1/12th scale 1965 Mustang

[black2002ls]

Its been quite some time since I've posted anything here. I have a lengthy thread regarding my 1/12th scale 69 Camaro running around here somewhere. This is something I picked up when I was working on my Camaro all of the time. Its an old Revell release. I got it as a basket case on e-bay, the body was in fairly decent shape however, and made for a pretty solid starting point.

[black2002ls]

Here you can see the re-construction of the cowl. I didn't originally plan to shave the cowl, however it was severely warped and beyond "fixing"





I was disappointed in the bracing under the hood and the trunk, so, I made my own.





The front fascia also needed some work. It was damaged and had globs of glue that had to be taken care of.

[black2002ls]

Here it is in primer



Finally, now that the body work is all done, its time for an eye popping paint scheme right?!









It has since been cleared with omni urethane clear. wet sanded, and is waiting to be shot again for a deep shine.

I plan to get the work bench constructed in the next week. The 2010 will be here next week as well. Hopefully I can get some progress done here pretty soon!

[black2002ls]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Mustang. These are quick shots, It may not be sitting level, the tires are shoved under the chassis just to see what they will look like. Whether I use the kit chassis tub or the GT500, they will both require a good deal of modification to work.

[black2002ls]

I got a little bit done on the '65 so far. I started modifying the kit chassis from the GT500. I have removed part of the chassis tray from the fuel tank back, narrowed the wheel wells a little and "dove tailed" the chassis tray. It appears at this point, that the wheel base is the same on both kits, which means after removing some of the chassis tray it lines up quite perfectly with the '65 body molded some 34 years ago. This is going to make this a LOT easier than I had anticipated. I was afraid I was going to have to section the chassis and re-build details. The two issues right now are the rear wheels/tires, and the engine. The rear wheel wells are too narrow now to accommodate the wide rear wheels and tires. I picked up a 1/12th scale spare parts lot on ebay that included some additional wheels for this kit. So I have the option of using the front wheels/tires on both ends of this kit. Not sure if that will happen or if I will open up the wheel wells to accommodate the wider rear wheels.

These pictures are a bit out of focus, but it gives you an idea of how well the chassis tub fits the '65 body.



Here you can see how well the wheel base matches



Finally an overview with the engine set in place

[black2002ls]

Another quick little update. I did some work on the rear of the chassis. I had to open up the wheel wells QUITE a bit for the tires to fit between the body and the chassis. In doing that, I had to remove a large section of the molded frame rails on the chassis. With most of the frame rails and suspension mounting points gone, I am going to have to re-construct them. I removed the rear part of the chassis tray, essentially, the trunk floor. With all of the material removal, It also means that the frame rails under the trunk will need to be modified and moved. I have sectioned the underside of the trunk to move the frame rails where they will sit right along side the fuel tank. I intend to keep the fuel "factory" fuel tank, and plumb it with an external pump and filter, etc.

Here is a reference pic of what I want the underside to look like. Pretty much like I took a 1965 mustang shell and set it down on top of a 2010 GT500 chassis, a la sn65.



An overview of the chassis tray in its current state



A close up of the underside of the "trunk floor"



Finally, you can see the beginning of the modified frame rail additions. These will be molded in to match the "factory" frame rails and should mate up to the rail sections from the "trunk floor"



I apologize again for the blurry pictures, I'll get the batteries in the camera changed tomorrow