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Fox Chassis (Ford) community build anyone?


whale392

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You can find some reasonable ones on eBay. I remember now that I got my Snake Bite at a swap meet at a contest, and got a pretty good deal on it, but there are some on eBay from time to time. It seems like the Snake Bite and the 79 Cobra are the cheapest and most common of the MPC early Fox kits. Sometimes the SVOs pop up for a deal too. The few priced Buy It Now for over $50 have been there at that price for at least a year now.

Edited by Eric Stone
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Gotta get some pictures, but I managed to complete the chassis done on my Trans Am Mustang, worked out and modified the hood so I could mount the wiper (also put a hole in the windshield to mount it), painted the window trim on the windows, and got a coat of primer down. My white primer turned pink, as I thought it might. I think I'll lay down a coat of grey, then another coat of white, before body colour (red and white). I'll try to get some pictures of the progress.

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Hey Jeff...... thanks for the comment.

Which of the pace cars are you doing... the Monogram or the MPC? I tried to score both these off Ebay last week, but they went over my budget. I'll keep looking though.

Look forward to seeing your build pictures.

Tony

It's the Monogram. It was partially built so I got it cheap (ebay). I was hoping to get a new one but they are going for quite a few bucks. I have to pry this one apart, and I had to break the windows to get the out. No biggie I can make new windows. I also ordered Fred Cady decals from Model empire. I'll post some pics.

JJ

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Great Jeff, I love reincarnations! Lots of pics please.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had ordered a Testor's Mercury Capri RS Turbo off Ebay. It has arrived and it will be my second entry into this community build.

First let me describe the kit for those that may be tempted to buy it. Unless you indulge in self torture...... don't bother. In my case, I'm already stuck with it so I have to make the best of things. It's about 1/20 scale so unless you're building in that scale (?) don't think about keeping it for parts.

It's a snap together curbside, no engine and the body comes in two parts..... an upper and a lower part which is attached to the "chassis". Body detail is vague, and the tailights are a "stick on" decal. But here.. take a look at the major components.

kitparts.jpg

My first job was to seperate the lower body panels from the chassis:

removelowerbodyparts1.jpg

... and attach them to the upper body. Unfortunately the lower panels are a little shorter than the upper body location, so some surgery will be needed around the wheel arches. The belt line molding is nowhere near accurate and is split in half where the body panels join:

removelowerbodyparts2.jpg

As you can see, there are also numerous sink holes that had to be filled. The red plastic has a high gloss finish that resists any grade of sandpaper finer than 80 grit.

When I tried to attach the front grille, I realized just how badly the body was warped and have had to superglue the grille and hold it in place until it fully sets up. If it doesn't hold I will have to heat up the body and epoxy it in place. You can also see the twist in the body in the following picture:

frontgrilleandwarpedbody.jpg

The kit comes with oversized rear and side window louvres. The rear spoiler is part of the rear window louvre part, way too thick and the wrong shape.

I'm determined to finish it as I once owned a 1981 Capri with the straight six, auto, without a rear spoiler and blue in color. So this build will be in memory of that car (sort of).

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To be honest Eric, I haven't decided whether to finish this piece of garbage, or put it where it belongs and start something else. My brain says "dump it" but my heart can't resist the challenge. Decisions... decisions!!!

Hopefully it will help others who may read this. Quick poll..... is it worth continuing on this CPB or have you already seen more than enough?

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OK.... decision made after a restless night's sleep!

I'm going to build it, but not as part of this community build. And not right now. When, and if, I do get it finished, I'll post it in the finished projects section, and we can all have a good laugh!!!

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Hey Tony, to answer your PM here; I don't think that posting the build pics of my Capri here would do much good! If I posted every pic of my FOX builds going on here, I would have to pay Gregg for the added bandwidth AND I would have to open the build to an unlimited end date as I have 40 FOX builds going and I work slow!

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Tony, you drive a hard bargain.............I will give you these few shots. They suck, so be warned!

