1967 Mustang GTA Convertible

[Duddly01]

While I am waiting for some supplies to finish my 1941 Ford Woody build I figured I would go ahead and get a start on my next project, a conversion of the AMT 1967 Mustang Fastback to a 1967 Mustang GTA convertible. This will of course get the full LED lighting treatment.
The AMT 1967 Mustang Fastback is a great kit and I have used it several times as a donor for other Mustang builds. Both of my 1966 Mustang builds, the 1966 GT Fastback and coupe are both probably 80% AMT 1967 kits. Oddly I only built one as a 1967 Mustang Fastback, and put a 6 cylinder in it to replicate my mothers car. With that said there are two pet peeves with the kit, one being the front suspension need some modification or it sits too high in the front and the other I will discuss below.

This build is requiring quite a bit of scratch building and modification to convert a Fastback into a convertible.

the body was actually a left over from one of my 1966 Kit bash projects. I cut the engine compartment out but I did that for the 1967 Fastback build as well. Made it easier to paint and assemble. Dremel cut off the roof and rough trimmed.

the other pet peeve with the original 1967 Fastback kit iS the ridiculously tiny headlights. I cast headlight buckets for my LEDs and drilled out the headlight openings and removed the grill that will be replaced with photo-etch.

top boot is a casting from an original AMT 1966 kit. I scratch built the filler panel and trunk lid.

trial fit with an old 1965 amt interior donor tub.

Installed the front facia and trimmed a resin cast hood with louvers.

all of the parts scratch built or modified so far for the conversion.

I am probably going with Dark Moss Green with a saddle interior much like this

[deuces wild]

Are you going with a 390 or a 289 with this one????....?

[spkgibsonfirebird]

Great scratch building on the body and interior parts. Definitely going to be watching this to see how this one goes. The 1967-'68 Mustang's have always been one of my favorite cars. 

[Duddly01]

7 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Are you going with a 390 or a 289 with this one????....?

On this one I will get getting a 390 FE engine and C6 trans from one of the 3d printers. The 289 and 4sp from this kit will be saved for a future build, they are actually quite good but not what I want for this build.

[Duddly01]

31 minutes ago, spkgibsonfirebird said:

Great scratch building on the body and interior parts. Definitely going to be watching this to see how this one goes. The 1967-'68 Mustang's have always been one of my favorite cars. 

Thank you. I made the trunk lid too short at first and had to cut out a section of the body panel I made and extend the trunk lid to get it right. It’s going to be a lot of work but I think it will be worth it. Once I get the trunk lid right I may cast it in case I ever decide to do this again.

[spkgibsonfirebird]

22 minutes ago, Duddly01 said:

Thank you. I made the trunk lid too short at first and had to cut out a section of the body panel I made and extend the trunk lid to get it right. It’s going to be a lot of work but I think it will be worth it. Once I get the trunk lid right I may cast it in case I ever decide to do this again.

Well if you do that I'd be interested in one of those, possibly cast the body also , I've done conversions in the past, had everything primed and smoothed out for paint, painted the car, had an issue with the paint , And had to strip the car and start all over with the putty, sanding and primer, It's very frustrating when that happens, one car was a 1971 AMC Matador that I used a Johan 1970 Rebel for everything but the front clip, and a resin Model Car World NASCAR body, I wasn't happy with how it looked and fixed everything wrong with the front of the car, scratch built the grill, valence panel, front bumper and added the body moldings to it, I had to strip it down to nothing again, and start over on the body, I finally got it back into primer, took it to my friends house so he could cast it for me, That never happened though, I lost that car and all the work I put into it. That was very frustrating to say the least. Back to your Mustang, another color that would look great on that car is the Frost Turquoise. With White lower body stripes. 

[Duddly01]

5 hours ago, spkgibsonfirebird said:

Well if you do that I'd be interested in one of those, possibly cast the body also , I've done conversions in the past, had everything primed and smoothed out for paint, painted the car, had an issue with the paint , And had to strip the car and start all over with the putty, sanding and primer, It's very frustrating when that happens, one car was a 1971 AMC Matador that I used a Johan 1970 Rebel for everything but the front clip, and a resin Model Car World NASCAR body, I wasn't happy with how it looked and fixed everything wrong with the front of the car, scratch built the grill, valence panel, front bumper and added the body moldings to it, I had to strip it down to nothing again, and start over on the body, I finally got it back into primer, took it to my friends house so he could cast it for me, That never happened though, I lost that car and all the work I put into it. That was very frustrating to say the least. Back to your Mustang, another color that would look great on that car is the Frost Turquoise. With White lower body stripes. 

