'76 Ford Torino

[JeroenS]

Hi all, it's been a while since I had a WIP going in this part of the forum, I've been working on my collection of Benz trucks over in Revell Classic GB. The plan is to do 3 of them, I've built 2 of them and I'm currently scratch building a low loader for number 2 build. The trailer is nearing completion and that's when I always get a little bogged down on what details to add. I'm also not really looking forward to painting it as it's huge, around 45 centimeters in length. So, there has been some loss of mojo over the past week or so. 

 

I really felt like doing a nice, quick build to get some energy back into building stuff. I've been binging Vice Grip Garage on Youtube so that gave me the idea of pulling Revell's '76 Torino from the stash. 

 

It's a well known kit of course, and there are some really nice builds on this forum already. 

 

 

Now, I never watched Starsky and Hutch as a kid, don't know when it was on here actually. But, my daughter and I like the Clint Eastwood movie with the Torino in it, so she got me this kit for Christmas, or maybe a birthday a couple of years ago. The Torino from the movie is a '72 model and looks nothing like this one but it's the closest thing and anyway it was a really good present. I decided that if I ever built it, I would make it sort of look like the one Clint was driving. I even bought a can of British Green for it at some point. 

 

 

Having recently seen 9876 episodes (See what I did there? People who follow that channel will) of VGG I think my Torino will be a tad less well maintained than Clint's ride. 

 

The body shell actually looks really good, just some sharp edges where the horizontal panels meet the vertical ones. A little bit of sanding and that's it. 

 

 

It's a pretty basic kit and that's also why I chose it, like I said this will be quick. I already dechromed the chrome sprue, the stuff came off in just a couple of minutes in some bleach. 

 

 

I'm not going to do much about the interior. 

 

Only a couple of parts for engine and chassis. 

 

 

I'll have to see what the engine looks like assembled, before deciding on hosing and wiring. Maybe, maybe not. The hood can be opened so it might be fun to have something to see.  

 

OK. time to dig in. 

 

[Vesa Jussila]

I will follow this. I was thinking building same kit as a Le Man's racer.

[JeroenS]

So let's have tonight's haul. 

 

There's wheels. The rears are wider than the front tyres. 

 

 

Interior tub, glued. 

 

 

Chassis, completed. This will all be one colour: dirty. 

 

 

Engine done. This will also be dirty, greasy and whatnot. 

 

 

There should at least be spark plug cables (lightning hoses according to Derek from VGG). I will also fashion some brackets for the alternator and for what I guess is the power steering pump. They're just suspended in mid air which is always a silly sight I think. 

[Anteater]

Liking this. It was a toss-up between brown or green when I made my hulking old shed. I went brown so I look forward to the green-ness. Perhaps a groovy matching green interior?  

[JeroenS]

9 hours ago, Anteater said:

Liking this. It was a toss-up between brown or green when I made my hulking old shed. I went brown so I look forward to the green-ness. Perhaps a groovy matching green interior?  

I was thinking some brownish colour for the interior. But some terrible light green could be something as well. 

[keefr22]

3 hours ago, JeroenS said:

But some terrible light green could be something as well. 

 

Go for that Jeroen, sounds lovely....!!

 

K

[JeroenS]

22 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Go for that Jeroen, sounds lovely....!!

 

K

Oh man, first I'll have to cover that ghastly red with a bucketload of primer

[JeroenS]

Progress in the paint department. I sanded all the edges yesterday and wet sanded the entire body to eliminate the scratches I made and here she is, all primed up nicely in Mr Surfacer Black 1500. That looks way better. That stuff covers really well but it still took a bit of paint. 

 

 

Primed a couple of other parts as well. 

 

 

And the former chrome plated parts got a coat of Aclad Gloss base in preparation for Greenstuffworld Chrome. 

 

 

Chassis was primed in grey to make sure I covered all the black. Then painted Semi Gloss Black. 

 

 

Lastly, I went outside with the British Green and painted the body and hood. 

 

 

It had been a while since I rattle-canned anything and I'm actually quite happy with this. Still going to go to town on this rig anyway, but at least it looked nice at some point 🙂 

 

I did find one thing I don't much like at all by the way, and that is that this kit has moulded on wipers.... really? Yes. 

 

Can you see them? Maybe if you look closely. 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by JeroenS
Added wiper pic

[keefr22]

That's looking great Jeroen, very nice! And I have to say that I actually quite like the look of those wipers - I find them a real pain as I always seem to get glue on the windscreen or paintwork when attaching them. And don't even mention photo etch ones....!! 🤣

 

Keith

[Vesa Jussila]

Paint look's good. I never learn to use rattle-cans. 

[dbostream]

At least the wipers and windshield are not one piece that is even worse imo.

[JeroenS]

1 hour ago, dbostream said:

At least the wipers and windshield are not one piece that is even worse imo.

That is very true! I think with this car, the wipers are hidden under the hood / bonnet anyway. But they could have moulded them just a tad bigger, I don't know how painting these will turn out.

[PattheCat]

Such painting with a rattle can? I'd like to get such a flawless result with  my airbrush.

A pleasure to watch one of your builds, as usual.

 

Cheers.

Pat.

