Tilly Masterson's '64 Convertible +++ Finished +++

[CliffB]

It's 1965, I'm 9 years old and I've just been to see my first 'grown-up' film at the cinema.  My eyes have been opened to a world of exotic locations, females and cars.  Things will never be the same again!

 

The film was 'Goldfinger' and it's still one of my all time favourites.

 

Of course, the most famous car in the film was James Bond's DB5, but Goldfinger was also the first mainstream film to feature Ford's brand new Mustang.  Originally it was to have been a gold coloured fastback, but availability issues led to Ford providing a convertible instead.

 

The Mustang was driven by a character called Tilly Masterson who we first meet in the Swiss Alp's Furka Pass, where she is attempting to take revenge on Auric Goldfinger (the baddie), for the murder of her sister Jill.  Jill had died from "skin asphixiation" after having been painted all over in gold paint by one of Goldfinger's henchman.  

 

James has followed Goldfinger to Switzerland and inadvertantly gets caught up in Tilly's assassination attempt.  This prompts him to introduce himself to Tilly in a most un-gentlemanly manner.  If you haven't seen this scene, here's a link to it.   Despite appearances, no Mustang's were harmed in the making of this film .

 

I'm going to recreate Tilly's '64 Convertible (or maybe that should be '64 1/2?), using this 1/32 kit from Aurora. 

 

 

The kit is pretty simple, but is typical of Aurora's early car kits (it was released in 1964), in having a multi-piece body.  The parts are very crisply moulded though and seem to fit together well.  Sadly, my second-hand example is missing one headlamp lens so I'll need to address that somehow.

 

 

The original car was painted Wimbledon White (which is quite creamy), and I've already found a Tamiya laquer paint which seems to fit the bill.

 

As an aside, I do like my car builds to have a British connection and in this case the link is Alan Mann Racing who supplied the Mustang and modified its suspension to better cope with the sharp curves of the Furka Pass.  To quote Wikipedia "Alan Mann Racing was a British motor racing team organised by Alan Mann (22 August 1936 – 21 March 2012), who was a part-time racing driver and team manager. The team ran a substantial part of the Ford works racing effort in Europe from 1964 to 1969, when it ceased operations. It was based in Byfleet, Surrey, near the Brooklands race circuit".

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andy J]

Another great choice looking forward to following your build 👍 

[TonyW]

Nice choice.

Not one I've ever built, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

 

[johnlambert]

Excellent choice of subject (Goldfinger is one of my favourite films), I didn't even know this kit existed.  If/when I can find a suitable 124/25 scale Mustang convertible I would build that in the same colour scheme as the film car.

[TimJ]

I haven't seen this kit before, I look forward to seeing how it goes together. 

[nearsightedjohn]

Wonderful subject and a very nostalgic kit for me to watch you build. I remember assembling a bunch of those old Aurora 1/32 sports car kits +50 yrs ago with the glue-on sides. So wish I still had all of them complete with my glue embossed finger prints all over the plastic! 
So what’s your thoughts on concealing that red polystyrene underneath the white? I’ve read primer and them silver sometimes works?

[CliffB]

Thank you @Andy J @TonyW  @johnlambert  @TimJ and @nearsightedjohn for your comments and interest .

 

This will be my first Aurora kit build, although I have got a couple more in my stash.  

 

 

I particularly like the Spitfire artwork - it reminds me so much of the sales brochures of the time.

 

My main concern with all of them is their lack of any internal wheel arch structure, which I'm sure will result in some unwelcome 'see-through' effects.  I'll be experimenting with the Mustang to see how I can mitigate this at minimal effort!

 

12 hours ago, nearsightedjohn said:

So what’s your thoughts on concealing that red polystyrene underneath the white? I’ve read primer and them silver sometimes works?

 

Hi John.  I haven't heard about this silver paint approach before.  To be honest, I've built a couple of red plastic kits before and have simply primed them using a couple of coats of white primer.  That seemed to work fine, even with a yellow top coat.   I think it should work OK with the Wimbledon White too.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

[johnlambert]

I'm intrigued by that Jaguar kit, given that the picture on the box is neither an XK120 not a roadster (It's an XK140 drophead coupé), as I'm sure you know.

