In Progress: Shelby GT350-R (long post, sorry)

The Monogram Shelby GT350-R Mustang. So far I've cleaned up some of the parts and concentrated on the body and interior.

On the body I have:
1. Front bumber:
a) Modified the panel line where the bumper and body meet.
b) modified the openings in the bumper from round to oblong like on most GT350-R cars.

2. Back (bumper area):
a) filled and smoothed some of the seams.
b) drilled all the appropriate bumper mounting holes that are visible since there is no rear bumper used on the real car.

3. Main body:
a) filled and smoothed all the mold seams and sink marks.
b) drilled appropriate holes in front fender near front bumper, also drilled
holes for hood pins and trunk pin.
c) removed the chrome trim around the back window and removed the side front quarter window frames (front will be replaced with a thinner chrome strip)
d) removed all the emblems
e) removed the molded in door handles ( to be replaced by separate pieces)
f ) removed windshield wipers
g) installed rear quarter window panel covers.
h) adjusted the angle on the rear edge of the front wheel arches
i ) adjusted the entire radius of the rear wheel arches.
j ) primed, smoothed, re-primed and re-smoothed and painted the body
Ford Wimbeldon White (which is not very white and unfortunately... not
very smooth right now)

The interior:
a) covered the door panels with plastic sheet to match most of the reference I could find showing the interior door panels being replaced.
b) sanded all the "carpet" from the interior tub floor.
c) removed the glove box and radio from the dash and removed all the extra dash padding from the dash
d) drilled holes in the back panel to hold the spare tire in place.
**** still have to build the pressed in seat mounts where the passanger seat would be, and modify the rollbar and fire extinguisher, and cut openings in the seat for seatbelts and of course make the seatbelts****

Engine Bay:
a) removed the molded in battery on the passanger side (it's in the trunk on the real car) and removed the molded in "thingy" on the drivers side wheel well and rebuilt the wheel well on both sides with plastic sheet
b) added a plate under the hood "hood scoop", cut a hole in the plate and added screen where it will close on the air intake.

Tires and wheels:
a) drilled out the center hub on the rear wheels and added a center cap for the wheel bearing retainer on the front wheels.
b) removed all the molded on "goodyear" and "blue streak" lettering from the tires and dulled the tires to look more realistic and rubbery

Other than filling some sink marks on the frame that's about it for now... It's a good start to the most "changes" I've ever done to a model kit. It's a little intimidating for me so we'll see how it goes from here.

Here are some pics... (I'll take better, outside pic's when closer to finished) Edit.. removed some pics to speed up the display....
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0774-med.jpg?4039
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0776-med.jpg?3020
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0782-med.jpg?1725

Looks like it's going well! How did you dull the tires?

Quite impressive so far. All the pieces you've modified look very well done.

Do you have a pic of the real race car, that you could post, that you are replicating?

Thanks....

Matt, I don't have a specific car that I'm going to replicate due to not having enough pictures of any one specific car but here is a link to pics of several cars that I'm using as reference. I haven't decided to add numbers, etc... or just stop with the blue stripes. I'm leaning towards adding numbers, and some minor sponsor decals.

http://www.nvsaac.com/gallery/1965_shelby_R_1.htm

On the tires I just shaved the letters off with a razor blade then sanded the sidewalls lightly to remove the plastic looking sheen.

Looks great. Very impressing on all the modification and work that was put into this. I think you should wetsand the primer becuase the picture of the back of the car it appears to be a little rough.

Looks great. Very impressing on all the modification and work that was put into this. I think you should wetsand the primer becuase the picture of the back of the car it appears to be a little rough.

Ah yes.... this is my delima... see, that is the color coat that's rough. The primer was very smooth and I thought I would try something new by using a sealer over the primer before the color. It didn't give me the result I wanted, too much orange peel. So, now I will wet sand the color, paint on the blue stripes then clear and polish. Hopefully I can save it. If not then it's going for a dip in the CSC swimming pool and I'll start over using Tamiya Racing White which has a slight off-white look like the original Ford Wimbeldon White that I used.

Looking good! One of my favorite Stang's!

Ah yes.... this is my delima... see, that is the color coat that's rough. The primer was very smooth and I thought I would try something new by using a sealer over the primer before the color. It didn't give me the result I wanted, too much orange peel. So, now I will wet sand the color, paint on the blue stripes then clear and polish. Hopefully I can save it. If not then it's going for a dip in the CSC swimming pool and I'll start over using Tamiya Racing White which has a slight off-white look like the original Ford Wimbeldon White that I used.

If you take things easy it is possible to save the car from being stripped. Like you said you will need to wetsand. Im looking forward to the blue stripes. Best of luck!

"Please Press Pause"... lol ...Project is on hold!!!

Oh well, after a bit of wet sanding and an attempt to polish, I give up... It's soaking in alcohol.... most of the paint has peeled off with some of the stuborn stuff still soaking.

My only goal for today is to get the paint off the body. I'm out of town for the rest of the week starting tomorrow. I'll deal with it when I get back.