[Spiny]

That's looking good, I would say it will polish up nicely but I know that's not the route you're going down with this one

 

I wouldn't bother too much about the wipers either, they won't look so bad once you paint them and at least you won't have the issue of the wiper sticking up in the air because the kit manufacturer didn't put a bend in them to suit the windscreen.

[Anteater]

Don't worry about the wipers, they are invisible when the bonnet is on. 

[JeroenS]

Got the interior painted. I went with Cockpit Green, then tried to add some sort of fading using Sky and a bit of White. Hardly visible, of course. 

 

 

Looks pretty snazzy with the British Green. 

 

 

I'll mix some darker green for the interior, headrests, armrests maybe, and the top of the dash. Sort of a two tone job, I saw a picture of it somewhere. 

 

Also, chromed all the chrome. 

 

 

The Greenstuffworld is so easy to spray, this is just 2 light passes. It flows beautifully. 

 

 

Once dry, which is really fast, it's super sturdy too. I can put the complete exterior together and get cracking on it. But first, I'll see if I can spice up the engine and the engine bay. 

[Fnick]

Lovely colour for the interior. And yes I agree with you the airbrush greenstuffworld chrome is amazing. Still getting to grips with the brush on version though...

 

Nick

[JeroenS]

7 minutes ago, Fnick said:

Lovely colour for the interior. And yes I agree with you the airbrush greenstuffworld chrome is amazing. Still getting to grips with the brush on version though...

 

Nick

Thanks Nick. I've found that with the brush on version, you don't brush so much as just dab the part. Load up the brush really well, then let it flow off it, the paint will level out by itself. 

[JeroenS]

Quickly painted up the engine. Just to have some sort of "original" colour underneath the grime and dirt. Apparently, Ford engines were blue. This blue? Of course not, it's just Vallejo Flat Blue. I didn't exactly go out of my way to colour match this thing. 

 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

Agreed on the interior colour - looks great!

 

48 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

This blue? Of course not

 

Looks pretty close to Zero paints interpretation of it to me

 

https://www.zero-paints.com/Ford_and_GM_Blue_Engine_Paint_30ml--product--7621.html

 

Keith

[JeroenS]

7 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

Agreed on the interior colour - looks great!

 

 

Looks pretty close to Zero paints interpretation of it to me

 

https://www.zero-paints.com/Ford_and_GM_Blue_Engine_Paint_30ml--product--7621.html

 

Keith

You're right, it's really close! Happy accidents ..

[JeroenS]

I dry fitted the engine, it's a very tight fit by the way. I had already made some modifications ie cut down the chassis to be able to bring that engine in and out more than once. 

 

 

There are only 2 parts left to add, the smaller is the master brake cylinder, the larger, I think, is the heating system, could even be the AC unit. There's an episode of Vice Grip Garage where Derek revives a Torino Elite and it has this unit in there, with hoses running to an AC pump on the engine, but of course Revell did not supply that. So we'll call it just the heater for now. In other builds on this forum it has already been established that the engine is more fictional than real so I'm not going to worry. @Anteater did some nice work on his Torino. 

 

In that front left corner (lower right in the picture) was a moulded on, almost 2D, ignition coil or something which I took off. I'll replace that with something more 3D. I'll put in those 2 other parts, do some masking on the car and spray the engine bay black for starters. 

 

In Anteater's build I also saw mentioned that the stance of the rear is quite high, had I remembered that from his build I would have done something about that before glueing it together, too late now... Maybe I'll just glue in the wheels a little higher, I'm not one for turning over builds when they're in my cabinet anyway 🙂 

[JeroenS]

I haven't glued in the dash yet but did paint it, in the same colour as the rest of the interior. I decided to go with this colour and not a two tone, I quite like it. 

 

 

I gloss coated it but will tone it down with matt varnish. 

 

I do like the combination with the British Green as well, I also gave the body a clear coat yesterday. 

 

 

I have to say guys... I might give this one a bit of a polish and see how I like it, and may leave it like this. For a quick off hand paint and clear coat job it turned out rather nicely. 

 

Anyway, been working on the engine as well. I'm adding plug wires, which would have been easier without the headers attached but ok, hindsight is 16/12.

 

I use these Meng bolts, drill a 0.5 mm hole and glue in a piece of wire. 

 

 

I slice them off with a chisel blade and glue them to the engine in somewhat the correct spot. The left one was difficult because of the header. You won't see it later on.

 

 

I was able to drill out the distributor, first with a 0.4 mm drill, then with a 0.5 mm drill. 

 

 

I found what I think is the correct firing order for this engine and glued the other ends of the wires to the distributor. One side is done. 

 

 

All the fiddling with the engine provided some "natural" weathering 🙂 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

43 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

I might give this one a bit of a polish and see how I like it

 

Your model Jeroen, but it looks so good I think it would be a shame to weather it (but that's probably just me as I never weather my cars  )

 

That colour scheme really does look good though!

 

Motor is looking really tidy too!
 

Keith

[Bengalensis]

You're really making quick progress on this one!

Nice to see it in different colours than that red with the white stripe, it's looking good and very 70's in green with green interior.

(No, I don't think that particular TV-show stands up well, but that's just my view)