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Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 Convertible 1/16 from the Coupe AMT kit: the Indy 500 Pace Car


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On 11/07/2018 at 20:13, Olivier de St Raph said:

very curiously, there is not a single kit, at any scale, of this wonderful and legendary car:

 

In my internet researchs, I could find this Revell (Monogram reissue I think) kit at 1/24:

ooimme.png

 

As far as I know available only on ebay (24,95$ + 25,88$ international shipping...), this kit is probably quite old but it may give the opportunity to build the Convertible version at 1/24 without converting from a Coupe version. If some of you are interested...

I hope I will get soon my AMT 1/16 kit.

And tomorrow, rdv with Bernard and photo shoot (I hope it will be possible to do photos of the underbody), so more pics soon... 

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yes working slowly on the mefisto but working... 

 

i had to redo the whole chassis and all its accessories and parts etc....because this little devil perfectionist HANNES  :devil:( Mefisto is more merciful ) spotted a serious mistake and so i went down a deep dark rabit hole and redid the complete chassis, new dampers, springs etc. in my little corner....  actually i am grateful to Hannes  🙏

 

but i am emerging and now the totally new chassis is 99 % finished.

Once finished, i just need to assemble this chassis with the finished engine, body parts etc. which i finished long ago. 

Then only the wheel and chain are left really. i expect to finish by end september.

 

meanwhile... i am starting to work on a side and very important project of a beautiful car, about which i will soon post.

 

best to you

Sam

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17 hours ago, sharknose156 said:

i am starting to work on a side and very important project of a beautiful car, about which i will soon post.

I look forward to see this new project, and to your Mef progress too, Sam.

On my side, great new, I have got today the AMT 1/16 Coupe Mustang kit, and in addition, this morning, I could meet Bernard and his amazing Convertible 1965 Pony car. Of course, I made a lot of photos. So now it gets serious! ;)

I could confirm that the Coral Red of my post# 25 is very close from the one of his car (Rangoon Red). I will maybe just add a little bit of X-8 (yellow) to my mix.

I will come-back on the AMT kit for a more complete review, but I must say that it doesn't look bad. Of course, we are not at Tamiya current standards, but the quality looks much better than the Fiat 806 Italeri kit, without mentioning the accuracy...

More soon...

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I have organized all my photos in files (in french):

ay6XtD.png

 

If I open the file "Roues" (wheels), for example, I see this:

 

ZozWQg.png

 

We can see that there are several options for the wheels, the kit offers 2 ones:

 

I9B7z7.jpg

 

N.B: 1) I have just opened the box and made that photo to show the 2 options, but the parts have not yet been correctly prepared

2) I have not yet chosen the option I will use. Of course, I won't represent a stock car version, but it would be very possible, however to use the latter wheels with a classic body. I admit I don’t like very much the classic hubcaps, quite cheap (originally, the Ford Mustang was an « economical » car... )

3) it was a good idea from AMT to provide optional polystyren whitewall overlays (very difficult to apply white paint on rubber), but the photos I found show that they should be very partial and not at all total as the ones provided.

wjSfrc.png

 

4) here is below another option, not provided in the kit and quite frequent (it is among others the one present on Bernard's car):

QLZNMI.jpg

 

Personally, I like very much these rims, and they are a good compromise between the classic ones, a bit "cheap" and the quite big stock ones but I would have to scratch build them, a big challenge, and more, I am not sure they did exist in 1965. 

Conclusion : the decision must be taken by looking at 1965 Convertible Mustang equipped with either classic or stock rims. And indisputably, the latter give a dynamic look that fits well to the design of that Pony Car, like on this gorgeous blue GT. Notice that the AMT rims are very faithful to the original, just too bright (I will remove the Chrome and will paint them with probably the Super Metallic Chrome Silver SM06 on a black base):

oc7R9U.png

 

More, if you consider that my Chevy Bel Air Convertible 1957 is ever equipped with classic hubcaps (I had scratch built the 3. stars), you will understand that I shall probably use the stock  rims...

 

 

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The dimensions of Bernard's tyres are 225/60/14.

