'65 Shelby GT350, '67 GT390, '68 Shelby GT500, '69 Boss 429

[Six97s]

Let's start with plan A.  Convert the recent Revell '69 Boss 302 into a Boss 429.  Differences on the real cars:

 

• The engine, obviously
• Boss 302 had no quarter panel scoops or badges on the roof; Boss 429 had both
• The Boss 429 had the front suspension towers moved outboard to accommodate the wider engine, along with relocated control arms
• The Boss 429 had a huge hood scoop feeding fresh air to the engine

 

How to address these on the model:

 

• The only 1/25 Boss 429 I have is in a JoHan Torino stock car, so I will see about copying that in resin
• I have an older Revell Mach 1 body that has the scoops, so I can either use that, or graft in the scoops into the Boss302, which (incorrectly) has depressions for the badges and they're still on the chrome ,sprue.
• Because it's based on the old 1/24 Monogram '70 Boss 429 patterns, it already has the engine bay mods
• I'll have to make a scoop, but that shouldn't be too hard compared with fixing the body problems...

 

Because it's based on the old Monogram tooling, the body has some proportion problems.   Here's a comparison of (left to right) the Revell Mach 1 released in the late '80s, the "corrected" current issue Boss 302 and the old AMT annual kit from 1969.   The Revell grille is too tall and the first version had the inner headlights way higher than the outboard ones.   The latest Boss 302 version is better, but still oddly proportioned with the front end bowed outwards and wider at the top.

 

 

From the side, the Revell body is too deep below the beltline and gets fatter towards the rear.   The rear quarter windows are the wrong shape, the wheel arches are too square - more obvious in person - and the crease along the body should be angled front to back more than it is (the AMT body exaggerates this a bit). 

 

Revell top, AMT bottom.

 

 

So, the plan is to use the AMT body as a reference and attempt to get the Revell kit looking something like...  if that proves to be beyond me, I have an AMT '67 GT which I'll be building mostly OOB, but using the axle from the Revell Mach 1, because the AMT one is too small, and a big block FE engine from the parts box.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by Six97s

[Andy J]

Yet another cracking build to follow 👏 👍 

[Six97s]

Going ahead with the Mach 1 body, since it already has the scoops and the old US plastic is more rigid than the Chinese stuff. 

 

 

Taking measurements from profile photos of the real thing, the body from sill to beltline makes up near as damn it 63% of the total height of the body.  The Revell and AMT bodies agree on the height of the roof above the beltline, so working from that measurement, 2mm has to come out of the lower body.  That should also put the crease in about the right place relative to the sill.  Lastly, the sills should be parallel with the door lines instead of getting deeper towards the rear.

 

It'll get worse before it gets better... I've sanded the sills parallel with the bottom of the doors, so that's dealt with the wedge problem.  Once this is back together, the front wheel arches will have to be raised, which I can then use a reference for reworking the front end to get rid of the sad eyed, droopy appearance. I hope.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by Six97s

[Six97s]

Long straight cuts have never been my forte... that done, now we can see the rear overhang also needs to be sectioned by the same amount, but this time with a pie cut so it doesn't kick up as steeply.

 

 

Once that's had a chance to set, I'll fill in the gaps, reshape the wheel arches and tackle the rear quarter windows.

Edited July 10, 2021 by Six97s

[TonyW]

That sectioning has improved the proportions quite a bit.

I'll be following this thread very carefully.

[Six97s]

Thanks.  It always looked a bit dumpy, but it took me a while to work out how to go about fixing it.   I'm still scratching my head over the Revell '70 Cuda,that one is much worse.  🙄

 

Last one for today.   I slapped some Milliput on it, so  that'll need a day or so to go off.  Sloppy work, but this is far from the finished article... 

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by Six97s

[Pete in Lincs]

How could they get it so wrong? Some brave cutting! 

[Six97s]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

How could they get it so wrong? Some brave cutting! 

 

Working from photos at odd angles?  Who knows, but it's not the worst proportioned thing to come from Monogram.   The old 1/24 '69 Camaro Z/28 and '57 Chevy were almost cartoonish.  That said, the new Revell-Monogram company have dropped the ball enough times.  Three different '70/'71 Cuda kits and none of them looks right. 🙄

[Six97s]

Moving on to the interior for now, it needs to be cut down the same amount as the body (who'd have thought?) but also needs some corrections.   It still has the Shelby GT500 interior from the first release, so the console has extra toggle switches, a pleated cover on the storage compartment, and gauges instead of an ashtray.  This is easier to fix with the floor separated, but of course I forgot to make new compartment cover before I glued it back together.  🤬

 

 

The roll bar mounts also have to go - they were cut out and patched with scrap plastic.

 

 

Having sectioned it, it then wouldn't fit the chassis, so I had to relieve the inner faces of the rear wheel arches and the extremities of the rear seat area to allow it to drop down.  Now back to the filling and sanding on the body...

Edited July 15, 2021 by Six97s

[Six97s]

Rough as... but by the time it's been filled and sanded, then become a sea of black, it'll do.  Continuing with the knock-on effects, the dash no longer fits, or rather, the body doesn't fit with the dash in place, so that needs trimming next.

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Six97s

[Spiny]

I think this certainly qualifies as making work for yourself! I'm sure once it's complete you'll be glad you did all this though.

[Six97s]

I know.   I could have just built the '67 I already had, but I'm happier cutting things up.