I'm having bad luck with painting the body recently, wish I knew why?????

Nice to see another 'corrected' GT350R. Are you going to modify the rear window to pop in from the outside like they really do? This is a detail that is usually missed in models.
If you need any reference pics try and get yourself a copy of Motorsports International Muscle Car Color History - Shelby Mustang by Tom Corcoran. It has a section on a GT350R that is excellent.
Good Luck - I love these cars!

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/67389DSCF0373.JPGhttp://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/67389DSCF0374.JPG

robrex,
I'm not really sure how to modify the back window section to work that way, I'll have to give it some thought over the next couple of days. I did remove the chrome strip and planned to make the window brackets to hold it in place.

Also, I did manage to get all the paint off the body and reprimed this afternoon. So I'm back to "ready for paint" when I return from my trip.

I haven't decided to add numbers, etc... or just stop with the blue stripes. I'm leaning towards adding numbers, and some minor sponsor decals.

You'll have to add numbers now because you are in the motorsports forum :evillol:
Nice car, you're certainly doing a very thorough job on the details.
Shame about the paint but you'll recover from that no problem at all.

robrex,
I'm not really sure how to modify the back window section to work that way, I'll have to give it some thought over the next couple of days. I did remove the chrome strip and planned to make the window brackets to hold it in place.

Also, I did manage to get all the paint off the body and reprimed this afternoon. So I'm back to "ready for paint" when I return from my trip.

You've already removed the chrome trim so now use some plastic strip to build up the window internal frame then thin out the window thickness on the sides until it fits. You can polish the clear plastic to remove the scratches. Here's a pick of mine, I hope this helps.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/67389DSCF0277.JPG

Rob.... that's a great looking car. I checked your other pics in your gallery. Great work...

Finally... repainted and this is more like what it should have looked like the first time I painted it!

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0806-med.jpg?5667

SHINY!!!! Can we have more pics of the shineness?

nice paint!

Never give up!

Never give up!

How did you know what I was thinking???? Last night was very frustrating!!! The hood wasn't fitting right, couldn't find reference pictures I needed, and overall I felt that I have taken on more than my skills will allow me to do at the level I want to do it... (I know... how you learn and improve is by challenging yourself) So, I kept at it anyway.

Wet sanded the white in preparation for the stripes, masked it off and painted the stripes. The stripes where painted with a couple light coats of Tamiya TS-15 Blue for a dark base and then 1 light coat of TS-50 Mica Blue to give it a small amount of metallic. Now it needs to be cleared and then a final polish. Now that the body is decent as far as the body work and paint I can concentrate on some other parts of the car.

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0810-med.jpg?4406

Stunning paintjob. The stripes are just beautiful! Very, very nice and crisp lines....!

looks verry good!! verry nice paint jobb!

That body looks awesome with the stripes added. :)

Beautiful, just beautiful................

Mike :sunglasse

Thanks everyone for the compliments and the encouragement...

Painted body with final clear, just needs to be polished now.

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0824-med.jpg?3850

Sweet!

Perfect!

Thanks for the compliments..

Now that the body is polished and I'm satisfied with the result I can move on to the interior and get some work done. I became obsessed with getting the paint decent and couldn't do anything else.. :screwy:

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0827-med.jpg?5324

Fantastic Paintjob!!!

finally an update... the interior is finished for the most part. Still need the dash guages which are separate on this kit and seat belts need to be added. Otherwise, I modified the dash by removing the radio and glove compartment, removed the molded in knobs and replaced them with filed down pin heads. Reomved the fire exstinguisher and replace it on the console with scratch made brackets. Added mounting plates for the back bars of the rollbar. Modified the door panels and scratched built the door handels and used black textured tape for the door panel insert. Used a stick pin for the gear shifter. Seems like a lot of work for such a simple looking interior.....

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0879-med.jpg?648

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0883-med.jpg?6508


Also, a quick pic of the Miura I've recently started. (I don't want to start a whole new in progress thread because I won't have time to keep it updated) The color is hard to photograph. It's darker than this in person but it does have some gold pearl in it and comes out very bright in photographs.... it will have gold trim and wheels and is also being built for ACME. No more pics of this build up till it's done and I'll post it in Street Cars section. (I know it's a bad picture plus it's not polished)

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0877-med.jpg?9073

Looks good.The interior looks really clean!

Everyone is either doing a Miura or a Focus these days.

I really like the look of those huge rear tyres! gonna be a real beast when its finished.

Forgot to mention the next step...
The chassis, mainly the front suspension. If you've ever built one of these revell mustang kits you know how simplified the front suspension is. It's all molded as one piece that mounts directly to the chassis then the wheels mount/snap to the suspension, wheels don't steer and solid backs on the wheels themselves with no brakes.

I cut mine into pieces, threw part of it away and rebuilt other parts to create a suspension that steers, removed the solid backs on the wheels and added front disc brakes that are visible through the wheel. Most of the work is done on this and just about ready to move to the back suspension.

Pics coming in a few days.....

