Stalled Progress Thread - Monogram Mustang GTP

[Layla's Keeper]

For those unfamiliar with IMSA GTP cars, they're the angry little brothers of the Le Mans Group C cars. In the beginning, they were mostly much modified production cars and small chassis shop experimentals. But by the early 80's already Ford and Jaguar had massive factory presence. The Ford presence was this car, powered by a turbocharged DOHC 2.3L four-cylinder and bearing the notable distinction of being the single most successful front engined GTP car ever.



The kit went together pretty well, and was pretty close to being done. The worst of the fit is the body to chassis plate fit. As you'll see in the pics, it's not 100% dead on, and it needs a bit of glue at the back bodywork to hold everything square in place. Otherwise, really nice kit of a really neat subject.





The engine in the kit was a pretty neat build. The detail is really limited to what you'd see on the real car provided you don't lift off the body, but the engraving is so good it looks like there's more than there is. The whole of the injection system, the intercooler piping, the cam cover, and the massive exhaust heat shield were all one big chrome piece that I used some washes and metalizers to paint detail. I'm more than happy with the results.





Here you can see just how simple the kit is underneath that massive body. The fiberglass color is a custom mix of different Testors colors, mostly sand & orange.



Now, as for why I call this a "stalled progress" thread. Well, my bench is in the basement near a window by the driveway (for venting when I spray lacquers). Unfortunately the window leaked....

...while mom was hosing down the driveway...

...onto my decals....



So, in the meantime, I'm trying to find new decals. There were two versions of the kit. This one, and one of the 7-Eleven sponsored team car. Honestly, I'd like to build the 7-Eleven car more (cooler paint scheme, although the Ford car was driven by Cleveland native and Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal). Either way, I want to get this thing painted and done, because it's too cool.

The 7-Eleven car.




Here's a pic of the 1:1 cars (both the 7-Eleven and the Ford car) in a logjam of IMSA traffic at Laguna Seca. Pretty cool for 1984, huh?

[scaleracecars]

You might want to try ther decals. Wipe them off with a small bit of bleach in water then try applying them as normal. Just because a decal gets wet does not mean it is bad. On the other hand some of these kits had decals that went bad on their own. I had one that when the decals came off of the paper had a crud on the back that turned out to be the glue. It had hardened into a sludge that would not dissolve in water. I ended up painting most of it.
David

[Layla's Keeper]

Well, it's not that the decals got wet that bugs me. That's no problem (had some Revell Trans-Am Camaro decals that got wet and they went on all right) it's that there's also mud on the decals.

But I'll definitely try the bleach trick. Like I said, I want to finish this one.

[RallyRaider]

A damn shame about the decals. Hopefully you can salvage them or find a replacement. Do Monogram have a parts replacement system? I wouldn't even know if they are still in business...

[Layla's Keeper]

Monogram is a part of Revell (and in fact is the label they release limited edition reissues under, save for the Selected Subjects Production collectors series).

Unfortunately, this kit was an SSP reissue from 1996. I could've got decals then, but now there's no chance of getting them from Revell.

[Zurbert82]

I just bought the 7-11 GTP for 10 bucks, nice to see your build up of a pretty cool looking car. Too bad about the decals though.. I just did a search on google and found these http://pattos.tripod.com/decalsf-o.html - although I believe they're from Australia. Good luck!

[Layla's Keeper]

Thanks a TON Zurbert. I'll definitely give those guys a try.

[RallyRaider]

Err, beware Patto’s decals. They are not really up to standard for our purposes, being designed more for slot cars that move quickly! He uses an ALPs and doesn't really take the time and care to get the best from it. He is okay for basic stuff, like roundels and numbers but anything with any detail is a waste of money. There is a thread or two about his decals in the main modelling forum.

[Zurbert82]

Oops, my bad. I wish I knew that ahead of time. There's got to be another aftermarket source for that GTP though!

[hueb_s]

Originally Posted by Layla's Keeper

Thanks a TON Zurbert. I'll definitely give those guys a try.

I've build a car with Patto's decal. See the Peugeot 905 on my website...
Please be aware to order the SUPER-QUALITY decals option and not ordinary one (like I did).

Also, the correct URL is http://members.optusnet.com.au/pattosplace/home.html

And, OOPS, he will CLOSE DOWN on 1st Oct.!!!

[Cychalen]

WOW! That's a neat car.
Too bad about the decals. Hope you find some replacement.

[Spitfire7]

Shame about the decals, looks like it will be good if you can finish it though.