Ford 3L gt Airfix

[rob Lyttle]

I'd like to finish the year off with this little side project. I've been tinkering with this off and on for a few weeks now and it's kinda getting there with a couple of mods that might prove worthwhile. 

It was only a tenner because the box was a bit damaged. Who cares?...I don't (usually) collect boxes .

It's a repop of an ancient kit, in the Vintage Classics style but not labelled as such on mine. 1968 or '69,the original edition was contemporary with the car's development itself. Another gamble from Airfix that didn't really pay off. 

Only 3 examples were made and only 2 survive. And one of those broke loose in its container on its way to South Africa and was all but wrecked when the doors were opened 🫣

The cars never lived up to the expectations, coming hot on the glory achieved by the GT40 race cars. Apparently the 3L never finished a race in the first season...? But because of the hype, we were all trying to make slot cars--  mostly from this kit--  in expectation of their glorious racing career next season. It never came....

My first efforts with this one, was trying to make a slot car out of it. This failed for lack of parts, especially smaller wheels and tyres for the front. I have a sidewinder chassis that would have been spot on for the back axle but the matching front wheels were never going to work and I have nothing else suitable  .

But my initial saw cuts turned out to be useful when it came to build the kit normal style. I'd cut the front and rear of the underside off and stuck them on the bodyshell. 

This turned out to be a neat solution because the full-length joint that looks horrible is reduced to just the mid section under the doors. The cars have a noticeable line here anyway. Front and rear sections can be dressed and finished before painting, giving a marked improvement to the bodywork. 

So I've ploughed on with the shell, paint and then transparencies and tried the decals. They're OK I guess, a bit brittle around the edges--  I'll need a pot of gold paint for touching up. 

The remaining chassis is where most of the action is from here, and I've been fooling around with that recently. I'll describe the progress next. 

Will I get over the finishing line before the end of the year?Very much doubt it 🤔 😅 

[Potsie]

Interesting subject. I do not believe I have ever seen one of these built. Your progress looks good so far.

[klubman01]

The Ford F3L was not the success that Alan Mann Racing wanted.  Nonetheless, an interesting car which, I thought, looked quite sleek.  I wish you luck with this, and will follow with interest.

Trevor

[Neddy]

@rob Lyttle: For touching up gold, try a UNI paint marker instead of a pot of paint.  Your local Hobbycraft has them if that's any interest to you.  The Range also stock them.

 

[rob Lyttle]

@Potsie ,one was built in the Airfix classic group build earlier this year by @Redstaff. He dealt with several of the challenges this kit has and motivated me to have a go at it.

This, by the way, is the scalectric arrangement I was going to use...

The brass chassis could have been adjusted but those front wheels wouldn't fit under the bodywork. 

So reverting to plastic bashing, I upgraded the flimsy suspension by inserting an Ali tube across the middle at the right height, 

...such that a smaller diameter axle tube fits straight through the hub carriers and the tube to take the rear wheels. 

You can see how flimsy the plastic suspension arms are and placement is very vague. This feels much better. 

Moving to the front, the bottom wishbones are better, the top ones, which take most of the load, again very flimsy. But it crossed my mind that there was the possibility of getting the front wheels to steer. 

The hubs have pins moulded on, and the bottom pin engages in that hole in the lower wishbone. 

The ali tube on the left is a crossbar. The wire hoop in the end takes the hub's top pin...

The vertical walls needed grinding away to allow clearance for the tyre but i think I can get this to work. Another wire splitpin in the other end of the crossbar and adjusted to get vertical hubs before anything is glued,  and some kind of trackrod to link the wheels, and we're on!💃

The interior tub is at this stage, 

The driver is a homemade job from a previous slot car effort. It sits in the chassis OK 👍 

That's a lotta fun for £10, isn't it ⁉️😅

[Neddy]

Great fun!  It reminds me of when I was a kid, building and racing slot cars for a Kent club back in the 1960s.  Nice neat solution for the working steering.

[othertales]

Modelling engineering 🤩 and of such an unusual subject with a good story behind it — how can I resist? 🧡

Great start!

