Holly Shi...eetas, I'm building a Mustang!!!

[mrm]

Since I have already mentioned the motor, may as well share a photo of what I just finished messing with. Detailing an American V8 can be challenging, but his motore Italiano stepped it up for me. 

This is what is going to power my "Storm Trooper Mustang".

 

There is quite a bit more to be done and this is just a quick mockup, but you get the idea.

 

Edited July 11, 2024 by mrm

[slusher]

Excellent work!

[mrm]

Update!

This weekend was kinda hectic, but I managed to pretty much build my whole interior. Save for some little details and touch ups it's pretty much finished. 

First, the biggest assembly - the door cards and package shelf, was all painted flat black. Well, actually it was painted SEM black, straight from the can. No primer or anything, as my experience is that SEM does not play nice with others. 

  The newly created door inserts were covered with some very old 1/12 scale carbon fiber from Scale Motorsport. The pattern is way too large for the model and it is way too grey and over all not very good like their current offerings. I wanted to use it not as a carbon detail, but more as an upholstery pattern. I want this car to stay in the storm trooper theme character, without actually having any gimmicky Star Wars details on it, so this decals did the job perfect. The package tray also received some black flocking and now it is almost identical as the ones in various GT Ferraris, which is the other theme the car needs to follow in a subtle way. 

I love how everything was modified and sculpted, but looks totally stock.

 

I printed some high tech, billet looking floor mounted pedals and a steering wheel that in my eye keeps the perfect balance between classic and modern with a touch of racing by way of an on-center strip at the top of the rim.

 

The new floor looks pretty much unchanged, but it is very much modified, as it needed to be a totally new shape in order the accept the center tunnel from the Ferrari California, where the exhaust goes to the rear. The new pedal set was painted gloss black to imitate black anodized aluminum and the pedals surfaces received carbon, which is invisible in the pictures, let alone once in the footwell. The floor was flocked.

 

I 3D printed a pair of nice seats and they were detailed by painting them Tamiya Rubber black with their centers painted with a custom very dark metallic grey, which was covered by clear flat for an almost black effect. The back panels were covered by 1/24 carbon fiber. Then the seat belt recepticles were painted gloss black and their buttons picked out in red. 

 

I am an avid supporter of the three pedal cars, no matter how exotic. Nothing like having the connection with the car like a good perfectly timed shift. A shifter was something missing from my Frankenstein of a dash. So for the purpose I cut the shifter portion from an old Testarossa center console I had in my parts box.

 

The dash was painted SEM black to match the doors and the panels on each side of the center console housing the Lamborghini Aventadoor controls, were covered in the same old cf decals as the door inserts. The orientation matches, so now door panels flow into the dash. The center console sides are all covered with 1/24 carbon but you can't really tell. The two main instruments in the dash received Ferrari Enzo Rev and speedo dials as a nod to Star Wars tie fighters (they have two red dots under their windshields, where they shoot from) and Ferrari at the same time. All the old grey carbon was covered with flat clear to give a different texture. The shifter plate was sanded down, but still left to stick out, just like the boxes in vintage racing Ferraris. Some buttons on the dash were painted in simple red, blue, yellow and white in character with the cumbersome buttons seen in Star Wars scenes in the original films. 

 

Checking how everything fits together one last time...

 

Everything checks out, so the steering was painted already glued to the steering column in Rubber black and then color detailed with aluminum metalizer and a white center stripe to match the body.

 

The previous pictures showed some areas on the seats that needed to be touched up and also some other little details I didn't like on the dash and doors. Those were touched up, the angles on the seats adjusted and then everything got glued together. 

 

The only thing left now is the shifter, seatbelts and the sun visors, rear view mirror and interior light and the interior is complete. 

Now off to the chassis and body we go...

Stay tuned and thanks for looking. 

[mrm]

And the tedious process of making templates from masking tape, transferring them into carbon fiber decals and then applying them to different parts of the body and aero has begun. And there is a lot of it. 

I will post updates after all the carbon is applied. If I don't go jump off a cliff by then, because applying complex carbon decals sometimes makes such thoughts cross my mind. 

[mrm]

So, I did not take any pictures, but I am super excited that I was finally able to put clear coat on my Trooper Mustang. It is currently drying, but once I take pictures you will understand why it took so long and why am I excited to be done with that part. Two full sheets of carbon fiber decals was no joke...

