Fox Chassis (Ford) community build anyone?

[GTMust]

Jeff: Very nice!!!!! One of my favorites too.

Brad: Thanks. I may be able to use clear styrene and lightly scribe it for lenses. With the warmer weather approaching, I should also be able to get some painting done soon.

Just bought the US-Airfix 1/24th 4-eye Mustang. Pretty simple snap kit, but I think I will be able to do something with it.

Tony

[whale392]

Well, been a while since I was able to do anything with the FOXes, but I got some more work on my GLX convertible started this week. Getting the dash squared away...just a little more painting and I will call it good enough.

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Also, started working on the steering wheel and the steering column.

Started cutting the V8 back into a V6.

More to come in the next post. The seat mods will put this post over the 10 picture-in-post limit.

[whale392]

Started making the front seats by cutting the headrests off the original seats and shortening their backs. Then, I cut the back seat out of a second kit interior (to get the proper seat upholstery pattern) and cut it up for use with the front seats and fitting. I then seperated the seat backs from their bases and removed the pattern from the seat bases. Narrowed the pattern from the rear seat to fit the bottom of the front seat, and will be smoothing it all in with filler shortly. I will have to narrow the center pleats and drop them back into position in the seat bottoms.

As for the seat backs, I am doing much the same except that the backs have been shortened to proper height and the narrowed pattern pieces glued over the top of the existing material (to give it the proper thickness). I will fill and sand to shape when all the glue is dry, then drop in the center pleat pattern. The headrests are cut from the later Mustang GT convertible seats and reshaped to fit these seats. All in all, I will be fairly close to the correct pattern for this car.

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That's all for the moment. More when time and pics allow.

[GTMust]

Looking good Brad. Lots of detail correction takes lots of time....... but it will make for a AAA+++ model in the end. Look forward to seeing more progress.

Tony

[whale392]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Tony! I would give this a 'C+' if I had to grade my work. A+ is well beyond me at this time! Can't wait to see Backyard Billy back at his Cafe Racer project; once the cold weather is gone I am sure he will be back to picking up the tools and downing the beers in the garage (downing the beers only after the tools are put up of course!).

[futurattraction]

Wow! What work, Brad. That will look great when you're all finished with it. I was meaning to post a comment about some of your work, way early in the thread. I really loved what you were doing with your revised K-member work that one of your kitties ended up getting ahold of. That was really wonderful attention to detail that I would have totally overlooked if I were building it myself. But your work inspired me to keep that sort of factory stock detail in mind when working on the not-so-visible parts... Great job! Scott

[whale392]

Thanks Scott, but it is guys like you who build what isn't even availible that inspire me. I am on the way to pick up 2 of the SVO re-issues from Revell this afternoon (and another Thunderbird TurboCoupe for donor parts if they have one) to squirrell away for later FOX projects. Combining the two kits will yield a much closer to correct SVO, albiet the k-member and front lower control arms still need to be scratchbuilt as no correct SVO units exist.

I should have some more work done on this convertible later this week as I have some time to fiddle with plastic today and tomorrow. Keep the FOX love going guys, your work inspires me to quit being lazy and do something!

[GTMust]

Hi Brad. I just picked up a US-Airfix 1/24 snap kit of a Fox Mustang "Custom" which I believe to be circa 1979/80. You are probably familiar with the kit. It has typical snap together features including a minimal engine compartment with symbolic, molded 4 cyl engine, I have decided to build this kit as a curbside, basic OOB model as it would take an excessive amount of time to detail it as I would like. Dimensionally, it is identical to the Monogram 1/24 scale Fox Mustangs so I intend to upgrade some features by using parts from the Monogram versions.

May I add it to the community build (in view of the basic nature of the project)?

Here are a couple of pics with the front and rear bumpers attached and some filling started:

[whale392]

The more FOXes the merrier, Tony. To say it looks a little 'crude' would be a close to fair assessment of the kit. I think you will be able to do something good with the kit though, and I look forward to seeing another FOX done (as mine are at a slow crawl and might not make it to done!).

I hope to have the front seats done by the weekend, and maybe them and the engine block ready for paint by Monday. We will see though, as I am also working on a pictoral/tutorial for using the Monogram (Revell) 1/24th 1987 Thunderbird TurboCoupe kit to udgrade/detail up/kitbash with the re-issue Monogram (Revell) 1/24th 1985 SVO kit.

