1/18 scale Merkur XR8Na

[ibj40]

Not sure how many of you subscribe to Vintage Motorsport magazine, but it is an excellent read and a great source of information.  That was the source of a 1/18 scale custom BTC Chevy II I did about a year ago.

Anyway, the cover featured Salon car for the September/October issue was one of the Roush Racing Merkurs, incorrectly referred to as an XR4Ti (in which the "4" refers to the number of cylinders in the engine, the "T" stands for Turbocharged, and the "i" stands for fuel injected.



In reality, the cover car is one that Roush prepared as a "back up" that was prepared for the 1988 IMSA endurance season, for reliability.  The turbocharged four cylinder had a reputation of being a hand grenade when stressed, so a 355 cubic inch V8 with a Holley four barrel carburetor was installed in one of the chassis (hence, XR8Na - "Na" standing for Normally aspirated).

For all intents and purposes, and purists can surely debate the subtleties, a Roush chassis was a Roush chassis, whether used in Trans Am or IMSA, and whether badged as a Mustang, Capri, or Merkur.

With this in mind, and with hours of researching the VM article from the magazine stash in my "library" (if you know what I mean), I thought I might try to create a custom XR8Na.

The parts sources are out there.  I had a spare GMP IMSA Mustang on the shelf, along with a couple of AutoArt Ford Sierra bodies.





So, alone out here on 1/18 Scale Island (accompanied by Swede70 on occasion), I'm going to give it a shot.

Here are some initial comparison pictures of the two donor bodies.























What I will need to do, at least in my world, is graft the Merkur nose, tail, and roof/greenhouse onto the Mustang body, and merge features from the Merkur hood and rear deck lid into their Mustang counterparts.

I have previously, for one of my other fantasy customs, grafted a '69 Camaro Z28 hood scoop onto a '71 Mustang hood.



Will probably use a similar Dremel cutting tool-based technique on this one.

Stay Tuned!

[Zen]

Wow, pretty cool! Will be watching this one.