushed Pactra Leaf Green a light polish, being careful to stay away from the sharp edges, which were already showing white plastic through. The next big job was to clean up (with very small files) the crudely hacked-out roof vent holes, and then I made Shelby-like windows from the curved side window pieces from the AMT '72 Nova. I cut and filed these VERY carefully to be a near-perfect press-fit into the body, and each one took me about an hour. I carefully press-fit them in place, and then hit the edges with liquid cement on a detailing paintbrush (from the inside). Disaster lurked at every step of this process, but it all came off with remarkable smoothness (for me, anyway).

I cleaned up the unpainted white interior but otherwise left it alone (for now). I removed the extended axle mounts on the chassis and rattlecanned the unpainted chassis flat black (and the part of the interior tub that would show through the rear wheel openings). The tires and wheels were replaced with slot wheels from the AMT '59 Corvette and genuine 1966-vintage vinyl Firestone Supremes from my growing stash of original '66 Mustang parts.

The body had been lightly customized with the kit custom front and rear pans (bumperless) and Thunderbird taillights. This doesn't bother me as these parts are kind of cool looking and add to the vintage survivor vibe. Of course I did the window trim and body chrome with my beloved Silver Sharpie, and detailed the Shelby-ish grille with black. The Pactra Leaf Green needed some touching up in places (most notably on the windshield A-pillars, which had been incorretly completely painted silver, like a convertible). I found that Krylon Short Cuts Hunter Green, decanted, was a darn good match for the Leaf Green—almost perfect.

The restored/rescued model looks better in person than it does in the photos (usually things work out the other way around for me). In the pics, the brushed Leaf Green paint looks a bit blotchy, with light, thin spots, and the touchup Hunter Green is more apparent. Viewing the model in normal indoor lighting, the color looks very uniform, and brush marks and other flaws are hard to spot, except of course for the white styrene ghosting on the sharp edges. (I'm hoping someday to find a way to touch those areas up that won't look even worse than they do now, which they would if I'd just tried to brush some paint on them.)

I like this one a lot; it makes me happy and takes me back to a younger, happier time. I hope to get my original, repainted one restored soon, and it'll be fun to display them together—a rare case of “have your cake and eat it too.” Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome! 

 

I tried a few outdoor pics (no flash) to see if that would reduce the blotchy look. Well, maybe a little, but it still looks better in real life.

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice work on both of them. The black one in particular has the look of a surviving real car from the '60s, an old racer from back in the day that's been stashed in a barn and forogtten about for a few decades then resurrected and sympathetically refurbished - which is just what you've done.....

[espo]

Two great looking saves. I agree with Spottedlaurel on the black paint, it really came back nice. The two holes in the hood may be from when the optional intake on this kit had a staggered 2 - 4 set up. 

[Snake45]

18 hours ago, espo said:

Two great looking saves. I agree with Spottedlaurel on the black paint, it really came back nice. The two holes in the hood may be from when the optional intake on this kit had a staggered 2 - 4 set up. 

Thanks! I checked and neither the '65 or '66 fastback kits came with the staggered 2x4 setup, although the HT/convertible kit did. But the carbs on that are much closer together, and staggered the other way. 

The model came with the kit's optional Weber setup, which would be just about right for B/FX. 

[Gramps46]

Well done on both of the rescues.  Appreciate your narrative too.

[espo]

6 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Thanks! I checked and neither the '65 or '66 fastback kits came with the staggered 2x4 setup, although the HT/convertible kit did. But the carbs on that are much closer together, and staggered the other way. 

The model came with the kit's optional Weber setup, which would be just about right for B/FX. 

I wasn't sure 100 % what Mustang kit had the offset duel fours. The original builder might have thought about doing something like that and then changed their minds and all ready had the holes in the hood. The Weber's are a far more unique setup anyway. 

[stavanzer]

Snake, what a great story, and such great efforts to save two genuine survivors. I always appreciate reading your build threads on survivor cars. You share your reasoning and motivations with us. That is, in many ways, the primary reason we build models. To Capture (or attempt to re-capture) a feeling we had for a kit, or a feeling we want from a new kit.

Ultimately, Model Building is an Emotion Driven Hobby.  How we Feel when we are building, or when we complete a kit, is the payoff for the time, money and effort invested in each build.

Your work is ALWAYS, fascinating, and is a Must Read, anytime you post these type of builds.

Thank You for sharing these with us.

[Dragonhawk1066]

Great job x2 Snake! You've got a real knack for bringing these old builds/promos back to life. One day I hope to do a tribute build to my very first glue kit, but only better, lol.