[mrm]

On the final stretch.....

first the body was painted Tamiya Pure White. The idea was to stay true to a Star Wars Storm Trooper theme. Which meant to make the car white with black trim and details. Except that most black on the car became carbon fiber. in the beginning it was to be just the hood, the bumpers and the the upper wing, with the rest of the aero in a mix of gloss and matt black. But as it often happens with projects like this, things changed dramatically. The vents on the front fenders were originally going to be flat black to mimic the vents on each side of a trooper helmet. Except I did not like how it looked, so I figured out they would end up in gloss black.  The face did not look quite right with the front bumper in black, as it it made the entire front look like black hole. So I had to paint it back white again to brake things up.

 

The wing was supposed to have only its upper part in carbon with the lower plane gloss black. But once I started laying decals, I decided why not go all the way. At least I left the posts plain black.

 

Everything was covered in a couple, or three...OK maybe four coats of clear. 

 

Including the wheels, but only after the barrels were covered in carbon and the centers painted white. The centers have a really complicated double layer of spokes, which would be next to impossible to mould, but the 3D printers take care of that. Painting them presented its own challenges. This was the very first time I have ever wrapped wheel barrels in carbon fiber and let me tell you: it was the most frustrating experience I've had in a looooong time. I tried to to do it in a one piece decal (which I did) and looking back now, it was not the best route to take. The wheels are not perfect, but I'm more than happy with them, as they were basically guinea pigs. 

The rear diffuser was supposed to be flat black with the rear side pieces and side skirts in gloss black. But looking at the whole bottom, I thought it needed to have some contrast, so it ended in carbon and gloss. I am still contemplating making it flat carbon, but have not decided yet. Any opinions or suggestions are welcome. 

 

I have no idea what made me do the side skirts in carbon, which necessitated the rears to be carbon too.

 

The hood was supposed to be carbon from the very get go. I decided to make it in a V pattern, which to some degree I regret now. I should have done it all uniform, like everything else on the car. After all storm troopers purpose is war, not to be pretty. ? The little detail around the opening, where you see black not covered by decal will be painted either flat black or flat gunmetal to mimic the vents on a storm trooper helmet.

 

I believe the white bumper does a great job braking up all the black and brings balance to that mean face. Everything is gloss now, but the grille area under the hood will go flat eventually. It looks very "Camaro" right now, but I promise I will fix that. ?

 

This upper portion of the rear wing was also supposed to be carbon from the get go as a continuation of the hood. i had the idea to put a red stripe in the middle of the hood and the wing, which then was changed to black for the sake of keeping the trooper character and eventually completely eliminated. 

 

Once everything was mocked up, I decided that it will look best all in carbon, so I soldiered on, despite my eyes and back's protests. 

 

Since this space ship naturally runs on star dust and empire farts, it did not need the protruding gas cap on the rear, so just a simple decorative carbon detail was added for balance. But then it looked too plain and since there are 500 prancing horses under the hood, I figured out I'll insert one more in here as wink to the power plant. 

 

At this point almost everything black on the car was covered in carbon, so I thought "what the hell" and covered the fender vents too. 

 

Now comes my "favorite part" (NOT) of any build - sanding, rubbing out and polishing until I don't feel my finger tips. But at least I know I am close to the finish line now.

 

I still have one more surprise up my sleeve, so stay tuned and thanks for watching...

[stitchdup]

I'm loving watching this come together and how your keeping the theme subtle.

[SpikeSchumacher]

This is coming along nicely!

[mrm]

On 8/7/2024 at 2:48 AM, stitchdup said:

I'm loving watching this come together and how your keeping the theme subtle.

 

On 8/7/2024 at 8:03 AM, SpikeSchumacher said:

This is coming along nicely!

Thank you guys. I have not done anything new with it yet, but I plan to have the chassis with the engine and radiator done this weekend and for it to be sitting on its wheels. once the body is buffed out it will be down to just little details and final assembly. 

[mrm]

OK. So, in case anyone iwas wondering what happened to this project, it's well and alive. But fighting me really hard.