[CliffB]

19 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

I'm intrigued by that Jaguar kit, given that the picture on the box is neither an XK120 not a roadster (It's an XK140 drophead coupé), as I'm sure you know.

 

You're quite right John.  The picture bears no relation to the plastic, which does indeed represent an XK120 Roadster.  The kit's also got enclosed rear wheels (which in turn are pressed steel rather than spoked), and it's RHD!

 

Cheers

[johnlambert]

1 minute ago, CliffB said:

 

You're quite right John.  The picture bears no relation to the plastic, which does indeed represent an XK120 Roadster.  The kit's also got enclosed rear wheels (which in turn are pressed steel rather than spoked), and it's RHD!

 

Cheers

Thanks Cliff, that's interesting to know.  It's also a bit of a shame as I'd quite like a kit of an XK140 or 150.

[TonyW]

12 hours ago, nearsightedjohn said:

Wonderful subject and a very nostalgic kit for me to watch you build. I remember assembling a bunch of those old Aurora 1/32 sports car kits +50 yrs ago with the glue-on sides. So wish I still had all of them complete with my glue embossed finger prints all over the plastic! 
So what’s your thoughts on concealing that red polystyrene underneath the white? I’ve read primer and them silver sometimes works?

 

Red is a swine to cover. Repainting full size cars shot with cellulose based paints, the only way short of stripping all the red off, to avoid possible bleed through, was to shoot a coat of black over the red. 

[CliffB]

I really should be getting on with the two other builds that chronologically take priority over this one but....

Caught up in everyone else's enthusiasm I thought I'd make a small start on my Mustang.

 

The instructions recommend that you commence by fixing the cockpit tub to floor pan. This makes sense, as you then have a fixed structure to which you can add the body panels.

 

 

Both parts are quite nicely moulded, with just a prominent ejector pin mark on the rear deck to spoil things.

Underneath there's not much happening, but that's no great surprise or problem.

 

 

Other things that I've now noticed include some handy lap-belts.

 

 

And a rather predictable registration number (I think there must have been an unwritten law that obliged kit manufacturers do this back in the '60s ). 

This will of course be replaced by Tilly's reg in due course 

 

 

I'll leave things to dry overnight and then hopefully get the two main side panels on in the morning.

 

Cheers

 

 

[CliffB]

Despite my best intentions, it's taken me a month to do a little more on my Mustang.

 

I started by adding some internal structure to the rear wheel arches.  No attempt at accuracy, just something to stop see-through.

 

 

Then on with the side panels.  The quality of these 57 year old Aurora mouldings is superb.

 

 

Having filled the ejector pin mark on the rear deck, it then dawned on me that it would in fact be covered by the folded roof!

 

Underneath, there's not much happening, so this will be the last time that you see it.

 

 

Just playing around, I tried fitting the rear panel.  It clipped into place beautifully, with just a slight gap along its top edge.  Things like the light surrounds are going to be much easier to paint with the panel off the car, so I think I will keep the rear panel separate until after it and the bodywork have been painted.

 

 

Less good are the wheels.  The inserts are of the correct (really ugly?) style, but lack any spinners.  Accordingly, I've ordered a set of aftermarket spinners.  The tyres are poor too, being made from a hard, waxy plastic (maybe a high density polythene?), and having an OTT tread pattern on their edges.  I will somehow need to add white walls to these tyres and I'm not sure how well their plastic will take paint....

 

 

Cheers

 

 

[Kitkent]

Looking good! I too was unaware of this kit,though I do remember making their same sscale Ferrari,and not very well. Just an idea for painting,I can recommend using a pink spray primer first,then a white primer to cover the pink. Good luck,Chris.

[roginoz]

I've had success painting that horrible polythene [?] by first painting a coat of white glue over it. Might take a few coats as it does tend to pool.

 

Don't know how that will work on your tyres as you will be looking for a smooth surface but it's worked ok on Italeri motorbike seats where a smooth finish is not essential.

HTH

 

Rog

[CliffB]

1 hour ago, Kitkent said:

Looking good! I too was unaware of this kit,though I do remember making their same sscale Ferrari,and not very well. Just an idea for painting,I can recommend using a pink spray primer first,then a white primer to cover the pink. Good luck,Chris.

