7 Eleven IMSA Mustang GTP

[Rich Chernosky]

Been staring at this kit some 40+yrs. The chassis had the rear body lower half attached so I re-engineered it so I could fill in the seam. Other modifications were the steering wheels (see pic) and other details. Color is Tamiya TS26 white. Red is a combination of Mr Color Character red and clear orange. Blue is a combination of three different Mr Color blues. The red and the blue had to match the decals. The blue and red graphics had to be painted on  because I didn't trust the ancient decals, especially over the hood louvers.  Kit went together surprisingly well and the rest of the decals were OK.   Thanks for looking and comments welcome.

I cut the molded in rack (the white piece) away from the chassis and made a new one from styrene tube and hex rod.  Spindles were reworked to accept .020 Piano wire, Tie rod is  .o25 brass rod with the ends flattened and drilled.  The boots are wire insulation that also allows to adjust the toe. Radiator covers this up.

Finished car is low and sleek. Windshield did not fit across  the bottom so a wide piece of black tape fills the gap. 

Most GTP cars were rear engined  but this one the engine is in the miiddle for even weight distribution and better ground effects at the rear.  Rear end was quite detailed and is visible through the back window. 

A lot of masking and waiting for paint to dry went into this.  all the vents were opened  including the louvres in the fenders (which took  a day and a half BTW)  Wheel inserts were filled in with india ink and then the tops exposed with a q-tip.. A coat of clear yellow turned the spokes gold. 

The four cylinder turbocharged Ford engine only had a few parts but was well detailed.  A little creative painting made it stand out. 

 

[bbowser]

That's a beauty!  Paint work really paid off.  I love that you made the wheels steerable.

[1959scudetto]

Cool racer, Rich ! Unusual with its  front mid-engine configuration - I can't remember ever seeing one of these built ! (I had the Ford Motorsports version of this but sold it in the 90's.)

[vamach1]

Very nice work on this kit you do not see built very often.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Really Nice Job! You put a lot of good effort into this build. Like your paint and detailing. Thought this was a cool body design. Thanks for posting.

[Dave Van]

Nice wok!! I built both of those in 2019 while I was restricted to home. Nice kit too....

[Scott Colmer]

You did a great job with this, Rich. One of my favorite race cars. Very innovative. Thanks for posting it!

 

I just watched a youtube video on the Motorsports version. 

[Dave B]

Great build Rich, had one of these but I seem to have misplaced it!!

Dave B

[Pierre Rivard]

Must have been a challenging mask & paint job and you pulled it off beautifully.

Another winner from the Chernosky factory!

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[Gramps46]

Thanks for posting this build as others have noted seldom seen and yours is a beauty.  Front suspension is a gem.

[Rich Chernosky]

23 hours ago, bbowser said:

That's a beauty!  Paint work really paid off.  I love that you made the wheels steerable.

Thanks Bruce...believe it or not this was actually a little easier than some I have done

 

23 hours ago, 1959scudetto said:

Cool racer, Rich ! Unusual with its  front mid-engine configuration - I can't remember ever seeing one of these built ! (I had the Ford Motorsports version of this but sold it in the 90's.)

Thank you Helmut this kit has long been discontinued and never re-issued.  There are still plenty of them out there though. 

 

22 hours ago, vamach1 said:

Very nice work on this kit you do not see built very often.

Thank you Rex, always appreciate your input. 

 

22 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Really Nice Job! You put a lot of good effort into this build. Like your paint and detailing. Thought this was a cool body design. Thanks for posting.

You are welcome and thanks for the kind words

 

20 hours ago, Dave Van said:

Nice wok!! I built both of those in 2019 while I was restricted to home. Nice kit too....

Thanks Dave....lets hope a scenario like Covid never happens again. 

 

18 hours ago, Scott Colmer said:

You did a great job with this, Rich. One of my favorite race cars. Very innovative. Thanks for posting it!

 

I just watched a youtube video on the Motorsports version. 

Thank you Scott.

 

16 hours ago, Dave B said:

Great build Rich, had one of these but I seem to have misplaced it!!

Dave B

Thanks Dave...maybe yours will turn up. 

 

8 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Must have been a challenging mask & paint job and you pulled it off beautifully.

Another winner from the Chernosky factory!

Pierre...I always find it interesting that you spend 3-4 hours masking it carefully and it only takes 15 minutes to spray. Your factory puts out some nice stuff too and thanks. 

 

7 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Very nice!

Thanks

 

5 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Thanks for posting this build as others have noted seldom seen and yours is a beauty.  Front suspension is a gem.

As always Gary, your compliments and input are greatly appreciated. 

 

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[Phirewriter]

Very nice! The few GTP Mustangs I've seen built over the years have been the Motorcraft versions, nice to the 7-11 one. 

I think Monogram's IMSA and GTP Mustangs and Revell's GTO Mustangs are highly underrated kits. 

[dragstk]

Ive had the same kit for years and years. Every once and a while I pull it out and say I should start it. Seeing how nice your came out, Im going to revisit it.

Nice build, thanks for the motivation

[Rich Chernosky]

13 hours ago, PappyD340 said:

Very nice!

Thank you Larry

 

10 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

Very nice! The few GTP Mustangs I've seen built over the years have been the Motorcraft versions, nice to the 7-11 one. 

I think Monogram's IMSA and GTP Mustangs and Revell's GTO Mustangs are highly underrated kits. 

Michael...I have all those kits built and this one was the last of them.  I  wholeheartedly agree with you  and thanks

 

9 hours ago, dragstk said:

Ive had the same kit for years and years. Every once and a while I pull it out and say I should start it. Seeing how nice your came out, Im going to revisit it.

Nice build, thanks for the motivation

Jeff..the purpose of this forum is to share and occassionally  provide motivatin to others.  So that was heat warming to hear.  Justfor your info....I keep all the instructions to my kits. Those include a lot of build notes written on them.  Available to you if you want.  Of primary importance to me was filling in the seam on the back half of the body. This required re-engineering the chassis.  This area is covered in decals so if you want to opt out of doing it it would be acceptable.  I did this a long time ago but for some reason stopped and it held me up on this build.  Your choice and I can show yoi how it was done. Good luck on yours. 

 

[dragstk]

Thank you for the offer. Let me dig in to mine more and see where Im at with it. But I will keep your offer in mind. Thanks again

[atomicholiday]

Great build!  I have one of the other versions around here somewhere.

[slusher]

Great build!