I have never cast anything as large as a whole body, just hoods, trunk lids, seat, etc would be the largest. For me it was between Nightmist Blue and Dark Moss green for this build. I love Turquoise, I own a 1966 Convertible in Tahoe Turquoise, just not the way I wanted to go with this build. 

[Duddly01]

A little more work done. I cast a slightly better hood. The other one was warped too bad. Attached the firewall and radiator supports to the inner fenders of the untouched Fastback body and cut it away.

I modified the interior pieces and trial fit most of the major components including the engine compartment, chassis, interior door side panels, dash, rear seat, top boot and trunk lid.

Everything is fitting together now pretty well. Everything is pretty rough, but making progress.

[Duddly01]

Finished the trunk lid adding a frame, I then created molds for the back seat section and the trunk lid. Also added edges to the engine compartment to help alignment and installation.

 
created three top boots, rest convertible seats and trunk lids so I will have some for future builds. Cast a few other parts in the process for other builds.

 

trial fit the body, interior and chassis using newly cast resin parts.

[LennyB]

Coming along nice Donald.  

[Duddly01]

6 hours ago, LennyB said:

Coming along nice Donald.  

Thank You! A lot of fab work to go but some major big parts completed.

[Duddly01]

Sorted parts by section into ziplocks and assembled a few components that will get painted together. As mentioned before one problem with this kit is the front suspension. It makes the wheels stick outside the fenders.

this is how much I had to move the spindles inboard.

once you do it fits in the front fenders much nicer.

I also decided to make the front wheels poseabl

The power steering cylinder looks a little odd not moving but not too terrible.

[kelson]

Really nice work so far.👍it's coming together nicely.

[Duddly01]

3 hours ago, kelson said:

Really nice work so far.👍it's coming together nicely.

Thank You! Still have a long way to go.

[Duddly01]

Being as OCD as I am I couldn’t leave the power steering cylinder like that, so I pinned it and drilled it out so a rod could move through it like the real thing.

I converted the rear seat to a 1967 pattern, converted the pedals and console to automatic, created sun visors with brackets and pinned. Interior components are mostly done. I do still need to drill out the gauges for LEDs.

all just sitting there, nothing glued, and it is fitting pretty well so far.

[Duddly01]

Got the LED wiring harness created.

[STU111]

G’day Donald. I’ve got a soft spot for these Mustangs and I do enjoy looking at your builds, so I’ll be following this one. 👍🏻

[Duddly01]

7 hours ago, STU111 said:

G’day Donald. I’ve got a soft spot for these Mustangs and I do enjoy looking at your builds, so I’ll be following this one. 👍🏻

Thank you! Hopefully I won’t let you down.  

[Duddly01]

I got some work done on the body. Drilled and removed the door handles and locks, etched the door gaps and created rocker panel moldings. Etched headlight buckets and end caps.

 

Removed wipers pinned and drilled for rear view mirror and antenna.

Created trunk lid hinge and added magnets to hold shut.

next I will created the hood hinge with magnets and the body fabrication and modification will be done and ready for priming and filling for paint.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Looking good! I love the posable steering.

[Duddly01]

9 minutes ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Looking good! I love the posable steering.

Thank you! My family is telling me now I have to make that a regular modification plus the LEDs light I have been doing. 

[Duddly01]

A little more work done today. Drilled out the gauges and created the light enclosure.

created the hood hinge and added magnets. Added reinforcement to the hood so it wouldn’t flex out of shape so much. Added some detail to the engine compartment.

[DJMar]

Some really great work going on with this one! Definitely following along.

[Duddly01]

1 hour ago, DJMar said:

Some really great work going on with this one! Definitely following along.

Thank you! Next going to be modifying the chassis to add the convertible reinforcement panels and brackets. Getting close to finishing most of the major modifications to the kit.

[Duddly01]

Converted the Fastback chassis to a convertible add torque boxes, convertible reinforcement pans and brace. I also added the brackets for parking brakes and brake lines.