P1010732.jpg, P1010734.jpg, P1010780.jpg

I have done quite a lot more since these were taken, but have yet to load the pics.

Also, some engine shots (they may be blurry as I was just learning to use my camera when they were taken):

P1010726.jpg, P1010725.jpg, P1010724.jpg, P1010719.jpg, P1010720.jpg

This Capri was started over 5 years ago, just as I found out about using the later chassis under these cars.

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No Tony, those are the Mustang fender lips, as I was telling you in the PM. Revell cast this kit with the Capri fenders AND the Mustang wheel lips so that they could use the same mold for both bodies. Unfortunately, it is inaccurate for both of them. The body is the same as the later Revell 'Turbo Cobra' kit that was offered at Wal-Mart forever. This kit is VERY basic in its original form.

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I just checked my (unmade) "McLaren Mustang" body and I can see that the fender extensions can't be sanded off without affecting the wheel opening. I guess we could add styrene spacers behind the wheel arch, trim them to the wheel opening size then sand and fill etc. to get the right shape.....? As you pointed out previously, the extended fenders are the wrong shape and size for the McLaren anyway, but it could work for the Capri? Or maybe a Mustang/Capri custom hybrid? I often wondered what Capri fenders and rear quarters would look like on a 1:1 Mustang. Maybe I'll try it on my real '89 2.3!

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You are correct Tony; you will have to cut styrene to the wheelwell shape, glue it in behind the existing wheel opening, and sand the Mustang lip from the fenders to closely mimic the Capri units. And yes, the Revell McLaren M81/Enduro kit you have is the same body as the Capri I have above.........completely incorrect for a real M81/Enduro.

80mcclaren4.jpg, GTEnduroFrt1a.jpg

(thanks to 79Pace for hosting these images)

As to your thought on the Capri/Mustang mix.........look up a guy by the screen name of RCoupe (I think he is on Corral, and I know his car has been on foureyedpride). his coupe started as an 89, has a 1979 Pace Car nose and hood scoop, Capri fenders/quarters, and fat meats wrapped in BBS RKSports. All of this slathered in Lovely Red........makes me tingle remembering that car. (Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords did a spread on his car a short time ago)

Edited by whale392
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...

As to your thought on the Capri/Mustang mix.........look up a guy by the screen name of RCoupe (I think he is on Corral, and I know his car has been on foureyedpride). his coupe started as an 89, has a 1979 Pace Car nose and hood scoop, Capri fenders/quarters, and fat meats wrapped in BBS RKSports. All of this slathered in Lovely Red........makes me tingle remembering that car. (Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords did a spread on his car a short time ago)

This'n? I love this car!

mmfp_0811_01_z+1988_ford_mustang_coupri+left_front_view.jpg

More pics

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Yup Eric, that is the one I was talking about. Everywhere I went, it wouldn't let me copy/paste the images of it (so I referenced the MM&FF article). I have a set of fenders and quarter panels from a wrecked Capri sitting in my garage for just a build as this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

just wanted to say(after wiping the drool off my keyboard) this is the best forum i have seen! ive had 14 mustangs and more plastic mustang models than that. i am a total coupe fan,and NEED the coupe kit. i will be watching this section very close and might even add a few of mine. (which isnt even half as nice as some of these!!!!

heres my w.i.p.

IMG_0448.jpg

after my old gt

matchedpaint.jpg

Edited by venom97
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Your GT project looks pretty cool. I also like the wheels on the yellow car.

Use Castrol Super Clean or Purple Power to soak the body to strip the paint. Soak in a plastic container- it'll eat thru metal. Or you can use oven cleaner- put the body in a Ziploc and spray it in there, seal it up and let it sit a while. Using purple stuff, or oven cleaner, leave it a day or so and then put on some rubber gloves and scrub with a toothbrush. Paint should come right off. If you find some stuff that neither will touch, try soaking in 91% rubbing alcohol, and scrub just the same.

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