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

[Eric Cole]

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....

[geofroley]

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

[CADguy]

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?

[Eric Cole]

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.

[StephenDeli]

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.

[Eric Cole]

Originally Posted by StephenDeli

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.

[Veyron]

Looking good! One of my favorite Stang's!

[StephenDeli]

Originally Posted by mach1_2003

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!

[Eric Cole]

"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?????

[robrex]

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!

[Eric Cole]

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.

[RallyRaider]

Originally Posted by mach1_2003

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
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]

Originally Posted by mach1_2003

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.

[Eric Cole]

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

[Eric Cole]

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