[CliffB]

I'm not normally one for fly-on-the-wall medical documentaries, but I'm quite enjoying watching this surgery 

[Six97s]

I'm also throwing red primer around.   Test fitting the chassis revealed another problem:  the fuel tank is now fouling the rear valance, so the chassis is about 0.080" too far forward.  The quick and dirty fix would be to lop off the back end of the tank,which would end up hidden by the valance, but as it's also apparently hanging down too far, it'll get sectioned the same amount as the body and the interior.

 

 

I've roughed in the new wheel arches, but those need a couple more rounds of filling and sanding, and I have to make new lips on the front.  I'll probably leave that until I've reworked the side crease (needs to finish higher at the front) and reprofiled the fenders to lose that splayed out effect.  The front wheel arches were rasied enough that the original flare is gone.  The top of the rear arches is now correct, but the leading edge needs filling in a little.  I also made a template of the side window opening on the AMT body, so I could begin to correct the rear quarter windows.

 

 

A comparison with the kit body. There's still a lot to do to tidy this up, but overall I think the shape looks a bit better.

 

[Six97s]

Prompted by @Mike Dean's thread, I dug out my old Shelby for a once over, then I figured I might as well take it apart (by which time it should meet the 25% rule) and give it a quick refresh.   I built this when I was in my teens, from the '80s AMT/Ertl release .  Originally brush painted red, it seems to have been sprayed black later - I have no recollection of doing that, but apparently it went well enough that it was stripped, partially dismantled and put away for ~30 years.

 

 

I knew enough to cut out the rounded inner wings and replace them, but I didn't know at the time that the notches were only on Boss 429s from the shock towers being moved out.  It's missing the engine, the stock wheels and I doubt I have the unused stripes in my decal stash, so I guess it will end up a semi-custom GT500.

[vppelt68]

Yes, you definitely got more than 75% to do before this is finished (again), so let's welcome the barn find in here too . V-P

[Six97s]

Hmm...

 

 

[TonyW]

A very interesting couple of pictures. 

 

The hood scoop openings might reshape by thinning down the inside upper edge. The scoop under the bumper probably won't show from most angles but reshaping looks easy enough. Raising the bumper a bit might help?

Leaning in the main bit is going to be a bit of a juggling match! There's a lot of different curves and angles going on there. 

 

It seems that 'correcting' one bit is going to throw the bit next to it out!

 

I'm pulling up a comfy chair to follow this thread...

 

 

[vppelt68]

What @TonyW said and I agree especially with raising the bumper. That might alter read: improve the looks considerably.

[Six97s]

I'll have another look when Mr Muscle's finished with it, but it seems to me the headlamps are too high.   The top of the lens should be close to level with the side crease, which wraps around and fairs into the top of the grille shell.   That fillet is missing on the kit, which has a sharper transition.  In profile, the bumper looks about right relative to the side marker and the wheelarch, but the headlamps are definitely high.

 

I have a plan:

 

1. fill the headlamp holes and reshape the whole headlamp/grille area

2. extend the bottom of the fenders and thin the valance to even out the mismatch

3. make the grill fit the new opening

4. redrill headlamp holes and let in chromed '32 Ford buckets and clear lenses.  I think that'll replicate the appearance of the thin chrome rings.

 

[Mike Dean]

Now I love a restoration, and actively seek out glue bombs and badly part started kits, just to give them a new lease of life, but the restoration of this '68 Shelby is going to be a real test! Anything stashed away for 30 years deserves another chance. This one has defintely got my attention.

 

If you want the red cill stripes from my kit, you can have them.

[Six97s]

It will certainly be a test, but it was sitting in a box, in pieces, so I don't have much to lose.  Three applications of Mr Muscle later, this is as good as it gets.  I'm not messing about with brake fluid.

 

 

I imported the frontal views into my graphics program scaled them to the width of the model.  I'm well aware it's not 100% accurate for many reasons, but it's good enough for this.  The measurements suggested that the upper lip of the grille is 4mm too wide, so I glued in some scrap to set out the new opening.  I also cut through the top of the grille surround and bent it down to bring it level with the side crease, but I can see now the whole thing has to be removed and refitted lower, so that's the next job.

 

Sloppy progress photos follow...

 

 

The rough cut disc shows the new headlamp location; the other side hasn't been touched yet.  There's still a lot to do, so don't judge it too harshly yet.  😑

 

 

[Six97s]

14 hours ago, Mike Dean said:

If you want the red cill stripes from my kit, you can have them.

 

Thanks for the offer, I might just leave the stripes - if I get it finished.   I'm not sure what they were thinking with the red stripes - none had red ones!  They used blue stripes on white, black on yellow, and white on everything else.  I could print black stripes, but I'm not that struck on yellow.  🙄

[mustang1989]

You can count me in on the list of followers dude. Watching the magic unfold.......................

[Six97s]

Need a break from filling and sanding, so on to the '67.   Mostly OOB, but I'm dropping in a big block, donated by an AMT '67 Mercury Cyclone.   I toyed with making it a GTA, but that would mean reworking the console and making/modifying the stripes, so to keep it simple, I used the toploader four speed.  

 

Here's the new engine with the small block from the kit.  The kit engine seems to patterned off a 1964/65 small black - it has the fuel filter on the bottom of fuel pump and a T10 four speed instead of a top loader, neither of which is correct for 1967.  🤔  That still doesn't explain why they omitted the oil filter...