[Snake45]

On 6/15/2020 at 2:11 PM, Spottedlaurel said:

Nice work on both of them. The black one in particular has the look of a surviving real car from the '60s, an old racer from back in the day that's been stashed in a barn and forogtten about for a few decades then resurrected and sympathetically refurbished - which is just what you've done.....

Thanks so much! Yeah, that IS kinda what I've done with it, isn't it? 

[David G.]

Good call on both of them. Rescue doesn't always mean revision.

Nicely done!

David G.

[PappyD340]

Nicely done!

[Snake45]

On 6/16/2020 at 10:44 AM, Gramps46 said:

Well done on both of the rescues.  Appreciate your narrative too.

 

On 6/16/2020 at 5:13 PM, alexis said:

Snake, what a great story, and such great efforts to save two genuine survivors. I always appreciate reading your build threads on survivor cars. You share your reasoning and motivations with us. That is, in many ways, the primary reason we build models. To Capture (or attempt to re-capture) a feeling we had for a kit, or a feeling we want from a new kit.

Ultimately, Model Building is an Emotion Driven Hobby.  How we Feel when we are building, or when we complete a kit, is the payoff for the time, money and effort invested in each build.

Your work is ALWAYS, fascinating, and is a Must Read, anytime you post these type of builds.

Thank You for sharing these with us.

 

Thanks so much to both of you! I always wonder if anyone is reading my stuff, or just glance at the pics and move on....

Alexis, you are so right. How many of us even realize that a large part of why we do this is to recapture our youth/happier times? 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Snake45

[Scott8950]

Snake you have some very cool stuff! I like how these cars appear as survivor drag cars.

[Khils]

20 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

  I always wonder if anyone is reading my stuff,

I always read your stuff!    But a question has risen......     Has all the wonderful comments pertaining to " the Lovely Mrs Snake" actually gotten you any benefit. ....or just  keeping you from being in the doghouse?  ?   Keep on resurrecting them oldies my friend!!

[Snake45]

On 6/16/2020 at 7:37 PM, Dragonhawk1066 said:

Great job x2 Snake! You've got a real knack for bringing these old builds/promos back to life. One day I hope to do a tribute build to my very first glue kit, but only better, lol.

Thanks! Great idea, do it! 

On 6/17/2020 at 9:30 AM, David G. said:

Good call on both of them. Rescue doesn't always mean revision.

Nicely done!

David G.

Thanks! I'm not above tweaking things to make them a little better in these rescues. 

On 6/17/2020 at 11:09 AM, PappyD340 said:

Nicely done!

Thanks! 

[slusher]

Snake, you have a really.nice touch. They look great!

[Deuces ll]

??

[Snake45]

On 6/17/2020 at 8:45 PM, Khils said:

I always read your stuff!    But a question has risen......     Has all the wonderful comments pertaining to " the Lovely Mrs Snake" actually gotten you any benefit. ....or just  keeping you from being in the doghouse?  ?   Keep on resurrecting them oldies my friend!!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not even sure TLMS knows I refer to her that way online. She'd probably like it. BTW, I didn't make it up, but can't remember who I stole it from--possibly G. Gordon Liddy back in the '90s. 

On 6/19/2020 at 10:15 PM, slusher said:

Snake, you have a really.nice touch. They look great!

Thanks so much! 

On 6/20/2020 at 4:49 AM, Deuces ll said:

??

[Tom Geiger]

On 6/17/2020 at 8:45 PM, Khils said:

I always read your stuff!    But a question has risen......     Has all the wonderful comments pertaining to " the Lovely Mrs Snake" actually gotten you any benefit. ....or just  keeping you from being in the doghouse?  ?   Keep on resurrecting them oldies my friend!!

It sure beats calling her The Snake Lady

[Snake45]

7 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

It sure beats calling her The Snake Lady

Thanks for your kind...wait. What? 

Never mind. 

[Bills72sj]

I too always try to check out what you are up to. If I start running out of space for builds I would like to maybe donate them to you to see what you do with them.

[Faust]

That's some good work, man!

I love that these old things, so long forgotten, get to see the light of day again. 

I have no history with those particular kits, but I always have a soft spot for "toys" that get neglected, and then get a chance to shine again. 

Clearly, when you get them, shine they do! 

See, for me, modelling is often about making the old things shine by building them with my newest skills. I love to build the dogs no one else will build, just to show it can be done. What you do is the other side of that coin, and show that even something old, built old, is worth saving and displaying. 

You're a keeper of a styrene time machine, my friend!

Keep it up, man! Someone's got to keep the past alive!

 

[Pete L.]

Super saves, both of them...I'm on kind of a Mustang kick myself right now, I hope to get underway soon.

 

[ATHU]

They both look great, excellent work!!

[RAMBENNA]

nice saves , they look great