[GTMust]

I must admit it does look a little crude out of the box, and at first I thought I might have another Testors "Crapri" on my hands. But as I get into it, and now the sink holes are filled and the body is in primer, it starts to look quite good. One of the things I like about it, is that it has the TRX wheels amd metric tires, which I don't believe I've seen on other kits.

Unfortunately, it has molded in louvres on the rear hatch and it will be a bear to cut them out cleanly, so they may stay! The hatch doesn't fit very well and is warped, as you can see. It is also missing the rear spoiler and a custom spoiler substituted (which I won't use). I was thinking of replacing the hatch with one cut from a Monogram kit, but I don't want to destroy a perfecly good kit just for that..... so I'll just have to make it work the best I can.

Here it is in first primer coat:

And I just realised..... there are no windshield wipers!

[whale392]

Wow, that hatch is whacked! I would suggest some hot water immersion and cold shocking it to try and straighten it out Tony. The thing that gets me the most on the body is the quarter window spats looking like a gaudy 'Buick Porthole' stick-on! The real cars were recessed, and seeing them just jutting out from behind the quarter windows makes me think the kit maker had an afterthought about adding them!

Looking good with what you are doing to it though, and I can't wait to see it in color.

I won't be doing the T/C-SVO comparo, so I can get back to working on my convertible this week. Might have some more done on it by the weekend (althogh the model club meeting is Thursday, and over an hour away from my house). We'll see.

[GTMust]

You're right Brad. The rear hatch is very thin and flexible, so I plan to glue it in place.... no problem.

The quarter window spats are way too big, too low and too prominent. I can't do much about the location, but I plan to sand them closer to the body. Once they are painted semi gloss dark gray, together with the window trim, I'm hoping they will blend in a little less noticeably. Interestingly, the dash and interior panels are fairly accurate, but the panel detail is very faint. No arm rests or handles (but the glass is a one piece unit with door glass molded in, so interior vision is somewhat limited). The rear quarter glass should fit flush in the opening, so I may try to cut some new ones from clear styrene. The seats are pathetic things that look like badly carved chunks of firewood! But I have some spare ones from the glue bomb "Cafe Racer".

I have to remember that this is a "Snap Kit" intended for the youngsters and was probably designed by Airfix in the UK back in the late '70s or early '80's, more as a toy than an accurate scale model. Airfix did put out a few very nicely detailed 1/32 scale vintage cars, but most of their 1/24 scale models were repops from Heller. I don't think this was a Heller original though.

But it's a four eyed Fox, so I must journey on!!!!

[whale392]

Location is fine Tony, just sticking out being sunk is what kills the quarter window spats. You are making this into a very nice representation considering the kit beginnings.

I do have a question for you though; you said you were going to paint the spats and trim Dark Gloss Gray. Why? Original trim color 1979-84 was Semi-Gloss Black (trim black), while 85-86 got the Dark Charcoal trim color.

Yes, 4eye FOXes forever!

[GTMust]

I can look out my kitchen window and under the carport sits my '85 GT. The spats on my car stop just above the sill line. The trim is a faded matt dark gray but the window trim is a semi-gloss dark gray, Hence my color comment. If you read my comment again you'll see I actually said "semi-gloss" not gloss. I find that a dark gray is less dominant on the model although, technically, not correct for the earlier versions. Here's a picture of the '85 and you should be able to just make out the location of the spats, etc. (amid a few month's worth of dust!) and compare them to the model's version.

I mounted the wheels and tires after spraying the wheels Krylon "Short Cuts" silver. Polished aluminum? Maybe some work still to do on them. For now they look better than yellow plastic! It might just be a camera distortion, but they look much bigger in the picture than they really do. Could also be because the hatch will give the body more "bulk" when it's attached, and the suspension will sit a little lower.

Thanks for the input and additional info, Brad.

Tony

[whale392]

Hey Tony,

Sorry about the reference to 'Gloss'. That is what happens when you read half-asleep! My mistake and I will eat that one. as to the trim coloration; all body trim (beltline molding, taillight detail, spats, headlight buckets) on the 1985-86 will be Dark Charcoal, with the window trim (front, door, quarter window, rear hatch,t-top surrounds, mirrors) in Trim Black (kind-of a slightly higher Semi-Gloss Black). The cowl grill will also be Black, but any decal striping (like the GT Blackout hood stripe) will be Dark Charcoal for 85-86 as well.

