Shelby Mustang GT 350H

[Spiny]

Anyone who's been down in the Group Build section will have already seen this one (so apologies for any duplication). It's one which has been on sale quite cheaply recently, Revell's 1966 Hertz rent-a-racer Mustang. There's not really a lot going on here, it's just been built straight out of the box. The build thread is here:

 

As I said, this one is built as Revell supply it, apart from some plasticard backing to the numberplates to give them a bit more body. It's not perfect, but perhaps because it's quite simple is one of my better builds. For a kit dating back over 30 years, this one is a good 'un - no real fitment issues and it builds up to a nice model with minimal extra effort. I know this is a bit of a heresey, but I'd almost go so far as to say that it's slightly better than a Tamiya kit of the same vintage, with the only challenges being the front valance (very small attachment points mean it keeps trying to slip until the glue dries) and a few minor issues with the front bumper. If you want a cheap (£16), not too complicated, kit and like the subject this one is well worth getting. It's also my first attempt with bare metal foil - I'm more impressed by the effect of the foil than I am with my execution but there's a few lessons were learned there for next time.

 

Onto the photos, and I'll start with the glamour shot (i.e. probably the best one I managed to get of it). I like the way that this one came out

 

 

That done, time for a quick tour around the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's was easier to see (and photograph) the engine before I fitted the bonnet in place, so this is probably the best pic I have of that:

 

 

Meanwhile, the interior turned out to be easier to get a decent shot of than most of the models I've built for some reason. Unfortunately, it also turned out that for this picture I was shooting in full-on Dustarama (c) !

 

 

And finally, a shot to show how I've improved. I wanted to do this car for the Mustang challenge as my first car on returning to the hobby was the 2006 Hertz Mustang, so this means I have the pair now. It also gives me an excuse to put the two of them together.

 

 

As ever, thanks for looking.

 

[Andy J]

Great work Spiny looks well smart 🙂👍

[Toftdale]

Another cracking build and I must admit I'm very envious of your photography skills, your glamour shoot looks fantastic 👏 

[81-er]

That's a really great looking model, I'll be happy if I can get mine looking half as good

 

James

[Kitkent]

The black and the chrome go really well together,it's doesn't look too blingy. That's a very smart looking car there. And they give you decals for the wheel centres? Chris.

[keefr22]

Really nice job Spiny the paintwork looks great! Have to agree about that first pic, glamourous indeed! 

 

Was hoping for a close up of the floor to see if it had holes for the removed roll cage....!!

 

Interesting then and now comparison in the last pic too!

 

Good work all round!

 

Keith

[Alan R]

I just gotta get a 'stang (or two ...) in my stash.

Nice build.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Spiny]

Thanks everyone, glad you like it.

 

21 hours ago, Toftdale said:

Another cracking build and I must admit I'm very envious of your photography skills, your glamour shoot looks fantastic 👏 

 

Not sure my photography is particularly special, but here's a pic I took a while ago of my setup:

 

 

The lights were about £4.99 each from Amazon, and with 3 dim levels you can get quite a decent adjustment of lighting effects. I would have preferred a narrower beam so you can get a more focussed light on the model, and they could maybe do with a bit better colour rendering although that will mainly affect red parts of the model. But what can you expect for a fiver?

 

The white background is an A2 sheet of paper from Hobbycraft (I have black for light coloured models too), which is clipped to the newspaper rack with either a G-clamp or the spring clamps as used here. A box file sits underneath the paper to lift it up to near camera level for the photos. The little mini-tripod is very useful as you can have some longer exposure times with this setup, although since I moved to this lighting setup exposure time is down to about 0.5-0,8 seconds. As for the pile of old magazines, these allow you to adjust the height of the tripod to get the desired angle for the shot. The 'glamour' shot was done by offsetting the magazines so the mini-tripod legs are at different angles allowing a slant on the camera. I have a full-on tripod which set to minimum setting gives you those higher angle shots.

 

As for the photo settings, the tripod helps keep things steady, and I always set the countdown timer to make sure there's no camera shake from me pressing the button. I'd also encourage the smallest possible aperture / highest f-number you can get to give the maximum depth of field. And because models tend by their nature not to be that big it's best to use the macro setting if you can. Hope that helps.

 

11 hours ago, Kitkent said:

The black and the chrome go really well together,it's doesn't look too blingy. That's a very smart looking car there. And they give you decals for the wheel centres? Chris.

 

Credit to Hertz for the colour scheme, but I agree that chrome always stands out well against black. And because the black is a monochrome it's rare for it to appear too showy. Well spotted on the decals in the wheel centres too - you're right that they do come with the kit.

[Toftdale]

26 minutes ago, Spiny said:

 Hope that helps.

Thanks Spiny, I'm sure it will and thanks for taking time to explain your setup.  I'm being to learn that photography is one of those things that at first glance seems so simple, however everytime I stray from the automatic settings I get more and more frustrated with my results 🙃 - Andy 

[JeroenS]

Very good result Spiny, and an excellent paint job as well!

[Spiny]

23 hours ago, Toftdale said:

 I'm being to learn that photography is one of those things that at first glance seems so simple, however everytime I stray from the automatic settings I get more and more frustrated with my results 🙃 - Andy 

 

That's the great thing about digital, you can take as many pics as you like to find out what works for you and what doesn't without it costing you anything (unlike the old days of film). If you can get a stand for you camera I would definitely recommend it as probably the most important thing in making it look less model-like is to get a good depth of field by setting the f-number (aperture) as high as you can go.

 

Of course, as you've found, you can still get decent results just by setting everything to automatic.

[stevehnz]

That has come up ever so well Spiny, I confess to having bought one myself after seeing your build. Its happy in the stash just now that I'll likely leave it there for a while, be a shame to tear it ways from new friends.

The new & old look really good together, I know which I like better though.

Steve.

[Spiny]

Glad to be inspiring you to help keep the economy afloat It's a surprisingly decent kit and shouldn't cause you too much grief when you get around to it.

 

[Liizio]

Black is a hard colour to get right, both when painting and photographing, but you certainly pulled both off! I have built the same kit back in the day, and I agree it's pretty nice. I had terrible fitment issues with decals on mine, but I see no evidence of similar problems with your build, congratulations!

[Spiny]

Best advice I can give with the decals is to use the setting solutions (I used Microset and Microsol on mine) and don't put pressure on the decals - add a drop of water if it feels like it's sticking. I had to add the solutions a couple of times for the tricky bits like the bonnet bulge and front/rear numberplate areas, but they did eventually settle down with minimal tearing. I think the key is to use minimal pressure and don't try to force it down - the hard part is remembering that when the decal isn't doing what you want it to do!

[moviedrone]

brilliant!