I started sanding it with 3000 grit to get it ready for buffing. And then a tiny black dot appeared on the roof. I thought it was just in the clear, so long story short, I end up sanding through the clear. Not a big deal, why not feather some white and re-clear. Well, the white. altho airbrushed extremely light and at low pressure, end up picking the the edges of the clear and it became a bigger mess. I waited for it to cure (this is Tamiya white) and very gently sanded everything smooth with 2000 grit. It took forever, but it looked smooth. Then I sprayed another coat of white, again super thin and - you guessed it - trouble. On the third tey, or was it the fourth, I managed to get it smooth and good for clear. But by now I had thinned the edge of the roof right behind the driver's window, that now that side lifted. At this stage I would normally just get a new body and paint it fresh, simply because the time, effort and material is worth a lot more than the price of a new kit. But in this case I have the white body done, plus a ton of work on some custom panels with lots and lots of carbon fiber decal hours invested. So I have no choice, but to continue struggling with repairing the stupid paint on the roof. 

[ybsluos]

Michael this build is amazing!  Very well thought out engineered. It’s coming together nicely. Can’t wait to see it done. Way to go brother! – Mark.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Looks awesome! 

[mrm]

21 hours ago, ybsluos said:

Michael this build is amazing!  Very well thought out engineered. It’s coming together nicely. Can’t wait to see it done. Way to go brother! – Mark.

Thank you Mark. I wanted to make something cool. This project actually played a huge role in me getting a 3D printer.

7 hours ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Looks awesome! 

Thank you Will.

[mrm]

I actually found a little time to mess around when I was repairing the damage on THE TROOPER Mustang. Since I was painting white and clear coating, I figured why not make a real storm trooper to go with the car of the same theme. Can you hear the bass line of the Empire?!

Edited October 16, 2024 by mrm

[Csaba aka felhasznaaloo]

Super trooper ?

[mrm]

On 10/17/2024 at 12:09 PM, Csaba aka felhasznaaloo said:

Super trooper ?

Yup. And this trooper is putting up a fight. Everything on this build is fighting me. 

[mrm]

These are the last of the WIP pictures I have on the TROOPER, as I pushed to have it done for the show yesterday and didn't bother to take photos as I was pressed for time. 

If you ever wonder what makes the most realistic Ferrari shifter and knob in 1:24/5 scale, all you need is to make a trip to the nearest Michael's or Hobby Lobby. 

 

The brakes got painted to represent carbon ceramics. For some reason there is gold reflection on the rotors and they are most definitely only black and grey, except for the hats which are indeed gold. 

 

I wanted to carry the Star Wars theme throughout the car, so I wanted to use these modern LED lights, which were painted to look very much like Tie-fighters from the movie. Also some photoetched octagonal mesh from MCG was cut to size and painted black. Actually there are two of them for the lower and upper grilles, which I had cut open, but only one is on the picture. 

 

Modern lights like that need nice clean domed lenses. I scratched my head a little with that, but then I was at Walmart and saw a bag of assorted goggly eyes. I used the smallest ones and cut out their backing and then cut them to size. 

 

That's one mean face now, very reminiscent to  storm trooper. 

 

That's it with the WIP on the TROOPER. If you attended the ACME show this weekend perhaps you've seen the completed model. For everyone else, it's coming to the "Under Glass" section pretty soon. 

[Mattilacken]

Beautifull build there! The lens solution was great!! Can’t wait for some finished pics!!

edit: 

went through the whole thread and you made nice work on this one for sure! The Ferrari engine looks good in there with al your mods! And al the Ferrari references is quite fun when you think about ford wanting to buy Ferrari in the ‘60s! 
super work on your carbon decals! 

Edited October 28, 2024 by Mattilacken

[mrm]

On 10/28/2024 at 4:19 PM, Mattilacken said:

Beautifull build there! The lens solution was great!! Can’t wait for some finished pics!!

edit: 

went through the whole thread and you made nice work on this one for sure! The Ferrari engine looks good in there with al your mods! And al the Ferrari references is quite fun when you think about ford wanting to buy Ferrari in the ‘60s! 
super work on your carbon decals! 

Thank you. I had a blast building it. Unfortunately a lot of people actually frown upon the Ferrari engine in it. Like they find it borderline offensive. LOL. I don’t get it, but I don’t have to either. It took a lot of work and it makes me happy. 

[Steve H]

VERY cool Mustang Mozzi. The stormtrooper theme really works well. Love all the details, and personal touches you added. This thing has some serious attitude!! I am about to start some cf decals on my current build. Seeing how much you did, gives me the courage to forge ahead, and not whine about how tedious it is. Decals aren’t my thing… 

[Mattilacken]

If the purist/ mustang people have a lot against it, something must be right! Haha ?

[stitchdup]

thats an awesome build,