Let's check if the AMT stock tyre has the same ones or nearly so at 1/16:

1) Width: 225 mm : 16 = 14 mm. The AMT is 13,5 mm (a good surprise for me, who expected a too wide AMT stock tyre). 

2) Height of the tyre in % of the width: 0,6 x 225 = 135 mm.

135 : 16 = 8,43 mm and the AMT height of the sidewall is 8,73 mm. Here too, a good result, less than 5% different

3) 14 inches = 356 mm

356 : 16 = 22,25 mm and the AMT rim width is 25 mm. 

 

Conclusion: the AMT stock car tyres and rims are in accordance (or nearly so) with Bernard's ones, even if the rims are not the same. 

 

Edit conclusion: BIG PROBLEM: I had not checked, but AMT provides only 2 wide tyres for the rear wheels. A problem as I bought only 1 kit... Any suggestion welcome.... I can't imagine having wide wheels on the rear and narrow ones on the front!! The problem is that aftermarket parts are probably not frequent at 1/16...

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I have checked on both Spotmodel and Scale Auto Perfect sites, no car accessories for the 1/16 scale, but only for 1/12, 1/20 and 1/24. So I have 2 options:

- use the classic hubcaps, with the 3 point stars, and with the narrow tyres (default option). The only advantage of this option is that I would get a more authentic 1965 Mustang, like the one we could see in the movie "le gendarme de St Tropez" with Louis de Funès, first appearance of our car in a movie):

9VPM7e.jpg

 

czBioZ.jpg

 

- buy a second box of this AMT kit: this 2nd kit could be useful for my build, in case of trouble, but I deeply regret that AMT did not provide 4 wide tyres... 

I am gonna try, however, to see if it is possible to get these 2 additional tyres from AMT, by asking them friendly...

 

N.B: notice how the car seems to be small compared with the character (nevertheless rather small himself) on the first pic, I have read somewhere that the version seen on that movie, kind of preproduction, was smaller than the definitive one: "Le modèle qui apparaît dans le film est plus petit que celui qui sera construit dans les mois qui suivent." (Tendance Ouest)

 

 

 

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Thanks Ron for your help. Though, I have checked in the site for which you kindly put the link, and I couldn't find what I was looking for. 

At the moment, I am discovering small and small this kit and I begin my preparation by cleaning the main parts water and washing liquid. 

I recall I have not yet prepared the parts (remove the flashs and moulds lines).

I will not do a complete and boring review. Just a few comments and photos:

vRqgaX.jpg

R43Pxq.jpg

 

 

wjYdrH.jpg

gRxznt.jpg

 

AB1tZP.jpg

S0Rt1N.jpg

 

eqfKkI.jpg

qlZXkw.jpg

 

Conclusion: I just began to check some points, and I ever see that there will be a lot do if I want to get a quite convincing result!! There are for sure many other errors and approximants on this old kit.

Will I have the necessary skills for such a challenge?? It is obvious that many parts will have to be scratch built.

I also have to decide if the doors will be openable or not. In theory, the kit gives the possibility to open them, as of course the hood...

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You can have an idea of the basic side of such a kit just by looking at the instructions. Only 3 pages for an 1/16 car kit, we are far from the actual standards... And in the same time, it is the only way to build such a legendary car, and yet, by moving the Coupe into a Convertible! Definitely, the civilian modelers, especially for vintage models, are the poor parents in the modelers family... For me who also build military aircraft models, the difference is huge...

Sorry, I repeat myself, but impossible to understand that such a car has been completely forgotten by premium manufacturers! 

Well, it was my rant of the day. Now, only one thing to do, after the doubts, face the challenges...

 

b6rxSj.jpg

 

bXqkJq.jpg

 

P.S: I have just sent a message to Round2LLC, the actual owner of AMT, in which I ask if they could send me 2 more stock car tyres, and also 2 more wide rims (part 324 step 5) to go with. 

In addition, I have complained about the part 5 (step 12), that was damaged. I will keep you informed of the result of that request, but Round2LLC seems to be a real company.

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If AMT can't/won't supply replacement wheels and tyres could you not use the ones you have as masters and resin cast a set of wheels/tyres?

