1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0

[chris chabre]

PERFECT

 

[DJMar]

Looks great! The weathering is spot on.

Regarding the black trim - it was a constant battle on my '99 to keep it looking somewhat decent. Almost all of it would go chalky in the sun, with the worst being the wiper arms and side mirrors. This pic of the red Mustang pretty much sums it up.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Wow it looks fabulous! 

[Badge73]

Weathering is looking really slick. Your sun fading is taking on a very realistic appearance, keep it up. I am with DJMar, every one I have seen has that same chalky trim issue.

[Technics]

Having stepped away, forgot about it and returned with fresh eyes ( and my newly discovered favourite tool, IPA-Isopropyl alcohol) I decided I’m not excited by looking at the model so I stripped it back to nothing again

Did two cleaning sessions with chemical friends, and got it back into black primer stage. 

 

 

[Technics]

I went with a massively understated looking Polymatic Grey Mustang GTD colour. Getting some sort of reaction on the roof.. maybe went in too hot not giving the primer more dry / gas out time. 

[Musclecarbuilder]

Nice! Love the gray! 

[Technics]

@Musclecarbuilder Thanks!! Yeah, I really would love to have the teal - I tried, didn’t want to look at it again so onto something fresh and new. Today I shot the roof again with a paper template shielding the rest. I’m content. Will let it rest before clearing. 

Super understated the colour I love it.

I aim for the new reference below including the nice body trim.

 

Edited June 2 by Technics

[Musclecarbuilder]

3 hours ago, Technics said:

@Musclecarbuilder Thanks!! Yeah, I really would love to have the teal - I tried, didn’t want to look at it again so onto something fresh and new. Today I shot the roof again with a paper template shielding the rest. I’m content. Will let it rest before clearing. 

Super understated the colour I love it.

I aim for the new reference below including the nice body trim.

 

Oh yeah she's gonna look good!

[Technics]

The clear has been resting for a month.

 

Polishing is a skill I want to improve.

The finish I had was a great base, no runs, no imperfections or dust, ample clear, but not 100% CLEAR to look through and see a high resolution reflection back.

I am sort of blown away by the dspiae rotary tool and the right combination of pressure, compound, and a decent amount of clear on a nicely painted surface. It took some experimenting to find the right set of steps but here are photos of a dry surface. It is a first for me very happy! 

The learning curve will continue as I try to get more surfaces done.

Moments earlier 

This came up in my feed and I list say o am intrigued by a grey / gunmetal police themed finish. Wether its 100% accurate to reality or not it did look cool. I do believe this was accurate. 

[Technics]

I decided against the police theme, I spent 3 hours making off trim areas on the body and clear parts. I divided it into three sessions. It’s the only way I have found to result in sharp lines and without leftover residue. Mask, paint, remove immediately. 

The result so far is the cleanest I’ve ever managed to get. Thanks to luck with clear coat, ample dry time, following through with polishing. The body trim is near perfect. I fumbled one line by a few millemeters but it won’t matter in the final look on the table.

The clear parts went less good, firstly the lenses came with some faint blemishes. Due to the kit design the areas where the parts connected to the tree and plastic was injected is horribly placed. What makes it worse there’s up to four corners to be trimmed on some pieces and all the glass is to be installed from the outside so it’s all visible. Seeing as it’s possibly my nicest build I decided to open second kit to redo the glass in attempt to make it as nice as the paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am manually cutting 2mm white tape down to 1 to get it to lay down nice curved masked lines. I ordered new tape ranging from 0.5-1mm to give it another attempt.

Cutting masks out of large single tape pieces is nearly impossible for me to match the exact curves they should be I find masking manually is easier.  

I will use an alcohol or lacquer based paint for the clear parts as building up 2-3 layers to remove transparency with a water based paint caused more issues then solved. The trim on the body didn’t have any issues.

[JollySipper]

That is such beautiful, clean work! Thank You for not leaving it weathered......... There's enough Fox Mustangs in the world with faded paint!

[espo]

Great looking paint finish and like the new color. FYI on your CHP picture. I left California in 1996 after more than 30 years living there. Had a few unfortunate inter actions with the CHP. At the time the CHP would have a half dozen Mustangs lined up on an on ramp with a plane above looking for speeders. In Sacramento we used to call it "The I80 Grand Prix" in the morning going to work and home at night. The Mustangs were usually all white, but other colors would show up sometimes. They would use the down hill on ramps to get up to speed pretty quick and pull into the slow lane like they were shot out of a cannon. Don't ask how I know, just know it could get expensive.  

[Perspect Scale Modelworks]

On 6/2/2025 at 1:04 PM, Technics said:

@Musclecarbuilder 

This does make me think of unmarked FHP of the time.

Edited yesterday at 01:02 AM by Perspect Scale Modelworks
Spelling

[Technics]

@espo That’s an awesome story thanks for sharing. That’s some scene ! Sounds like a movie scene really. What a cool period.
 

@Perspect Scale Modelworks true, maybe that’s an avenue to take. I didn’t think of that. Still including some sort of marking on the tailgate and some window tint

Edited yesterday at 01:34 AM by Technics