USAirfix "snap-fix" Custom Mustang

[JTalmage]

(stole this pic that someone posted here long ago... thanks google!)

Boy what a bad kit... but when I saw it on ebay, I was excited that I found an early 4 eyed Foxbody and snatched it up virtually unopposed.

I got the kit, and realized it was very primitive, and suffered from poor molding, but I was determined to make something good out of it. This is also a kit that I kept pushing to the back of the stack, and in my efforts to get em all built, this was my next in line after the barracuda.

Anyway, I wasnt going to make a workbench thread about this car because it was that bad... but the other USAirfix thread got me thinking about it. I didnt take a lot of photos until I got the itch to make this car more "stock" than "custom". I wanted to have a stock looking '82 GT, even if it wasnt very detailed, and it was a 4cyl. And of course I wanted to paint it the classic maroon/burgundy that pretty much all 82 GT's I've ever seen have been!

I filled a lot of the low spots, and also stuck the nose on it and filed it down to look correct.

I cut the side pipes off the chassis, because I was going stock. I cant cut into the chassis to much to remove the molded in exhaust pipes because the chassis isnt very thick. I'm not going to go in to very in depth detail on this chassis anyway. But I did primer it and give it overspray.

So thats when I primed and painted the body. First, Rustoleum was a bad Idea. Way too thick. But I tried to make the best of it. Didnt turn out well.

Drivers side door and fender under the body molding was doing some cracking/crazing for some reason. No other spot on the car did this.

Passenger side looked good!

Edited January 14, 2015 by JTalmage

[JTalmage]

So... I decided to wetsand the body once the paint FINALLY dried... wow that took almost a whole day. Wasnt happy about it.

So then I resprayed it. It was a beautiful day yesterday, light breeze, low temp and humidity compared to the past few weeks. Perfect for painting. I took my cut open brown bag I've been using, a can of paint to sit the car on, and my color.

Sprayed a coat on everything again. Hood fish eyed for no reason. that was no biggie because it was the underside.

Body looked just ok. So I let things sit out there to dry while I went back inside to work on other parts. I ate some grapes, watched a few minutes of Magnum P.I. then came back outside to get my stuff. Well... mother nature decided she didnt like the paint job and blew everything over... and this is how I found it.

mother nature gave me a custom gold leaf paint job, and a hood stuck to a can... yay. Purple pond here it comes....

So, since that had me at a stand still... I got to thinking how I got ahead of myself when I painted it, and I really wanted it to be a stock looking '82 GT... cant have that without the old 3 piece spoiler or the hood scoop... and MsDano85GT sent me some parts a while back, and among them was a hood scoop. It's a little narrow but it will look great on this kit, and no manufacturer I know of makes the old 3 piece spoiler... so I made one. It needs some tweaking and fine tuning but it will be good enough!

not sure when I'll get around to stripping the paint... but I need to find some duplicolor maroon or burgundy first. Or think of another cool 82 GT color...

Edited January 14, 2015 by JTalmage

[freakshow12]

82 Gt's only came in black, silver and burgandy

[JTalmage]

Thanks Fred. Sticking to Burgundy then. I dont really care for the color, but I love it on the '82 GT's!

[deuces wild]

I had an '83.5 GT 5.0 with t-tops that was painted that color..

First year of the T-5 and the return of the Holley 4-bbl carb on a aluminum intake manifold..

[Quick GMC]

Magnum PI in the background while building an 80's mustang. Perfect.

I have experienced crazing when I pain over the primer too soon, and too heavy on the first coat. Like the paint goes through the primer or something.

[JTalmage]

I think thats what happened to be honest. The Tamiya primer does dry very quickly, but the rustoleum paint goes on THICK and stays tacky for many, many hours. At least it did for me...

I need to find some duplicolor and do it the right way.

[Jaguar man 21]

Great work I'll be watching

[Quick GMC]

I think thats what happened to be honest. The Tamiya primer does dry very quickly, but the rustoleum paint goes on THICK and stays tacky for many, many hours. At least it did for me...

I need to find some duplicolor and do it the right way.

I have done this before. i have a bad habit of overspraying when I mean to just do light coats. I ruined a 360 body this way. I put the primer on too thick and it didn't cure enough, then I went over it with lacquer. It went through a crazed the plastic as well as the paint.

[Snake45]

Very most way cool! I have the old Lindberg version of this kit and would like to actually build it someday. Will be watching to see how yours turns out. Good luck and model on!

[JTalmage]

I put this one back in the box for the time being until I can find the right paint and until I'm not mad at it. So that may be a while. lol!

Thinking when it comes out of the purple pond, I might just paint it black...

[JTalmage]

Bringing this one back from the dead... I got the bug to work on this thing after deciding I wasnt going to go with an original color anymore. So I had to let it soak in purple power for quite a bit... that rustoleum is nasty stuff when it tries to come off.

This was the end result of the purple pond

After a little sanding and cleanup I went ahead and got it ready for its final paint job.... in Sonic Blue

I glued the hoodscoop on and the spoiler that I made also. At this point I just wanted the car done so it was a little of a rush job, but it was never mean to be a show winner.

So after a few coats of primer, I hit it with Duplicolor Sonic Blue from the 03-04 Mustang Cobras.

Looks great I think!

So then I detailed the trim in black

Hard to get good shots of it

I also detailed the dash!

The rest is under glass!