All trim on the 1979-84 models will be 'Trim Black', no matter where it is. That is one of the biggest 'oops' things that guys restoring their 85-86 Mustangs do, they want to paint the trim all Black. Personally, I like the all-Black better than the Charcoal/Black mix, but if I were going for a 100pt car............

Kit build is looking good Tony, keep at it. I am a little further along with the 83 GLX, but the 1991 still lives in its' box until I have a LOT more time to mess with it.

Also, it looks like some of the guys are talking me back into doing the TurboCoupe/SVO comparo, so that is looming closer to back on my plate. 40 FOX builds is going crazy!

Edited March 3, 2011 by whale392

[GTMust]

Both of Backyard Billy's Fox builds will be painted close to stock factory but not quite. (But no fancy custom pearls or candies, etc.) Obviously neither car will be factory stock, but I think I will take your advice and do the US-Airfix one with the matt black trim and the T-Top car with the dark grey trim all as you suggest. (Although I realise the T-Top car is not actually an '85/86 model... just changed a little to look like one.) No decals on either car.

At the moment, I'm thinking red for the US-Airfix car (same as my '86 GT) but I don't think I want to go with black for the other one (like my '85 GT.) I'll have to ponder on that until spray time in the warmer weather. Although it may be neat to have (close) copies of my real ones.

Decisions... decisions!

[whale392]

Looking good either way you decide to go Tony.

As to the 'T-Top' Billy build; how about a Burnt Orange color? Ford actually had a color called 'Bittersweet' back in 83-85 that was VERY rare to see on a Mustang (it was more of a bright burnt orange in color), and I do believe you could get close to replicating it with existing colors from Testors.

[GTMust]

Interesting color suggestion Brad, but I'm a "low profile" kinda guy. I'm pretty much set on boring red for the '85/'86 lookalike, just 'cos my '86 is red and I like that color on the real car.

As for the '79/'80.... that's still up in the air, but will probably finish up two tone. Maybe black/silver, kinda similar to the pace car but without the decals. Lots of time yet to decide...

Tony

[GTMust]

The biggest problem on this kit was the rear hatch. I've managed to repair it but here's the mess I had to fix.

First the hatch after it's been glued and clamped in place overnight: (The yellow plastic on the body, is the surface that the edge of the hatch was supposed to cover. There should also be a turndown on the hatch over the rear quarter. Both sides were pretty mutch the same.)

The next photo shows the rear sail panel sanded back level with the hatch and styrene added to form the turn down:

Then the whole thing levelled off:

and finally smoothed out ready for primer and final check:

The kit tires looked too big for the wheel arches (see previous post), so I substituted a set of Monogram Goodyear open letter GT Radials from a '57 Chevy kit. Not being Metric the Goodyears wouldn't fit the TRX metric rims, so I shaved the identification off and turned the tires around to the unidentified smooth side. The Monogram tires are slightly smaller in rolling diameter and I think it looks much better now:

[whale392]

Looking good Tony. I will have to get pics up of the convertibles progress.

I have also started the comparison between the recently reissued Monogram (Revell) SVO and the Revell 1987 Thunderbird TurboCoupe; to include a 'mix/match/swap/cut-n-paste' on what parts to swap into the SVO for a better overall model. This is taking some time, as writing, revising, photographing, mocking-up, and revising text before posting is taking a bit of work. I really need to just consentrate on one build at a time! Throw me working on stuff to send to Ed Sexton (Revell product developement manager) for their upcoming 1/25th scale 1991-93 Mustang Coupe 2-n-1 release, and I get really busy and life gets short.

[Tony T]

Paint on the body. Krylon White and Banner Red

[whale392]

Dang, the Canadian Tonys are knocking the FOXes out! Tony T, your IMSA FOX looks good in those colors, and is that the completed chassis sitting back behind it?

[GTMust]

Right on, Tony. Let's show these Yanks what we Canucks can do, eh? (Tongue in cheek, of course!)

[Tony T]

For sure, eh!?!?! lol!

Yes, Bradley, that is the completed chassis waiting for bodywork!

Edited March 9, 2011 by Tony T

[whale392]

You two are making me look bad! (wait, that isn't hard, as you are actually working on yours!)

In all seriousness, I think you two are carrying the FOX build thread. Looks like I need to put down the other projects I have going and go full-on with the 'vert.