It looks awesome so far! :)
The corrected interior is top notch. The additions/modifications look like they were part of the kit.

And the miura is hot. The cherry gold pearl is a great choice. Can't wait to see both done.

Now if we could only get a blue one built by someone we'd have a full rainbow of Miuras.

MR. CLEAN, that is a awesome paint job on the 'stang!! The Miura is going to be awesome!! Great work there Eric!!!!! Thanks for the tips on the Saleen!!!

Thanks guys.....

another update...

This is the new front suspension. As mentioned before the cross member, tie rod and wheel mounts were molded as one piece. The shocks/springs were the only separate pieces. I removed the molded on springs from the shocks and will add wire later to make new springs after I paint the shocks/struts. I cut the unit in to pieces and made it functional as far as turning left/right, added disc brakes, etc...

This is my first attempt at something like this so it's probably a little crude but it works for me and it's better than it was to start with.

EDIT: forgot to mention that you have to cut out the wheel backs to see the brakes. That's why the wheel on the left is upside down to show where the wheel back was removed.

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0955-med.jpg?4463

I need to get in here more often!! This is AWESOME:eek::eek: Beautiful craftsmanship!!

Wow you make all my stuff look like crap and I do a good job if I do say so myself :sunglasse

Wow you make all my stuff look like crap and I do a good job if I do say so myself :sunglasse

Wow... thanks for the compliment but all that really matters is if you're happy with your model when you're done.... then it's good enough. Believe me... I can easily find people that build models that make mine look like crap. Many of them are right here in this forum!!

It was a hard lesson to learn that if I spend all my time comparing my work to others I was only setting myself up for dissappointment. Now I build till I'm satisfied with it... not till I think someone else will be.

Finally, some more progress to report.

First, the rebuilt suspension. It looks like the orginal one piece unit, which I guess is a good thing, but the one piece unit was cut into pieces and rebuilt to be functional for left and right steering.
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0965-med.jpg?5460

The wheels had the backs cut out, the front had disc brakes added and the back will have drum brakes added when they get mounted to the car.
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0972-med.jpg?9400

The engine in it's initial stages of being built. Some detail wiring and plumbing will be added but not overkill. The oil filler tubes were made and added to the valve covers, the pins that stick out from that are for the ventilation hoses. Sorry for the bad pic...
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0969-med.jpg?9692

And a new shot of the interior. The dash panel had very little detail. The rings/bezels around the guages didn't exist at all. They are made from small diameter solder wire, wrapped around the ends of a file then flattened and glued in place. The whole thing was painted semi-gloss black then I scraped the paint off the rings leaving chrome rings around the guages.
http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0976-med.jpg?951

The engine and other areas of the car will eventually be given a light wash to bring out more of the details.........

oh my GOD. Great work man, the detail on the guages are amazing.

Hey Eric, are you going to have it done before the meeting? It is looking great!!

oh my GOD. Great work man, the detail on the gauges are amazing.

Yes, i have to remember that tip. The suspension looks great too.

Thanks everybody...
Dennis, It will be close. Either way I'll probably bring it.

Great job on that dash. This is truly an amazing build!

Eric,

You're doing a great job on this. Really nice work. Wish I could build em this way!!

Murray

Great work, I like the wood effect on the steering wheel.

Thanks for all the compliments...

...What are you talking about Murray? Your models and your work look great.

Here's a couple of test shots just to see what it's going to look like.
I need to work on bringing the back wheel in under the body a little but it's not really as bad as it looks in this picture. It's not attached to anything yet it's just sitting there.

I still have to paint the rest of the inside of the body black as well as a lot of other things to do.

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0981-med.jpg?4457

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0980-med.jpg?1067

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_0982-med.jpg?6434

Lookin good so far. I think the rear wheel looks fine where it is.

Looks good Eric, fantastic detail. Hope to see it at the meetin'.

Looks stunning! :sunglasse

Looking very nice!

well, i figured since you were keeping up with mine, the least i could do is go hunt yours down. lol. this is awesome work. can't wait to see the finished product

Nothings but good points so far ! Can't wait to see it completed.

Well, here's another update (last one before it's complete). This is a picture of the engine bay with some detailing complete, there's more to go. Will add the coil and wire, radiator hoses, the remaining oil circulation hoses and ventelation hoses that attach to the oil fillers, strut brace, radiator, brake cylinder, etc... so there is still a lot of work to do but it should go quick now.

The body also needs to have a lot of little details added like door handels, mirrors, decals.... so it might be a few more days to a week before it's done.

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_1131-med.jpg?5300

http://www.xpphotoalbum.com/data/3705/1108000_1130-med.jpg?1560

Looks great but why not use a holley carb ?

what a cool looking engine, can't wait to see it finally finished!

That engine bay is looking VERY nice! I can't wait to see it finished!

Perfect amount of detailing!

looks wonderfull!

Thanks everybody...

I didn't use a holly carb mostly because I wasn't that picky about it but also because once you get the velocity stack on it and everything else that goes in there it won't be as noticeable.