 

Thanks Chris.  I was unaware of this kit too, until this Group Build prompted me to search for 1/32 Mustang kits on Scalemates.  They're not easy to find (mine came from the US), so not cheap either.  Nevertheless, I'm hoping that it will make a nice addition to my fledgling 1/32 car collection 🤞🏼.

 

1 hour ago, roginoz said:

I've had success painting that horrible polythene [?] by first painting a coat of white glue over it. Might take a few coats as it does tend to pool.

 

 

 

Thanks Rog.  Now you mention it, I seem to remember similar advice for painting those boxes of Airfix OO/HO figures.

Luckily for me, I've just remembered that I have a set of Airfix Lotus Cortina wheels in my spares box.  It looks like, with a bit of adjustment, they should be OK for the Mustang and will be a lot easier to work with than the kit's tyres.

 

 

Cheers

[CliffB]

The clock's ticking, so it's about time that I got back onto this Mustang build.

 

Before I can finish assembling the bodywork, I'll need to fit the dashboard.  This in turn means that I should probably paint the interior now.

I've made a start by tidying up all the bits (including the folded roof, which will also be painted red).

 

The steering wheel comes attached to its column, but for some reason the wheel is moulded as if it were turned slightly,  To correct this, I've separated the two elements and added a spigot to the end of the column so that I can more easily re-fit the wheel at the end of the build.

 

 

My next job will be to select a suitable red colour from my random collection of old paints 

 

Cheers

 

 

[mustang1989]

Looks like this is coming together nicely so far. I've gotta say....at least it doesn't have any pin marks on the floor board. Detail seems to be pretty dang good for a car kit this small. 

[CliffB]

12 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

Looks like this is coming together nicely so far. I've gotta say....at least it doesn't have any pin marks on the floor board.

 

Thanks @mustang1989.  In fact I do have ejector pin marks on the floor - four in fact!  You can just see one in the previous photo (at the 12 o'clock position).  Thankfully, they're hardly visible, so I'm leaving them alone 

 

Meanwhile, I'm starting to wonder why I'm bothering to paint this kit.  Here's the main colour applied in the cockpit.  Tamiya XF-7 for the upholstery, Revell 36 for the carpets.  Satin finish for the upholstery, matt finish for the carpets.

 

To be honest, the final result doesn't look any different to the original red plastic 

 

 

Just out of interest, does anyone know anything about the centre console?  I've seen a few pictures of the real thing on the web and they're all on cars with auto boxes.  My kit's definitely a manual shifter though, so I was just wondering whether there was a problem here?

 

Cheers

[vppelt68]

8 minutes ago, CliffB said:

My kit's definitely a manual shifter though, so I was just wondering whether there was a problem here?

 

Problem only for American drivers - they can't drive one  

[CliffB]

2 hours ago, vppelt68 said:

 

Problem only for American drivers - they can't drive one  

 

I'd best not mention the automatic Cooper S sitting in my garage then (it's sacrilege, I know)  

[vppelt68]

31 minutes ago, CliffB said:

 

I'd best not mention the automatic Cooper S sitting in my garage then (it's sacrilege, I know)  

I have an automatic too...

[Stef N.]

You should be ok on the gear shifter Cliff. One I was working from had a stick and console, one just had a stick.

 

 

 

 

[mustang1989]

15 hours ago, vppelt68 said:

 

Problem only for American drivers - they can't drive one  

 

Ay Ay AY!!!! Cmon now!!! My last two cars had three pedals down there ya know.  Not to mention the more rare tilt away column. That used to freak people out when I'd tilt it away like that when I got out of the car. lol 

 

Car #2 Interior:

 

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by mustang1989

[CliffB]

11 hours ago, Stef N. said:

You should be ok on the gear shifter Cliff. One I was working from had a stick and console, one just had a stick.

 

 

Thanks for the photos Stef .  Here are a couple of mine, to show what I've actually ended up with!

 

 

 

As you can see, it's not a perfect representation but does at least have some basis in reality.  Unfortunately the front seats are rather small, which is a real pity .

 

The kit is devoid of any door details such as winders etc., and I'd also like to add some more shiny metalwork (in particular to the seats and kick plates).  I'm going to leave such non-essential 'extras' until the end of the build though, just in case I run out of time.  I'm determined to get a second convertible in the Gallery, one way or another!

 

Cheers