 

  Roger

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Oh yes, Roger, I could ask this to vontrips! (private joke for the Fiat 806 research and scratch followers and especially VT that I salute)

More seriously, I am quite optimistic about my request to Round2LLC.

But, if necessary, it is a good idea, indeed. My Fiat 806 has got such resin tyres, that VT made for me.

But I don’t know the recipe to make them...

 

Olivier

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Olivier,

That is an old kit, the standard of detail that we expect today is simply not there is it?

The Mustang in that film. Wiki says...

'Later, Cruchot discovers that his daughter and her boyfriend have stolen and crashed an expensive Mustang sports car into a ditch. Unbeknown to any of them, the car belongs to a gang of robbers who have stolen a Rembrandt painting, which is still in the trunk. Cruchot manages to get the car out, but realizes that the objects he threw out of the car to fix a puncture, including the painting, are valuable items'.

I agree, it does seem a bit small. Although making a replica does seem to be an awful lot of trouble to go to.

The fit of the trunk lid is not very good on the left.

teaserbox_56178188.jpg?t=1463675407

It doesn't look that big in this picture

Bon Chance with your build.

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Thanks John and Pete, for your encouragements!

Le gendarme de St Tropez is a very funny movie that I have in DVD and that I would like to see again. I recommend it to you, and not only for the Mustang! ;)

I am gonna ask Bernard to check some lenghts and widths, especially for the windscreen frame. On the photo above, I have carefully kept a wide portion of the roof, but I will have to decrease it partially...

 

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I have a big problem with my computer. I will have to take it to an Apple approved repairer (impossible to repair by phone). I will try to use my wife's one (like I do now) but probably won't post photos in the next days. I will take advantage to prepare all the parts for the build to come.

Though an important info: I saw on a YouTube video that the dimensions of the tires, when the same rims as provided in the kit were set, are a bit different at the front and at the back.

Look at the video at about 9'42, you will see... Though the tires provided in the kit for the front are too narrow imho: if I heard well the reseller in the video, they are 195 mm width on the front of the real car, so they should be 195 : 16= 12 mm width, while they are only 9 mm on the kit (the rear ones, we saw that above (post# 33) being nearly OK (13,5 mm). 

It will be impossible imho to get 12 mm width tires. But the difference between 12 and 13,5 (if I get other types from Round2LLC) is lower than between 9 and 12 (if I use the kit front tires).

So I go on thinking that the best choice is to set the same dimensions tires front and rear.

 

 

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The 2nd correction I made is on the windscreen tilting. The measures I made confirm the feeling I had: on the kit, the angle is 33°, instead of about 38°. I made the correction very easily, just by bending with care the thin plastic at this level... Now it is OK, 38°.

WGhhSg.png

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I have to deal with my wife to go on posting, using her computer, as mine is out for now...

I begin trials for parts that have a more or less Chrome aspect. For the rims, I carefully began with just 1 narrow rim (I have no news for now from Round2LLC :mellow:) while I should use the wide ones for the 4 wheels (see above):

lkxrsw.jpg

4zkE9y.jpg

7XsEzx.jpg

yjCsez.jpg

The kit is old, but the Chrome is nice. The problem is always the same: the attaching points leave marks that obviously  we can't leave. And after sanding, we get naked areas. How to manage this? Is there a solution to get the same (or nearly so) Chrome aspect, on the bumpers, fe? Trials to come and suggestions welcome...

R1g5BJ.jpg

 

Another problem, a bit more easy to solve, is the presence of moulding marks badly placed:

HWN71X.jpg

 

But for this, I use my home-made sanding tool, ever mentioned in the Missouri Armada P-51D build. This tool will be very useful too in order to finish the remove of the wrong kit's windscreen wipers (ever begun see the pics in the post# 46).

dba1p6.jpg

 

The sanding tool in action:

bNQ1u8.jpg

 

Here is the result: the marks have been completely removed:

cuhZ44.jpg

 

More soon, thanks for watching...

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Thick household bleach is far better for removing the chrome....and doesn't leave a residue....very cheap.

 

Regards the 'chrome' finish....'Molotow' liquid chrome is better/cheaper and has a more durable finish IMHO than Alclad.

 

Ron

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