[rob Lyttle]

8 hours ago, Neddy said:

For touching up gold, try a UNI paint marker instead of a pot of paint.

Good call. Just been and got....two. Couldn't decide between a thick nib or a thin, so I got both. 

The Range is where I get the pots of modelling stuff called Silk Clay--  that's what the driver is made from. It never really sets hard, quite good at sticking to itself, multi coloured. 

[Neddy]

1 minute ago, rob Lyttle said:

Couldn't decide between a thick nib or a thin, so I got both

Good move, I can't decide either as both have their uses, so I normally get both too.

[rob Lyttle]

Well.....

Happy New Year 🤭⁉️💃

 

So I had several tries, at suitable times, and some gallant efforts at assembly of those front wheels. Almost lost a brake hub a couple of times. After the second very lucky find, I decided it wasn't going to happen, and I needed to stick it together and move on. 

 

There were times when it felt close to achieving a working front end, but really there were too many pieces all relying on each other and none fixed in place, and me crashing from crisis to crisis 😋So, top wishbone crossbar in one piece, but that turned out to be a fraction too narrow and in the end I had to snip it and spread them to get the hubs vertical. 

No trackrod although I have the wire arms fitted in the hubs and holes through the chassis. 

Wheels set with a bit of steering turn to the left 

.... and finally the bodyshell glued up. 

 

Conclusion,  it had to be tried ⁉️

It was a bit of a relief to move on, though. 

I was slightly compensated by my scratch windscreen wiper. In that picture it still has a little upstand extension for handling purposes. With the drive arm glued in its hole and a line of gloss varnish along the wiper blade, the extra handle bit was cut off.

So one final push with stickers and tidy up, and she'll be done ✔️ 

[HK-500]

A nice testimony of a bygone era, she seems to tell us : I’m a part of automotive history, don’t you forget that !

[othertales]

Wonderful period feel. Thanks for sharing! Looks great and the urge to pick it up to play is a good testimony of how successful it is 😊

[rob Lyttle]

Here we are, with a few more stickers applied. Wiper is trimmed and a black pen line around the headlamp lenses improved their look. 

Then I noticed that one of the Burmah Oil logos had gone...

Searched every conceivable surface, every finger, sleeve, tool.... all to no avail 🤔

I spotted one possible solution printed on the back of the kit box.

The missing strip of cardboard has been soaked and the printed layer is peeled off...

Behold,  a Burmah Oil logo sticker!

I'll take a go at trimming the little badge and sticking it on the car.

These cars were so SMALL in comparison to the old Rolling Thunder racing machines. I happen to have at hand my Mercedes SSK Sportwagen by Pyro (ha,remember them ⁉️...) in 1.32 scale. Here they are side by side, 

I think I read the Ford is only 23inches high 😳 

The surviving couple of cars have had a few modifications,  downforce wings or blades front and back, front intake  etc and it all looks good and very raceworthy.

Would make a nice scratch modification project...

 

[Redstaff]

Hi Rob

Glad you got to the end of it without binning it, I was tempted a few times to launch mine out of the window  

I know what you mean about size though, I put mine in the cabinet next to a Matchbox MG I made last year and the GT looks small even compared to that 

The car with mods looks really nice, but I don't think I could go through the emotions of building another one of these 😅

 

Ian  

[Vesa Jussila]

Really nice small project. You did nice work.

[rob Lyttle]

Yep, I'm calling this one done with a couple of gallery type photos. 

It's been an entertaining little project.  My replacement Burmah sticker salvaged from the box artwork worked, well, it's better than an empty space 😀 

Couple of short pieces of Ali tube for exhaust pipes. Not exactly 4-square tyres on the ground, but after all the shenanigans it's hardly surprising. 

I omitted the big hub wingnuts which didn't look good even after a load of filing and shaping. 4 tiny lengths of Ali tube are on instead. 

 

 

So thanks for the company along the way, and I've got a Mercedes SSKL Matchbox to crack on with in the Give Peace a Chance Groupbuild 😀 

There's still PLENTY of time to join in if you have something non-military in the stash 😎👍